Laws
vessel has too large a sail, or the body too much food, or the mind
too much power, there destruction is certain. And similarly, a man who
possesses arbitrary power is soon corrupted, and grows hateful to
his dearest friends. In order to guard against this evil, the God who
watched over Sparta gave you two kings instead of one, that they
might balance one another; and further to lower the pulse of your body
politic, some human wisdom, mingled with divine power, tempered the
strength and self-sufficiency of youth with the moderation of age in
the institution of your senate. A third saviour bridled your rising and
swelling power by ephors, whom he assimilated to officers elected by
lot: and thus the kingly power was preserved, and became the preserver
of all the rest. Had the constitution been arranged by the original
legislators, not even the portion of Aristodemus would have been saved;
for they had no political experience, and imagined that a youthful
spirit invested with power could be restrained by oaths. Now that God
has instructed us in the arts of legislation, there is no merit in
seeing all this, or in learning wisdom after the event. But if the
coming danger could have been foreseen, and the union preserved, then
no Persian or other enemy would have dared to attack Hellas; and indeed
there was not so much credit to us in defeating the enemy, as discredit
in our disloyalty to one another. For of the three cities one only
fought on behalf of Hellas; and of the two others, Argos refused
her aid; and Messenia was actually at war with Sparta: and if the
Lacedaemonians and Athenians had not united, the Hellenes would have
been absorbed in the Persian empire, and dispersed among the barbarians.
We make these reflections upon past and present legislators because we
desire to find out what other course could have been followed. We were
saying just now, that a state can only be free and wise and harmonious
when there is a balance of powers. There are many words by which we
express the aims of the legislator,--temperance, wisdom, friendship; but
we need not be disturbed by the variety of expression,--these words have
all the same meaning. 'I should like to know at what in your opinion
the legislator should aim.' Hear me, then. There are two mother forms
of states--one monarchy, and the other democracy: the Persians have
the first in the highest form, and the Athenians the second; and no
government can be well administered which does not include both. There
was a time when both the Persians and Athenians had more the character
of a constitutional state than they now have. In the days of Cyrus the
Persians were freemen as well as lords of others, and their soldiers
were free and equal, and the kings used and honoured all the talent
which they could find, and so the nation waxed great, because there was
freedom and friendship and communion of soul. But Cyrus, though a wise
general, never troubled himself about the education of his family. He
was a soldier from his youth upward, and left his children who were born
in the purple to be educated by women, who humoured and spoilt them.
'A rare education, truly!' Yes, such an education as princesses who had
recently grown rich might be expected to give them in a country where
the men were solely occupied with warlike pursuits. 'Likely enough.'
Their father had possessions of men and animals, and never considered
that the race to whom he was about to make them over had been educated
in a very different school, not like the Persian shepherd, who was
well able to take care of himself and his own. He did not see that
his children had been brought up in the Median fashion, by women and
eunuchs. The end was that one of the sons of Cyrus slew the other, and
lost the kingdom by his own folly. Observe, again, that Darius, who
restored the kingdom, had not received a royal education. He was one of
the seven chiefs, and when he came to the throne he divided the empire
into seven provinces; and he made equal laws, and implanted friendship
among the people. Hence his subjects were greatly attached to him, and
cheerfully helped him to extend his empire. Next followed Xerxes,
who had received the same royal education as Cambyses, and met with a
similar fate. The reflection naturally occurs to us--How could Darius,
with all his experience, have made such a mistake! The ruin of Xerxes
was not a mere accident, but the evil life which is generally led by the
sons of very rich and royal persons; and this is what the legislator has
seriously to consider. Justly may the Lacedaemonians be praised for not
giving special honour to birth or wealth; for such advantages are not to
be highly esteemed without virtue, and not even virtue is to be esteemed
unless it be accompanied by temperance. 'Explain.' No one would like
to live in the same house with a courageous man who had no control over
himself, nor with a clever artist who was a rogue. Nor can justice
and wisdom ever be separated from temperance. But considering these
qualities with reference to the honour and dishonour which is to be
assigned to them in states, would you say, on the other hand, that
temperance, if existing without the other virtues in the soul, is worth
anything or nothing? 'I cannot tell.' You have answered well. It would
be absurd to speak of temperance as belonging to the class of honourable
or of dishonourable qualities, because all other virtues in their
various classes require temperance to be added to them; having the
addition, they are honoured not in proportion to that, but to their own
excellence. And ought not the legislator to determine these classes?
'Certainly.' Suppose then that, without going into details, we make
three great classes of them. Most honourable are the goods of the soul,
always assuming temperance as a condition of them; secondly, those of
the body; thirdly, external possessions. The legislator who puts them in
another order is doing an unholy and unpatriotic thing.
