And now, assuming children of both sexes to have been born, it
will be proper for us to consider, in the next place, their nurture and
education; this cannot be left altogether unnoticed, and yet may be thought
a subject fitted rather for precept and admonition than for law. In private
life there are many little things, not always apparent, arising out of the
pleasures and pains and desires of individuals, which run counter to the
intention of the legislator, and make the characters of the citizens various
and dissimilar:-this is an evil in states; for by reason of their smallness
and frequent occurrence, there would be an unseemliness and want of
propriety in making them penal by law; and if made penal, they are the
destruction of the written law because mankind get the habit of frequently
transgressing the law in small matters. The result is that you cannot
legislate about them, and still less can you be silent. I speak somewhat
darkly, but I shall endeavour also to bring my wares into the light of day,
for I acknowledge that at present there is a want of clearness in what I am
saying.
Cleinias. Very true.
Athenian. Stranger. Am I not right in maintaining that a good
education is that which tends most, to the improvement of mind and body?
Cle. Undoubtedly.
Ath. And nothing can be plainer than that the fairest bodies are
those which grow up from infancy in the best and straightest manner?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And do we not further observe that the first shoot of every
living thing is by far the greatest and fullest? Many will even contend that
a man at twenty-five does not reach twice the height which he attained at
five.
Cle. True.
Ath. Well, and is not rapid growth without proper and abundant
exercise the source endless evils in the body?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. And the body should have the most exercise when it receives most
nourishment?
Cle. But, Stranger, are we to impose this great amount of exercise
upon newly-born infants?
Ath. Nay, rather on the bodies of infants still unborn.
Cle. What do you mean, my good sir? In the process of gestation?
Ath. Exactly. I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of
this very peculiar sort of gymnastic applied to such little creatures,
which, although strange, I will endeavour to explain to you.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. The practice is more easy for us to understand than for you, by
reason of certain amusements which are carried to excess by us at Athens.
Not only boys, but often older persons, are in the habit of keeping quails
and cocks, which they train to fight one another. And they are far from
thinking that the contests in which they stir them up to fight with one
another are sufficient exercise; for, in addition to this, they carry them
about tucked beneath their armpits, holding the smaller birds in their
hands, the larger under their arms, and go for a walk of a great many miles
for the sake of health, that is to say, not their own, health, but the
health of the birds; whereby they prove to any intelligent person, that all
bodies are benefited by shakings and movements, when they are moved without
weariness, whether motion proceeds from themselves, or is caused by a swing,
or at sea, or on horseback, or by other bodies in whatever way moving, and
that thus gaining the mastery over food and drink, they are able to impart
beauty and health and strength. But admitting all this, what follows? Shall
we make a ridiculous law that the pregnant woman shall walk about and
fashion the embryo within as we fashion wax before it hardens, and after
birth swathe the infant for two years? Suppose that we compel nurses, under
penalty of a legal fine, to be always carrying the children somewhere or
other, either to the temples, or into the country, or to their relations,
houses, until they are well able to stand, and to take care that their limbs
are not distorted by leaning on them when they are too young-they should
continue to carry them until the infant has completed its third year; the
nurses should be strong, and there should be more than one of them. Shall
these be our rules, and shall we impose a penalty for the neglect of them?
No, no; the penalty of which we were speaking will fall upon our own heads
more than enough.
Cle. What penalty?
Ath. Ridicule, and the difficulty of getting the feminine and
servant-like dispositions of the nurses to comply.
Cle. Then why was there any need to speak of the matter at all?
Ath. The reason is that masters and freemen in states, when they hear
of it, are very likely to arrive at a true conviction that without due
regulation of private life in cities, stability in the laying down of laws
is hardly to be expected; and he who makes this reflection may himself adopt
the laws just now mentioned, and, adopting them, may order his house and
state well and be happy.
Cle. Likely enough.
Ath. And therefore let us proceed with our legislation until we have
determined the exercises which are suited to the souls of young children, in
the same manner in which we have begun to go through the rules relating to
their bodies.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. Let us assume, then, as a first principle in relation both to
the body and soul of very young creatures, that nursing and moving about by
day and night is good for them all, and that the younger they are, the more
they will need it; infants should live, if that were possible, as if they
were always rocking at sea. This is the lesson which we may gather from the
experience of nurses, and likewise from the use of the remedy of motion in
the rites of the Corybantes; for when mothers want their restless children
to go to sleep they do not employ rest, but, on the contrary, motion-rocking
them in their arms; nor do they give them silence, but they sing to them and
lap them in sweet strains; and the Bacchic women are cured of their frenzy
in the same manner by the use of the dance and of music.
Cle. Well, Stranger, and what is the reason of this?
Ath. The reason is obvious.
Cle. What?
Ath. The affection both of the Bacchantes and of the children is an
emotion of fear, which springs out of an evil habit of the soul. And when
some one applies external agitation to affections of this sort, the motion
coming from without gets the better of the terrible and violent internal
one, and produces a peace and calm in the soul, and quiets the restless
palpitation of the heart, which is a thing much to be desired, sending the
children to sleep, and making the Bacchantes, although they remain awake, to
dance to the pipe with the help of the Gods to whom they offer acceptable
sacrifices, and producing in them a sound mind, which takes the place of
their frenzy. And, to express what I mean in a word, there is a good deal to
be said in favour of this treatment.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. But if fear has such a power we ought to infer from these facts,
that every soul which from youth upward has been familiar with fears, will
be made more liable to fear, and every one will allow that this is the way
to form a habit of cowardice and not of courage.
Cle. No doubt.
Ath. And, on the other hand, the habit of overcoming, from our youth
upwards, the fears and terrors which beset us, may be said to be an exercise
of courage.
Cle. True.
Ath. And we may say that the use of exercise and motion in the
earliest years of life greatly contributes to create a part of virtue in the
soul.
Cle. Quite true.
Ath. Further, a cheerful temper, or the reverse, may be regarded as
having much to do with high spirit on the one hand, or with cowardice on the
other.
Cle. To be sure.
Ath. Then now we must endeavour to show how and to what extent we
may, if we please, without difficulty implant either character in the young.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. There is a common opinion, that luxury makes the disposition of
youth discontented and irascible and vehemently excited by trifles; that on
the other hand excessive and savage servitude makes men mean and abject, and
haters of their kind, and therefore makes them undesirable associates.
