Laws
appointed, hold office and go to the temples every day, punishing all
offenders, male or female, who are slaves or strangers, by the help of
some of the public slaves; but if any citizen disputes the punishment,
let her bring him before the wardens of the city; or, if there be no
dispute, let her punish him herself. After the age of six years the time
has arrived for the separation of the sexes--let boys live with boys,
and girls in like manner with girls. Now they must begin to learn--the
boys going to teachers of horsemanship and the use of the bow, the
javelin, and sling, and the girls too, if they do not object, at any
rate until they know how to manage these weapons, and especially how to
handle heavy arms; for I may note, that the practice which now prevails
is almost universally misunderstood.
CLEINIAS: In what respect?
ATHENIAN: In that the right and left hand are supposed to be by nature
differently suited for our various uses of them; whereas no difference
is found in the use of the feet and the lower limbs; but in the use of
the hands we are, as it were, maimed by the folly of nurses and mothers;
for although our several limbs are by nature balanced, we create
a difference in them by bad habit. In some cases this is of no
consequence, as, for example, when we hold the lyre in the left hand,
and the plectrum in the right, but it is downright folly to make the
same distinction in other cases. The custom of the Scythians proves our
error; for they not only hold the bow from them with the left hand and
draw the arrow to them with their right, but use either hand for both
purposes. And there are many similar examples in charioteering and other
things, from which we may learn that those who make the left side weaker
than the right act contrary to nature. In the case of the plectrum,
which is of horn only, and similar instruments, as I was saying, it
is of no consequence, but makes a great difference, and may be of very
great importance to the warrior who has to use iron weapons, bows and
javelins, and the like; above all, when in heavy armour, he has to fight
against heavy armour. And there is a very great difference between one
who has learnt and one who has not, and between one who has been trained
in gymnastic exercises and one who has not been. For as he who is
perfectly skilled in the Pancratium or boxing or wrestling, is not
unable to fight from his left side, and does not limp and draggle
in confusion when his opponent makes him change his position, so in
heavy-armed fighting, and in all other things, if I am not mistaken, the
like holds--he who has these double powers of attack and defence ought
not in any case to leave them either unused or untrained, if he can
help; and if a person had the nature of Geryon or Briareus he ought
to be able with his hundred hands to throw a hundred darts. Now, the
magistrates, male and female, should see to all these things, the women
superintending the nursing and amusements of the children, and the men
superintending their education, that all of them, boys and girls alike,
may be sound hand and foot, and may not, if they can help, spoil the
gifts of nature by bad habits.
Education has two branches--one of gymnastic, which is concerned with
the body, and the other of music, which is designed for the improvement
of the soul. And gymnastic has also two branches--dancing and wrestling;
and one sort of dancing imitates musical recitation, and aims at
preserving dignity and freedom, the other aims at producing health,
agility, and beauty in the limbs and parts of the body, giving the
proper flexion and extension to each of them, a harmonious motion being
diffused everywhere, and forming a suitable accompaniment to the dance.
As regards wrestling, the tricks which Antaeus and Cercyon devised in
their systems out of a vain spirit of competition, or the tricks of
boxing which Epeius or Amycus invented, are useless and unsuitable for
war, and do not deserve to have much said about them; but the art of
wrestling erect and keeping free the neck and hands and sides, working
with energy and constancy, with a composed strength, for the sake of
health--these are always useful, and are not to be neglected, but to
be enjoined alike on masters and scholars, when we reach that part
of legislation; and we will desire the one to give their instructions
freely, and the others to receive them thankfully. Nor, again, must we
omit suitable imitations of war in our choruses; here in Crete you have
the armed dances of the Curetes, and the Lacedaemonians have those of
the Dioscuri. And our virgin lady, delighting in the amusement of the
dance, thought it not fit to amuse herself with empty hands; she must be
clothed in a complete suit of armour, and in this attire go through
the dance; and youths and maidens should in every respect imitate her,
esteeming highly the favour of the Goddess, both with a view to the
necessities of war, and to festive occasions: it will be right also for
the boys, until such time as they go out to war, to make processions and
supplications to all the Gods in goodly array, armed and on horseback,
in dances and marches, fast or slow, offering up prayers to the Gods
and to the sons of Gods; and also engaging in contests and preludes of
contests, if at all, with these objects. For these sorts of exercises,
and no others, are useful both in peace and war, and are beneficial
alike to states and to private houses. But other labours and sports and
exercises of the body are unworthy of freemen, O Megillus and Cleinias.
I have now completely described the kind of gymnastic which I said
at first ought to be described; if you know of any better, will you
communicate your thoughts?
CLEINIAS: It is not easy, Stranger, to put aside these principles of
gymnastic and wrestling and to enunciate better ones.
