Laws
endured, we must have recourse to the rougher justice of the lot, which
God must be entreated to guide.
These are the principal means of preserving the state, but perpetual
care will also be required. When a ship is sailing on the sea, vigilance
must not be relaxed night or day; and the vessel of state is tossing in
a political sea, and therefore watch must continually succeed watch, and
rulers must join hands with rulers. A small body will best perform
this duty, and therefore the greater part of the 360 senators may be
permitted to go and manage their own affairs, but a twelfth portion must
be set aside in each month for the administration of the state. Their
business will be to receive information and answer embassies; also they
must endeavour to prevent or heal internal disorders; and with this
object they must have the control of all assemblies of the citizens.
Besides the council, there must be wardens of the city and of the agora,
who will superintend houses, ways, harbours, markets, and fountains, in
the city and the suburbs, and prevent any injury being done to them by
man or beast. The temples, also, will require priests and priestesses.
Those who hold the priestly office by hereditary tenure shall not be
disturbed; but as there will probably be few or none such in a new
colony, priests and priestesses shall be appointed for the Gods who have
no servants. Some of these officers shall be elected by vote, some by
lot; and all classes shall mingle in a friendly manner at the elections.
The appointment of priests should be left to God,--that is, to the lot;
but the person elected must prove that he is himself sound in body and
of legitimate birth, and that his family has been free from homicide or
any other stain of impurity. Priests and priestesses are to be not less
than sixty years of age, and shall hold office for a year only. The laws
which are to regulate matters of religion shall be brought from Delphi,
and interpreters appointed to superintend their execution. These shall
be elected in the following manner:--The twelve tribes shall be formed
into three bodies of four, each of which shall select four candidates,
and this shall be done three times: of each twelve thus selected the
three who receive the largest number of votes, nine in all, after
undergoing a scrutiny shall go to Delphi, in order that the God may
elect one out of each triad. They shall be appointed for life; and when
any of them dies, another shall be elected by the four tribes who made
the original appointment. There shall also be treasurers of the temples;
three for the greater temples, two for the lesser, and one for those of
least importance.
The defence of the city should be committed to the generals and other
officers of the army, and to the wardens of the city and agora. The
defence of the country shall be on this wise:--The twelve tribes shall
allot among themselves annually the twelve divisions of the country, and
each tribe shall appoint five wardens and commanders of the watch. The
five wardens in each division shall choose out of their own tribe twelve
guards, who are to be between twenty-five and thirty years of age. Both
the wardens and the guards are to serve two years; and they shall make a
round of the divisions, staying a month in each. They shall go from West
to East during the first year, and back from East to West during the
second. Thus they will gain a perfect knowledge of the country at every
season of the year.
While on service, their first duty will be to see that the country is
well protected by means of fortifications and entrenchments; they will
use the beasts of burden and the labourers whom they find on the
spot, taking care however not to interfere with the regular course of
agriculture. But while they thus render the country as inaccessible as
possible to enemies, they will also make it as accessible as possible to
friends by constructing and maintaining good roads. They will restrain
and preserve the rain which comes down from heaven, making the barren
places fertile, and the wet places dry. They will ornament the fountains
with plantations and buildings, and provide water for irrigation at
all seasons of the year. They will lead the streams to the temples and
groves of the Gods; and in such spots the youth shall make gymnasia for
themselves, and warm baths for the aged; there the rustic worn with toil
will receive a kindly welcome, and be far better treated than at the
hands of an unskilful doctor.
These works will be both useful and ornamental; but the sixty wardens
must not fail to give serious attention to other duties. For they must
watch over the districts assigned to them, and also act as judges. In
small matters the five commanders shall decide: in greater matters up to
three minae, the five commanders and the twelve guards. Like all other
judges, except those who have the final decision, they shall be liable
to give an account. If the wardens impose unjust tasks on the villagers,
or take by force their crops or implements, or yield to flattery or
bribes in deciding suits, let them be publicly dishonoured. In regard to
any other wrong-doing, if the question be of a mina, let the neighbours
decide; but if the accused person will not submit, trusting that his
monthly removals will enable him to escape payment, and also in suits
about a larger amount, the injured party may have recourse to the common
court; in the former case, if successful, he may exact a double penalty.
