Laws
man seeks justice before all things. Self-love is the source of
that ignorant conceit of knowledge which is always doing and never
succeeding. Wherefore let every man avoid self-love, and follow the
guidance of those who are better than himself. There are lesser matters
which a man should recall to mind; for wisdom is like a stream, ever
flowing in and out, and recollection flows in when knowledge is failing.
Let no man either laugh or grieve overmuch; but let him control his
feelings in the day of good- or ill-fortune, believing that the Gods
will diminish the evils and increase the blessings of the righteous.
These are thoughts which should ever occupy a good man's mind; he should
remember them both in lighter and in more serious hours, and remind
others of them.
So much of divine matters and the relation of man to God. But man is
man, and dependent on pleasure and pain; and therefore to acquire a true
taste respecting either is a great matter. And what is a true taste?
This can only be explained by a comparison of one life with another.
Pleasure is an object of desire, pain of avoidance; and the absence of
pain is to be preferred to pain, but not to pleasure. There are infinite
kinds and degrees of both of them, and we choose the life which has more
pleasure and avoid that which has less; but we do not choose that life
in which the elements of pleasure are either feeble or equally balanced
with pain. All the lives which we desire are pleasant; the choice of any
others is due to inexperience.
Now there are four lives--the temperate, the rational, the courageous,
the healthful; and to these let us oppose four others--the intemperate,
the foolish, the cowardly, the diseased. The temperate life has gentle
pains and pleasures and placid desires, the intemperate life has violent
delights, and still more violent desires. And the pleasures of the
temperate exceed the pains, while the pains of the intemperate exceed
the pleasures. But if this is true, none are voluntarily intemperate,
but all who lack temperance are either ignorant or wanting in
self-control: for men always choose the life which (as they think)
exceeds in pleasure. The wise, the healthful, the courageous life have
a similar advantage--they also exceed their opposites in pleasure.
And, generally speaking, the life of virtue is far more pleasurable and
honourable, fairer and happier far, than the life of vice. Let this be
the preamble of our laws; the strain will follow.
As in a web the warp is stronger than the woof, so should the rulers be
stronger than their half-educated subjects. Let us suppose, then, that
in the constitution of a state there are two parts, the appointment
of the rulers, and the laws which they have to administer. But, before
going further, there are some preliminary matters which have to be
considered.
As of animals, so also of men, a selection must be made; the bad breed
must be got rid of, and the good retained. The legislator must purify
them, and if he be not a despot he will find this task to be a difficult
one. The severer kinds of purification are practised when great
offenders are punished by death or exile, but there is a milder process
which is necessary when the poor show a disposition to attack the
property of the rich, for then the legislator will send them off to
another land, under the name of a colony. In our case, however, we
shall only need to purify the streams before they meet. This is often
a troublesome business, but in theory we may suppose the operation
performed, and the desired purity attained. Evil men we will hinder from
coming, and receive the good as friends.
Like the old Heraclid colony, we are fortunate in escaping the abolition
of debts and the distribution of land, which are difficult and dangerous
questions. But, perhaps, now that we are speaking of the subject, we
ought to say how, if the danger existed, the legislator should try to
avert it. He would have recourse to prayers, and trust to the healing
influence of time. He would create a kindly spirit between creditors and
debtors: those who have should give to those who have not, and poverty
should be held to be rather the increase of a man's desires than the
diminution of his property. Good-will is the only safe and enduring
foundation of the political society; and upon this our city shall
be built. The lawgiver, if he is wise, will not proceed with the
arrangement of the state until all disputes about property are settled.
And for him to introduce fresh grounds of quarrel would be madness.
Let us now proceed to the distribution of our state, and determine the
size of the territory and the number of the allotments. The territory
should be sufficient to maintain the citizens in moderation, and the
population should be numerous enough to defend themselves, and sometimes
to aid their neighbours. We will fix the number of citizens at 5040, to
which the number of houses and portions of land shall correspond. Let
the number be divided into two parts and then into three; for it is
very convenient for the purposes of distribution, and is capable of
fifty-nine divisions, ten of which proceed without interval from one to
ten. Here are numbers enough for war and peace, and for all contracts
and dealings. These properties of numbers are true, and should be
ascertained with a view to use.
In carrying out the distribution of the land, a prudent legislator will
be careful to respect any provision for religious worship which has been
sanctioned by ancient tradition or by the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, or
Ammon. All sacrifices, and altars, and temples, whatever may be their
origin, should remain as they are. Every division should have a patron
God or hero; to these a portion of the domain should be appropriated,
and at their temples the inhabitants of the districts should meet
together from time to time, for the sake of mutual help and friendship.