ATHENIAN: Now we must say what has yet to be said about the gifts of the
Muses and of Apollo: before, we fancied that we had said all, and that
gymnastic alone remained; but now we see clearly what points have been
omitted, and should be first proclaimed; of these, then, let us proceed
to speak.
CLEINIAS: By all means.
ATHENIAN: Let me tell you once more--although you have heard me say the
same before--that caution must be always exercised, both by the speaker
and by the hearer, about anything that is very singular and unusual. For
my tale is one which many a man would be afraid to tell, and yet I have
a confidence which makes me go on.
CLEINIAS: What have you to say, Stranger?
ATHENIAN: I say that in states generally no one has observed that the
plays of childhood have a great deal to do with the permanence or want
of permanence in legislation. For when plays are ordered with a view to
children having the same plays, and amusing themselves after the same
manner, and finding delight in the same playthings, the more solemn
institutions of the state are allowed to remain undisturbed. Whereas
if sports are disturbed, and innovations are made in them, and they
constantly change, and the young never speak of their having the same
likings, or the same established notions of good and bad taste, either
in the bearing of their bodies or in their dress, but he who devises
something new and out of the way in figures and colours and the like is
held in special honour, we may truly say that no greater evil can happen
in a state; for he who changes the sports is secretly changing the
manners of the young, and making the old to be dishonoured among them
and the new to be honoured. And I affirm that there is nothing which is
a greater injury to all states than saying or thinking thus. Will you
hear me tell how great I deem the evil to be?
CLEINIAS: You mean the evil of blaming antiquity in states?
ATHENIAN: Exactly.
CLEINIAS: If you are speaking of that, you will find in us hearers
who are disposed to receive what you say not unfavourably but most
favourably.
ATHENIAN: I should expect so.
CLEINIAS: Proceed.
ATHENIAN: Well, then, let us give all the greater heed to one another's
words. The argument affirms that any change whatever except from evil
is the most dangerous of all things; this is true in the case of the
seasons and of the winds, in the management of our bodies and the habits
of our minds--true of all things except, as I said before, of the bad.
He who looks at the constitution of individuals accustomed to eat any
sort of meat, or drink any drink, or to do any work which they can get,
may see that they are at first disordered by them, but afterwards, as
time goes on, their bodies grow adapted to them, and they learn to know
and like variety, and have good health and enjoyment of life; and if
ever afterwards they are confined again to a superior diet, at first
they are troubled with disorders, and with difficulty become habituated
to their new food. A similar principle we may imagine to hold good about
the minds of men and the natures of their souls. For when they have
been brought up in certain laws, which by some Divine Providence have
remained unchanged during long ages, so that no one has any memory or
tradition of their ever having been otherwise than they are, then every
one is afraid and ashamed to change that which is established. The
legislator must somehow find a way of implanting this reverence for
antiquity, and I would propose the following way: People are apt to
fancy, as I was saying before, that when the plays of children are
altered they are merely plays, not seeing that the most serious and
detrimental consequences arise out of the change; and they readily
comply with the child's wishes instead of deterring him, not considering
that these children who make innovations in their games, when they grow
up to be men, will be different from the last generation of children,
and, being different, will desire a different sort of life, and under
the influence of this desire will want other institutions and laws; and
no one of them reflects that there will follow what I just now called
the greatest of evils to states. Changes in bodily fashions are no such
serious evils, but frequent changes in the praise and censure of manners
are the greatest of evils, and require the utmost prevision.
CLEINIAS: To be sure.
ATHENIAN: And now do we still hold to our former assertion, that rhythms
and music in general are imitations of good and evil characters in men?
What say you?
CLEINIAS: That is the only doctrine which we can admit.
ATHENIAN: Must we not, then, try in every possible way to prevent our
youth from even desiring to imitate new modes either in dance or song?
nor must any one be allowed to offer them varieties of pleasures.
CLEINIAS: Most true.
ATHENIAN: Can any of us imagine a better mode of effecting this object
than that of the Egyptians?
CLEINIAS: What is their method?
ATHENIAN: To consecrate every sort of dance or melody. First we should
ordain festivals--calculating for the year what they ought to be, and
at what time, and in honour of what Gods, sons of Gods, and heroes they
ought to be celebrated; and, in the next place, what hymns ought to
be sung at the several sacrifices, and with what dances the particular
festival is to be honoured. This has to be arranged at first by certain
persons, and, when arranged, the whole assembly of the citizens are to
offer sacrifices and libations to the Fates and all the other Gods, and
to consecrate the several odes to Gods and heroes: and if any one
offers any other hymns or dances to any one of the Gods, the priests
and priestesses, acting in concert with the guardians of the law, shall,
with the sanction of religion and the law, exclude him, and he who is
excluded, if he do not submit, shall be liable all his life long to have