Book 12 - Platonic Foundation

Laws

––––– BOOK XII –––––

ATHENIAN: If someone acting as an ambassador or envoy executes his embassy unfaithfully by

lying about his city to another city, or by failing to convey the actual representations he was

sent to convey, or he obviously misreports the message from hostile or friendly cities in his

role as ambassador or envoy, let the offender be charged with unlawful impiety against the

messages and edicts of Zeus and Hermes. If he is convicted, there should be an assessment

of the fine he should pay or the punishment he should suffer. Theft of property is unworthy

of a free person, while open robbery is a disgrace. No son of Zeus, taking delight in fraud or

violence, has ever engaged in either of these. So, let no one who commits such offences be

misled or deceived, by the poets or any other perverse storytellers, and come to believe that

thieving and violence is the very behaviour of the gods themselves, rather than a shameful

act. Indeed, this is neither true nor plausible, and whoever does this sort of thing in contra-

vention of the law is no god, nor indeed a child of a god. And it belongs to the lawgiver to

be more aware of this than all the poets put together. Now, whoever heeds our precept is

fortunate and endures in good fortune, while whoever heeds it not shall come thereafter

into conflict with the following law. The penalty is to be the same whether theft of public

property be on a large scale or a small scale. For when someone steals something minor, he

does so with the same desire but with less capacity, while the person who takes up something

major, something he himself has not put down, is wholly unjust. So the law sees fit to impose

a lesser penalty on one than on the other, not because of the scale of the theft, but on the

grounds that one is perhaps curable while the other is beyond cure. Accordingly, if someone

secures a conviction in court against a slave or foreigner for theft of public property, the

court is to decide what fine should be paid or what punishment should be suffered since the

person is in all probability curable, while a citizen, brought up as our citizens will be brought

up, once convicted of plundering or doing violence to his fatherland, whether he is caught

in the act or not, is to be put to death as someone who is more or less beyond cure.

When it comes to military organisation, much deliberation and many laws are in

order, but what’s most important is that everyone, male or female, should always be under

authority. Nor should anyone develop in soul the habit of acting autonomously, just by

themselves, either in serious matters or in play. Rather, both in time of war and in time of

peace, they should live looking always to and following an authority, and be guided thereby

even in the slightest details such as halting when ordered to do so, advancing, exercising,

washing, eating, awakening at night for guard duty or to act as a messenger, and, in the face

of danger, neither pursuing nor retreating without the commander’s signal. In a word, he is

to teach his soul, by habituation, to have no awareness or appreciation whatsoever of per-

forming any action separately from other people, so that life is lived as much as possible

together, collectively, in a community of all with all. For there is not, nor shall there ever

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Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

be, a means of ensuring our safety and victory in war that is as powerful, as good, or as

effective as this. So, in peacetime, the practice of ruling others and being under someone

else’s authority should be encouraged from earliest childhood, while absence of authority

should be eradicated entirely from human life, and indeed from the life of all animals under

human control. Furthermore, all choral dances should be performed with an eye to military

excellence, and all training in dexterity and fortitude should be for the same purpose, as

well as the patient toleration of the pangs of hunger and thirst, of heat and cold, and of hard

beds. But what is most important is not to destroy the capacity of the head and feet to pro-

duce and grow their own felt and footwear by swathing them in unnatural coverings. For

these extremities, when kept safe, preserve the power of the entire body at its utmost, while

their neglect has the opposite effect. One is the body’s greatest servant, while the other is

its supreme ruler, naturally holding all of its dominant sense organs.

Such is the praise of the military life to which the young should have decided to lis-

ten. The laws, on the other hand, are as follows: whoever is enlisted or assigned any role is

to perform military service. If anyone, out of cowardice, is absent without the permission

of the generals, he is to be tried for desertion before the army officers when they return

from the campaign, and each division that served on the campaign is to judge the cases sep-

arately. Hoplites, cavalry, and the various other divisions of the military are all to follow

the same procedure – hoplites being brought before hoplites, cavalrymen before cavalrymen,

and so on for all the others, each appearing before their own colleagues. Whoever is con-

victed is to be debarred from ever competing for any distinctions, from prosecuting another

for desertion, or from being an accuser in such cases. Furthermore, the court is to determine

what additional penalty he is to suffer or what fine he is to pay. After this, once the trials

for desertion have been decided, the officers of each division are to meet again, and whoever

so wishes may be judged by his own peers in relation to his military distinctions, furnishing

no evidence or supporting witness statements from any previous wars, apart from the cam-

paign they have just concluded. The victory prize in such cases shall be an olive wreath,

which he may hang with an inscription in any temple of the gods of war he chooses, to bear

witness for the rest of his life that he has been awarded the highest of military distinctions,

or the second or third highest as the case may be. If someone involved in a military cam-

paign goes home before the appointed time without permission of his officers, he is to stand

trial for leaving the field, before the same people who try the cases of desertion, and, on

conviction, the same penalties as prescribed previously are to be imposed. Anyone bringing

a legal action against another should of course be as fearful as he can of the imposition of

an undeserved penalty, whether intended or unintended. For justice is indeed, and has been

truly called, the virgin daughter of reverence. And by their very nature, reverence and justice

abhor falsehood. So, we should in general be careful of transgressions against justice, espe-

cially in the case of loss of weapons in battle, lest we completely misjudge cases where loss

of weapons was unavoidable, censure such losses as shameful, and visit undeserved retri-

bution upon an innocent man.

Now, it is not at all easy to distinguish between these various cases. Nevertheless,

the law must somehow attempt to differentiate one from the other. We may use a story to

illustrate the point. Suppose Patroclus, having been brought to his tent without his armour,

had revived there, as has happened to countless others, it would have been possible for the

base folk of the time to censure the son of Menoetios for losing the weapons, which accord-

ing to the poet had been given to Peleus by the gods as a dowry with his wife, Thetis.

There

are people, too, who lose their weaponry when they are thrown from a height, or at sea, or

from the sudden impact received from a great gush of water in a storm. Or one could come

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up with an endless variety of similar excuses to gloss over a suspicious misfortune. It is

necessary then to distinguish, as best we can, the more significant and problematic misfor-

tune from its opposite. Now, the application of these epithets as a criticism does involve a

distinction of sorts. For it would not be justifiable, in all cases, to refer to such a person as

a ‘shield-thrower’ rather than as someone who had merely lost his weapons. For the person

who loses his weapons under duress would not be a shield-thrower in the same way as

someone who discards them willingly. The two cases are completely and entirely different.

So let the law state the following: if someone, in possession of weapons, is overtaken by

the enemy combatants and does not turn around and defend himself, but deliberately drops

his weapons or throws them away – winning a life of shame through his cowardice, rather

than a noble and blessed death through sheer courage – there shall be punishment for such

loss of weapons that are thrown away. But in the other case we mentioned, the judge is to

ensure that an investigation is carried out. Indeed, the coward should always be punished

in order to make him a better man, but there is no point in punishing the unfortunate. But

what penalty would be appropriate for someone who throws away such powerful defensive

weaponry in an act of cowardice? Now, it is said that a god once transformed Caeneus of

Thessaly,

a woman, into a man, and although no human can do the opposite and turn a

man into a woman, if this penalty had been inflicted upon the fellow who threw away his

shield, and he had been turned into a woman, that would in a way have been the most fitting

penalty of all. But as matters stand, to get as close to this arrangement as possible because

of the man’s attachment to life, let the following law apply to such a person so that he may

live on without peril for as long as possible, and put up with being reviled as a coward. A

man who is convicted of shamefully throwing away his weapons of war shall not, thereafter,

be employed as a soldier by any general or any other army officer, nor may he be assigned

any other military position whatsoever. Otherwise, whoever gives the coward a posting is

to be fined one thousand drachmas by the auditor if he belongs to the highest property class,

five hundred if he belongs to the second, three hundred if he belongs to the third and one

hundred if he belongs to the fourth. The convicted soldier, besides being excluded by nature

from perilous manly exploits, shall also pay a fine of one thousand drachmas if he belongs

to the highest property class, five hundred if he belongs to the second, three hundred if he

belongs to the third, and one hundred as before if he belongs to the fourth.

