Complete Works (288 page)

A
THENIAN
: Yes, he does testify in my favor. So let’s take him as our evidence that political systems of this kind do sometimes develop.

C
LINIAS
: Very well.

A
THENIAN
: And they arise among these people who live scattered in separate households and individual families in the confusion that follows the cataclysms. In such a system the eldest member rules by virtue of [e] having inherited power from his father or mother; the others follow his lead and make one flock like birds. The authority to which they bow is that of their patriarch: they are governed, in effect, by the most justifiable of all forms of kingship.

C
LINIAS
: Yes, of course.

A
THENIAN
: The next stage is when several families amalgamate and form larger communities. They turn their attention to agriculture, initially in
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the foot-hills, and build rings of dry stones to serve as walls to protect themselves against wild animals. The result now is a single large unit, a common homestead.

C
LINIAS
: I suppose that’s quite probable.

A
THENIAN
: Well then, isn’t this probable too?

C
LINIAS
: What?

A
THENIAN
: As these original relatively tiny communities grew bigger, each of the small constituent families lived under its own ruler—the eldest [b] member—and followed its own particular customs which had arisen because of its isolation from the others. The various social and religious standards to which people had grown accustomed reflected the bias of their ancestors and teachers: the more restrained or adventurous the ancestor, the more restrained or adventurous would be the character of his descendants. Consequently, as I say, the members of each group entered the larger community with laws peculiar to themselves, and were ready to impress their own inclinations on their children and their children’s children.

C
LINIAS
: Naturally.

[c] A
THENIAN
: And of course each group inevitably approved of its own laws and looked on those of other people with rather less favor.

C
LINIAS
: Exactly.

A
THENIAN
: So it looks as if we have unwittingly stumbled on the origin of legislation.

C
LINIAS
: We certainly have.

A
THENIAN
: At any rate the next and necessary step in this amalgamation is to choose some representatives to review the rules of all the families, and to propose openly to the leaders and heads of the people—the ‘kings’, [d] so to speak—the adoption of those rules that particularly recommend themselves for common use. These representatives will be known as lawgivers, and by appointing the leaders as officials they will create out of the separate autocracies a sort of aristocracy, or perhaps kingship. And while the political system passes through this transitional stage they will administer the state themselves.

C
LINIAS
: Yes, that sort of change would certainly come about by stages.

A
THENIAN
: So we can now go on to describe the birth of a third type of political system, one which in fact admits
all
systems and all their modifications and exhibits equal variety and change in the actual states as well.

[e] C
LINIAS
: What type is this?

A
THENIAN
: The one which Homer too listed as the successor of the second. This is how he describes the origin of the third:
⁴
‘He founded Dardania’—I think this is how it goes—‘when holy Ilium,

A town upon the plain for mortal men, had not been built:

For still they lived upon the lower slopes of many-fountained Ida.’

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He composed these lines, as well as those about the Cyclopes, under some sort of inspiration from God. And how true to life they are! This is because poets as a class are divinely gifted and are inspired when they sing, so that with the help of Graces and Muses they frequently hit on how things really happen.

C
LINIAS
: They do indeed.

A
THENIAN
: Let’s carry on with the story we are telling: it may suggest something to our purpose. I take it this is what we ought to do?

C
LINIAS
: Of course. [b]

A
THENIAN
: Ilium was founded, according to us, when men had descended from the hills to a wide and beautiful plain. They built their city on a hill of moderate height near several rivers which poured down from Ida above.

C
LINIAS
: So the story goes.

A
THENIAN
: I suppose we may assume that this descent of theirs took place many ages after the flood?

C
LINIAS
: Yes, naturally, many ages later.

A
THENIAN
: I mean that apparently the disaster we’ve just described must have been forgotten to a quite remarkable degree if they founded their [c] city on the lower reaches of several rivers flowing down from the mountains, and put their trust in hills that were none too high.

