Laws
and, whether good or bad, can only be judged of rightly by the pleasure
of the hearer (compare Republic). And by composing such licentious
works, and adding to them words as licentious, they have inspired the
multitude with lawlessness and boldness, and made them fancy that they
can judge for themselves about melody and song. And in this way
the theatres from being mute have become vocal, as though they had
understanding of good and bad in music and poetry; and instead of an
aristocracy, an evil sort of theatrocracy has grown up (compare Arist.
Pol.). For if the democracy which judged had only consisted of educated
persons, no fatal harm would have been done; but in music there
first arose the universal conceit of omniscience and general
lawlessness;--freedom came following afterwards, and men, fancying
that they knew what they did not know, had no longer any fear, and the
absence of fear begets shamelessness. For what is this shamelessness,
which is so evil a thing, but the insolent refusal to regard the opinion
of the better by reason of an over-daring sort of liberty?
MEGILLUS: Very true.
ATHENIAN: Consequent upon this freedom comes the other freedom, of
disobedience to rulers (compare Republic); and then the attempt to
escape the control and exhortation of father, mother, elders, and when
near the end, the control of the laws also; and at the very end there
is the contempt of oaths and pledges, and no regard at all for the
Gods,--herein they exhibit and imitate the old so-called Titanic nature,
and come to the same point as the Titans when they rebelled against God,
leading a life of endless evils. But why have I said all this? I ask,
because the argument ought to be pulled up from time to time, and not
be allowed to run away, but held with bit and bridle, and then we shall
not, as the proverb says, fall off our ass. Let us then once more ask
the question, To what end has all this been said?
MEGILLUS: Very good.
ATHENIAN: This, then, has been said for the sake--
MEGILLUS: Of what?
ATHENIAN: We were maintaining that the lawgiver ought to have three
things in view: first, that the city for which he legislates should be
free; and secondly, be at unity with herself; and thirdly, should have
understanding;--these were our principles, were they not?
MEGILLUS: Certainly.
ATHENIAN: With a view to this we selected two kinds of government,
the one the most despotic, and the other the most free; and now we are
considering which of them is the right form: we took a mean in both
cases, of despotism in the one, and of liberty in the other, and we saw
that in a mean they attained their perfection; but that when they were
carried to the extreme of either, slavery or licence, neither party were
the gainers.
MEGILLUS: Very true.
ATHENIAN: And that was our reason for considering the settlement of
the Dorian army, and of the city built by Dardanus at the foot of the
mountains, and the removal of cities to the seashore, and of our mention
of the first men, who were the survivors of the deluge. And all that was
previously said about music and drinking, and what preceded, was said
with the view of seeing how a state might be best administered, and
how an individual might best order his own life. And now, Megillus and
Cleinias, how can we put to the proof the value of our words?
CLEINIAS: Stranger, I think that I see how a proof of their value may be
obtained. This discussion of ours appears to me to have been singularly
fortunate, and just what I at this moment want; most auspiciously have
you and my friend Megillus come in my way. For I will tell you what
has happened to me; and I regard the coincidence as a sort of omen.
The greater part of Crete is going to send out a colony, and they have
entrusted the management of the affair to the Cnosians; and the Cnosian
government to me and nine others. And they desire us to give them any
laws which we please, whether taken from the Cretan model or from
any other; and they do not mind about their being foreign if they
are better. Grant me then this favour, which will also be a gain to
yourselves:--Let us make a selection from what has been said, and then
let us imagine a State of which we will suppose ourselves to be the
original founders. Thus we shall proceed with our enquiry, and, at
the same time, I may have the use of the framework which you are
constructing, for the city which is in contemplation.
ATHENIAN: Good news, Cleinias; if Megillus has no objection, you may be
sure that I will do all in my power to please you.
CLEINIAS: Thank you.
MEGILLUS: And so will I.
CLEINIAS: Excellent; and now let us begin to frame the State.
BOOK IV.
ATHENIAN: And now, what will this city be? I do not mean to ask what is
or will hereafter be the name of the place; that may be determined
by the accident of locality or of the original settlement--a river or
fountain, or some local deity may give the sanction of a name to the
newly-founded city; but I do want to know what the situation is, whether
maritime or inland.
CLEINIAS: I should imagine, Stranger, that the city of which we are
speaking is about eighty stadia distant from the sea.
ATHENIAN: And are there harbours on the seaboard?
CLEINIAS: Excellent harbours, Stranger; there could not be better.
ATHENIAN: Alas! what a prospect! And is the surrounding country
productive, or in need of importations?
CLEINIAS: Hardly in need of anything.
ATHENIAN: And is there any neighbouring State?
CLEINIAS: None whatever, and that is the reason for selecting the place;
in days of old, there was a migration of the inhabitants, and the region
has been deserted from time immemorial.
ATHENIAN: And has the place a fair proportion of hill, and plain, and
wood?
CLEINIAS: Like the rest of Crete in that.
ATHENIAN: You mean to say that there is more rock than plain?
CLEINIAS: Exactly.