What do we have to say that is appropriate to the auditors, some of whom are

appointed by lot for one year, while others are appointed from a panel for a number of

years? Who will be competent to audit such people if one of them somehow acts awry,

weighed down by the burden of his office and his own inability to give the role what it

deserves? Now, although it is not at all easy to find an overseer for overseers, someone who

is pre-eminent in excellence, we should nevertheless make the effort to find some auditors

who are divine. This is how matters stand. There are many critical factors involved in the

dissolution of a political system, just as there are in the case of a ship or a living organism,

with their stays and braces and tendons and sinews, a single nature dispersed multifariously

and referred to by a variety of names. One significant factor critical in the preservation of

a political system, or its dissolution and ruination, are auditors. For if those who audit the

officials are better than them, and this role is exercised irreproachably with blameless jus-

tice, then the entire country and city thrives and is happy. But if the auditing of the officials

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–––––

In the Iliad, Patroclus was killed by Hector while wearing the armour of his companion, Achilles. Iliad xvii.125 ff,

xviii.78 ff.

According to legend, Caeneus was originally a woman, Caenis, who was transformed into an invincible man by Poseidon

at her request.

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

is conducted improperly, then justice, which holds all civic functions together, is subverted,

every public office is torn apart from every other, and they are no longer inclined in the same

direction, thus turning the city into many cities rather than one, so full of faction that it is

soon destroyed. That’s why auditors need to be totally exemplary in all forms of excellence.

Let’s arrange, then, to produce these people in some such manner as this. Each year

after the summer solstice, the entire city should assemble in the common precinct of Helios

and Apollo to present to the god, from among themselves, three men over fifty years of

age, apart from themselves, whom each of them regards as the best in every respect. They

shall choose half of those who have been nominated, those who obtain the most votes if

their number is even. If their number is odd, the person with the least votes shall be elimi-

nated, retaining half the nominees as determined by the number of votes cast. If some

receive an equal number of votes, thus making the half too large, the excess is to be elimi-

nated by removing the youngest, while the rest are to be carried forward to another vote.

And the process is to be repeated until three people with an unequal number of votes remain.

If all three, or two of them, get the same vote, they shall entrust the outcome to benign fate

and to fortune by deciding first, second and third place by lot, and crown them with olive

wreaths. Once the appointments have been made, they are to proclaim to everyone that the

city of the Magnesians, safe once more under God, is presenting its three foremost person-

ages to Helios, and according to the ancient law it dedicates the pick of its manhood as a

joint offering to Apollo and Helios for as long as they hold judicial office. Twelve such

auditors shall be appointed in the first year, each to hold office until they turn seventy-five,

and thereafter three new members are to be added each year. The auditors, having divided

the officials into twelve groups, are to scrutinise them by applying every test worthy of free

people. For as long as they are serving as auditors, they should reside in the very precinct

of Apollo and Helios, in which they were elected. Once they have passed judgement upon

the city officials, whilst acting sometimes on their own, sometimes in consultation with one

another, they are to display a written record in the marketplace stating what punishment or

fine each official is to incur according to the decision of the auditors. Any official who

believes he has been judged unjustly may bring the auditors before the court of selected

judges, and, if he is acquitted of the auditors’ charges, he may, if he wishes, take an action

against the auditors themselves. But if he is convicted, and he has already been sentenced

to death by the auditors, then he need simply be executed, while in the case of other penalties

that are capable of being doubled, let him pay double the penalty.

It is necessary to hear about audits of these auditors themselves, and how they are to

be conducted. These people, who have been deemed worthy of the highest distinctions by

the entire city, are to have seats of honour for life at all the festivals. From this group of

people, official representatives are to be sent out to any sacrifices common to all Greeks,

to any spectacles, or to any other sacred gatherings. They alone, of all the city’s inhabitants,

are to be adorned with a laurel wreath. All are to be priests of Apollo and Helios, and the

chief priest for the year is to be the one who comes first in that year’s election, and the year

shall be recorded under his name as a means of reckoning the date for as long as the city

survives. When they die, their lying in state, funeral procession and burial are to be different

from those of the other citizens. The raiment shall be all white, and there shall be no dirges

or laments. A chorus of fifteen maidens and another of fifteen youths, each standing about

the bier, shall in turn chant a sort of hymn of praise to the priests celebrating them in song

throughout the entire day. At dawn the next day, the bier itself is to be escorted to the tomb

by one hundred youths belonging to the gymnasia, as chosen by the relatives of the

deceased, led by the unwed soldiers with their military accompaniments – cavalrymen with

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their horses, hoplites with their armour, and so on for all the others. Around the bier, the

boys, being in front, shall sing the national chant, with the maidens following behind, while

the women past childbearing come next. After this shall come the priests and priestesses,

even though they are excluded from other burials, as if they were going to an undefiled

tomb, provided the voice of the Pythian prophetess lends it support. Their tomb is to be

constructed beneath the earth, oblong, made of porous stone, as ageless as can be, fitted

with stone benches placed side by side. Once the blessed dead have been laid there, earth

shall be piled up in a circle, and they shall plant a grove of trees round about, except at one

end so that the tomb may be extended in that direction, with no mound covering those who

are placed there. Every year they shall hold a contest in music, gymnastics and horse-racing

in their honour.

These are the honours due to those who have passed scrutiny at their audit. But if

any of them, relying upon the fact of their election, proves himself all too human by turning

bad after they have been appointed, the law shall ordain that anyone who wishes may pros-

ecute them, and the trial shall be conducted in a court constituted as follows. Its first mem-

bers shall be the guardians of the law, then the auditors themselves who are still alive, and

finally the court of selected judges. Whoever brings a charge against someone else is to

state that such and such a person is unworthy of those distinctions, and of the office he

holds. And if he is found guilty as charged, he is to be deprived of his office, of that burial,

and of the other honours bestowed upon him. But if the prosecutor fails to obtain one fifth

of the votes, he is to be fined twelve minae if he belongs to the highest property class, eight

if he belongs to the second highest, six minae for the third and three for the fourth.

