Laws (version 2) — The Preamble Part 6

Wrestling is to be pursued as a military exercise, but the meaning of this, and the nature of the art, can only be explained when action is combined with words.

Next follows dancing, which is of two kinds;

imitative, first, of the serious and beautiful; and, secondly, of the ludicrous and grotesque.

The first kind may be further divided into the dance of war and the dance of peace.

The former is called the Pyrrhic;

in this the movements of attack and defence are imitated in a direct and manly style, which indicates strength and sufficiency of body and mind.

The latter of the two, the dance of peace, is suitable to orderly and law-abiding men.

These must be distinguished from the Bacchic dances which imitate drunken revelry, and also from the dances by which purifications are effected and mysteries celebrated.

Such dances cannot be characterized either as warlike or peaceful, and are unsuited to a civilized state.

Now the dances of peace are of two classes:--the first of them is the more violent, being an expression of joy and triumph after toil and danger; the other is more tranquil, symbolizing the continuance and preservation of good.

In speaking or singing we naturally move our bodies, and as we have more or less courage or self-control we become less or more violent and excited.

Thus from the imitation of words in gestures the art of dancing arises.

Now one man imitates in an orderly, another in a disorderly manner: and so the peaceful kinds of dance have been appropriately called Emmeleiai, or dances of order, as the warlike have been called Pyrrhic.

In the latter a man imitates all sorts of blows and the hurling of weapons and the avoiding of them; in the former he learns to bear himself gracefully and like a gentleman.

The types of these dances are to be fixed by the legislator, and when the guardians of the law have assigned them to the several festivals, and consecrated them in due order, no further change shall be allowed.

Thus much of the dances which are appropriate to fair forms and noble souls.

Comedy, which is the opposite of them, remains to be considered.

For the serious implies the ludicrous, and opposites cannot be understood without opposites.

But a man of repute will desire to avoid doing what is ludicrous.

He should leave such performances to slaves,--they are not fit for freemen; and there should be some element of novelty in them.

Concerning tragedy, let our law be as follows: When the inspired poet comes to us with a request to be admitted into our state, we will reply in courteous words--We also are tragedians and your rivals; and the drama which we enact is the best and noblest, being the imitation of the truest and noblest life, with a view to which our state is ordered.

And we cannot allow you to pitch your stage in the agora, and make your voices to be heard above ours, or suffer you to address our women and children and the common people on opposite principles to our own.

Come then, ye children of the Lydian Muse, and present yourselves first to the magistrates, and if they decide that your hymns are as good or better than ours, you shall have your chorus; but if not, not.

There remain three kinds of knowledge which should be learnt by freemen--arithmetic, geometry of surfaces and of solids, and thirdly, astronomy.

Few need make an accurate study of such sciences; and of special students we will speak at another time.

But most persons must be content with the study of them which is absolutely necessary, and may be said to be a necessity of that nature against which God himself is unable to contend.

'What are these divine necessities of knowledge?'

Necessities of a knowledge without which neither gods, nor demigods, can govern mankind.

And far is he from being a divine man who cannot distinguish one, two, odd and even; who cannot number day and night, and is ignorant of the revolutions of the sun and stars; for to every higher knowledge a knowledge of number is necessary--a fool may see this; how much, is a matter requiring more careful consideration.

'Very true.'

But the legislator cannot enter into such details, and therefore we must defer the more careful consideration of these matters to another occasion.

'You seem to fear our habitual want of training in these subjects.'

Still more do I fear the danger of bad training, which is often worse than none at all.

'Very true.'

I think that a gentleman and a freeman may be expected to know as much as an Egyptian child.

In Egypt, arithmetic is taught to children in their sports by a distribution of apples or garlands among a greater or less number of people; or a calculation is made of the various combinations which are possible among a set of boxers or wrestlers; or they distribute cups among the children, sometimes of gold, brass, and silver intermingled, sometimes of one metal only.