Cle. But how must the state educate those who do not as yet
understand the language of the country, and are therefore incapable of
appreciating any sort of instruction?
Ath. I will tell you how:-Every animal that is born is wont to utter
some cry, and this is especially the case with man, and he is also affected
with the inclination to weep more than any other animal.
Cle. Quite true.
Ath. Do not nurses, when they want to know what an infant desires,
judge by these signs?-when anything is brought to the infant and he is
silent, then he is supposed to be pleased, but, when he weeps and cries out,
then he is not pleased. For tears and cries are the inauspicious signs by
which children show what they love and hate. Now the time which is thus
spent is no less than three years, and is a very considerable portion of
life to be passed ill or well.
Cle. True.
Ath. Does not the discontented and ungracious nature appear to you to
be full of lamentations and sorrows more than a good man ought to be?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. Well, but if during these three years every possible care were
taken that our nursling should have as little of sorrow and fear, and in
general of pain as was possible, might we not expect in early childhood to
make his soul more gentle and cheerful?
Cle. To be sure, Stranger-more especially if we could procure him a
variety of pleasures.
Ath. There I can no longer agree, Cleinias: you amaze me. To bring
him up in such a way would be his utter ruin; for the beginning is always
the most critical part of education. Let us see whether I am right.
Cle. Proceed.
Ath. The point about which you and I differ is of great importance,
and I hope that you, Megillus, will help to decide between us. For I
maintain that the true life should neither seek for pleasures, nor, on the
other hand, entirely avoid pains, but should embrace the middle state, which
I just spoke of as gentle and benign, and is a state which we by some divine
presage and inspiration rightly ascribe to God. Now, I say, he among men,
too, who would be divine ought to pursue after this mean habit-he should not
rush headlong into pleasures, for he will not be free from pains; nor should
we allow any one, young or old, male or female, to be thus given any more
than ourselves, and least of all the newly-born infant, for in infancy more
than at any other time the character is engrained by habit. Nay, more, if I
were not afraid of appearing to be ridiculous, I would say that a woman
during her year of pregnancy should of all women be most carefully tended,
and kept from violent or excessive pleasures and pains, and should at that
time cultivate gentleness and benevolence and kindness.
Cle. You need not, ask Megillus, Stranger, which of us has most truly
spoken; for I myself agree that all men ought to avoid the life of unmingled
pain or pleasure, and pursue always a middle course. And having spoken well,
may I add that you have been well answered?
Ath. Very good, Cleinias; and now let us all three consider a further
point.
Cle. What is it?
Ath. That all the matters which we are now describing are commonly
called by the general name of unwritten customs, and what are termed the
laws of our ancestors are all of similar nature. And the reflection which
lately arose in our minds, that we can neither call these things laws, nor
yet leave them unmentioned, is justified; for they are the bonds of the
whole state, and come in between the written laws which are or are hereafter
to be laid down; they are just ancestral customs of great antiquity, which,
if they are rightly ordered and made habitual, shield and preserve the
previously existing written law; but if they depart from right and fall into
disorder, then they are like the props of builders which slip away out of
their Place and cause a universal ruin-one part drags another down, and the
fair super-structure falls because the old foundations are undermined.
Reflecting upon this, Cleinias, you ought to bind together the new state in
every possible way, omitting nothing, whether great or small, of what are
called laws or manners or pursuits, for by these means a city is bound
together, and all these things are only lasting when they depend upon one
another; and, therefore, we must not wonder if we find that many apparently
trifling customs or usages come pouring in and lengthening out our laws.
Cle. Very true: we are disposed to agree with you.
Ath. Up to the age of three years, whether of boy or girl, if a
person strictly carries out our previous regulations and makes them a
principal aim, he will do much for the advantage of the young creatures. But
at three, four, five, and even six years the childish nature will require
sports; now is the time to get rid of self-will in him, punishing him, but
not so as to disgrace him. We were saying about slaves, that we ought
neither to add insult to punishment so as to anger them, nor yet to leave
them unpunished lest they become self-willed; and a like rule is to be
observed in the case of the free-born. Children at that age have certain
natural modes of amusement which they find out for themselves when they
meet. And all the children who are between the ages of three and six ought
to meet at the temples the villages, the several families of a village
uniting on one spot. The nurses are to see that the children behave properly
and orderly-they themselves and all their companies are to be under the
control of twelve matrons, one for each company, who are annually selected
to inspect them from the women previously mentioned, [i.e., the women who
have authority over marriage], whom the guardians of the law appoint. These
matrons shall be chosen by the women who have authority over marriage, one
out of each tribe; all are to be of the same age; and let each of them, as
soon as she is appointed, hold office and go to the temples every day,
punishing all offenders, male or female, who are slaves or strangers, by the
help of some of the public slaves; but if any citizen disputes the
punishment, let her bring him before the wardens of the city; or, if there
be no dispute, let her punish him herself. After the age of six years the
time has arrived for the separation of the sexes-let boys live with boys,
and girls in like manner with girls. Now they must begin to learn-the boys
going to teachers of horsemanship and the use of the bow, the javelin, and
sling, and the girls too, if they do not object, at any rate until they know
how to manage these weapons, and especially how to handle heavy arms; for I
may note, that the practice which now prevails is almost universally
misunderstood.
Cle. In what respect?
Ath. In that the right and left hand are supposed to be by nature
differently suited for our various uses of them; whereas no difference is
found in the use of the feet and the lower limbs; but in the use of the
hands we are, as it were, maimed by the folly of nurses and mothers; for
although our several limbs are by nature balanced, we create a difference in
them by bad habit. In some cases this is of no consequence, as, for example,
when we hold the lyre in the left hand, and the plectrum in the right, but
it is downright folly to make the same distinction in other cases. The
custom of the Scythians proves our error; for they not only hold the bow
from them with the left hand and draw the arrow to them with their right,
but use either hand for both purposes. And there are many similar examples
in charioteering and other things, from which we may learn that those who
make the left side weaker than the right act contrary to nature. In the case
of the plectrum, which is of horn only, and similar instruments, as I was
saying, it is of no consequence, but makes a great difference, and may be of
very great importance to the warrior who has to use iron weapons, bows and
javelins, and the like; above all, when in heavy armour, he has to fight
against heavy armour. And there is a very great difference between one who
has learnt and one who has not, and between one who has been trained in
gymnastic exercises and one who has not been. For as he who is perfectly
skilled in the Pancratium or boxing or wrestling, is not unable to fight
from his left side, and does not limp and draggle in confusion when his
opponent makes him change his position, so in heavy-armed fighting, and in
all other things if I am not mistaken, the like holds-he who has these
double powers of attack and defence ought not in any case to leave them
either unused or untrained, if he can help; and if a person had the nature
of Geryon or Briareus he ought to be able with his hundred hands to throw a
hundred darts. Now, the magistrates, male and female, should see to all
these things, the women superintending the nursing and amusements of the
children, and the men superintending their education, that all of them, boys
and girls alike, may be sound hand and foot, and may not, if they can help,
spoil the gifts of nature by bad habits.