These remarks were suggested by the history of the Persian kings; and to
them I will now return. The ruin of their empire was caused by the
loss of freedom and the growth of despotism; all community of feeling
disappeared. Hatred and spoliation took the place of friendship; the
people no longer fought heartily for their masters; the rulers, finding
their myriads useless on the field of battle, resorted to mercenaries as
their only salvation, and were thus compelled by their circumstances
to proclaim the stupidest of falsehoods--that virtue is a trifle in
comparison of money.
But enough of the Persians: a different lesson is taught by the
Athenians, whose example shows that a limited freedom is far better than
an unlimited. Ancient Athens, at the time of the Persian invasion,
had such a limited freedom. The people were divided into four classes,
according to the amount of their property, and the universal love of
order, as well as the fear of the approaching host, made them obedient
and willing citizens. For Darius had sent Datis and Artaphernes,
commanding them under pain of death to subjugate the Eretrians and
Athenians. A report, whether true or not, came to Athens that all the
Eretrians had been 'netted'; and the Athenians in terror sent all
over Hellas for assistance. None came to their relief except the
Lacedaemonians, and they arrived a day too late, when the battle of
Marathon had been already fought. In process of time Xerxes came to
the throne, and the Athenians heard of nothing but the bridge over the
Hellespont, and the canal of Athos, and the innumerable host and fleet.
They knew that these were intended to avenge the defeat of Marathon.
Their case seemed desperate, for there was no Hellene likely to assist
them by land, and at sea they were attacked by more than a thousand
vessels;--their only hope, however slender, was in victory; so they
relied upon themselves and upon the Gods. Their common danger, and
the influence of their ancient constitution, greatly tended to promote
harmony among them. Reverence and fear--that fear which the coward never
knows--made them fight for their altars and their homes, and saved them
from being dispersed all over the world. 'Your words, Athenian, are
worthy of your country.' And you Megillus, who have inherited the
virtues of your ancestors, are worthy to hear them. Let me ask you
to take the moral of my tale. The Persians have lost their liberty
in absolute slavery, and we in absolute freedom. In ancient times the
Athenian people were not the masters, but the servants of the laws. 'Of
what laws?' In the first place, there were laws about music, and the
music was of various kinds: there was one kind which consisted of hymns,
another of lamentations; there was also the paean and the dithyramb,
and the so-called 'laws' (nomoi) or strains, which were played upon the
harp. The regulation of such matters was not left to the whistling and
clapping of the crowd; there was silence while the judges decided, and
the boys, and the audience in general, were kept in order by raps of a
stick. But after a while there arose a new race of poets, men of genius
certainly, however careless of musical truth and propriety, who made
pleasure the only criterion of excellence. That was a test which the
spectators could apply for themselves; the whole audience, instead of
being mute, became vociferous, and a theatrocracy took the place of an
aristocracy. Could the judges have been free, there would have been no
great harm done; a musical democracy would have been well enough--but
conceit has been our ruin. Everybody knows everything, and is ready to
say anything; the age of reverence is gone, and the age of irreverence
and licentiousness has succeeded. 'Most true.' And with this freedom
comes disobedience to rulers, parents, elders,--in the latter days to
the law also; the end returns to the beginning, and the old Titanic
nature reappears--men have no regard for the Gods or for oaths; and the
evils of the human race seem as if they would never cease. Whither are
we running away? Once more we must pull up the argument with bit and
curb, lest, as the proverb says, we should fall off our ass. 'Good.'
Our purpose in what we have been saying is to prove that the legislator
ought to aim at securing for a state three things--freedom, friendship,
wisdom. And we chose two states;--one was the type of freedom, and the
other of despotism; and we showed that when in a mean they attained
their highest perfection. In a similar spirit we spoke of the Dorian
expedition, and of the settlement on the hills and in the plains of
Troy; and of music, and the use of wine, and of all that preceded.
And now, has our discussion been of any use? 'Yes, stranger; for by
a singular coincidence the Cretans are about to send out a colony,
of which the settlement has been confided to the Cnosians. Ten
commissioners, of whom I am one, are to give laws to the colonists, and
we may give any which we please--Cretan or foreign. And therefore let
us make a selection from what has been said, and then proceed with the
construction of the state.' Very good: I am quite at your service. 'And
I too,' says Megillus.
BOOK IV. And now, what is this city? I do not want to know what is to
be the name of the place (for some accident,--a river or a local deity,
will determine that), but what the situation is, whether maritime or
inland. 'The city will be about eleven miles from the sea.' Are there
harbours? 'Excellent.' And is the surrounding country self-supporting?
'Almost.' Any neighbouring states? 'No; and that is the reason for
choosing the place, which has been deserted from time immemorial.' And
is there a fair proportion of hill and plain and wood? 'Like Crete
in general, more hill than plain.' Then there is some hope for your