Rhadamanthus is worthy of our admiration for the way he is said to have judged

legal cases, because he discerned that human beings at the time were quite certain of the

existence of the gods, as well they might be, since most people in those days were the off-

spring of gods, himself included, as the story goes. He seems then to have concluded that

he should place his trust, not in any human judges, but in the gods, and so he arrived at

simple, quick judgements. For he administered an oath to the contending parties regarding

each issue under dispute, and thus secured a rapid, secure resolution. But nowadays, we

say, a portion of the human race does not believe in the gods at all, while others are of the

view that they don’t concern themselves with us humans, while the opinion of the worst

people, who are the most numerous, is that in return for some paltry sacrifices and flatteries,

the gods help them to commit fraud on a vast scale and to evade all sorts of grievous penal-

ties. Therefore, the skill of Rhadamanthus would no longer be appropriate in legal proceed-

ings for people of this era. Since people’s beliefs about the gods have changed, the laws

must change too. Indeed, a lawgiver possessed of reason should abolish the oaths of both

adversaries in legal proceedings, and whoever is taking an action against another should

simply write out the charges without swearing an oath, and the defendant, similarly, should

write out his denial and hand it over to the officials without swearing an oath. Indeed, with

so much legal activity taking place in a city, it is surely terrible to know full well that

although close to half of those involved are perjurers, they have no compunction about asso-

ciating with one another at common meals, or at other public gatherings or private meetings.

Let the law then decree that a judge who is about to give judgement is to swear an oath.

Someone appointing a public official is always to do so under oath or using a voting pebble

taken from a sacred place, as should a judge of choruses or musical performances and any

umpires or adjudicators of gymnastic or equestrian competitions, or of any matters where

the outcome confers no advantage upon someone who breaks his oath, as far as we can

humanly see. But in situations where there is an obvious and significant advantage in deny-

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ing the truth, and doing so under oath, then the various accusers and counter-accusers should

be judged through judicial proceedings without any oaths being sworn. And, in general,

during the trial the presiding judges should not allow anyone to speak under oath in order

to make his case more persuasive, or to lend solemnity to his curses upon himself and his

clan, and they should prohibit any recourse to grovelling appeals or emotional outpourings.

They are to ensure that everyone always explains the justice of their case in respectful lan-

guage, and hears the other side. Otherwise, those in charge shall bring them back to the

point at issue, the point from which they had digressed. In cases of one foreigner against

another, exchanges of oaths are to be accepted if desired, just as they are nowadays, and

they may be granted legal authority, since these people, for the most part, shall not grow

old and build homesteads in our city, thus producing others like themselves with legal status

in our country, and similar habits. Their private legal actions against one another are also

to be decided in the same manner.

There may be situations where a free citizen is disobedient to the city, cases that do

not merit whipping or imprisonment or execution, relating perhaps to attendance at choruses

or processions or involvement in other public ceremonies, or services such as sacrifices in

time of peace or special impositions in time of war. In all such cases, the first requirement

is to make good the harm done, and for the offenders to give security to those whom the

city and the law authorise to demand it, and if they disregard their pledges, there is to be

a sale of the securities and the funds are to go to the city. If further penalties are required,

the relevant officials, having imposed the appropriate penalties on the offenders, are to bring

them before the court until they are prepared to do as they are bidden.

A city whose sole source of wealth is the produce of the earth, and which does not

engage in commercial activity, needs to decide what to do about foreign travel by its own

citizens, and the admission of foreigners from elsewhere. Now, the lawgiver should begin

by giving advice on these matters as persuasively as he can. This intermingling of cities

with cities naturally combines a whole variety of customs, as strangers introduce novel

behaviour to citizens, and citizens do the same to strangers. This does the greatest harm to

cities that are well governed under proper laws, although in most cases, since the cities are

not at all well governed, the intermingling makes no difference, whether it occurs by receiv-

ing strangers into their midst, or when they themselves travel for fun to other cities out of

a desire for foreign travel of some sort, either when young or in their later years. Then again,

it is not feasible to impose a total ban on the admission of strangers and on foreign travel

by our own people. And what’s more, this might appear like aggressive, rough treatment to

the world at large, and we might get a reputation for using the harsh language of the so-

called ‘alien expulsions’, and for behaving in an inflexible and cruel manner. Indeed, we

should never make light of our good or bad reputation in the eyes of others, for although

most people fall far short of true excellence, that does not prevent them from judging the

extent to which others are good or evil. There is a divine intuition present even in the bad

people, so that the vast majority, even of extreme evildoers, do a good job of distinguishing,

in their views and in how they express them, between the better people and the worse. So,

the exhortation to set a high value upon a good reputation in the eyes of the world is sound

advice for most cities. In fact, what’s most important and most correct is truly being good,

and seeking a good reputation in this way, not, if we mean to be complete, by omitting the

actual goodness. And, indeed, it would be fitting for the city we are founding in Crete to

attain a most glorious and exalted reputation for excellence in the eyes of the world. For

there is every reasonable hope, provided our plan is followed, that it will be among the few

well-governed cities and regions under the gaze of the sun and the other gods.

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Now, what should be done about travels abroad to other regions and places, and the

admission of foreigners, is as follows. Firstly, no one under the age of forty is to be allowed

to travel abroad under any circumstances whatsoever. No one may ever do so for personal

reasons, but such travel is to be permitted on public business as an envoy or ambassador,

or to attend certain ceremonies. We should send representatives to Apollo at Delphi, to Zeus

at Olympia, Nemea and the Isthmus to partake in the sacrifices and competitions in honour

of those gods, doing our best to send delegations that are as noble, as distinguished and as

large as possible, thus promoting the good reputation of the city at those sacred, peaceful

gatherings, conferring a renown comparable to their military prestige. On returning home,

they shall teach the younger folk that the customs of other cities are in second place com-

pared to their own civic arrangements. There are other envoys who may, with the permission

of the guardians of the law, be sent abroad. They are as follows. If any citizens wish to

study the manners of other peoples, and have sufficient leisure to do so, no law shall stand

in their way. For a city with no experience of people, both good and bad, would never, in

its isolation, be able to become sufficiently civilised or perfect, nor indeed would it ever be

able to safeguard its own laws without appreciating them intelligently rather than through

mere habit. In fact, there are always, among the broad mass of humanity, some few divine

personages whose company is of the utmost value, and they spring up just as much in badly

governed cities as in those that are well governed. The inhabitant of a well-governed city,

who is incorruptible, should constantly seek out the traces of such people, going by land

and by sea, with the aim of developing a confidence in any practices of his own people that

are in good order, and of introducing corrections where there are any defects. For without

this scrutiny and enquiry, or if this is badly conducted, no city ever remains perfect.

CLINIAS: How may we achieve both objectives?

ATHENIAN: As follows. Firstly, an envoy of this sort is to be over fifty years of age and to have

secured a good reputation in general, and in military affairs too, if he is to be sent abroad

to other cities as proof of what the guardians of the law can produce. Once he turns sixty

he may no longer act as an envoy. Having served in this role for as much of the ten years

as he wishes, and then returned home, he is to report to the council that has oversight of the

laws. This is to be a body composed of younger and older members, which has to meet

every day from daybreak until the sun has risen.

It shall consist firstly of priests who have

achieved high distinction, secondly of the ten most senior guardians of the law, and finally

of whoever is currently responsible for all education, and those who have retired from this

role. Each of these shall attend not on his own, but accompanied by a young man of his

own choosing, aged between thirty and forty. Their meeting and discussions shall always

deal with the laws of their own city, and anything they may learn about such matters from

some other places, and, indeed, any subjects that may seem beneficial to learn for their

enquiry, because such studies bring clarity to the consideration of the laws, while their neg-

lect clouds the matter in darkness and obscurity. The young folk shall, with all eagerness,

study any of the subjects that the elders approve, but if any of those who are encouraged to

undertake this study prove unworthy, the entire council is to censure the person who invited

them. The rest of the city is to take responsibility for those young people who have a good

reputation by keeping a special eye on them, and taking care of them, honouring them when

they act aright, and dishonouring them more than their fellows if their behaviour falls below

the general standard.