Education has two branches-one of gymnastic, which is concerned with the
body, and the other of music, which is designed for the improvement of the
soul. And gymnastic has also two branches-dancing and wrestling; and one
sort of dancing imitates musical recitation, and aims at preserving dignity
and freedom, the other aims at producing health, agility, and beauty in the
limbs and parts of the body, giving the proper flexion and extension to each
of them, a harmonious motion being diffused everywhere, and forming a
suitable accompaniment to the dance. As regards wrestling, the tricks which
Antaeus and Cercyon devised in their systems out of a vain spirit of
competition, or the tricks of boxing which Epeius or Amycus invented, are
useless and unsuitable for war, and do not deserve to have much said about
them; but the art of wrestling erect and keeping free the neck and hands and
sides, working with energy and constancy, with a composed strength, and for
the sake of health-these are always useful, and are not to be neglected, but
to be enjoined alike on masters and scholars, when we reach that part of
legislation; and we will desire the one to give their instructions freely,
and the others to receive them thankfully. Nor, again, must we omit suitable
imitations of war in our choruses; here in Crete you have the armed dances
if the Curetes, and the Lacedaemonians have those of the Dioscuri. And our
virgin lady, delighting in the amusement of the dance, thought it not fit to
amuse herself with empty hands; she must be clothed in a complete suit of
armour, and in this attire go through the dance; and youths and maidens
should in every respect imitate her, esteeming highly the favour of the
Goddess, both with a view to the necessities of war, and to festive
occasions: it will be right also for the boys, until such time as they go
out to war, to make processions and supplications to all the Gods in goodly
array, armed and on horseback, in dances, and marches, fast or slow,
offering up prayers to the Gods and to the sons of Gods; and also engaging
in contests and preludes of contests, if at all, with these objects: For
these sorts of exercises, and no others, are useful both in peace and war,
and are beneficial alike to states and to private houses. But other labours
and sports and exercises of the body are unworthy of freemen, O Megillus and
Cleinias.
I have now completely described the kind of gymnastic which I said at first
ought to be described; if you know of any better, will you communicate your
thoughts?
Cle. It is not easy, Stranger, to put aside these principles of
gymnastic and wrestling and to enunciate better ones.
Ath. Now we must say what has yet to be said about the gifts of the
Muses and of Apollo: before, we fancied that we had said all, and that
gymnastic alone remained; but now we see clearly what points have been
omitted, and should be first proclaimed; of these, then, let us proceed to
speak.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. Let me tell you once more-although you have heard me say the
same before that caution must be always exercised, both by the speaker and
by the hearer, about anything that is very singular and unusual. For my tale
is one, which many a man would be afraid to tell, and yet I have a
confidence which makes me go on.
Cle. What have you to say, Stranger?
Ath. I say that in states generally no one has observed that the
plays of childhood have a great deal to do with the permanence or want of
permanence in legislation. For when plays are ordered with a view to
children having the same plays, and amusing themselves after the same
manner, and finding delight in the same playthings, the more solemn
institutions of the state are allowed to remain undisturbed. Whereas if
sports are disturbed, and innovations are made in them, and they constantly
change, and the young never speak of their having the same likings, or the
same established notions of good and bad taste, either in the bearing of
their bodies or in their dress, but he who devises something new and out of
the way in figures and colours and the like is held in special honour, we
may truly say that no greater evil can happen in a state; for he who changes
the sports is secretly changing the manners of the young, and making the old
to be dishonoured among them and the new to be honoured. And I affirm that
there is nothing which is a greater injury to all states than saying or
thinking thus. Will you hear me tell how great I deem the evil to be?
Cle. You mean the evil of blaming antiquity in states?
Ath. Exactly.
Cle. If you are speaking of that, you will find in us hearers who are
disposed to receive what you say not unfavourably but most favourably.
Ath. I should expect so.
Cle. Proceed.
Ath. Well, then, let us give all the greater heed to one another's
words. The argument affirms that any change whatever except from evil is the
most dangerous of all things; this is true in the case of the seasons and of
the winds, in the management of our bodies and the habits of our minds-true
of all things except, as I said before, of the bad. He who looks at the
constitution of individuals accustomed to eat any sort of meat, or drink any
drink, or to do any work which they can get, may see that they are at first
disordered by them, but afterwards, as time goes on, their bodies grow
adapted to them, and they learn to know and like variety, and have good
health and enjoyment of life; and if ever afterwards they are confined again
to a superior diet, at first they are troubled with disorders, and with
difficulty become habituated to their new food. A similar principle we may
imagine to hold good about the minds of men and the natures of their souls.
For when they have been brought up in certain laws, which by some Divine
Providence have remained unchanged during long ages, so that no one has any
memory or tradition of their ever having been otherwise than they are, then
every one is afraid and ashamed to change that which is established. The
legislator must somehow find a way of implanting this reverence for
antiquity, and I would propose the following way:-People are apt to fancy,
as I was saying before, that when the plays of children are altered they are
merely plays, not seeing that the most serious and detrimental consequences
arise out of the change; and they readily comply with the child's wishes
instead of deterring him, not considering that these children who make
innovations in their games, when they grow up to be men, will be different
from the last generation of children, and, being different, will desire a
different sort of life, and under the influence of this desire will want
other institutions and laws; and no one of them reflects that there will
follow what I just now called the greatest of evils to states. Changes in
bodily fashions are no such serious evils, but frequent changes in the
praise and censure of manners are the greatest of evils, and require the
utmost prevision.
Cle. To be sure.