The wardens and guards, while on their two years' service, shall live
and eat together, and the guard who is absent from the daily meals
without permission or sleeps out at night, shall be regarded as a
deserter, and may be punished by any one who meets him. If any of the
commanders is guilty of such an irregularity, the whole sixty shall
have him punished; and he of them who screens him shall suffer a still
heavier penalty than the offender himself. Now by service a man learns
to rule; and he should pride himself upon serving well the laws and the
Gods all his life, and upon having served ancient and honourable men in
his youth. The twelve and the five should be their own servants, and use
the labour of the villagers only for the good of the public. Let them
search the country through, and acquire a perfect knowledge of every
locality; with this view, hunting and field sports should be encouraged.
Next we have to speak of the elections of the wardens of the agora and
of the city. The wardens of the city shall be three in number, and they
shall have the care of the streets, roads, buildings, and also of the
water-supply. They shall be chosen out of the highest class, and when
the number of candidates has been reduced to six who have the greatest
number of votes, three out of the six shall be taken by lot, and, after
a scrutiny, shall be admitted to their office. The wardens of the agora
shall be five in number--ten are to be first elected, and every one
shall vote for all the vacant places; the ten shall be afterwards
reduced to five by lot, as in the former election. The first and second
class shall be compelled to go to the assembly, but not the third and
fourth, unless they are specially summoned. The wardens of the agora
shall have the care of the temples and fountains which are in the agora,
and shall punish those who injure them by stripes and bonds, if they be
slaves or strangers; and by fines, if they be citizens. And the wardens
of the city shall have a similar power of inflicting punishment and
fines in their own department.
In the next place, there must be directors of music and gymnastic; one
class of them superintending gymnasia and schools, and the attendance
and lodging of the boys and girls--the other having to do with contests
of music and gymnastic. In musical contests there shall be one kind
of judges of solo singing or playing, who will judge of rhapsodists,
flute-players, harp-players and the like, and another of choruses. There
shall be choruses of men and boys and maidens--one director will be
enough to introduce them all, and he should not be less than forty years
of age; secondly, of solos also there shall be one director, aged not
less than thirty years; he will introduce the competitors and give
judgment upon them. The director of the choruses is to be elected in
an assembly at which all who take an interest in music are compelled
to attend, and no one else. Candidates must only be proposed for their
fitness, and opposed on the ground of unfitness. Ten are to be elected
by vote, and the one of these on whom the lot falls shall be director
for a year. Next shall be elected out of the second and third classes
the judges of gymnastic contests, who are to be three in number, and
are to be tested, after being chosen by lot out of twenty who have been
elected by the three highest classes--these being compelled to attend at
the election.
One minister remains, who will have the general superintendence of
education. He must be not less than fifty years old, and be himself the
father of children born in wedlock. His office must be regarded by all
as the highest in the state. For the right growth of the first shoot
in plants and animals is the chief cause of matured perfection. Man is
supposed to be a tame animal, but he becomes either the gentlest or
the fiercest of creatures, accordingly as he is well or ill educated.
Wherefore he who is elected to preside over education should be the best
man possible. He shall hold office for five years, and shall be elected
out of the guardians of the law, by the votes of the other magistrates
with the exception of the senate and prytanes; and the election shall be
held by ballot in the temple of Apollo.
When a magistrate dies before his term of office has expired, another
shall be elected in his place; and, if the guardian of an orphan dies,
the relations shall appoint another within ten days, or be fined a
drachma a day for neglect.
The city which has no courts of law will soon cease to be a city; and a
judge who sits in silence and leaves the enquiry to the litigants, as
in arbitrations, is not a good judge. A few judges are better than
many, but the few must be good. The matter in dispute should be clearly
elicited; time and examination will find out the truth. Causes should
first be tried before a court of neighbours: if the decision is
unsatisfactory, let them be referred to a higher court; or, if
necessary, to a higher still, of which the decision shall be final.
Every magistrate is a judge, and every judge is a magistrate, on the day
on which he is deciding the suit. This will therefore be an appropriate
place to speak of judges and their functions. The supreme tribunal
will be that on which the litigants agree; and let there be two other
tribunals, one for public and the other for private causes. The high
court of appeal shall be composed as follows:--All the officers of
state shall meet on the last day but one of the year in some temple, and
choose for a judge the best man out of every magistracy: and those who
are elected, after they have undergone a scrutiny, shall be judges of
appeal. They shall give their decisions openly, in the presence of the
magistrates who have elected them; and the public may attend. If anybody
charges one of them with having intentionally decided wrong, he shall
lay his accusation before the guardians of the law, and if the judge
be found guilty he shall pay damages to the extent of half the injury,
unless the guardians of the law deem that he deserves a severer
punishment, in which case the judges shall assess the penalty.
As the whole people are injured by offences against the state, they
should share in the trial of them. Such causes should originate with the