The knowledge of arithmetic which is thus acquired is a great help, either to the general or to the manager of a household; wherever measure is employed, men are more wide-awake in their dealings, and they get rid of their ridiculous ignorance.

'What do you mean?'

I have observed this ignorance among my countrymen--they are like pigs--and I am heartily ashamed both on my own behalf and on that of all the Hellenes.

'In what respect?'

Let me ask you a question.

You know that there are such things as length, breadth, and depth?

'Yes.'

And the Hellenes imagine that they are commensurable (1) with themselves, and (2) with each other; whereas they are only commensurable with themselves.

But if this is true, then we are in an unfortunate case, and may well say to our compatriots that not to possess necessary knowledge is a disgrace, though to possess such knowledge is nothing very grand.

'Certainly.'

The discussion of arithmetical problems is a much better amusement for old men than their favourite game of draughts.

'True.'

Mathematics, then, will be one of the subjects in which youth should be trained.

They may be regarded as an amusement, as well as a useful and innocent branch of knowledge;--I think that we may include them provisionally.

'Yes; that will be the way.'

The next question is, whether astronomy shall be made a part of education.

About the stars there is a strange notion prevalent.

Men often suppose that it is impious to enquire into the nature of God and the world, whereas the very reverse is the truth.

'How do you mean?'

What I am going to say may seem absurd and at variance with the usual language of age, and yet if true and advantageous to the state, and pleasing to God, ought not to be withheld.

'Let us hear.'

My dear friend, how falsely do we and all the Hellenes speak about the sun and moon!

'In what respect?'

We are always saying that they and certain of the other stars do not keep the same path, and we term them planets.

'Yes; and I have seen the morning and evening stars go all manner of ways, and the sun and moon doing what we know that they always do.

But I wish that you would explain your meaning further.'

You will easily understand what I have had no difficulty in understanding myself, though we are both of us past the time of learning.

'True; but what is this marvellous knowledge which youth are to acquire, and of which we are ignorant?'

Men say that the sun, moon, and stars are planets or wanderers; but this is the reverse of the fact.

Each of them moves in one orbit only, which is circular, and not in many; nor is the swiftest of them the slowest, as appears to human eyes.

What an insult should we offer to Olympian runners if we were to put the first last and the last first!

And if that is a ridiculous error in speaking of men, how much more in speaking of the Gods?

They cannot be pleased at our telling falsehoods about them.

'They cannot.'

Then people should at least learn so much about them as will enable them to avoid impiety.

Enough of education.

Hunting and similar pursuits now claim our attention.

These require for their regulation that mixture of law and admonition of which we have often spoken; e. g. , in what we were saying about the nurture of young children.

And therefore the whole duty of the citizen will not consist in mere obedience to the laws; he must regard not only the enactments but also the precepts of the legislator.

I

will illustrate my meaning by an example.

Of hunting there are many kinds--hunting of fish and fowl, man and beast, enemies and friends; and the legislator can neither omit to speak about these things, nor make penal ordinances about them all.

'What is he to do then?'

He will praise and blame hunting, having in view the discipline and exercise of youth.

And the young man will listen obediently and will regard his praises and censures; neither pleasure nor pain should hinder him.

The legislator will express himself in the form of a pious wish for the welfare of the young:--O my friends, he will say, may you never be induced to hunt for fish in the waters, either by day or night; or for men, whether by sea or land.

Never let the wish to steal enter into your minds; neither be ye fowlers, which is not an occupation for gentlemen.

As to land animals, the legislator will discourage hunting by night, and also the use of nets and snares by day; for these are indolent and unmanly methods.

The only mode of hunting which he can praise is with horses and dogs, running, shooting, striking at close quarters.

Enough of the prelude: the law shall be as follows:-- Let no one hinder the holy order of huntsmen; but let the nightly hunters who lay snares and nets be everywhere prohibited.

Let the fowler confine himself to waste places and to the mountains.

