Laws
property; but equality is impossible, and therefore we must avoid causes
of offence by having property valued and by equalizing taxation. To
this end, let us make four classes in which the citizens may be placed
according to the measure of their original property, and the changes of
their fortune. The greatest of evils is revolution; and this, as the
law will say, is caused by extremes of poverty or wealth. The limit
of poverty shall be the lot, which must not be diminished, and may be
increased fivefold, but not more. He who exceeds the limit must give up
the excess to the state; but if he does not, and is informed against,
the surplus shall be divided between the informer and the Gods, and
he shall pay a sum equal to the surplus out Of his own property. All
property other than the lot must be inscribed in a register, so that any
disputes which arise may be easily determined.
The city shall be placed in a suitable situation, as nearly as possible
in the centre of the country, and shall be divided into twelve wards.
First, we will erect an acropolis, encircled by a wall, within which
shall be placed the temples of Hestia, and Zeus, and Athene. From this
shall be drawn lines dividing the city, and also the country, into
twelve sections, and the country shall be subdivided into 5040 lots.
Each lot shall contain two parts, one at a distance, the other near the
city; and the distance of one part shall be compensated by the nearness
of the other, the badness and goodness by the greater or less size.
Twelve lots will be assigned to twelve Gods, and they will give their
names to the tribes. The divisions of the city shall correspond to those
of the country; and every man shall have two habitations, one near the
centre of the country, the other at the extremity.
The objection will naturally arise, that all the advantages of which we
have been speaking will never concur. The citizens will not tolerate a
settlement in which they are deprived of gold and silver, and have the
number of their families regulated, and the sites of their houses fixed
by law. It will be said that our city is a mere image of wax. And the
legislator will answer: 'I know it, but I maintain that we ought to set
forth an ideal which is as perfect as possible. If difficulties arise
in the execution of the plan, we must avoid them and carry out the
remainder. But the legislator must first be allowed to complete his idea
without interruption.'
The number twelve, which we have chosen for the number of division,
must run through all parts of the state,--phratries, villages, ranks
of soldiers, coins, and measures wet and dry, which are all to be made
commensurable with one another. There is no meanness in requiring that
the smallest vessels should have a common measure; for the divisions of
number are useful in measuring height and depth, as well as sounds and
motions, upwards or downwards, or round and round. The legislator
should impress on his citizens the value of arithmetic. No instrument of
education has so much power; nothing more tends to sharpen and inspire
the dull intellect. But the legislator must be careful to instil a
noble and generous spirit into the students, or they will tend to become
cunning rather than wise. This may be proved by the example of the
Egyptians and Phoenicians, who, notwithstanding their knowledge of
arithmetic, are degraded in their general character; whether this defect
in them is due to some natural cause or to a bad legislator. For it
is clear that there are great differences in the power of regions to
produce good men: heat and cold, and water and food, have great effects
both on body and soul; and those spots are peculiarly fortunate in which
the air is holy, and the Gods are pleased to dwell. To all this the
legislator must attend, so far as in him lies.
BOOK VI. And now we are about to consider (1) the appointment of
magistrates; (2) the laws which they will have to administer must
be determined. I may observe by the way that laws, however good,
are useless and even injurious unless the magistrates are capable of
executing them. And therefore (1) the intended rulers of our imaginary
state should be tested from their youth upwards until the time of their
election; and (2) those who are to elect them ought to be trained in
habits of law, that they may form a right judgment of good and bad men.
But uneducated colonists, who are unacquainted with each other, will not
be likely to choose well. What, then, shall we do? I will tell you: The
colony will have to be intrusted to the ten commissioners, of whom you
are one, and I will help you and them, which is my reason for inventing
this romance. And I cannot bear that the tale should go wandering about
the world without a head,--it will be such an ugly monster. 'Very good.'