The person who has surveyed the customs of other peoples is to proceed to this coun-

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This is a reference to the Nocturnal Council. For further details, see 960b ff.

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

cil as soon as he gets back home, and if he has come across people who are able to state

some principle concerning legislation, education or the rearing of children, or he has brought

back some reflections of his own, he is to share these with the entire council. If he seems

to have returned neither better off nor worse off, he should be praised nevertheless for his

eager enthusiasm. If he has returned in a better position, he is to receive much more praise

in his lifetime, and when he dies, the authority of the council shall honour him with fitting

tributes. If it turns out on his return that he has been corrupted, he should never gain the

company of anyone else, old or young, by pretending to be wise, and if he manages to reas-

sure the officials, he may live a private life. Otherwise, if he is convicted in court of busying

himself in the field of education or laws, he is to be put to death. If he deserves to be brought

to court, but none of the officials brings him to trial, this shall count to their discredit in the

decision about awards of distinction.

So much for the sort of people who may travel abroad, and how they may do so. Our

next concern is the visitor from abroad and how he should be welcomed. There are four

kinds of visitors for whom we should make provision. First is a relentless, perpetual arrival

who usually makes his repeated visits in summer, after the manner of migratory birds. Most

of these cross the sea as if they had wings, flying all summer long to various cities to conduct

trade and make money. The officials who have been put in charge of these matters should

receive this visitor at marketplaces, harbours and public buildings close to the city, but out-

side its walls, ensuring that no visitors of this sort introduce any innovations. They shall

administer justice to them and interact with them as much as necessary, but as little as pos-

sible. The second visitor is a true observer, who sees various sights with his eyes and hears

musical displays with his ears. All such arrivals must be accommodated at the temples and

provided with generous hospitality by the priests and wardens who are to look after them

carefully. They may remain for a reasonable period of time, seeing and hearing whatever

they came for, and they should then depart with no harm done or suffered. Should anyone

do an injustice to them, or they to another, the priests are to act as their judges provided the

sum involved is less than fifty drachmas. If the claim exceeds that amount, the case is to be

tried before the rural commissioners. The third visitor who should be received by the state

is one who arrives on public business from another region. They are to be received only by

generals, cavalry commanders and infantry commanders, and their care should be the sole

responsibility, in consultation with the prytanes, of whichever commander the visitor is

residing with as a guest. The fourth kind of visitor arrives rarely, if ever. But if someone

from another region ever does arrive who is the counterpart of our own observers, he is

firstly required to be over fifty years of age, and, what’s more, he is to be here in the expec-

tation either of seeing something fine, something superior in beauty to what is found in

other cities, or of showing something of the same sort to another city. Now, any such visitor

may go uninvited to the doors of the wealthy and the wise, since he himself is a person of

that sort. Indeed, he may go to the home of the person in charge of all education, confident

in the propriety of being the guest of such a host, or to the home of someone who has

received official recognition for his excellence. Having spent time with these people, teach-

ing and being taught, let him depart as a friend taking his leave of friends, bestowing suitable

gifts and marks of honour. By these laws, all visitors, both male and female, are to be

received from other regions, and our own people are to be sent abroad, honouring Zeus,

the god of strangers, not driving visitors away with our eating habits and rituals, as the peo-

ple of the Nile do nowadays, or by issuing harsh edicts.

If anyone gives a guarantee, let him do so explicitly, agreeing the entire transaction

in a written contract in front of witnesses, at least three for a contract under one thousand

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1,262 | LAWS XII – 952c–953e

drachmas, and at least five if it exceeds that sum. A broker in any sale is to act as a guarantor

for a seller without legal title to the goods, or one who is generally untrustworthy, and he

is to be just as liable to prosecution as the seller. Someone who wishes to search someone

else’s property for stolen goods is to strip to his shirt and wear no belt, and swear an oath

to the legally prescribed gods that he really expects to find something. He may then conduct

his search. The other party shall allow him to search his house, including whatever is sealed

or unsealed. But if one party wishes to conduct a search while the other refuses to allow

this, the one who has been refused access may take legal action, specifying the value of the

item he is looking for, and the other party, if convicted, shall pay double its value in dam-

ages. If the master of the house happens to be away at the time, the members of the house-

hold shall hand over whatever is unsealed to be searched, and whatever has been sealed is

to receive a second seal from the searcher, who is to appoint someone of his own choosing

to stand guard for five days. And if the master is away for a longer period of time, the city

police are to be brought in, and the search conducted accordingly by breaking the seals and

resealing them again as before, in the presence of the household members and the city police.

In cases of disputes over property, there is to be a time limit as follows, after which

someone who has acquired the item shall no longer be open to challenge. In our city there

is no such thing as a dispute over land or houses. In the case of any other possessions that

someone has acquired, if he has been using the item openly in the city, the marketplace and

the temples, with no one making a claim, and someone asserts that he has been looking for

the item all this time, although its possessor was obviously not hiding it, and this goes on

for a year with one person in possession of the item and the other seeking it, then once the

year has elapsed no one is to be allowed to lay claim to the item. If the item is used openly

in a rural area but not in the city or the marketplace, and no one challenges its possession

for five years, then once the five years have elapsed no one shall be allowed to lay claim to

such an item. If someone uses the item at his home in the city, the prescribed time period

is to be three years. For undisclosed use in a rural area the period shall be ten years, but

when the item was being used in a foreign country there is to be no time limit for a claim,

regardless of when it is found. If anyone forcibly prevents a person or his witnesses from

appearing in court, and the person hindered is a slave, either his own or someone else’s, the

case shall be declared null and void. But if the person hindered is a free citizen, then, in

addition to the nullification of the case, the offender is to be imprisoned for one year, and

is to be liable to prosecution for kidnapping by anyone who wishes. If anyone forcibly pre-

vents a rival in a gymnastic or musical or other competition from making an appearance,

whoever wishes may inform the competition presidents, who are to grant the person who

wished to compete the freedom to enter the contest. But if they are unable to do so, and

victory goes to the entrant who hindered his rival, they shall award the prize to the hindered

party, and commemorate the victory in whatever temples he chooses, while the offender is

to be barred from setting up an offering or inscription relating to such a competition, and

he shall be liable to pay damages whether he was victorious or not.

If anyone knowingly receives any stolen item, he is to be liable to the same penalty

as the thief, and for receiving someone who has been exiled the penalty shall be death.

Everyone is to regard the city’s friend or enemy as his own. And anyone who makes peace

or war privately with others, without common consent, is also to be liable to the death

penalty. If part of the city makes peace or war with any for itself, the generals are to bring

those responsible for this action to court, and on conviction the penalty shall be death.

Those who serve the nation are to render such service without accepting gifts, and

there is to be no excusing this, or praise for the argument that “good deeds deserve gifts

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LAWS XII – 954a–955c | 1,263

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while foul deeds do not”. For it is not easy to know what to do and then stand by what you

know, and it is safest to heed and obey the law that no service be done in return for gifts.