The fisherman is also permitted to exercise his calling, except in harbours and sacred streams, marshes and lakes; in all other places he may fish, provided he does not make use of poisonous mixtures.

BOOK VIII.

Next, with the help of the Delphian Oracle, we will appoint festivals and sacrifices.

There shall be 365 of them, one for every day in the year; and one magistrate, at least, shall offer sacrifice daily according to rites prescribed by a convocation of priests and interpreters, who shall co-operate with the guardians of the law, and supply what the legislator has omitted.

Moreover there shall be twelve festivals to the twelve Gods after whom the twelve tribes are named: these shall be celebrated every month with appropriate musical and gymnastic contests.

There shall also be festivals for women, to be distinguished from the men's festivals.

Nor shall the Gods below be forgotten, but they must be separated from the Gods above--Pluto shall have his own in the twelfth month.

He is not the enemy, but the friend of man, who releases the soul from the body, which is at least as good a work as to unite them.

Further, those who have to regulate these matters should consider that our state has leisure and abundance, and wishing to be happy, like an individual, should lead a good life; for he who leads such a life neither does nor suffers injury, of which the first is very easy, and the second very difficult of attainment, and is only to be acquired by perfect virtue.

A good city has peace, but the evil city is full of wars within and without.

To guard against the danger of external enemies the citizens should practise war at least one day in every month; they should go out en masse, including their wives and children, or in divisions, as the magistrates determine, and have mimic contests, imitating in a lively manner real battles; they should also have prizes and encomiums of valour, both for the victors in these contests, and for the victors in the battle of life.

The poet who celebrates the victors should be fifty years old at least, and himself a man who has done great deeds.

Of such an one the poems may be sung, even though he is not the best of poets.

To the director of education and the guardians of the law shall be committed the judgment, and no song, however sweet, which has not been licensed by them shall be recited.

These regulations about poetry, and about military expeditions, apply equally to men and to women.

The legislator may be conceived to make the following address to himself:--With what object am I training my citizens?

Are they not strivers for mastery in the greatest of combats?

Certainly, will be the reply.

And if they were boxers or wrestlers, would they think of entering the lists without many days' practice?

Would they not as far as possible imitate all the circumstances of the contest; and if they had no one to box with, would they not practise on a lifeless image, heedless of the laughter of the spectators?

And shall our soldiers go out to fight for life and kindred and property unprepared, because sham fights are thought to be ridiculous?

Will not the legislator require that his citizens shall practise war daily, performing lesser exercises without arms, while the combatants on a greater scale will carry arms, and take up positions, and lie in ambuscade?

And let their combats be not without danger, that opportunity may be given for distinction, and the brave man and the coward may receive their meed of honour or disgrace.

If occasionally a man is killed, there is no great harm done--there are others as good as he is who will replace him; and the state can better afford to lose a few of her citizens than to lose the only means of testing them.

'We agree, Stranger, that such warlike exercises are necessary.'

But why are they so rarely practised?

Or rather, do we not all know the reasons?

One of them (1) is the inordinate love of wealth.

This absorbs the soul of a man, and leaves him no time for any other pursuit.

Knowledge is valued by him only as it tends to the attainment of wealth.

All is lost in the desire of heaping up gold and silver; anybody is ready to do anything, right or wrong, for the sake of eating and drinking, and the indulgence of his animal passions.

'Most true.'

This is one of the causes which prevents a man being a good soldier, or anything else which is good; it converts the temperate and orderly into shopkeepers or servants, and the brave into burglars or pirates.

Many of these latter are men of ability, and are greatly to be pitied, because their souls are hungering and thirsting all their lives long.

The bad forms of government (2) are another reason--democracy, oligarchy, tyranny, which, as I was saying, are not states, but states of discord, in which the rulers are afraid of their subjects, and therefore do not like them to become rich, or noble, or valiant.

Now our state will escape both these causes of evil; the society is perfectly free, and has plenty of leisure, and is not allowed by the laws to be absorbed in the pursuit of wealth; hence we have an excellent field for a perfect education, and for the introduction of martial pastimes.

