Laws
qualifications of property must be unequal, in order that offices and
contributions and distributions may be proportioned to the value of
each person's wealth, and not solely to the virtue of his ancestors or
himself, nor yet to the strength and beauty of his person, but also to
the measure of his wealth or poverty; and so by a law of inequality,
which will be in proportion to his wealth, he will receive honours
and offices as equally as possible, and there will be no quarrels
and disputes. To which end there should be four different standards
appointed according to the amount of property: there should be a first
and a second and a third and a fourth class, in which the citizens will
be placed, and they will be called by these or similar names: they may
continue in the same rank, or pass into another in any individual case,
on becoming richer from being poorer, or poorer from being richer. The
form of law which I should propose as the natural sequel would be as
follows:--In a state which is desirous of being saved from the greatest
of all plagues--not faction, but rather distraction;--there should
exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty, nor, again, excess of
wealth, for both are productive of both these evils. Now the legislator
should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or wealth. Let the
limit of poverty be the value of the lot; this ought to be preserved,
and no ruler, nor any one else who aspires after a reputation for
virtue, will allow the lot to be impaired in any case. This the
legislator gives as a measure, and he will permit a man to acquire
double or triple, or as much as four times the amount of this (compare
Arist. Pol.). But if a person have yet greater riches, whether he has
found them, or they have been given to him, or he has made them in
business, or has acquired by any stroke of fortune that which is in
excess of the measure, if he give back the surplus to the state, and to
the Gods who are the patrons of the state, he shall suffer no penalty or
loss of reputation; but if he disobeys this our law, any one who likes
may inform against him and receive half the value of the excess, and the
delinquent shall pay a sum equal to the excess out of his own property,
and the other half of the excess shall belong to the Gods. And let every
possession of every man, with the exception of the lot, be publicly
registered before the magistrates whom the law appoints, so that all
suits about money may be easy and quite simple.
The next thing to be noted is, that the city should be placed as nearly
as possible in the centre of the country; we should choose a place which
possesses what is suitable for a city, and this may easily be imagined
and described. Then we will divide the city into twelve portions, first
founding temples to Hestia, to Zeus and to Athene, in a spot which we
will call the Acropolis, and surround with a circular wall, making the
division of the entire city and country radiate from this point. The
twelve portions shall be equalized by the provision that those which are
of good land shall be smaller, while those of inferior quality shall be
larger. The number of the lots shall be 5040, and each of them shall
be divided into two, and every allotment shall be composed of two such
sections; one of land near the city, the other of land which is at a
distance (compare Arist. Pol.). This arrangement shall be carried out in
the following manner: The section which is near the city shall be added
to that which is on the borders, and form one lot, and the portion which
is next nearest shall be added to the portion which is next farthest;
and so of the rest. Moreover, in the two sections of the lots the
same principle of equalization of the soil ought to be maintained; the
badness and goodness shall be compensated by more and less. And the
legislator shall divide the citizens into twelve parts, and arrange the
rest of their property, as far as possible, so as to form twelve equal
parts; and there shall be a registration of all. After this they shall
assign twelve lots to twelve Gods, and call them by their names, and
dedicate to each God their several portions, and call the tribes after
them. And they shall distribute the twelve divisions of the city in the
same way in which they divided the country; and every man shall have
two habitations, one in the centre of the country, and the other at the
extremity. Enough of the manner of settlement.
Now we ought by all means to consider that there can never be such a
happy concurrence of circumstances as we have described; neither can
all things coincide as they are wanted. Men who will not take offence at
such a mode of living together, and will endure all their life long to
have their property fixed at a moderate limit, and to beget children in
accordance with our ordinances, and will allow themselves to be deprived
of gold and other things which the legislator, as is evident from these
enactments, will certainly forbid them; and will endure, further, the
situation of the land with the city in the middle and dwellings round
about;--all this is as if the legislator were telling his dreams, or
making a city and citizens of wax. There is truth in these objections,
and therefore every one should take to heart what I am going to say.
Once more, then, the legislator shall appear and address us:--'O my
friends,' he will say to us, 'do not suppose me ignorant that there is
a certain degree of truth in your words; but I am of opinion that, in
matters which are not present but future, he who exhibits a pattern of
that at which he aims, should in nothing fall short of the fairest
and truest; and that if he finds any part of this work impossible of
execution he should avoid and not execute it, but he should contrive to
carry out that which is nearest and most akin to it; you must allow the
legislator to perfect his design, and when it is perfected, you should
join with him in considering what part of his legislation is expedient
and what will arouse opposition; for surely the artist who is to be
deemed worthy of any regard at all, ought always to make his work
self-consistent.'