C
LINIAS
: Yes, a clear proof that they were far removed in time from any such experience.

A
THENIAN
: With the increase in the human population many other cities, one supposes, were already being founded.

C
LINIAS
: Naturally.

A
THENIAN
: These cities also mounted an expedition against Ilium, probably by sea as well, because by then all mankind had overcome its fear and [d] had taken to ships.

C
LINIAS
: So it seems.

A
THENIAN
: And after a siege of about ten years the Achaeans sacked Troy.

C
LINIAS
: Indeed they did.

A
THENIAN
: They besieged Ilium for ten years, and during this period the domestic affairs of the individual attackers took a turn for the worse. The younger generation revolted, and the ugly and criminal reception they gave the troops when they returned to their own cities and homes led to murder, massacre and expulsion on a large scale. When the exiles came [e] back again they adopted a new name, and were now known as Dorians instead of Achaeans, in honor of Dorieus, who had rallied them while they were in exile. A full and exhaustive account of subsequent events can be found in your traditional Spartan stories.

M
EGILLUS
: Of course.

A
THENIAN
: When we were starting to discuss legislation, the question of the arts and drinking cropped up, and we made a digression.
⁵
But now we really do have a chance to come to grips with our subject. As if God himself were guiding us, we’ve come back to the very point from which
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we digressed: the actual foundation of Sparta. You maintained that Sparta was established on the right lines, and you said the same of Crete, because it has laws that bear a family resemblance to Sparta’s. We have had a rather random discussion about various foundations and political systems, but we have achieved at least this much: we have watched the first, second and third type of state being founded in succession over a vast period of time, and now we discover this fourth state (or ‘nation’, if you like) whose historical foundation and development we are tracing down to its maturity [b] today.
⁶
After all this, perhaps we can get some idea of what was right and wrong in the way these foundations were established. Can we see what kind of laws are responsible for continued preservation of the features that survive and the ruin of those that collapse? What detailed alterations will produce happiness in a state? If we can understand all this, Clinias and Megillus, we shall have to discuss the whole business all over again: it will be like making a fresh start. However, we may be able to find some fault in our account so far.

[c] M
EGILLUS
: Well, sir, if some god were to give us his word that if we do make a second attempt to look at the problem of legislation, we shall hear an account of at least the quality and length of the one we have just had, I for one would willingly extend our journey, and the present day would seem not a moment too long—though it is in fact more or less the day when the Sun-god turns past summer towards winter.

A
THENIAN
: So it looks as if we must press on with the investigation.

M
EGILLUS
: Certainly.

A
THENIAN
: Let’s imagine that we are living at the time when the territory [d] of Sparta, Argos and Messene, and the districts nearby, had in effect come under the control of your ancestors, Megillus. Their next decision, or so the story goes, was to split their forces into three and establish three states—Argos, Messene and Sparta.

M
EGILLUS
: That’s quite right.

A
THENIAN
: Temenus became king of Argos, Cresphontes of Messene, and Procles and Eurysthenes of Sparta.

M
EGILLUS
: True.

A
THENIAN
: And all their contemporaries swore to them that they would [e] go to their help if anybody tried to subvert their thrones.

M
EGILLUS
: Precisely.

A
THENIAN
: Now when a monarchy is overthrown (and indeed when any other type of authority has been destroyed at any time) surely no one but the rulers themselves are to blame? That was the line we took when the subject cropped up a little time ago—or have we forgotten by now?

M
EGILLUS
: No, of course not.

A
THENIAN
: So now we can put our thesis on a firmer footing, because it looks as if our study of history has led us to the same conclusion as before. This means we shall carry on our investigation on the basis of the
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actual facts rather than conjecture. The facts are, of course, as follows: each of the three royal families, and each of the three royal states they ruled, exchanged oaths in accordance with mutually binding laws which they had adopted to regulate the exercise of authority and obedience to it. The kings swore never to stiffen their rule as the nation continued down the years; the others undertook, provided the rulers kept to their side of the bargain, never themselves to overthrow the kingships nor tolerate an [b] attempt to do so by others. The kings would help the kings and peoples if they were wronged, and the peoples would help the peoples and the kings likewise. That’s right, isn’t it?