Let us proceed to describe the character of these pastimes.

All gymnastic exercises in our state must have a military character; no other will be allowed.

Activity and quickness are most useful in war; and yet these qualities do not attain their greatest efficiency unless the competitors are armed.

The runner should enter the lists in armour, and in the races which our heralds proclaim, no prize is to be given except to armed warriors.

Let there be six courses--first, the stadium; secondly, the diaulos or double course;

thirdly, the horse course; fourthly, the long course; fifthly, races (1) between heavy-armed soldiers who shall pass over sixty stadia and finish at a temple of Ares, and (2) between still more heavily-armed competitors who run over smoother ground; sixthly, a race for archers, who shall run over hill and dale a distance of a hundred stadia, and their goal shall be a temple of Apollo and Artemis.

There shall be three contests of each kind--one for boys, another for youths, a third for men; the course for the boys we will fix at half, and that for the youths at two-thirds of the entire length.

Women shall join in the races: young girls who are not grown up shall run naked; but after thirteen they shall be suitably dressed; from thirteen to eighteen they shall be obliged to share in these contests, and from eighteen to twenty they may if they please and if they are unmarried.

As to trials of strength, single combats in armour, or battles between two and two, or of any number up to ten, shall take the place of wrestling and the heavy exercises.

And there must be umpires, as there are now in wrestling, to determine what is a fair hit and who is conqueror.

Instead of the pancratium, let there be contests in which the combatants carry bows and wear light shields and hurl javelins and throw stones.

The next provision of the law will relate to horses, which, as we are in Crete, need be rarely used by us, and chariots never; our horse-racing prizes will only be given to single horses, whether colts, half-grown, or full-grown.

Their riders are to wear armour, and there shall be a competition between mounted archers.

Women, if they have a mind, may join in the exercises of men.

But enough of gymnastics, and nearly enough of music.

All musical contests will take place at festivals, whether every third or every fifth year, which are to be fixed by the guardians of the law, the judges of the games, and the director of education, who for this purpose shall become legislators and arrange times and conditions.

The principles on which such contests are to be ordered have been often repeated by the first legislator; no more need be said of them, nor are the details of them important.

But there is another subject of the highest importance, which, if possible, should be determined by the laws, not of man, but of God; or, if a direct revelation is impossible, there is need of some bold man who, alone against the world, will speak plainly of the corruption of human nature, and go to war with the passions of mankind.

'We do not understand you.'

I will try to make my meaning plainer.

In speaking of education, I seemed to see young men and maidens in friendly intercourse with one another; and there arose in my mind a natural fear about a state, in which the young of either sex are well nurtured, and have little to do, and occupy themselves chiefly with festivals and dances.

How can they be saved from those passions which reason forbids them to indulge, and which are the ruin of so many?

The prohibition of wealth, and the influence of education, and the all-seeing eye of the ruler, will alike help to promote temperance; but they will not wholly extirpate the unnatural loves which have been the destruction of states; and against this evil what remedy can be devised?

Lacedaemon and Crete give no assistance here; on the subject of love, as I may whisper in your ear, they are against us.

Suppose a person were to urge that you ought to restore the natural use which existed before the days of Laius; he would be quite right, but he would not be supported by public opinion in either of your states.

Or try the matter by the test which we apply to all laws,--who will say that the permission of such things tends to virtue?

Will he who is seduced learn the habit of courage; or will the seducer acquire temperance?

And will any legislator be found to make such actions legal?

But to judge of this matter truly, we must understand the nature of love and friendship, which may take very different forms.

For we speak of friendship, first, when there is some similarity or equality of virtue;

secondly, when there is some want; and either of these, when in excess, is termed love.

The first kind is gentle and sociable; the second is fierce and unmanageable; and there is also a third kind, which is akin to both, and is under the dominion of opposite principles.