Having determined that there is to be a distribution into twelve
parts, let us now see in what way this may be accomplished. There is
no difficulty in perceiving that the twelve parts admit of the greatest
number of divisions of that which they include, or in seeing the other
numbers which are consequent upon them, and are produced out of them
up to 5040; wherefore the law ought to order phratries and demes and
villages, and also military ranks and movements, as well as coins and
measures, dry and liquid, and weights, so as to be commensurable
and agreeable to one another. Nor should we fear the appearance of
minuteness, if the law commands that all the vessels which a man
possesses should have a common measure, when we consider generally that
the divisions and variations of numbers have a use in respect of all
the variations of which they are susceptible, both in themselves and as
measures of height and depth, and in all sounds, and in motions, as well
those which proceed in a straight direction, upwards or downwards, as in
those which go round and round. The legislator is to consider all these
things and to bid the citizens, as far as possible, not to lose sight of
numerical order; for no single instrument of youthful education has such
mighty power, both as regards domestic economy and politics, and in the
arts, as the study of arithmetic. Above all, arithmetic stirs up him who
is by nature sleepy and dull, and makes him quick to learn, retentive,
shrewd, and aided by art divine he makes progress quite beyond his
natural powers (compare Republic). All such things, if only the
legislator, by other laws and institutions, can banish meanness and
covetousness from the souls of men, so that they can use them properly
and to their own good, will be excellent and suitable instruments of
education. But if he cannot, he will unintentionally create in them,
instead of wisdom, the habit of craft, which evil tendency may be
observed in the Egyptians and Phoenicians, and many other races, through
the general vulgarity of their pursuits and acquisitions, whether some
unworthy legislator of theirs has been the cause, or some impediment
of chance or nature. For we must not fail to observe, O Megillus and
Cleinias, that there is a difference in places, and that some beget
better men and others worse; and we must legislate accordingly. Some
places are subject to strange and fatal influences by reason of diverse
winds and violent heats, some by reason of waters; or, again, from the
character of the food given by the earth, which not only affects the
bodies of men for good or evil, but produces similar results in their
souls. And in all such qualities those spots excel in which there is a
divine inspiration, and in which the demigods have their appointed lots,
and are propitious, not adverse, to the settlers in them. To all these
matters the legislator, if he have any sense in him, will attend as
far as man can, and frame his laws accordingly. And this is what you,
Cleinias, must do, and to matters of this kind you must turn your mind
since you are going to colonize a new country.
CLEINIAS: Your words, Athenian Stranger, are excellent, and I will do as
you say.
BOOK VI.
ATHENIAN: And now having made an end of the preliminaries we will
proceed to the appointment of magistracies.
CLEINIAS: Very good.
ATHENIAN: In the ordering of a state there are two parts: first, the
number of the magistracies, and the mode of establishing them; and,
secondly, when they have been established, laws again will have to be
provided for each of them, suitable in nature and number. But before
electing the magistrates let us stop a little and say a word in season
about the election of them.
CLEINIAS: What have you got to say?
ATHENIAN: This is what I have to say;--every one can see, that
although the work of legislation is a most important matter, yet if a
well-ordered city superadd to good laws unsuitable offices, not only
will there be no use in having the good laws,--not only will they be
ridiculous and useless, but the greatest political injury and evil will
accrue from them.
CLEINIAS: Of course.
ATHENIAN: Then now, my friend, let us observe what will happen in
the constitution of out intended state. In the first place, you will
acknowledge that those who are duly appointed to magisterial power, and
their families, should severally have given satisfactory proof of what
they are, from youth upward until the time of election; in the next
place, those who are to elect should have been trained in habits of law,
and be well educated, that they may have a right judgment, and may be
able to select or reject men whom they approve or disapprove, as they
are worthy of either. But how can we imagine that those who are brought
together for the first time, and are strangers to one another, and also
uneducated, will avoid making mistakes in the choice of magistrates?
CLEINIAS: Impossible.
ATHENIAN: The matter is serious, and excuses will not serve the turn. I
will tell you, then, what you and I will have to do, since you, as
you tell me, with nine others, have offered to settle the new state on
behalf of the people of Crete, and I am to help you by the invention
of the present romance. I certainly should not like to leave the tale
wandering all over the world without a head;--a headless monster is such
a hideous thing.
CLEINIAS: Excellent, Stranger.
ATHENIAN: Yes; and I will be as good as my word.
CLEINIAS: Let us by all means do as you propose.
ATHENIAN: That we will, by the grace of God, if old age will only permit
us.
CLEINIAS: But God will be gracious.