Whoever disobeys, shall, on conviction in court, simply be put to death. In relation to finan-

cial contributions to the common fund, not only must the property of each citizen be valued

for various reasons, but a tribal official shall also present a written record of the annual pro-

duction to the rural commissioners so that the treasury may decide which of the two kinds

of contributions it wishes to employ, choosing year by year either to take part of the overall

valuation or a portion of the annual income in that particular year, after the deduction of

the costs of the common meals.

The reasonable man should present moderate offerings to the gods. Now, land and

the household hearth are always sacred to all gods, so let no one consecrate to the gods for

a second time that which is already sacred. Gold and silver, possessions that are used in

other cities both in private and in the temples, are a source of jealousy, while ivory, coming

from a body that came to be devoid of soul, is an unclean offering, and iron and bronze are

instruments of war. Anyone may present at the public temples any wooden or stone offerings

he wishes, made from a single piece, or a woven item no larger than what a woman can

weave in a single month. White is the colour appropriate to the gods, both in woven items

and in general, while dyes should only be used for the trappings of war. The most divine

gifts are birds, and pictures that a single painter can complete in one day, and any other

offerings should be modelled on offerings of this sort.

Since the subdivisions of the city – their number, and what they should be – have

been described, and laws relating to business transactions in all of the important matters

have been stated as best we can, what remains is to deal with judicial procedures. The first

of our law courts should consist of chosen judges, jointly chosen by the defendant and the

prosecutor together, and more appropriately referred to as arbitrators rather than judges.

The second shall consist of fellow villagers and tribesmen based upon a twelvefold division,

before whom cases are to be argued if no decision was reached in the first court. Here the

penalty is to be greater, and if the defendant loses at this second trial he is to pay one fifth

more than what was specified in the written action. And if someone challenges the judges

and wishes to contest the issue for a third time, he is to bring the case before the selected

judges. And if he loses once again, he is to pay one-and-a-half times the assessed penalty.

If the prosecutor, having lost the case in the first court, is dissatisfied and goes to the second,

he shall receive an additional fifth if he wins the case, and pay the same fraction of the

assessed penalty if he loses. And if the parties go to the third court because they don’t accept

the previous judgements, the defendant, as we said, is to pay one-and-a-half times the

penalty if he loses, while the prosecutor is to pay half.

The allocation of courts and their composition, and the appointment of staff to sup-

port the various boards of officials, the intervals at which each court must sit, the voting

procedures and associated adjournments, and any other requirements of this sort relating

to judicial practice, such as the prioritisation of cases, compulsory response to questions

and attendance at court, and any related matters, have all been dealt with previously, but it

is good to repeat what’s right two or even three times. However, all of these minor regula-

tions that are easy to devise may be set aside by the older lawgivers, and the young lawgiver

should fill in such details. Now, it would be reasonable for courts dealing with private mat-

ters to conduct their business in this way. But for those dealing with communal or public

matters, and for those which the various officials make use of in managing the business of

their own office, numerous sound regulations produced by reasonable men are already in

existence in many cities. Drawing on these, our guardian of the law should provide our

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1,264 | LAWS XII – 955d–957b

fledgling constitution with what it requires by making comparisons and corrections, and

testing them in experience, until they decide that each of them is adequate for its purpose.

Only then, having concluded the process so that they are quite immutable, should they

implement them on a permanent basis.

The matter of respectful silence on the part of judges, and its opposite too, and any

divergences from general standards of justice, goodness and nobility in other cities, has to

an extent been dealt with, although more will be said towards the end. Anyone who intends

to be a fair and just judge must look to these matters and study any writings he possesses on

the subject. Indeed, of all subjects, the very best at improving the person who learns them

are those dealing with laws, provided they are rightly enacted. Were this not the case, our

divine and wondrous law would bear its name in vain, a name that is akin to reason.

Furthermore, when it comes to other utterances such as praise or censure of people, delivered

in verse or in prose, either in writing or in daily conversation in all our various interactions,

with their contentious disputes, or agreements that are often quite futile, the clear test of all

these would be the writings of the lawgiver. Possessing their content within himself as a sort

of antidote to the other words, the good judge should regulate himself and the city by ensuring

the establishment and growth of justice in good people and doing his best to change the ways

of the bad people from ignorance, licence, cowardice, and, in short, from any kind of wrong-

doing, provided their habit is curable. But in the case of those who are fated to have such

habits, then, as has rightly been said so many times before, those judges and their superiors

who impose the death penalty as a cure for souls in this condition deserve the praise of the

entire city. Once legal cases for the year have finally been adjudicated, laws are required for

their implementation as follows. Firstly, the official deciding the case is to assign to

whomever wins the case, all of the property of the person who loses, apart from possessions

that he needs to retain. This should be done in each case immediately after the voting, through

proclamation by the herald within the hearing of the judges. And if someone fails to settle

with the victorious party to their mutual satisfaction by the end of the month following the

month of the trial, the judge who decided the case shall, at the behest of the successful party,

hand over the property of the person who lost. But if he does not have the resources, and the

shortfall is one drachma or more, the person who lost is not to be allowed to take a legal

action against anyone else until he has fully paid off his debt to the successful party. Others,

however, are fully entitled to take legal action against this debtor. If anyone who has been

convicted obstructs the court that convicted him, the judges who have been unjustly

obstructed are to bring the offender before the court of the guardians of the law, and, if a

person is found guilty, he is to be sentenced to death as a subverter of our city and its laws.

To proceed. When a man has been born and reared and has begotten and reared his

own children, has engaged reasonably in business affairs, paying compensation when he

has wronged another and accepting the same from someone else, and has duly grown old

abiding by the laws, the end comes to him in the course of nature. In the case of the dead,

male or female, the interpreters are to have the authority to prescribe the appropriate divine

observances, to be performed for the gods beneath the earth and those of our realm. There

are to be no graves on any land that can be cultivated, whether the tombs be large or small.

They are to fill up places where the land is naturally suited for this sole purpose alone, that

of receiving and concealing the bodies of the dead, while causing the least disturbance to

the living. Where earth, a true mother in these matters, is naturally inclined to provide sus-

tenance to humanity, no one alive or dead is to deprive us living beings of this. They are

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LAWS XII – 957c–958e | 1,265

–––––

A connection is made here between the words nomos (law) and nous (reason).

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

not to build up a burial mound higher than what five men can complete in five days, nor

erect a standing stone larger than what is needed to accommodate a eulogy on the life of

the deceased in four lines of heroic verse. The laying out of the corpse in the house shall,

in the first place, be for long enough to establish that the person really is dead, and not just

in a swoon. So in general, for most people, the third day would be a reasonable one for car-

rying out the burial. We need to listen to the lawgiver, especially when he declares that soul

is superior to body in every respect, and that, in this very life, what makes each of us what

we are is nothing else but soul, while the body is just an apparition that follows each of us

around. And it is well said that the bodies of the dead are images of the departed, while the

real being of each of us, which is called the immortal soul, departs to render an account to

the other gods, as the ancestral law declares – a fearful prospect for the bad, and a heartening

one for the good. But not much help can be given to a deceased person. In fact, all of his

kindred should have helped him while he was alive to ensure that he lived as just and as

holy a life as possible throughout, thus being free after death from retribution in the life

that follows this one for any foul misdeeds. Since this is how matters stand, we should never

squander our wealth in the belief that this lump of flesh that is being buried is related to

ourselves, rather than believing that the real person, the son or brother or whoever else we

imagine we are burying amidst great mourning, has left us to journey on and fulfil his own

destiny, while we do our duty through measured expenditure upon this, as it were, soulless

altar to the gods of the underworld. And it is the lawgiver who would best divine what that

appropriate measure is. So let the law be as follows. For someone of the highest property

valuation, the measure of expenditure on the entire burial shall not exceed five minae, three

minae for the second highest valuation, two for the third and one for the fourth. There are

many other duties that the guardian of the law must perform, and much that he must look

after. Not least of these responsibilities is to spend their lives looking after children and

adults, and indeed any age group, and, in particular, at anyone’s death, a single guardian of

the law is to act as a supervisor, whom the relatives of the deceased are to bring in as an

overseer. And if the arrangements relating to the deceased are conducted with dignity and

measure, this shall count to the guardian’s credit, or indeed to his shame if they fall below

these standards. The laying out and the other arrangements are to be conducted in accor-

dance with custom concerning such matters, but we should allow freedom to the statesman

when he is legislating, as follows. It would be unseemly for him either to enjoin or prohibit

weeping for the dead, but laments and loud displays outside the house are to be forbidden.