Ath. And now do we still hold to our former assertion, that rhythms
and music in general are imitations of good and evil characters in men? What
say you?
Cle. That is the only doctrine which we can admit.
Ath. Must we not, then, try in every possible way to prevent our
youth from even desiring to imitate new modes either in dance or song? nor
must any one be allowed to offer them varieties of pleasures.
Cle. Most true.
Ath. Can any of us imagine a better mode of effecting this object
than that of the Egyptians?
Cle. What is their method?
Ath. To consecrate every sort of dance or melody. First we should
ordain festivals-calculating for the year what they ought to be, and at what
time, and in honour of what Gods, sons of Gods, and heroes they ought to be
celebrated; and, in the next place, what hymns ought to be sung at the
several sacrifices, and with what dances the particular festival is to be
honoured. This has to be arranged at first by certain persons, and, when
arranged, the whole assembly of the citizens are to offer sacrifices and
libations to the Fates and all the other Gods, and to consecrate the several
odes to gods and heroes: and if any one offers any other hymns or dances to
any one of the Gods, the priests and priestesses, acting in concert with the
guardians of the law, shall, with the sanction of religion and the law,
exclude him, and he who is excluded, if he do not submit, shall be liable
all his life long to have a suit of impiety brought against him by any one
who likes.
Cle. Very good.
Ath. In the consideration of this subject, let us remember what is
due to ourselves.
Cle. To what are you referring?
Ath. I mean that any young man, and much more any old one, when he
sees or hears anything strange or unaccustomed, does not at once run to
embrace the paradox, but he stands considering, like a person who is at a
place where three paths meet, and does not very well know his way-he may be
alone or he may be walking with others, and he will say to himself and them,
"Which is the way?" and will not move forward until he is satisfied that he
is going right. And this is what we must do in the present instance:-A
strange discussion on the subject of law has arisen, which requires the
utmost consideration, and we should not at our age be too ready to speak
about such great matters, or be confident that we can say anything certain
all in a moment.
Cle. Most true.
Ath. Then we will allow time for reflection, and decide when we have
given the subject sufficient consideration. But that we may not be hindered
from completing the natural arrangement of our laws, let us proceed to the
conclusion of them in due order; for very possibly, if God will, the
exposition of them, when completed, may throw light on our present
perplexity.
Cle. Excellent, Stranger; let us do as you propose.
Ath. Let us then affirm the paradox that strains of music are our
laws (nomoi), and this latter being the name which the ancients gave to
lyric songs, they probably would not have very much objected to our proposed
application of the word. Some one, either asleep or awake, must have had a
dreamy suspicion of their nature. And let our decree be as follows:-No one
in singing or dancing shall offend against public and consecrated models,
and the general fashion among the youth, any more than he would offend
against any other law. And he who observes this law shall be blameless; but
he who is disobedient, as I was saying, shall be punished by the guardians
of the laws, and by the priests and priestesses. Suppose that we imagine
this to be our law.
Cle. Very good.
Ath. Can any one who makes such laws escape ridicule? Let us see. I
think that our only safety will be in first framing certain models for
composers. One of these models shall be as follows:-If when a sacrifice is
going on, and the victims are being burnt according to law-if, I say, any
one who may be a son or brother, standing by another at the altar and over
the victims, horribly blasphemes, will not his words inspire despondency and
evil omens and forebodings in the mind of his father and of his other
kinsmen?
Cle. Of course.
Ath. And this is just what takes place in almost all our cities. A
magistrate offers a public sacrifice, and there come in not one but many
choruses, who take up a position a little way from the altar, and from time
to time pour forth all sorts of horrible blasphemies on the sacred rites,
exciting the souls of the audience with words and rhythms and melodies most
sorrowful to hear; and he who at the moment when the city is offering
sacrifice makes the citizens weep most, carries away the palm of victory.
Now, ought we not to forbid such strains as these? And if ever our citizens
must hear such lamentations, then on some unblest and inauspicious day let
there be choruses of foreign and hired minstrels, like those hirelings who
accompany the departed at funerals with barbarous Carian chants. That is the
sort of thing which will be appropriate if we have such strains at all; and
let the apparel of the singers be, not circlets and ornaments of gold, but
the reverse. Enough of all this. I will simply ask once more whether we
shall lay down as one of our principles of song-
Cle. What?
Ath. That we should avoid every word of evil omen; let that kind of
song which is of good omen be heard everywhere and always in our state. I
need hardly ask again, but shall assume that you agree with me.
Cle. By all means; that law is approved by the suffrages of us all.
Ath. But what shall be our next musical law or type? Ought not
prayers to be offered up to the Gods when we sacrifice?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And our third law, if I am not mistaken, will be to the effect
that our poets, understanding prayers to be requests which we make to the
Gods, will take especial heed that they do not by mistake ask for evil
instead of good. To make such a prayer would surely be too ridiculous.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. Were we not a little while ago quite convinced that no silver or
golden Plutus should dwell in our state?
Cle. To be sure.
Ath. And what has it been the object of our argument to show? Did we
not imply that the poets are not always quite capable of knowing what is
good or evil? And if one of them utters a mistaken prayer in song or words,
he will make our citizens pray for the opposite of what is good in matters
of the highest import; than which, as I was saying, there can be few greater
mistakes. Shall we then propose as one of our laws and models relating to
the Muses-
Cle. What?-will you explain the law more precisely?
Ath. Shall we make a law that the poet shall compose nothing contrary
to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or beautiful, or good, which are
allowed in the state? nor shall he be permitted to communicate his
compositions to any private individuals, until he shall have shown them to
the appointed judges and the guardians of the law, and they are satisfied
with them. As to the persons whom we appoint to be our legislators about
music and as to the director of education, these have been already
indicated. Once more then, as I have asked more than once, shall this be our
third law, and type, and model-What do you say?
Cle. Let it be so, by all means.
Ath. Then it will be proper to have hymns and praises of the Gods,
intermingled with prayers; and after the Gods prayers and praises should be
offered in like manner to demigods and heroes, suitable to their several
characters.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. In the next place there will be no objection to a law, that
citizens who are departed and have done good and energetic deeds, either
with their souls or with their bodies, and have been obedient to the laws,
should receive eulogies; this will be very fitting.
Cle. Quite true.