The one is of the body, and has no regard for the character of the beloved; but he who is under the influence of the other disregards the body, and is a looker rather than a lover, and desires only with his soul to be knit to the soul of his friend; while the intermediate sort is both of the body and of the soul.

Here are three kinds of love: ought the legislator to prohibit all of them equally, or to allow the virtuous love to remain?

'The latter, clearly.'

I expected to gain your approval; but I will reserve the task of convincing our friend Cleinias for another occasion.

'Very good.'

To make right laws on this subject is in one point of view easy, and in another most difficult; for we know that in some cases most men abstain willingly from intercourse with the fair.

The unwritten law which prohibits members of the same family from such intercourse is strictly obeyed, and no thought of anything else ever enters into the minds of men in general.

A little word puts out the fire of their lusts.

'What is it?'

The declaration that such things are hateful to the Gods, and most abominable and unholy.

The reason is that everywhere, in jest and earnest alike, this is the doctrine which is repeated to all from their earliest youth.

They see on the stage that an Oedipus or a Thyestes or a Macareus, when undeceived, are ready to kill themselves.

There is an undoubted power in public opinion when no breath is heard adverse to the law; and the legislator who would enslave these enslaving passions must consecrate such a public opinion all through the city.

'Good: but how can you create it?'

A fair objection; but I promised to try and find some means of restraining loves to their natural objects.

A

law which would extirpate unnatural love as effectually as incest is at present extirpated, would be the source of innumerable blessings, because it would be in accordance with nature, and would get rid of excess in eating and drinking and of adulteries and frenzies, making men love their wives, and having other excellent effects.

I can imagine that some lusty youth overhears what we are saying, and roars out in abusive terms that we are legislating for impossibilities.

And so a person might have said of the syssitia, or common meals; but this is refuted by facts, although even now they are not extended to women.

'True.'

There is no impossibility or super-humanity in my proposed law, as I shall endeavour to prove.

'Do so.'

Will not a man find abstinence more easy when his body is sound than when he is in ill-condition?

'Yes.'

Have we not heard of Iccus of Tarentum and other wrestlers who abstained wholly for a time?

Yet they were infinitely worse educated than our citizens, and far more lusty in their bodies.

And shall they have abstained for the sake of an athletic contest, and our citizens be incapable of a similar endurance for the sake of a much nobler victory,--the victory over pleasure, which is true happiness?

Will not the fear of impiety enable them to conquer that which many who were inferior to them have conquered?

'I dare say.'

And therefore the law must plainly declare that our citizens should not fall below the other animals, who live all together in flocks, and yet remain pure and chaste until the time of procreation comes, when they pair, and are ever after faithful to their compact.

But if the corruption of public opinion is too great to allow our first law to be carried out, then our guardians of the law must turn legislators, and try their hand at a second law.

They must minimize the appetites, diverting the vigour of youth into other channels, allowing the practice of love in secret, but making detection shameful.

Three higher principles may be brought to bear on all these corrupt natures.

'What are they?'

Religion, honour, and the love of the higher qualities of the soul.

Perhaps this is a dream only, yet it is the best of dreams;

and if not the whole, still, by the grace of God, a part of what we desire may be realized.

Either men may learn to abstain wholly from any loves, natural or unnatural, except of their wedded wives; or, at least, they may give up unnatural loves; or, if detected, they shall be punished with loss of citizenship, as aliens from the state in their morals.

'I entirely agree with you,' said Megillus, 'but Cleinias must speak for himself.'

'I will give my opinion by-and-by.'

We were speaking of the syssitia, which will be a natural institution in a Cretan colony.

Whether they shall be established after the model of Crete or Lacedaemon, or shall be different from either, is an unimportant question which may be determined without difficulty.

We may, therefore, proceed to speak of the mode of life among our citizens, which will be far less complex than in other cities; a state which is inland and not maritime requires only half the number of laws.

There is no trouble about trade and commerce, and a thousand other things.

