Laws
people and be decided by them: the enquiry shall take place before any
three of the highest magistrates upon whom the defendant and plaintiff
can agree. Also in private suits all should judge as far as possible,
and therefore there should be a court of law in every ward; for he who
has no share in the administration of justice, believes that he has no
share in the state. The judges in these courts shall be elected by lot
and give their decision at once. The final judgment in all cases shall
rest with the court of appeal. And so, having done with the appointment
of courts and the election of officers, we will now make our laws.
'Your way of proceeding, Stranger, is admirable.'
Then so far our old man's game of play has gone off well.
'Say, rather, our serious and noble pursuit.'
Perhaps; but let me ask you whether you have ever observed the manner in
which painters put in and rub out colour: yet their endless labour will
last but a short time, unless they leave behind them some successor who
will restore the picture and remove its defects. 'Certainly.' And have
we not a similar object at the present moment? We are old ourselves,
and therefore we must leave our work of legislation to be improved
and perfected by the next generation; not only making laws for our
guardians, but making them lawgivers. 'We must at least do our best.'
Let us address them as follows. Beloved saviours of the laws, we give
you an outline of legislation which you must fill up, according to a
rule which we will prescribe for you. Megillus and Cleinias and I are
agreed, and we hope that you will agree with us in thinking, that the
whole energies of a man should be devoted to the attainment of manly
virtue, whether this is to be gained by study, or habit, or desire, or
opinion. And rather than accept institutions which tend to degrade and
enslave him, he should fly his country and endure any hardship. These
are our principles, and we would ask you to judge of our laws, and
praise or blame them, accordingly as they are or are not capable of
improving our citizens.
And first of laws concerning religion. We have already said that the
number 5040 has many convenient divisions: and we took a twelfth part of
this (420), which is itself divisible by twelve, for the number of the
tribe. Every divisor is a gift of God, and corresponds to the months
of the year and to the revolution of the universe. All cities have a
number, but none is more fortunate than our own, which can be divided by
all numbers up to 12, with the exception of 11, and even by 11, if two
families are deducted. And now let us divide the state, assigning to
each division some God or demigod, who shall have altars raised to them,
and sacrifices offered twice a month; and assemblies shall be held
in their honour, twelve for the tribes, and twelve for the city,
corresponding to their divisions. The object of them will be first
to promote religion, secondly to encourage friendship and intercourse
between families; for families must be acquainted before they marry
into one another, or great mistakes will occur. At these festivals there
shall be innocent dances of young men and maidens, who may have the
opportunity of seeing one another in modest undress. To the details
of all this the masters of choruses and the guardians will attend,
embodying in laws the results of their experience; and, after ten years,
making the laws permanent, with the consent of the legislator, if he be
alive, or, if he be not alive, of the guardians of the law, who shall
perfect them and settle them once for all. At least, if any further
changes are required, the magistrates must take the whole people into
counsel, and obtain the sanction of all the oracles.
Whenever any one who is between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five
wants to marry, let him do so; but first let him hear the strain which
we will address to him:--
My son, you ought to marry, but not in order to gain wealth or to avoid
poverty; neither should you, as men are wont to do, choose a wife who
is like yourself in property and character. You ought to consult the
interests of the state rather than your own pleasure; for by equal
marriages a society becomes unequal. And yet to enact a law that the
rich and mighty shall not marry the rich and mighty, that the quick
shall be united to the slow, and the slow to the quick, will arouse
anger in some persons and laughter in others; for they do not understand
that opposite elements ought to be mingled in the state, as wine should
be mingled with water. The object at which we aim must therefore be
left to the influence of public opinion. And do not forget our former
precept, that every one should seek to attain immortality and raise up
a fair posterity to serve God.--Let this be the prelude of the law about
the duty of marriage. But if a man will not listen, and at thirty-five
years of age is still unmarried, he shall pay an annual fine: if he be
of the first class, 100 drachmas; if of the second, 70; if of the third,
60; and if of the fourth, 30. This fine shall be sacred to Here; and if
he refuse to pay, a tenfold penalty shall be exacted by the treasurer of
Here, who shall be responsible for the payment. Further, the unmarried
man shall receive no honour or obedience from the young, and he shall
not retain the right of punishing others. A man is neither to give
nor receive a dowry beyond a certain fixed sum; in our state, for his
consolation, if he be poor, let him know that he need neither receive
nor give one, for every citizen is provided with the necessaries of
life. Again, if the woman is not rich, her husband will not be her
humble servant. He who disobeys this law shall pay a fine according to
his class, which shall be exacted by the treasurers of Here and Zeus.