Ath. But to honour with hymns and panegyrics those who are still
alive is not safe; a man should run his course, and make a fair ending, and
then we will praise him; and let praise be given equally to women as well as
men who have been distinguished in virtue. The order of songs and dances
shall be as follows:-There are many ancient musical compositions and dances
which are excellent, and from these the newly-founded city may freely select
what is proper and suitable; and they shall choose judges of not less than
fifty years of age, who shall make the selection, and any of the old poems
which they deem sufficient they shall include; any that are deficient or
altogether unsuitable, they shall either utterly throw aside, or examine and
amend, taking into their counsel poets and musicians, and making use of
their poetical genius; but explaining to them the wishes of the legislator
in order that they may regulate dancing, music, and all choral strains,
according to the mind of the judges; and not allowing them to indulge,
except in some few matters, their individual pleasures and fancies. Now the
irregular strain of music is always made ten thousand times better by
attaining to law and order, and rejecting the honeyed Muse-not however that
we mean wholly to exclude pleasure, which is the characteristic of all
music. And if a man be brought up from childhood to the age of discretion
and maturity in the use of the orderly and severe music, when he hears the
opposite he detests it, and calls it illiberal; but if trained in the sweet
and vulgar music, he deems the severer kind cold and displeasing. So that,
as I was saying before, while he who hears them gains no more pleasure from
the one than from the other, the one has the advantage of making those who
are trained in it better men, whereas the other makes them worse.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. Again, we must distinguish and determine on some general
principle what songs are suitable to women, and what to men, and must assign
to them their proper melodies and rhythms. It is shocking for a whole
harmony to be inharmonical, or for a rhythm to be unrhythmical, and this
will happen when the melody is inappropriate to them. And therefore the
legislator must assign to these also their forms. Now both sexes have
melodies and rhythms which of necessity belong to them; and those of women
are clearly enough indicated by their natural difference. The grand, and
that which tends to courage, may be fairly called manly; but that which
inclines to moderation and temperance, may be declared both in law and in
ordinary speech to be the more womanly quality. This, then, will be the
general order of them.
Let us now speak of the manner of teaching and imparting them, and the
persons to whom, and the time when, they are severally to be imparted. As
the shipwright first lays down the lines of the keel, and thus, as it were,
draws the ship in outline, so do I seek to distinguish the patterns of life,
and lay down their keels according to the nature of different men's souls;
seeking truly to consider by what means, and in what ways, we may go through
the voyage of life best. Now human affairs are hardly worth considering in
earnest, and yet we must be in earnest about them-a sad necessity constrains
us. And having got thus far, there will be a fitness in our completing the
matter, if we can only find some suitable method of doing so. But what do I
mean? Some one may ask this very question, and quite rightly, too.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. I say that about serious matters a man should be serious, and
about a matter which is not serious he should not be, serious; and that God
is the natural and worthy object of our most serious and blessed endeavours,
for man, as I said before, is made to be the plaything of God, and this,
truly considered, is the best of him; wherefore also every man and woman
should walk seriously, and pass life in the noblest of pastimes, and be of
another mind from what they are at present.
Cle. In what respect?
Ath. At present they think that their serious suits should be for the
sake of their sports, for they deem war a serious. pursuit, which must be
managed well for the sake of peace; but the truth is, that there neither is,
nor has been, nor ever will be, either amusement or instruction in any
degree worth, speaking of in war, which is nevertheless deemed by us to be
the most serious of our pursuits. And therefore, as we say, every one of us
should live the life of peace as long and as well as he can. And what is the
right way of living? Are we to live in sports always? If so, in what kind of
sports? We ought to live sacrificing, and singing, and dancing, and then a
man will be able to propitiate the Gods, and to defend himself against his
enemies and conquer them in battle. The type of song or dance by which he
will propitiate them has been described, and the paths along which he is to
proceed have been cut for him. He will go forward in the spirit of the poet:
Telemachus, some things thou wilt thyself find in thy heart, but other
things God will suggest; for I deem that thou wast not brought up without
the will of the Gods. And this ought to be the view of our alumni; they
ought to think that what has been said is enough for them, and that any
other things their Genius and God will suggest to them-he will tell them to
whom, and when, and to what Gods severally they are to sacrifice and perform
dances, and how they may propitiate the deities, and live according to the
appointment of nature; being for the most part puppets, but having some
little share of reality.
Megillus. You have a low opinion of mankind, Stranger.
Ath. Nay, Megillus, be not amazed, but forgive me:-I was comparing
them with the Gods; and under that feeling I spoke. Let us grant, if you
wish, that the human race is not to be despised, but is worthy of some
consideration.
Next follow the buildings for gymnasia and schools open to all; these are to
be in three places in the midst of the city; and outside the city and in the
surrounding country, also in three places, there shall be schools for horse
exercise, and large grounds arranged with a view to archery and the throwing
of missiles, at which young men may learn and practise. Of these mention has
already been made, and if the mention be not sufficiently explicit, let us
speak, further of them and embody them in laws. In these several schools let
there be dwellings for teachers, who shall be brought from foreign parts by
pay, and let them teach those who attend the schools the art of war and the
art of music, and the children shall come not only if their parents please,
but if they do not please; there shall be compulsory education, as the
saying is, of all and sundry, as far this is possible; and the pupils shall
be regarded as belonging to the state rather than to their parents. My law
would apply to females as well as males; they shall both go through the same
exercises. I assert without fear of contradiction that gymnastic and
horsemanship are as suitable to women as to men. Of the truth of this I am
persuaded from ancient tradition, and at the present day there are said to
be countless myriads of women in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, called
Sauromatides, who not only ride on horseback like men, but have enjoined
upon them the use of bows and other weapons equally with the men. And I
further affirm, that if these things are possible, nothing can be more
absurd than the practice which prevails in our own country, of men and women
not following the same pursuits with all their strength and with one mind,
for thus the state, instead of being a whole, is reduced to a half, but has
the same imposts to pay and the same toils to undergo; and what can be a
greater mistake for any legislator to make than this?
Cle. Very true; yet much of what has been asserted by us, Stranger is
contrary to the custom of states; still, in saying that the discourse should
be allowed to proceed, and that when the discussion is completed, we should
choose what seems best, you spoke very properly, and I now feel compunction
for what I have said. Tell me, then, what you would next wish to say.