ATHENIAN: Then there is some hope that your citizens may be virtuous:
had you been on the sea, and well provided with harbours, and an
importing rather than a producing country, some mighty saviour would
have been needed, and lawgivers more than mortal, if you were ever to
have a chance of preserving your state from degeneracy and discordance
of manners (compare Ar. Pol.). But there is comfort in the eighty
stadia; although the sea is too near, especially if, as you say, the
harbours are so good. Still we may be content. The sea is pleasant
enough as a daily companion, but has indeed also a bitter and brackish
quality; filling the streets with merchants and shopkeepers, and
begetting in the souls of men uncertain and unfaithful ways--making the
state unfriendly and unfaithful both to her own citizens, and also
to other nations. There is a consolation, therefore, in the country
producing all things at home; and yet, owing to the ruggedness of
the soil, not providing anything in great abundance. Had there been
abundance, there might have been a great export trade, and a great
return of gold and silver; which, as we may safely affirm, has the most
fatal results on a State whose aim is the attainment of just and noble
sentiments: this was said by us, if you remember, in the previous
discussion.
CLEINIAS: I remember, and am of opinion that we both were and are in the
right.
ATHENIAN: Well, but let me ask, how is the country supplied with timber
for ship-building?
CLEINIAS: There is no fir of any consequence, nor pine, and not much
cypress; and you will find very little stone-pine or plane-wood, which
shipwrights always require for the interior of ships.
ATHENIAN: These are also natural advantages.
CLEINIAS: Why so?
ATHENIAN: Because no city ought to be easily able to imitate its enemies
in what is mischievous.
CLEINIAS: How does that bear upon any of the matters of which we have
been speaking?
ATHENIAN: Remember, my good friend, what I said at first about the
Cretan laws, that they looked to one thing only, and this, as you both
agreed, was war; and I replied that such laws, in so far as they tended
to promote virtue, were good; but in that they regarded a part only, and
not the whole of virtue, I disapproved of them. And now I hope that
you in your turn will follow and watch me if I legislate with a view
to anything but virtue, or with a view to a part of virtue only. For I
consider that the true lawgiver, like an archer, aims only at that on
which some eternal beauty is always attending, and dismisses everything
else, whether wealth or any other benefit, when separated from virtue.
I was saying that the imitation of enemies was a bad thing; and I was
thinking of a case in which a maritime people are harassed by enemies,
as the Athenians were by Minos (I do not speak from any desire to recall
past grievances); but he, as we know, was a great naval potentate, who
compelled the inhabitants of Attica to pay him a cruel tribute; and
in those days they had no ships of war as they now have, nor was the
country filled with ship-timber, and therefore they could not readily
build them. Hence they could not learn how to imitate their enemy at
sea, and in this way, becoming sailors themselves, directly repel their
enemies. Better for them to have lost many times over the seven youths,
than that heavy-armed and stationary troops should have been turned into
sailors, and accustomed to be often leaping on shore, and again to come
running back to their ships; or should have fancied that there was no
disgrace in not awaiting the attack of an enemy and dying boldly; and
that there were good reasons, and plenty of them, for a man throwing
away his arms, and betaking himself to flight,--which is not
dishonourable, as people say, at certain times. This is the language of
naval warfare, and is anything but worthy of extraordinary praise. For
we should not teach bad habits, least of all to the best part of the
citizens. You may learn the evil of such a practice from Homer, by whom
Odysseus is introduced, rebuking Agamemnon, because he desires to draw
down the ships to the sea at a time when the Achaeans are hard pressed
by the Trojans,--he gets angry with him, and says:
'Who, at a time when the battle is in full cry, biddest to drag the
well-benched ships into the sea, that the prayers of the Trojans may be
accomplished yet more, and high ruin fall upon us. For the Achaeans will
not maintain the battle, when the ships are drawn into the sea, but they
will look behind and will cease from strife; in that the counsel which
you give will prove injurious.'
You see that he quite knew triremes on the sea, in the neighbourhood of
fighting men, to be an evil;--lions might be trained in that way to fly
from a herd of deer. Moreover, naval powers which owe their safety to
ships, do not give honour to that sort of warlike excellence which is
most deserving of it. For he who owes his safety to the pilot and the
captain, and the oarsman, and all sorts of rather inferior persons,
cannot rightly give honour to whom honour is due. But how can a state be
in a right condition which cannot justly award honour?
CLEINIAS: It is hardly possible, I admit; and yet, Stranger, we Cretans
are in the habit of saying that the battle of Salamis was the salvation
of Hellas.
ATHENIAN: Why, yes; and that is an opinion which is widely spread both
among Hellenes and barbarians. But Megillus and I say rather, that the
battle of Marathon was the beginning, and the battle of Plataea the
completion, of the great deliverance, and that these battles by
land made the Hellenes better; whereas the sea-fights of Salamis and
Artemisium--for I may as well put them both together--made them no
better, if I may say so without offence about the battles which helped
to save us. And in estimating the goodness of a state, we regard both