Bearing the corpse along the public roads and crying aloud as they proceed is to be prohib-

ited, and they must be outside the city walls before daybreak. So let these be the regulations

concerning matters of this sort, and whoever complies shall incur no penalty, while anyone

who disobeys one of the guardians is to be penalised by all of them with a penalty jointly

decided by them all. Any further rituals of burial of the dead, and those deeds that bar one

from the right of burial for parricide, robbing temples, and everything of that sort, have

been dealt with previously through specific laws, and so our legislative task is almost

complete. But the completion of anything never consists merely in doing something or ac-

quiring something or establishing something. Only when we have discovered a means of

making our production completely safe for all time may we then believe that we have

done all that we should have done. Until then, our overall task is incomplete.

CLINIAS: Yes, you put that very nicely, stranger. But could you please explain the additional point

you are now making more clearly?

ATHENIAN: Dear Clinias, many of our ancient utterances have rightly been praised, not least of

these are the names we give to the Fates.

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1,266 | LAWS XII – 959a–960c

CLINIAS: Specifically?

ATHENIAN: The first of them is Lachesis, the second is Clotho, then Atropos the third saviour of

what has been spoken, making the process irreversible. These should provide a city and a

constitution not only with health and soundness of its citizens’ bodies, but also with law-

fulness of their souls, or, more to the point, security for its laws. And it seems evident to

me that this is what our laws are still lacking. They require some natural means of engen-

dering this quality of irreversibility.

CLINIAS: If it really proves impossible to find some means of imparting this quality to every law,

that is no small matter.

ATHENIAN: But it is indeed possible, as I can now see quite plainly.

CLINIAS: Well, we mustn’t let up at all until we have provided the laws we have formulated with

this very quality. For it is ridiculous to labour in vain at any task by not building upon secure

foundations.

ATHENIAN: You are right to encourage me, and you will find me of the same mind as yourself.

CLINIAS: Well said. So, what, according to you, would be the salvation of our constitution and our

laws, and how would this operate?

ATHENIAN: Well, didn’t we say there should be a council in our city, constituted as follows. The

ten most senior current guardians of the law, and all those who have been awarded civic

distinctions, are to meet together in council. Furthermore, those who had travelled abroad

to seek out anything worth hearing for the guardianship of the law, and had returned safely

home, were to be scrutinised by the members, and on approval deemed worthy to join the

council. In addition to these, each member was to bring along one young person over the

age of thirty, having first decided for himself that the person was worthy in terms of his

nature and upbringing. He was to present him to the other members, and take him on if he

was approved by the others. If not, the fact of his nomination was to be kept secret from

everyone, and especially from the young person who was rejected. The council was to

meet before daybreak when everyone would have most freedom from other responsibili-

ties, private or public. This, I believe, was the sort of description we gave in our previous

discussions.

CLINIAS: It was indeed.

ATHENIAN: Having taken up the discussion of this council once more, I would maintain that if

someone were to use this, with all it has to offer, as a sort of anchor of the entire city, it

would preserve everything we wish to preserve.

CLINIAS: How so?

ATHENIAN: Now would be the time for us to display the utmost eagerness in explaining matters

correctly.

CLINIAS: Yes, very much so. Please proceed as you propose.

ATHENIAN: Well, Clinias, we need to discern in everything an appropriate saviour in its various

activities. So, in the case of a living creature, for instance, soul and the head are naturally

most important in this respect.

CLINIAS: Again, how so?

ATHENIAN: Surely the excellence of these two ensures the saviour of every creature.

CLINIAS: In what way?

ATHENIAN: By reason being present in the soul in addition to everything else, and sight and hearing

being present in the head as well as everything else. In short, reason, and the most sublime

senses, combined into a unity, may rightly be called the saviour of any creature.

CLINIAS: Quite likely.

ATHENIAN: Likely, indeed. But in what respect would reason, combined with the senses, be the

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LAWS XII – 960d–961e | 1,267

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

saviour of ships in storms or on calm seas? On board ship it is the pilot and the sailors who

save themselves and the ship’s company by combining their senses with the reason of the

pilot. Is this not so?

CLINIAS: Quite so.

ATHENIAN: Not many examples of this sort are needed then. We might consider for instance military

expeditions, or any medical care, and the objective the generals or the physicians should

rightly aim at in each case to ensure salvation. For the generals, wouldn’t it be victory and

domination over the enemy? And for the physicians and their assistants, the provision of

health to people’s bodies?

CLINIAS: Of course.

ATHENIAN: Now, if the physician had no understanding of the bodily condition we have just called

health, or a general had no understanding of victory, wouldn’t it be obvious that they did

not possess reason in relation to any of these matters?

CLINIAS: Indeed, how could they?

ATHENIAN: And what about the city? If someone proved ignorant of the objective at which a states-

man should aim, would he, in the first place, deserve to be called a ruler? And secondly,

would he be able to save something when he is totally ignorant of its objective?

CLINIAS: No, how could he?

ATHENIAN: So, if the settlement of this region of ours is now to be concluded, there must, it seems,

be some thing within it that first understands the objective we are referring to, the one at

which we, as statesmen, are aiming, and secondly how this may be attained, capable too of

understanding first and foremost which of the laws give the best advice, and which give

the worst, and indeed which people do the same. If any city is bereft of something of this

sort, it would hardly be surprising if its lack of reason and awareness led it to act every time

in a random manner in all of its affairs.

CLINIAS: That’s true.

ATHENIAN: So in our case, in which particular part of the city or in which of its institutions has

provision been made for an adequate safeguard of this sort? Can we say?

CLINIAS: Not really, stranger, not with any certainty anyway. However, if I were to hazard a guess,

this argument of yours seems to me to be indicating the council which you said meets at

night.

ATHENIAN: Nicely anticipated, Clinias. This council, as our recent argument indicates, should be pos-

sessed of all virtue, the first being a refusal to wander and aim at multiple objectives. It should,

rather, focus upon one objective, and direct everything to that as if it were firing darts.

CLINIAS: Entirely so.