All the citizens of a state should be known to one another; for where
men are in the dark about each other's characters, there can be
no justice or right administration. Every man should be true and
single-minded, and should not allow himself to be deceived by others.
And now the game opens, and we begin to move the pieces. At first sight,
our constitution may appear singular and ill-adapted to a legislator who
has not despotic power; but on second thoughts will be deemed to be,
if not the very best, the second best. For there are three forms of
government, a first, a second, and a third best, out of which Cleinias
has now to choose. The first and highest form is that in which friends
have all things in common, including wives and property,--in which they
have common fears, hopes, desires, and do not even call their eyes or
their hands their own. This is the ideal state; than which there never
can be a truer or better--a state, whether inhabited by Gods or sons of
Gods, which will make the dwellers therein blessed. Here is the pattern
on which we must ever fix our eyes; but we are now concerned with
another, which comes next to it, and we will afterwards proceed to a
third.
Inasmuch as our citizens are not fitted either by nature or education to
receive the saying, Friends have all things in common, let them retain
their houses and private property, but use them in the service of their
country, who is their God and parent, and of the Gods and demigods of
the land. Their first care should be to preserve the number of their
lots. This may be secured in the following manner: when the possessor of
a lot dies, he shall leave his lot to his best-beloved child, who will
become the heir of all duties and interests, and will minister to the
Gods and to the family, to the living and to the dead. Of the remaining
children, the females must be given in marriage according to the law to
be hereafter enacted; the males may be assigned to citizens who have no
children of their own. How to equalize families and allotments will be
one of the chief cares of the guardians of the laws. When parents have
too many children they may give to those who have none, or couples
may abstain from having children, or, if there is a want of offspring,
special care may be taken to obtain them; or if the number of citizens
becomes excessive, we may send away the surplus to found a colony. If,
on the other hand, a war or plague diminishes the number of inhabitants,
new citizens must be introduced; and these ought not, if possible, to be
men of low birth or inferior training; but even God, it is said, cannot
always fight against necessity.
Wherefore we will thus address our citizens:--Good friends, honour
order and equality, and above all the number 5040. Secondly, respect the
original division of the lots, which must not be infringed by buying and
selling, for the law says that the land which a man has is sacred and
is given to him by God. And priests and priestesses will offer frequent
sacrifices and pray that he who alienates either house or lot may
receive the punishment which he deserves, and their prayers shall be
inscribed on tablets of cypress-wood for the instruction of posterity.
The guardians will keep a vigilant watch over the citizens, and they
will punish those who disobey God and the law.
To appreciate the benefit of such an institution a man requires to be
well educated; for he certainly will not make a fortune in our state, in
which all illiberal occupations are forbidden to freemen. The law also
provides that no private person shall have gold or silver, except
a little coin for daily use, which will not pass current in other
countries. The state must also possess a common Hellenic currency, but
this is only to be used in defraying the expenses of expeditions, or of
embassies, or while a man is on foreign travels; but in the latter case
he must deliver up what is over, when he comes back, to the treasury in
return for an equal amount of local currency, on pain of losing the sum
in question; and he who does not inform against an offender is to be
mulcted in a like sum. No money is to be given or taken as a dowry, or
to be lent on interest. The law will not protect a man in recovering
either interest or principal. All these regulations imply that the
aim of the legislator is not to make the city as rich or as mighty as
possible, but the best and happiest. Now men can hardly be at the same
time very virtuous and very rich. And why? Because he who makes twice as
much and saves twice as much as he ought, receiving where he ought not
and not spending where he ought, will be at least twice as rich as he
who makes money where he ought, and spends where he ought. On the other
hand, an utterly bad man is generally profligate and poor, while he who
acquires honestly, and spends what he acquires on noble objects, can
hardly be very rich. A very rich man is therefore not a good man, and
therefore not a happy one. But the object of our laws is to make the
citizens as friendly and happy as possible, which they cannot be if they
are always at law and injuring each other in the pursuit of gain. And
therefore we say that there is to be no silver or gold in the state,
nor usury, nor the rearing of the meaner kinds of live-stock, but only
agriculture, and only so much of this as will not lead men to neglect
that for the sake of which money is made, first the soul and afterwards
the body; neither of which are good for much without music and
gymnastic. Money is to be held in honour last or third; the highest
interests being those of the soul, and in the second class are to be
ranked those of the body. This is the true order of legislation, which
would be inverted by placing health before temperance, and wealth before
health.
It might be well if every man could come to the colony having equal