The legislator has only to regulate the affairs of husbandmen and shepherds, which will be easily arranged, now that the principal questions, such as marriage, education, and government, have been settled.

Let us begin with husbandry: First, let there be a law of Zeus against removing a neighbour's landmark, whether he be a citizen or stranger.

For this is 'to move the immoveable'; and Zeus, the God of kindred, witnesses to the wrongs of citizens, and Zeus, the God of strangers, to the wrongs of strangers.

The offence of removing a boundary shall receive two punishments--the first will be inflicted by the God himself;

the second by the judges.

In the next place, the differences between neighbours about encroachments must be guarded against.

He who encroaches shall pay twofold the amount of the injury; of all such matters the wardens of the country shall be the judges, in lesser cases the officers, and in greater the whole number of them belonging to any one division.

Any injury done by cattle, the decoying of bees, the careless firing of woods, the planting unduly near a neighbour's ground, shall all be visited with proper damages.

Such details have been determined by previous legislators, and need not now be mixed up with greater matters.

Husbandmen have had of old excellent rules about streams and waters; and we need not 'divert their course.'

Anybody may take water from a common stream, if he does not thereby cut off a private spring; he may lead the water in any direction, except through a house or temple, but he must do no harm beyond the channel.

If land is without water the occupier shall dig down to the clay, and if at this depth he find no water, he shall have a right of getting water from his neighbours for his household; and if their supply is limited, he shall receive from them a measure of water fixed by the wardens of the country.

If there be heavy rains, the dweller on the higher ground must not recklessly suffer the water to flow down upon a neighbour beneath him, nor must he who lives upon lower ground or dwells in an adjoining house refuse an outlet.

If the two parties cannot agree, they shall go before the wardens of the city or country, and if a man refuse to abide by their decision, he shall pay double the damage which he has caused.

In autumn God gives us two boons--one the joy of Dionysus not to be laid up--the other to be laid up.

About the fruits of autumn let the law be as follows: He who gathers the storing fruits of autumn, whether grapes or figs, before the time of the vintage, which is the rising of Arcturus, shall pay fifty drachmas as a fine to Dionysus, if he gathers on his own ground; if on his neighbour's ground, a mina, and two-thirds of a mina if on that of any one else.

The grapes or figs not used for storing a man may gather when he pleases on his own ground, but on that of others he must pay the penalty of removing what he has not laid down.

If he be a slave who has gathered, he shall receive a stroke for every grape or fig. A metic must purchase the choice fruit; but a stranger may pluck for himself and his attendant.

This right of hospitality, however, does not extend to storing grapes.

A slave who eats of the storing grapes or figs shall be beaten, and the freeman be dismissed with a warning.

Pears, apples, pomegranates, may be taken secretly, but he who is detected in the act of taking them shall be lightly beaten off, if he be not more than thirty years of age.

The stranger and the elder may partake of them, but not carry any away; the latter, if he does not obey the law, shall fail in the competition of virtue, if anybody brings up his offence against him.

Water is also in need of protection, being the greatest element of nutrition, and, unlike the other elements--soil, air, and sun--which conspire in the growth of plants, easily polluted.

And therefore he who spoils another's water, whether in springs or reservoirs, either by trenching, or theft, or by means of poisonous substances, shall pay the damage and purify the stream.

At the getting-in of the harvest everybody shall have a right of way over his neighbour's ground, provided he is careful to do no damage beyond the trespass, or if he himself will gain three times as much as his neighbour loses.

Of all this the magistrates are to take cognizance, and they are to assess the damage where the injury does not exceed three minae; cases of greater damage can be tried only in the public courts.

A charge against a magistrate is to be referred to the public courts, and any one who is found guilty of deciding corruptly shall pay twofold to the aggrieved person.

Matters of detail relating to punishments and modes of procedure, and summonses, and witnesses to summonses, do not require the mature wisdom of the aged legislator; the younger generation may determine them according to their experience; but when once determined, they shall remain unaltered.