Ath. I should wish to say, Cleinias, as I said before, that if the
possibility of these things were not sufficiently proven in fact, then there
might be an objection to the argument, but the fact being as I have said, he
who rejects the law must find some other ground of objection; and, failing
this, our exhortation will still hold good, nor will any one deny that women
ought to share as far as possible in education and in other ways with men.
For consider;-if women do not share in their whole life with men, then they
must have some other order of life.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And what arrangement of life to be found anywhere is preferable
to this community which we are now assigning to them? Shall we prefer that
which is adopted by the Thracians and many other races who use their women
to till the ground and to be shepherds of their herds and flocks, and to
minister to them like slaves?-Or shall we do as we and people in our part of
the world do-getting together, as the phrase is, all our goods and chattels
into one dwelling, we entrust them to our women, who are the stewards of
them, and who also preside over the shuttles and the whole art of spinning?
Or shall we take a middle course, in Lacedaemon, Megillus-letting the girls
share in gymnastic and music, while the grown-up women, no longer employed
in spinning wool, are hard at work weaving the web of life, which will be no
cheap or mean employment, and in the duty of serving and taking care of the
household and bringing up children, in which they will observe a sort of
mean, not participating in the toils of war; and if there were any necessity
that they should fight for their city and families, unlike the Amazons, they
would be unable to take part in archery or any other skilled use of
missiles, nor could they, after the example of the Goddess, carry shield or
spear, or stand up nobly for their country when it was being destroyed, and
strike terror into their enemies, if only because they were seen in regular
order? Living as they do, they would never dare at all to imitate the
Sauromatides, who, when compared with ordinary women, would appear to be
like men. Let him who will, praise your legislators, but I must say what I
think. The legislator ought to be whole and perfect, and not half a man
only; he ought not to let the female sex live softly and waste money and
have no order of life, while he takes the utmost care of the male sex, and
leaves half of life only blest with happiness, when he might have made the
whole state happy.
Meg. What shall we do, Cleinias? Shall we allow a stranger to run
down Sparta in this fashion?
Cle. Yes; for as we have given him liberty of speech we must let him
go on until we have perfected the work of legislation.
Meg. Very true.
Ath. Then now I may proceed?
Cle. By all means.
Ath. What will be the manner of life among men who may be supposed to
have their food and clothing provided for them in moderation, and who have
entrusted the practice of the arts to others, and whose husbandry, committed
to slaves paying a part of the produce, brings them a return sufficient for
men living temperately; who, moreover, have common tables in which the men
are placed apart, and near them are the common tables of their families, of
their daughters and mothers, which day by day, the officers, male and
female, are to inspect-they shall see to the behaviour of the company, and
so dismiss them; after which the presiding magistrate and his attendants
shall honour with libations those Gods to whom that day and night are
dedicated, and then go home? To men whose lives are thus ordered, is there
no work remaining to be done which is necessary and fitting, but shall each
one of them live fattening like a beast? Such a life is neither just nor
honourable, nor can he who lives it fail of meeting his due; and the due
reward of the idle fatted beast is that he should be torn in pieces by some
other valiant beast whose fatness is worn down by brave deeds and toil.
These regulations, if we duly consider them, will never be exactly carried
into execution under present circumstances, nor as long as women and
children and houses and all other things are the private property of
individuals; but if we can attain the second-best form of polity, we shall
be very well off. And to men living under this second polity there remains a
work to be accomplished which is far from being small or insignificant, but
is the greatest of all works, and ordained by the appointment of righteous
law. For the life which may be truly said to be concerned with the virtue of
body and soul is twice, or more than twice, as full of toil and trouble as
the pursuit after Pythian and Olympic victories, which debars a man from
every employment of life. For there ought to be no bye-work interfering with
the greater work of providing the necessary exercise and nourishment for the
body, and instruction and education for the soul. Night and day are not long
enough for the accomplishment of their perfection and consummation; and
therefore to this end all freemen ought to arrange the way in which they
will spend their time during the whole course of the day, from morning till
evening and from evening till the morning of the next sunrise. There may
seem to be some impropriety in the legislator determining minutely the
numberless details of the management of the house, including such
particulars as the duty of wakefulness in those who are to be perpetual
watchmen of the whole city; for that any citizen should continue during the
whole of any night in sleep, instead of being seen by all his servants,
always the first to awake and get up-this, whether the regulation is to be
called a law or only a practice, should be deemed base and unworthy of a
freeman; also that the mistress of the house should be awakened by her
handmaidens instead of herself first awakening them, is what the slaves,
male and female, and the serving-boys, and, if that were possible, everybody
and everything in the house should regard as base. If they rise early, they
may all of them do much of their public and of their household business, as
magistrates in the city, and masters and mistresses in their private houses,
before the sun is up. Much sleep is not required by nature, either for our
souls or bodies, or for the actions which they perform. For no one who is
asleep is good for anything, any more than if he were dead; but he of us who
has the most regard for life and reason keeps awake as long he can,
reserving only so much time for sleep as is expedient for health; and much
sleep is not required, if the habit of moderation be once rightly formed.
Magistrates in states who keep awake at night are terrible to the bad,
whether enemies or citizens, and are honoured and reverenced by the just and
temperate, and are useful to themselves and to the whole state.
A night which is passed in such a manner, in addition to all the
above-mentioned advantages, infuses a sort of courage into the minds of the
citizens. When the day breaks, the time has arrived for youth to go to their
schoolmasters. Now neither sheep nor any other animals can live without a
shepherd, nor can children be left without tutors, or slaves without
masters. And of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch as he
has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated; he is the most
insidious, sharp-witted, and insubordinate of animals. Wherefore he must be
bound with many bridles; in the first place, when he gets away from mothers
and nurses, he must be under the management of tutors on account of his
childishness and foolishness; then, again, being a freeman, he must be
controlled by teachers, no matter what they teach, and by studies; but he is
also a slave, and in that regard any freeman who comes in his way may punish
him and his tutor and his instructor, if any of them does anything wrong;
and he who comes across him and does not inflict upon him the punishment
which he deserves, shall incur the greatest disgrace; and let the guardian
of the law, who is the director of education, see to him who coming in the
way of the offences which we have mentioned, does not chastise them when he
ought, or chastises them in a way which he ought not; let him keep a sharp
look-out, and take especial care of the training of our children, directing
their natures, and always turning them to good according to the law.