Yes; and I will be as good as my word, if God be gracious and old age
permit. But let us not forget what a courageously mad creation this our
city is. 'What makes you say so?' Why, surely our courage is shown in
imagining that the new colonists will quietly receive our laws? For no
man likes to receive laws when they are first imposed: could we only
wait until those who had been educated under them were grown up, and
of an age to vote in the public elections, there would be far greater
reason to expect permanence in our institutions. 'Very true.' The
Cnosian founders should take the utmost pains in the matter of the
colony, and in the election of the higher officers, particularly of the
guardians of the law. The latter should be appointed in this way: The
Cnosians, who take the lead in the colony, together with the colonists,
will choose thirty-seven persons, of whom nineteen will be colonists,
and the remaining eighteen Cnosians--you must be one of the eighteen
yourself, and become a citizen of the new state. 'Why do not you and
Megillus join us?' Athens is proud, and Sparta too; and they are both
a long way off. But let me proceed with my scheme. When the state is
permanently established, the mode of election will be as follows: All
who are serving, or have served, in the army will be electors; and the
election will be held in the most sacred of the temples. The voter
will place on the altar a tablet, inscribing thereupon the name of the
candidate whom he prefers, and of his father, tribe, and ward, writing
at the side of them his own name in like manner; and he may take away
any tablet which does not appear written to his mind, and place it in
the Agora for thirty days. The 300 who obtain the greatest number of
votes will be publicly announced, and out of them there will be a
second election of 100; and out of the 100 a third and final election
of thirty-seven, accompanied by the solemnity of the electors passing
through victims. But then who is to arrange all this? There is a common
saying, that the beginning is half the whole; and I should say a good
deal more than half. 'Most true.' The only way of making a beginning is
from the parent city; and though in after ages the tie may be broken,
and quarrels may arise between them, yet in early days the child
naturally looks to the mother for care and education. And, as I said
before, the Cnosians ought to take an interest in the colony, and select
100 elders of their own citizens, to whom shall be added 100 of the
colonists, to arrange and supervise the first elections and scrutinies;
and when the colony has been started, the Cnosians may return home and
leave the colonists to themselves.
The thirty-seven magistrates who have been elected in the manner
described, shall have the following duties: first, they shall be
guardians of the law; secondly, of the registers of property in the
four classes--not including the one, two, three, four minae, which are
allowed as a surplus. He who is found to possess what is not entered in
the registers, in addition to the confiscation of such property shall be
proceeded against by law, and if he be cast he shall lose his share
in the public property and in distributions of money; and his sentence
shall be inscribed in some public place. The guardians are to continue
in office twenty years only, and to commence holding office at fifty
years, or if elected at sixty they are not to remain after seventy.
Generals have now to be elected, and commanders of horse and brigadiers
of foot. The generals shall be natives of the city, proposed by the
guardians of the law, and elected by those who are or have been of the
age for military service. Any one may challenge the person nominated
and start another candidate, whom he affirms upon oath to be better
qualified. The three who obtain the greatest number of votes shall
be elected. The generals thus elected shall propose the taxiarchs or
brigadiers, and the challenge may be made, and the voting shall take
place, in the same manner as before. The elective assembly will be
presided over in the first instance, and until the prytanes and council
come into being, by the guardians of the law in some holy place; and
they shall divide the citizens into three divisions,--hoplites, cavalry,
and the rest of the army--placing each of them by itself. All are to
vote for generals and cavalry officers. The brigadiers are to be voted
for only by the hoplites. Next, the cavalry are to choose phylarchs for
the generals; but captains of archers and other irregular troops are to
be appointed by the generals themselves. The cavalry-officers shall be
proposed and voted upon by the same persons who vote for the generals.
The two who have the greatest number of votes shall be leaders of all
the horse. Disputes about the voting may be raised once or twice, but,
if a third time, the presiding officers shall decide.
The council shall consist of 360, who may be conveniently divided into
four sections, making ninety councillors of each class. In the first
place, all the citizens shall select candidates from the first class;
and they shall be compelled to vote under pain of a fine. This shall
be the business of the first day. On the second day a similar selection
shall be made from the second class under the same conditions. On the
third day, candidates shall be selected from the third class; but the
compulsion to vote shall only extend to the voters of the first three
classes. On the fourth day, members of the council shall be selected
from the fourth class; they shall be selected by all, but the compulsion
to vote shall only extend to the second class, who, if they do not vote,
shall pay a fine of triple the amount which was exacted at first, and to
the first class, who shall pay a quadruple fine. On the fifth day, the
names shall be exhibited, and out of them shall be chosen by all the
citizens 180 of each class: these are severally to be reduced by lot to
ninety, and 90 x 4 will form the council for the year.
The mode of election which has been described is a mean between monarchy
and democracy, and such a mean should ever be observed in the state.
For servants and masters cannot be friends, and, although equality makes
friendship, we must remember that there are two sorts of equality. One
of them is the rule of number and measure; but there is also a higher
equality, which is the judgment of Zeus. Of this he grants but little to
mortal men; yet that little is the source of the greatest good to cities
and individuals. It is proportioned to the nature of each man; it gives
more to the better and less to the inferior, and is the true political
justice; to this we in our state desire to look, as every legislator
should, not to the interests either of tyrants or mobs. But justice
cannot always be strictly enforced, and then equity and mercy have to
be substituted: and for a similar reason, when true justice will not be