The betrothal of the parties shall be made by the next of kin, or
if there are none, by the guardians. The offerings and ceremonies of
marriage shall be determined by the interpreters of sacred rites. Let
the wedding party be moderate; five male and five female friends, and a
like number of kinsmen, will be enough. The expense should not exceed,
for the first class, a mina; and for the second, half a mina; and should
be in like proportion for the other classes. Extravagance is to be
regarded as vulgarity and ignorance of nuptial proprieties. Much wine is
only to be drunk at the festivals of Dionysus, and certainly not on the
occasion of a marriage. The bride and bridegroom, who are taking a great
step in life, ought to have all their wits about them; they should be
especially careful of the night on which God may give them increase, and
which this will be none can say. Their bodies and souls should be in the
most temperate condition; they should abstain from all that partakes of
the nature of disease or vice, which will otherwise become hereditary.
There is an original divinity in man which preserves all things, if used
with proper respect. He who marries should make one of the two houses
on the lot the nest and nursery of his young; he should leave his father
and mother, and then his affection for them will be only increased by
absence. He will go forth as to a colony, and will there rear up his
offspring, handing on the torch of life to another generation.
About property in general there is little difficulty, with the exception
of property in slaves, which is an institution of a very doubtful
character. The slavery of the Helots is approved by some and condemned
by others; and there is some doubt even about the slavery of the
Mariandynians at Heraclea and of the Thessalian Penestae. This makes us
ask, What shall we do about slaves? To which every one would agree in
replying,--Let us have the best and most attached whom we can get. All
of us have heard stories of slaves who have been better to their masters
than sons or brethren. Yet there is an opposite doctrine, that slaves
are never to be trusted; as Homer says, 'Slavery takes away half a man's
understanding.' And different persons treat them in different ways:
there are some who never trust them, and beat them like dogs, until
they make them many times more slavish than they were before; and others
pursue the opposite plan. Man is a troublesome animal, as has been often
shown, Megillus, notably in the revolts of the Messenians; and great
mischiefs have arisen in countries where there are large bodies of
slaves of one nationality. Two rules may be given for their management:
first that they should not, if possible, be of the same country or have
a common language; and secondly, that they should be treated by their
master with more justice even than equals, out of regard to himself
quite as much as to them. For he who is righteous in the treatment of
his slaves, or of any inferiors, will sow in them the seed of virtue.
Masters should never jest with their slaves: this, which is a common but
foolish practice, increases the difficulty and painfulness of managing
them.
Next as to habitations. These ought to have been spoken of before; for
no man can marry a wife, and have slaves, who has not a house for them
to live in. Let us supply the omission. The temples should be placed
round the Agora, and the city built in a circle on the heights. Near the
temples, which are holy places and the habitations of the Gods, should
be buildings for the magistrates, and the courts of law, including those
in which capital offences are to be tried. As to walls, Megillus, I
agree with Sparta that they should sleep in the earth; 'cold steel
is the best wall,' as the poet finely says. Besides, how absurd to be
sending out our youth to fortify and guard the borders of our country,
and then to build a city wall, which is very unhealthy, and is apt to
make people fancy that they may run there and rest in idleness, not
knowing that true repose comes from labour, and that idleness is only
a renewal of trouble. If, however, there must be a wall, the private
houses had better be so arranged as to form one wall; this will have an
agreeable aspect, and the building will be safer and more defensible.
These objects should be attended to at the foundation of the city. The
wardens of the city must see that they are carried out; and they
must also enforce cleanliness, and preserve the public buildings from
encroachments. Moreover, they must take care to let the rain flow
off easily, and must regulate other matters concerning the general
administration of the city. If any further enactments prove to be
necessary, the guardians of the law must supply them.
And now, having provided buildings, and having married our citizens,
we will proceed to speak of their mode of life. In a well-constituted
state, individuals cannot be allowed to live as they please. Why do
I say this? Because I am going to enact that the bridegroom shall not
absent himself from the common meals. They were instituted originally
on the occasion of some war, and, though deemed singular when first
founded, they have tended greatly to the security of states. There was a
difficulty in introducing them, but there is no difficulty in them now.
There is, however, another institution about which I would speak, if I
dared. I may preface my proposal by remarking that disorder in a state
is the source of all evil, and order of all good. Now in Sparta and
Crete there are common meals for men, and this, as I was saying, is a
divine and natural institution. But the women are left to themselves;
they live in dark places, and, being weaker, and therefore wickeder,
than men, they are at the bottom of a good deal more than half the evil
of states. This must be corrected, and the institution of common
meals extended to both sexes. But, in the present unfortunate state
of opinion, who would dare to establish them? And still more, who can