M
EGILLUS
: Certainly.

A
THENIAN
: Now whether it was the kings or someone else who laid down laws for this political system thus established in the three states, the crucial provision, surely, was this—

M
EGILLUS
: What?

A
THENIAN
: Whenever a given state broke the established laws, an alliance of the other two would always be there to take the field against it.

M
EGILLUS
: Obviously.

A
THENIAN
: Of course, most people only ask their legislators to enact the [c] kind of laws that the population in general will accept without objection. But just imagine asking your trainer or doctor to give you pleasure when he trains or cures your body!

M
EGILLUS
: Exactly.

A
THENIAN
: In fact, you often have to be satisfied if you can restore your body to health and vigor without undue pain.

M
EGILLUS
: True.

A
THENIAN
: In another respect too the people of that time were particularly [d] well placed to make legislation a painless process.

M
EGILLUS
: What respect?

A
THENIAN
: Their legislators’ efforts to establish a certain equality of property among them were not open to one particularly damaging accusation which is frequently made in other states. Suppose a legal code is being framed and someone adopts the policy of a change in the ownership of land and a cancellation of debts, because he sees that this is the only way in which equality can be satisfactorily achieved. ‘Hands off fundamentals’ [e] is the slogan everybody uses to attack a legislator who tries to bring in that kind of reform, and his policy of land-redistribution and remission of debts earns him only curses. It’s enough to make any man despair. So here is another tremendous advantage the Dorians enjoyed: the absence of resentment. No one could object to the way the land was parceled out, and large long-standing debts did not exist.

M
EGILLUS
: True.

A
THENIAN
: Then why on earth, my friends, did this foundation and its legislation turn out such a dismal failure?

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M
EGILLUS
: What do you mean by that? What’s your objection?

A
THENIAN
: Three states were founded but in two of them the political system and the legal code were quickly corrupted. Only the third settlement survived—that of your state, Sparta.

M
EGILLUS
: A pretty difficult problem you’re posing!

A
THENIAN
: Nevertheless, it demands our attention. So now let’s look into it, and while away the journey, as we said when we set out, by amusing ourselves with laws—it’s a dignified game and it suits our time [b] of life.

M
EGILLUS
: Of course. We must do as you say.

A
THENIAN
: No laws could form a better subject for our investigation than those by which these states have been administered. Or are there any bigger or more famous states whose foundation we might examine?

M
EGILLUS
: No, it’s not easy to think of alternatives.

A
THENIAN
: Well then, it’s pretty obvious that they intended the arrangements [c] they made to protect adequately not only the Peloponnese but the Greeks in general against any possible attack by non-Greeks—as for example occurred when those who then lived in the territory of Ilium trusted to the power of the Assyrian empire, which Ninos had founded, and provoked the war against Troy by their arrogance. You see, a good deal of the splendor of the Assyrian empire still remained, and the dread of its united organization was the counterpart in that age of our fear of the Great King of Persia today. The Assyrians had a tremendous grudge [d] against the Greeks: Troy, which was part of the Assyrian empire, had been captured for a second time.
⁷
To meet such dangers the Dorian army formed a single unified body, although at that period it was distributed among the three states under the command of the kings (who were brothers, being sons of Hercules). It seemed to be excellently conceived and equipped—better even than the army which sailed against Troy. For a start, people thought the sons of Hercules were, as commanders, a cut above the grandsons [e] of Pelops;
⁸
secondly, they rated the prowess of the army itself higher than that of the expedition which went to Troy. After all, they calculated,
that
had consisted of Achaeans, the very people the Dorians had defeated. So may we take it that this was the nature and purpose of the arrangements they made?