Laws
soldier, as well as with the poet, and he is no mean master of the
art, or at least of the theory, of war (compare Laws; Republic), though
inclining rather to the Spartan than to the Athenian practice of
it (Laws). Of a supreme or master science which was to be the
'coping-stone' of the rest, few traces appear in the Laws. He seems to
have lost faith in it, or perhaps to have realized that the time for
such a science had not yet come, and that he was unable to fill up
the outline which he had sketched. There is no requirement that the
guardians of the law shall be philosophers, although they are to know
the unity of virtue, and the connexion of the sciences. Nor are we
told that the leisure of the citizens, when they are grown up, is to
be devoted to any intellectual employment. In this respect we note a
falling off from the Republic, but also there is 'the returning to it'
of which Aristotle speaks in the Politics. The public and family duties
of the citizens are to be their main business, and these would, no
doubt, take up a great deal more time than in the modern world we are
willing to allow to either of them. Plato no longer entertains the idea
of any regular training to be pursued under the superintendence of the
state from eighteen to thirty, or from thirty to thirty-five; he has
taken the first step downwards on 'Constitution Hill' (Republic). But
he maintains as earnestly as ever that 'to men living under this second
polity there remains the greatest of all works, the education of the
soul,' and that no bye-work should be allowed to interfere with it.
Night and day are not long enough for the consummation of it.
Few among us are either able or willing to carry education into later
life; five or six years spent at school, three or four at a university,
or in the preparation for a profession, an occasional attendance at a
lecture to which we are invited by friends when we have an hour to spare
from house-keeping or money-making--these comprise, as a matter of fact,
the education even of the educated; and then the lamp is extinguished
'more truly than Heracleitus' sun, never to be lighted again'
(Republic). The description which Plato gives in the Republic of the
state of adult education among his contemporaries may be applied almost
word for word to our own age. He does not however acquiesce in this
widely-spread want of a higher education; he would rather seek to make
every man something of a philosopher before he enters on the duties of
active life. But in the Laws he no longer prescribes any regular course
of study which is to be pursued in mature years. Nor does he remark that
the education of after-life is of another kind, and must consist with
the majority of the world rather in the improvement of character than in
the acquirement of knowledge. It comes from the study of ourselves
and other men: from moderation and experience: from reflection on
circumstances: from the pursuit of high aims: from a right use of the
opportunities of life. It is the preservation of what we have been,
and the addition of something more. The power of abstract study or
continuous thought is very rare, but such a training as this can be
given by every one to himself.
The singular passage in Book vii., in which Plato describes life as a
pastime, like many other passages in the Laws is imperfectly expressed.
Two thoughts seem to be struggling in his mind: first, the reflection,
to which he returns at the end of the passage, that men are playthings
or puppets, and that God only is the serious aim of human endeavours;
this suggests to him the afterthought that, although playthings, they
are the playthings of the Gods, and that this is the best of them. The
cynical, ironical fancy of the moment insensibly passes into a religious
sentiment. In another passage he says that life is a game of which God,
who is the player, shifts the pieces so as to procure the victory of
good on the whole. Or once more: Tragedies are acted on the stage; but
the best and noblest of them is the imitation of the noblest life, which
we affirm to be the life of our whole state. Again, life is a chorus, as
well as a sort of mystery, in which we have the Gods for playmates. Men
imagine that war is their serious pursuit, and they make war that they
may return to their amusements. But neither wars nor amusements are the
true satisfaction of men, which is to be found only in the society of
the Gods, in sacrificing to them and propitiating them. Like a Christian
ascetic, Plato seems to suppose that life should be passed wholly in
the enjoyment of divine things. And after meditating in amazement on the
sadness and unreality of the world, he adds, in a sort of parenthesis,
'Be cheerful, Sirs' (Shakespeare, Tempest.)
In one of the noblest passages of Plato, he speaks of the relation of
the sexes. Natural relations between members of the same family have
been established of old; a 'little word' has put a stop to incestuous
connexions. But unnatural unions of another kind continued to prevail
at Crete and Lacedaemon, and were even justified by the example of the
Gods. They, too, might be banished, if the feeling that they were unholy
and abominable could sink into the minds of men. The legislator is
to cry aloud, and spare not, 'Let not men fall below the level of the
beasts.' Plato does not shrink, like some modern philosophers, from
'carrying on war against the mightiest lusts of mankind;' neither does
he expect to extirpate them, but only to confine them to their natural
use and purpose, by the enactments of law, and by the influence of
public opinion. He will not feed them by an over-luxurious diet, nor
allow the healthier instincts of the soul to be corrupted by music
and poetry. The prohibition of excessive wealth is, as he says, a very
considerable gain in the way of temperance, nor does he allow of those
enthusiastic friendships between older and younger persons which in
his earlier writings appear to be alluded to with a certain degree of
amusement and without reproof (compare Introduction to the Symposium).