The following are to be the regulations respecting handicrafts:--No citizen, or servant of a citizen, is to practise them.

For the citizen has already an art and mystery, which is the care of the state; and no man can practise two arts, or practise one and superintend another.

No smith should be a carpenter, and no carpenter, having many slaves who are smiths, should look after them himself; but let each man practise one art which shall be his means of livelihood.

The wardens of the city should see to this, punishing the citizen who offends with temporary deprival of his rights--the foreigner shall be imprisoned, fined, exiled.

Any disputes about contracts shall be determined by the wardens of the city up to fifty drachmae--above that sum by the public courts.

No customs are to be exacted either on imports or exports.

Nothing unnecessary is to be imported from abroad, whether for the service of the Gods or for the use of man--neither purple, nor other dyes, nor frankincense,--and nothing needed in the country is to be exported.

These things are to be decided on by the twelve guardians of the law who are next in seniority to the five elders.

Arms and the materials of war are to be imported and exported only with the consent of the generals, and then only by the state.

There is to be no retail trade either in these or any other articles.

For the distribution of the produce of the country, the Cretan laws afford a rule which may be usefully followed.

All shall be required to distribute corn, grain, animals, and other valuable produce, into twelve portions.

Each of these shall be subdivided into three parts--one for freemen, another for servants, and the third shall be sold for the supply of artisans, strangers, and metics.

These portions must be equal whether the produce be much or little; and the master of a household may distribute the two portions among his family and his slaves as he pleases--the remainder is to be measured out to the animals.

Next as to the houses in the country--there shall be twelve villages, one in the centre of each of the twelve portions; and in every village there shall be temples and an agora--also shrines for heroes or for any old Magnesian deities who linger about the place.

In every division there shall be temples of Hestia, Zeus, and Athene, as well as of the local deity, surrounded by buildings on eminences, which will be the guard-houses of the rural police.

The dwellings of the artisans will be thus arranged:--The artisans shall be formed into thirteen guilds, one of which will be divided into twelve parts and settled in the city; of the rest there shall be one in each division of the country.

And the magistrates will fix them on the spots where they will cause the least inconvenience and be most serviceable in supplying the wants of the husbandmen.

The care of the agora will fall to the wardens of the agora.

Their first duty will be the regulation of the temples which surround the market-place; and their second to see that the markets are orderly and that fair dealing is observed.

They will also take care that the sales which the citizens are required to make to strangers are duly executed.

The law shall be, that on the first day of each month the auctioneers to whom the sale is entrusted shall offer grain; and at this sale a twelfth part of the whole shall be exposed, and the foreigner shall supply his wants for a month.

On the tenth, there shall be a sale of liquids, and on the twenty-third of animals, skins, woven or woollen stuffs, and other things which husbandmen have to sell and foreigners want to buy.

None of these commodities, any more than barley or flour, or any other food, may be retailed by a citizen to a citizen; but foreigners may sell them to one another in the foreigners' market.

There must also be butchers who will sell parts of animals to foreigners and craftsmen, and their servants; and foreigners may buy firewood wholesale of the commissioners of woods, and may sell retail to foreigners.

All other goods must be sold in the market, at some place indicated by the magistrates, and shall be paid for on the spot.

He who gives credit, and is cheated, will have no redress.

In buying or selling, any excess or diminution of what the law allows shall be registered.

The same rule is to be observed about the property of metics.

Anybody who practises a handicraft may come and remain twenty years from the day on which he is enrolled; at the expiration of this time he shall take what he has and depart.

The only condition which is to be imposed upon him as the tax of his sojourn is good conduct; and he is not to pay any tax for being allowed to buy or sell.

But if he wants to extend the time of his sojourn, and has done any service to the state, and he can persuade the council and assembly to grant his request, he may remain.

The children of metics may also be metics; and the period of twenty years, during which they are permitted to sojourn, is to count, in their case, from their fifteenth year.