ATHENIAN: So, we are now in a position to understand, not surprisingly, that the laws of various

cities are so divergent because the legislators in each city look to all sorts of different objec-

tives. It is no wonder, then, that in many cases the definition of what’s just, for some of

them, is designed to ensure that certain people rule in the city, whether they happen to be

good or bad. For others, it is designed to make themselves wealthy, even if they end up

being slaves, while some others are intent upon the free lifestyle. But there are others again

who legislate for two objectives together, with an eye to both – freedom for themselves,

and dominion over other cities. But the wisest – or so they imagine – pursue all of these

objectives, and others like them, with no special respect for any one of them, being unable

to say which one the others should look to.

CLINIAS: In that case, stranger, wasn’t the position we adopted some time ago correct? For we said,

I believe, that all our laws would look to one objective, and we agreed that this is most

correctly called excellence.

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1,268 | LAWS XII – 962a–963a

ATHENIAN: Yes, we did.

CLINIAS: And we also stated, I recall, that excellence is fourfold.

ATHENIAN: Very much so.

CLINIAS: And reason is the leader of all these, to which the other three, and everything else, should

look.

ATHENIAN: You are following this admirably, Clinias, so pay attention to what remains. In the case

of a pilot, a physician or a general, that single objective to which reason should look has

been stated. And now at this stage we are examining the reason of the statesman. So, as if

we were putting a question to some person, we might ask, “I wonder, my friend, what your

gaze is fixed upon. What precisely is that one objective? The reason of the physician is able

to provide a clear answer, so what about you, who might claim to be superior? Are you

unable to answer?” Well, Megillus and Clinias, can you speak on his behalf, providing a

definition, just as I have given you definitions so often on behalf of others, and tell me what

precisely you say this objective is?

CLINIAS: Not at all, stranger.

ATHENIAN: What is it that we should be eager to discern, both in itself and in what forms?

CLINIAS: What do you mean by its forms?

ATHENIAN: For instance, when we say that there are four forms of excellence, it is obvious that we

must be stating that each, individually, is one.

CLINIAS: Indeed.

ATHENIAN: And, indeed, we refer to them all as one, as though they were in reality not many but

just this one thing, excellence. For we say that courage is excellence, and wisdom is excel-

lence, and so are the other two.

CLINIAS: Very much so.

ATHENIAN: Well, it is not difficult to say how these two differ from one another and have acquired

two names, as have the others. However, it is still no easy matter to explain why we call

them both, and the others too, by one name, excellence.

CLINIAS: How do you mean?

ATHENIAN: It is not difficult to explain my meaning. Let’s divide the roles of questioner and

answerer between us.

CLINIAS: Again, what do you mean?

ATHENIAN: You are to ask me why exactly we refer to them both as one thing, excellence, and

then again say that there are two things, courage and wisdom. I shall tell you the reason.

It is because one of them, namely courage, involves fear, and even wild beasts have a

share in this one, and so does the behaviour even of very young children. For the soul

can become courageous in the course of nature without reasoning. However, in the

absence of reasoning, no soul ever is, has been, or will be wise and possessed of reason.

That’s the difference.

CLINIAS: True.

ATHENIAN: Well, you have now received an account from me explaining the way in which they

differ and are two. You should now give me an account, in return, of the way in which they

are the same and are one. Bear in mind that you will also have to tell me how, although

they are four, they are also one. And once you have shown how they are one, you must ask

me in turn how they are four. After that, we should consider someone who has an adequate

knowledge of anything at all which has a name, and, what’s more, also possesses an account.

Could he possess knowledge only of the name while being ignorant of the account? Or

would it be a disgrace for anyone of any consequence to be ignorant of everything of this

sort when dealing with the most important and exalted matters?

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LAWS XII – 963b–964b | 1,269

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

CLINIAS: Apparently so.

ATHENIAN: For a legislator or guardian of the law, or someone who thinks that he is superior to

everyone else in terms of excellence, and has been rewarded for such achievements, is there

anything of greater importance than these very qualities we are now discussing – courage,

sound-mindedness, justice and wisdom?

CLINIAS: No, how could there be?

ATHENIAN: Then, consider the interpreters, teachers and lawgivers, the very guardians of everyone

else in relation to these matters. What if someone lacked understanding and knowledge, or

needed to be punished or rebuked for certain transgressions? Shouldn’t the one who can

teach him the power of evil and excellence, and who can explain this comprehensively, be

preferred to anyone else? Or could some poet who has just arrived in the city, or someone

claiming to be an educator of the young, prove himself superior to a person who has tri-

umphed in all excellence? Tell me this, then. In a city like that, where there are no guardians

competent in word and deed, with an adequate understanding of excellence, would it be

surprising if such a city, devoid of guardianship, suffered the fate experienced by so many

cities nowadays?

CLINIAS: No, probably not.

ATHENIAN: Well then, are we to do what we are now suggesting, or what? Are we to provide our

guardians, in word and in deed, with a greater perfection in excellence than everyone else?

Or how else will our city resemble the head and the senses of wise folk who have acquired

an internal guardianship of this sort?

CLINIAS: How, stranger, are we to understand this likeness, and in what does this consist?

ATHENIAN: The city itself is, of course, the torso of the body, and at the very top, so to speak, are

the young guardians who have been selected because they are especially gifted. And being

thoroughly quickwitted, they survey the entire city, and as they watch they commit whatever

they observe to memory and act as sources of information for the elders on every aspect of

civic affairs. These elders, who are likened to reason for their exceptional wisdom in so

many matters of importance, are to deliberate, and using the younger members as assistants

and advisers, they co-operate together, acting as true saviours of the whole city. Is this how

we say things should be, or should we make some other arrangements? Are all our citizens

to have a similar upbringing and education, with no one receiving a more exacting education

than anyone else?

CLINIAS: Heavens, no. That’s impossible.

ATHENIAN: Then we should move on to an education that is more rigorous than previously

described.

CLINIAS: Probably.

ATHENIAN: Could the education we began to touch upon just now turn out to be the one we have

need of?

CLINIAS: Yes, indeed.

ATHENIAN: Didn’t we say that the supreme craftsman or guardian in any sphere must have the abil-

ity not alone to look towards multiplicity, but also to press on to recognise the one, and,

having recognised that, to arrange everything else while keeping the one in view?

CLINIAS: And we were right to say so.

ATHENIAN: Now, could anyone get a more exact vision and perspective in relation to anything,

without being able to look from multiplicity and dissimilarity towards one form?

CLINIAS: Probably not.

ATHENIAN: It is not probable, my friend. It really is the case that no method more certain than this

is available to any of us humans.

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CLINIAS: I believe you, stranger, and I do agree. So, we should proceed to discuss the matter in

these terms.

ATHENIAN: So, it seems that we must compel the guardians of our divine constitution too, first and

foremost, to discern with precision whatever is the same through all four of these, being

one and the same in courage, in sound-mindedness, in justice and in wisdom, and rightly

called according to us by one name, excellence. To this, my friends, we must if you please

hold fast, and not let go until we have stated adequately what precisely it is that we should

look to. Is it one, is it a whole, is it both? Or what exactly is it by nature? Or if this evades

us, do we think we shall ever properly understand anything about excellence, when we will

be unable to say whether it is multiple or fourfold or one? So, if we are to heed our own

advice, we shall arrange somehow or other that this knowledge is present in our city. But

we also need to decide whether or not to abandon the entire consideration.

CLINIAS: By the god of strangers, stranger, the last thing we should do is to abandon such a con-

sideration, since you seem to us to be making perfect sense. But how might all this be

arranged?

ATHENIAN: We are not yet in a position to say how we should arrange this. We should first ascertain,

by agreement among ourselves, whether this consideration is necessary or not.