Sappho and Anacreon are celebrated by him in the Charmides and the
Phaedrus; but they would have been expelled from the Magnesian state.
Yet he does not suppose that the rule of absolute purity can be enforced
on all mankind. Something must be conceded to the weakness of human
nature. He therefore adopts a 'second legal standard of honourable and
dishonourable, having a second standard of right.' He would abolish
altogether 'the connexion of men with men...As to women, if any man has
to do with any but those who come into his house duly married by sacred
rites, and he offends publicly in the face of all mankind, we shall be
right in enacting that he be deprived of civic honours and privileges.'
But feeling also that it is impossible wholly to control the mightiest
passions of mankind,' Plato, like other legislators, makes a compromise.
The offender must not be found out; decency, if not morality, must
be respected. In this he appears to agree with the practice of all
civilized ages and countries. Much may be truly said by the moralist
on the comparative harm of open and concealed vice. Nor do we deny
that some moral evils are better turned out to the light, because,
like diseases, when exposed, they are more easily cured. And secrecy
introduces mystery which enormously exaggerates their power; a mere
animal want is thus elevated into a sentimental ideal. It may very
well be that a word spoken in season about things which are commonly
concealed may have an excellent effect. But having regard to the
education of youth, to the innocence of children, to the sensibilities
of women, to the decencies of society, Plato and the world in general
are not wrong in insisting that some of the worst vices, if they must
exist, should be kept out of sight; this, though only a second-best
rule, is a support to the weakness of human nature. There are some
things which may be whispered in the closet, but should not be shouted
on the housetop. It may be said of this, as of many other things, that
it is a great part of education to know to whom they are to be spoken
of, and when, and where.
BOOK IX. Punishments of offences and modes of procedure come next in
order. We have a sense of disgrace in making regulations for all the
details of crime in a virtuous and well-ordered state. But seeing
that we are legislating for men and not for Gods, there is no
uncharitableness in apprehending that some one of our citizens may have
a heart, like the seed which has touched the ox's horn, so hard as to be
impenetrable to the law. Let our first enactment be directed against the
robbing of temples. No well-educated citizen will be guilty of such a
crime, but one of their servants, or some stranger, may, and with a view
to him, and at the same time with a remoter eye to the general infirmity
of human nature, I will lay down the law, beginning with a prelude. To
the intending robber we will say--O sir, the complaint which troubles
you is not human; but some curse has fallen upon you, inherited from
the crimes of your ancestors, of which you must purge yourself: go and
sacrifice to the Gods, associate with the good, avoid the wicked; and if
you are cured of the fatal impulse, well; but if not, acknowledge death
to be better than life, and depart.
These are the accents, soft and low, in which we address the would-be
criminal. And if he will not listen, then cry aloud as with the sound of
a trumpet: Whosoever robs a temple, if he be a slave or foreigner shall
be branded in the face and hands, and scourged, and cast naked beyond
the border. And perhaps this may improve him: for the law aims either
at the reformation of the criminal, or the repression of crime. No
punishment is designed to inflict useless injury. But if the offender be
a citizen, he must be incurable, and for him death is the only fitting
penalty. His iniquity, however, shall not be visited on his children,
nor shall his property be confiscated.
As to the exaction of penalties, any person who is fined for an offence
shall not be liable to pay the fine, unless he have property in excess
of his lot. For the lots must never go uncultivated for lack of means;
the guardians of the law are to provide against this. If a fine is
inflicted upon a man which he cannot pay, and for which his friends
are unwilling to give security, he shall be imprisoned and otherwise
dishonoured. But no criminal shall go unpunished:--whether death, or
imprisonment, or stripes, or fines, or the stocks, or banishment to a
remote temple, be the penalty. Capital offences shall come under the
cognizance of the guardians of the law, and a college of the best of the
last year's magistrates. The order of suits and similar details we shall
leave to the lawgivers of the future, and only determine the mode of
voting. The judges are to sit in order of seniority, and the proceedings
shall begin with the speeches of the plaintiff and the defendant; and
then the judges, beginning with the eldest, shall ask questions and
collect evidence during three days, which, at the end of each day, shall
be deposited in writing under their seals on the altar of Hestia; and
when they have evidence enough, after a solemn declaration that they
will decide justly, they shall vote and end the case. The votes are to
be given openly in the presence of the citizens.
Next to religion, the preservation of the constitution is the first
object of the law. The greatest enemy of the state is he who attempts to
set up a tyrant, or breeds plots and conspiracies; not far below him in
guilt is a magistrate who either knowingly, or in ignorance, fails to
bring the offender to justice. Any one who is good for anything will