But how can our law sufficiently train the director of education. himself;
for as yet all has been imperfect, and nothing has been said either clear or
satisfactory? Now, as far as possible, the law ought to leave nothing to
him, but to explain everything, that he may be an interpreter and tutor to
others. About dances and music and choral strains, I have already spoken
both to the character of the selection of them, and the manner in which they
are to be amended and consecrated. But we have not as yet spoken, O
illustrious guardian of education, of the manner in which your pupils are to
use those strains which are written in prose, although you have been
informed what martial strains they are to learn and practise; what relates
in the first place to the learning of letters, and secondly, to the lyre,
and also to calculation, which, as we were saying, is needful for them all
to learn, and any other things which are required with a view to war and the
management of house and city, and, looking to the same object, what is
useful in the revolutions of the heavenly bodies-the stars and sun and moon,
and the various regulations about these matters which are necessary for the
whole state-I am speaking of the arrangements of; days in periods of months,
and of months in years, which are to be observed, in order that seasons and
sacrifices and festivals may have their regular and natural order, and keep
the city alive and awake, the Gods receiving the honours due to them, and
men having a better understanding about them: all these things, O my friend,
have not yet been sufficiently declared to you by the legislator. Attend,
then, to what I am now going to say:-We were telling you, in the first
place, that you were not sufficiently informed about letters, and the
objection was to this effect-that you were never told whether he who was
meant to be a respectable citizen should apply himself in detail to that
sort of learning, or not apply himself at all; and the same remark holds
good of the study of the lyre. But now we say that he ought to attend to
them. A fair time for a boy of ten years old to spend in letters is three
years; the age of thirteen is the proper time for him to begin to handle the
lyre, and he may continue at this for another three years, neither more nor
less, and whether his father or himself like or dislike the study, he is not
to be allowed to spend more or less time in learning music than the law
allows. And let him who disobeys the law be deprived of those youthful
honours of which we shall hereafter speak. Hear, however, first of all, what
the young ought to learn in the early years of life, and what their
instructors ought to teach them. They ought to be occupied with their
letters until they are to read and write; but the acquisition of perfect
beauty or quickness in writinig, if nature has not stimulated them to
acquire these accomplishments in the given number of years, they should let
alone. And as to the learning of compositions committed to writing which are
not set to the lyre, whether metrical or without rhythmical divisions,
compositions in prose, as they are termed, having no rhythm or
harmony-seeing how dangerous are the writings handed down to us by many
writers of this class-what will you do with them, O most excellent guardians
of the law? or how can the lawgiver rightly direct you about them? I believe
that he will be in great difficulty.
Cle. What troubles you, Stranger? and why are you so perplexed in
your mind?
Ath. You naturally ask, Cleinias, and to you and Megillus, who are my
partners in the work of legislation, I must state the more difficult as well
as the easier parts of the task.
Cle. To what do you refer in this instance?
Ath. I will tell you. There is a difficulty in opposing many myriads
of mouths.
Cle. Well, and have we not already opposed the popular voice in many
important enactments?
Ath. That is quite true; and you mean to imply, that the road which
we are taking may be disagreeable to some but is agreeable to as many
others, or if not to as many, at any rate to persons not inferior to the
others, and in company with them you bid me, at whatever risk, to proceed
along the path of legislation which has opened out of our present discourse,
and to be of good cheer, and not to faint.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And I do not faint; I say, indeed, that we have a great many
poets writing in hexameter, trimeter, and all sorts of measures-some who are
serious, others who aim only at raising a laugh-and all mankind declare that
the youth who are rightly educated should be brought up in them and
saturated with them; some insist that they should be constantly hearing them
read aloud, and always learning them, so as to get by heart entire poets;
while others select choice passages and long speeches, and make compendiums
of them, saying that these ought to be committed to memory, if a man is to
be made good and wise by experience and learning of many things. And you
want me now to tell them plainly in what they are right and in what they are
wrong.
Cle. Yes, I do. Ath. But how can I in one word rightly comprehend all
of them? I am of opinion, and, if I am not mistaken, there is a general
agreement, that every one of these poets has said many things well and many
things the reverse of well; and if this be true, then I do affirm that much
learning is dangerous to youth.
Cle. How would you advise the guardian of the law to act?
Ath. In what respect?
Cle. I mean to what pattern should he look as his guide in permitting
the young to learn some things and forbidding them to learn others. Do not
shrink from answering.
Ath. My good Cleinias, I rather think that I am fortunate.
Cle. How so?
Ath. I think that I am not wholly in want of a pattern, for when I
consider the words which we have spoken from early dawn until now, and
which, as I believe, have been inspired by Heaven, they appear to me to be
quite like a poem. When I reflected upon all these words of ours. I
naturally felt pleasure, for of all the discourses which I have ever learnt
or heard, either in poetry or prose, this seemed to me to be the justest,
and most suitable for young men to hear; I cannot imagine any better pattern
than this which the guardian of the law who is also the director of
education can have. He cannot do better than advise the teachers to teach
the young these words and any which are of a like nature, if he should
happen to find them, either in poetry or prose, or if he come across
unwritten discourses akin to ours, he should certainly preserve them, and
commit them to writing. And, first of all, he shall constrain the teachers
themselves to learn and approve them, and any of them who will not, shall
not be employed by him, but those whom he finds agreeing in his judgment, he
shall make use of and shall commit to them the instruction and education of
youth. And here and on this wise let my fanciful tale about letters and
teachers of letters come to an end.
Cle. I do not think, Stranger, that we have wandered out of the
proposed limits of the argument; but whether we are right or not in our
whole conception, I cannot be very certain.
Ath. The truth, Cleinias, may be expected to become clearer when, as
we have often said, we arrive at the end of the whole discussion about laws.
Cle. Yes.
Ath. And now that we have done with the teacher of letters, the
teacher of the lyre has to receive orders from us.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. I think that we have only to recollect our previous discussions,
and we shall be able to give suitable regulations touching all this part of
instruction and education to the teachers of the lyre.
Cle. To what do you refer?