CLINIAS: Why, yes it is, provided this can actually be done.

ATHENIAN: Well then, what about the fair and the good? Are we to adopt the same view? Should

our guardians recognise only that each of these is multiple, or should they also know how

and in what respect each is one?

CLINIAS: It seems more or less essential that they should also understand how each is one.

ATHENIAN: Well, although they understand this, might they be incapable of demonstrating their

understanding verbally?

CLINIAS: Impossible. You are describing the condition of some slave.

ATHENIAN: And does the same argument of ours apply to all matters of importance? Must those

who really are to act as guardians set over the laws really understand the truth about them

and be capable of expounding them verbally, and adhering to them in practice, judging what

actions are noble by nature, and what actions are not?

CLINIAS: Of course.

ATHENIAN: Now, one of the most exalted matters, one that we dealt with seriously already, is the

subject of the gods. It is important to know, as far as humanly possible, that the gods exist,

and the obvious extent of their supreme power. And although we may forgive most of our

population if they adhere merely to the letter of the law, we should exclude, even from can-

didacy as a guardian, anyone who does not work hard at acquiring total faith in the existence

of the gods. And this exclusion involves never selecting someone as a guardian of the law

who is not divine and who has not worked hard in that direction, and is not even included

among those who are recognised for their excellence.

CLINIAS: Yes, as you say, it is only right that someone who is reluctant or unable to engage with

such matters should be kept well away from the ranks of the good.

ATHENIAN: Now, do we know of two factors leading to belief in the gods, among those we

described previously?

CLINIAS: Which two?

ATHENIAN: One was our statement about the soul, when we said that soul is the most ancient and

most divine of all things, whose motion once it gets underway provides ever-flowing exis-

tence. The other one concerns the regular movement of the stars and other bodies under the

control of reason, which has brought order to the universe. For no one, beholding all this

with an attentive and trained eye, has ever turned out to be an ungodly person, affected in

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Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25

the way that most people expect. Quite the contrary. In fact, it is commonly believed that

those who study such matters are rendered ungodly by astronomy and the other related sci-

ences, through observing events that occur by strict necessity rather than by the intention

of a will concerned with accomplishing good.

CLINIAS: And what is the actual situation?

ATHENIAN: Well, as I said, the situation nowadays is the reverse of what it was when those who

consider these bodies thought that they were soulless. Yet, even in those days a sense of

wonder crept in, and people who studied them in detail suspected the truth of the view, now

held, that if these were devoid of soul they could never have employed such wonderfully

accurate calculations, since they would not have possessed reason. And some people, even

then, dared to suggest this very doctrine, and say that it is reason that brings order to every-

thing in the heavens.

But these same thinkers fell into error once again by thinking that

soul, which is older than body, is in fact younger, and they, so to speak, overthrow every-

thing again, and more to the point, overthrow themselves. For based upon the evidence of

their eyes, everything moving in the heavens seemed to them to be composed of earth and

stone and many other soulless bodies, even though these constitute the causes of the entire

universe. These views led at the time to constant charges of atheism against such thinkers,

and great unpopularity too, and indeed the poets took to slandering those who engage in

philosophy by comparing them to dogs howling at the moon and saying other silly things.

But nowadays, as I said, the situation is the complete opposite.

CLINIAS: In what way?

ATHENIAN: It is not possible for any of us mortal humans ever to attain constant reverence for the

gods, unless the person understands these two statements: that in the realm of things that

come to birth, soul is the oldest, is immortal, and is indeed the ruler of all material bodies.

Furthermore, he should understand the statement repeated so often, that reason, belonging

to things that are, is present among the heavenly bodies. And he should also understand the

necessary subjects that precede these, and having observed their connection with music,

apply this in a fitting manner to the practical regulation of human behaviour. And in cases

where an explanation is possible, he should be able to give the appropriate account. But

whoever is unable to master all this, in addition to the commonplace excellences of the pop-

ulace, would never be up to the task of ruling the whole city, and should instead assist others

in that function. Well, Megillus and Clinias, we should now consider whether, in addition

to all the laws we have described already, we should also add this law making legal provi-

sion for the Nocturnal Council of rulers, with the special education we have described, to

act as a guardian and protector. Or how should we proceed?

CLINIAS: Of course we must make this addition, my friend, if we are up to the task of doing so at all.

ATHENIAN: In that case, let us, one and all, strive towards this objective. I shall be your eager assis-

tant because of my considerable experience in such matters, and extensive study, although

I may find other collaborators.

CLINIAS: Well, stranger, this is the way that the god is leading us, so this certainly is how we should

proceed. But we should now discuss and explore the correct approach to be adopted here.

ATHENIAN: It is not yet possible, Megillus and Clinias, to legislate on such matters. Only when the

council has been set up should we pass laws concerning the extent of their authority. At this

stage, these arrangements can only be made, if they are to be made correctly, through

instruction combined with constant application.

CLINIAS: In what way? What do you mean by this?

ATHENIAN: First, of course, a list of names is to be drawn up of those who are of a suitable age,

learning ability, character and habits for the role of guardian. Subsequent to this it is not

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easy to discover what subjects should be learned, or to become a pupil of someone else

who has discovered them. What’s more, it would be futile to specify in writing the sequence

in which the various subjects should be taken up, or the duration of the study. Indeed, it

would not become evident, even to the very people who are learning them, what it is appro-

priate to learn until knowledge of what is being learned somehow arises within the soul of

each. Accordingly, while it would hardly be right to say that none of these matters is capable

of verbal expression, they certainly cannot be formulated in advance, since advance for-

mulation clarifies nothing of what they contain.

CLINIAS: In that case, stranger, since this is how matters stand, how should we proceed?

ATHENIAN: Well, my friends, we are, it seems, in the middle with the crowd, as the saying goes,

and since we are prepared to take risks with the entire constitution – that the dice may, as

they say, turn up a triple six or three ones – that’s what we should do. I shall share the danger

with you by stating and elaborating my own views on education and upbringing, which

have now been set in train once more by our discussion. But the danger is quite significant

and quite beyond comparison. So I encourage you, Clinias, to attend to this at least. For

once you have established the city of the Magnesians, or whoever else the god names it

after, fame will be yours if you establish this in the right way, or at the very least you shall

inevitably get a reputation for courage, unparalleled among subsequent generations.

If this divine council of ours comes into existence, my dear companions, the city

must be entrusted to its care, and there will be hardly any dispute at all on this matter from

any modern lawgiver. Then we shall attain the finished waking reality of the dream we dealt

with a while ago in our discussion, when we somehow constructed an image depicting the

co-operation of reason and the head. For once our members have been meticulously

selected, educated as they should be, and then installed in the National Acropolis, they

would prove to be guardians like none we have ever seen before in our lives for their excel-

lence as protectors.

MEGILLUS: My dear Clinias, based upon all that has been said, we must either bid farewell to the

idea of founding the city, or else retain the services of this stranger here, by entreaty or any

means at our disposal, and make him co-operate with us in the foundation of the city.

CLINIAS: Very true, Megillus. I shall do as you ask and you should assist me.

MEGILLUS: Assist you I will.

_____

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–––––

This is likely to be a reference to the preSocratic philosopher Anaxagoras, whose influence upon Socrates is described

in Plato’s Phaedo.

Laws XII, David Horan translation, 18 Nov 25