Ath. And is not the aim of the legislator similar? First, he desiresthat his laws should be written down with all possible exactness; inthe second place, as time goes on and he has made an actual trial ofhis decrees, will he not find omissions? Do you imagine that thereever was a legislator so foolish as not to know that many things arenecessarily omitted, which some one coming after him must correct,if the constitution and the order of government is not to deteriorate,but to improve in the state which he has established?
Cle. Assuredly, that is the sort of thing which every one woulddesire.
Ath. And if any one possesses any means of accomplishing this byword or deed, or has any way great or small by which he can teach aperson to understand how he can maintain and amend the laws, he shouldfinish what he has to say, and not leave the work incomplete.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. And is not this what you and I have to do at the presentmoment?
Cle. What have we to do?
Ath. As we are about to legislate and have chosen our guardians ofthe law, and are ourselves in the evening of life, and they ascompared with us are young men, we ought not only to legislate forthem, but to endeavour to make them not only guardians of the lawbut legislators themselves, as far as this is possible.
Cle. Certainly; if we can.
Ath. At any rate, we must do our best.
Cle. Of course.
Ath. We will say to them-O friends and saviours of our laws, inlaying down any law, there are many particulars which we shall omit,and this cannot be helped; at the same time, we will do our utmostto describe what is important, and will give an outline which youshall fill up. And I will explain on what principle you are to act.
Megillus and Cleinias and I have often spoken to one anothertouching these matters, and we are of opinion that we have spokenwell. And we hope that you will be of the same mind with us, andbecome our disciples, and keep in view the things which in ourunited opinion the legislator and guardian of the law ought to keep inview. There was one main point about which we were agreed-that a man"swhole energies throughout life should be devoted to the acquisition ofthe virtue proper to a man, whether this was to be gained by study, orhabit, or some mode of acquisition, or desire, or opinion, orknowledge-and this applies equally to men and women, old and young-theaim of all should always be such as I have described; anything whichmay be an impediment, the good man ought to show that he utterlydisregards. And if at last necessity plainly compels him to be anoutlaw from his native land, rather than bow his neck to the yoke ofslavery and be ruled by inferiors, and he has to fly, an exile he mustbe and endure all such trials, rather than accept another form ofgovernment, which is likely to make men worse. These are ouroriginal principles; and do you now, fixing your eyes upon thestandard of what a man and a citizen ought or ought not to be,praise and blame the laws-blame those which have not this power of****** the citizen better, but embrace those which have; and withgladness receive and live in them; bidding a long farewell to otherinstitutions which aim at goods, as they are termed, of a differentkind.
Let us proceed to another class of laws, beginning with theirfoundation in religion. And we must first return to the number5040-the entire number had, and has, a great many convenientdivisions, and the number of the tribes which was a twelfth part ofthe whole, being correctly formed by 21 X 20 [5040/(21 X 20), i.e.,5040/420=12], also has them. And not only is the whole numberdivisible by twelve, but also the number of each tribe is divisible bytwelve. Now every portion should be regarded by us as a sacred gift ofHeaven, corresponding to the months and to the revolution of theuniverse. Every city has a guiding and sacred principle given bynature, but in some the division or distribution has been more rightthan in others, and has been more sacred and fortunate. In ouropinion, nothing can be more right than the selection of the number5040, which may be divided by all numbers from one to twelve withthe single exception of eleven, and that admits of a very easycorrection; for if, turning to the dividend (5040), we deduct twofamilies, the defect in the division is cured. And the truth of thismay be easily proved when we have leisure. But for the present,trusting to the mere assertion of this principle, let us divide thestate; and assigning to each portion some God or son of a God, letus give them altars and sacred rites, and at the altars let us holdassemblies for sacrifice twice in the month-twelve assemblies forthe tribes, and twelve for the city, according to their divisions; thefirst in honour of the Gods and divine things, and the second topromote friendship and "better acquaintance," as the phrase is, andevery sort of good fellowship with one another. For people must beacquainted with those into whose families and whom they marry and withthose to whom they give in marriage; in such matters, as far aspossible, a man should deem it all important to avoid a mistake, andwith this serious purpose let games be instituted in which youthsand maidens shall dance together, seeing one another and being seennaked, at a proper age, and on a suitable occasion, nottransgressing the rules of modesty.