Ath. We were saying, if I remember rightly, that the sixty-year-old
choristers of Dionysus were to be specially quick in their perceptions of
rhythm and musical composition, that they might be able to distinguish good
and bad imitation, that is to say, the imitation of the good or bad soul
when under the influence of passion, rejecting the one and displaying the
other in hymns and songs, charming the souls of youth, and inviting them to
follow and attain virtue by the way of imitation.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. And with this view, the teacher and the learner ought to use the
sounds of the lyre, because its notes are pure, the player who teaches and
his pupil rendering note for note in unison; but complexity, and variation
of notes, when the strings give one sound and the poet or composer of the
melody gives another-also when they make concords and harmonies in which
lesser and greater intervals, slow and quick, or high and low notes, are
combined-or, again, when they make complex variations of rhythms, which they
adapt to the notes of the lyre-all that sort of thing is not suited to those
who have to acquire a speedy and useful knowledge of music in three years;
for opposite principles are confusing, and create a difficulty in learning,
and our young men should learn quickly, and their mere necessary
acquirements are not few or trifling, as will be shown in due course. Let
the director of education attend to the principles concerning music which we
are laying down. As to the songs and words themselves which the masters of
choruses are to teach and the character of them, they have been already
described by us, and are the same which, when consecrated and adapted to the
different festivals, we said were to benefit cities by affording them an
innocent amusement.
Cle. That, again, is true.
Ath. Then let him who has been elected a director of music receive
these rules from us as containing the very truth; and may he prosper in his
office! Let us now proceed to lay down other rules in addition to the
preceding about dancing and gymnastic exercise in general. Having said what
remained to be said about the teaching of music, let us speak in like manner
about gymnastic. For boys and girls ought to learn to dance and practise
gymnastic exercises-ought they not?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. Then the boys ought to have dancing masters, and the girls
dancing mistresses to exercise them.
Cle. Very good.
Ath. Then once more let us summon him who has the chief concern in
the business, the superintendent of youth [i.e., the director of education];
he will have plenty to do, if he is to have the charge of music and
gymnastic.
Cle. But how will old man be able to attend to such great charges?
Ath. O my friend, there will be no difficulty, for the law has
already given and will give him permission to select as his assistants in
this charge any citizens, male or female, whom he desires; and he will know
whom he ought to choose, and will be anxious not to make a mistake, from a
due sense of responsibility, and from a consciousness of the importance of
his office, and also because he will consider that if young men have been
and are well brought up, then all things go swimmingly, but if not, it is
not meet to say, nor do we say, what will follow, lest the regarders of
omens should take alarm about our infant state. Many things have been said
by us about dancing and about gymnastic movements in general; for we include
under gymnastics all military exercises, such as archery, and all hurling of
weapons, and the use of the light shield, and all fighting with heavy arms,
and military evolutions, and movements of armies, and encampings, and all
that relates to horsemanship. Of all these things there ought to be public
teachers, receiving pay from the state, and their pupils should be the men
and boys in the state, and also the girls and women, who are to know all
these things. While they are yet girls they should have practised dancing in
arms and the whole art of fighting-when grown-up women, they should apply
themselves to evolutions and tactics, and the mode of grounding and taking
up arms; if for no other reason, yet in case the whole military force should
have to leave the city and carry on operations of war outside, that those
who will have to guard the young and the rest of the city may be equal to
the task; and, on the other hand, when enemies, whether barbarian or
Hellenic, come from without with mighty force and make a violent assault
upon them, and thus compel them to fight for the possession of the city,
which is far from being an impossibility, great would be the disgrace to the
state, if the women had been so miserably trained that they could not fight
for their young, as birds will, against any creature however strong, and die
or undergo any danger, but must instantly rush to the temples and crowd at
the altars and shrines, and bring upon human nature the reproach, that of
all animals man is the most cowardly!
Cle. Such a want of education, Stranger, is certainly an unseemly
thing to happen in a state, as well as a great misfortune.
Ath. Suppose that we carry our law to the extent of saying that women
ought not to neglect military matters, but that all citizens, male and
female alike, shall attend to them?
Cle. I quite agree.
Ath. Of wrestling we have spoken in part, but of what I should call
the most important part we have not spoken, and cannot easily speak without
showing at the same time by gesture as well as in word what we mean; when
word and action combine, and not till then, we shall explain clearly what
has been said, pointing out that of all movements wrestling is most akin to
the military art, and is to be pursued for the sake of this, and not this
for the sake of wrestling.
Cle. Excellent.
Ath. Enough of wrestling; we will now proceed to speak of other
movements of the body. Such motion may be in general called dancing, and is
of two kinds: one of nobler figures, imitating the honourable, the other of
the more ignoble figures, imitating the mean; and of both these there are
two further subdivisions. Of the serious, one kind is of those engaged in
war and vehement action, and is the exercise of a noble person and a manly
heart; the other exhibits a temperate soul in the enjoyment of prosperity
and modest pleasures, and may be truly called and is the dance of peace. The
warrior dance is different from the peaceful one, and may be rightly termed
Pyrrhic; this imitates the modes of avoiding blows and missiles by dropping
or giving way, or springing aside, or rising up or falling down; also the
opposite postures which are those of action, as, for example, the imitation
of archery and the hurling of javelins, and of all sorts of blows. And when
the imitation is of brave bodies and souls, and the action is direct and
muscular, giving for the most part a straight movement to the limbs of the
body-that, I say, is the true sort; but the opposite is not right. In the
dance of peace what we have to consider is whether a man bears himself
naturally and gracefully, and after the manner of men who duly conform to
the law. But before proceeding I must distinguish the dancing about which
there is any doubt, from that about which there is no doubt. Which is the
doubtful kind, and how are the two to be distinguished? There are dances of
the Bacchic sort, both those in which, as they say, they imitate drunken
men, and which are named after the Nymphs, and Pan, and Silenuses, and
Satyrs; and also those in which purifications are made or mysteries
celebrated-all this sort of dancing cannot be rightly defined as having
either a peaceful or a warlike character, or indeed as having any meaning
whatever and may, I think, be most truly described as distinct from the
warlike dance, and distinct from the peaceful, and not suited for a city at
all. There let it lie; and so leaving it to lie, we will proceed to the
dances of war and peace, for with these we are undoubtedly concerned. Now
the unwarlike muse, which honours in dance the Gods and the sons of the
Gods, is entirely associated with the consciousness of prosperity; this
class may be subdivided into two lesser classes, of which one is expressive
of an escape from some labour or danger into good, and has greater
pleasures, the other expressive of preservation and increase of former good,
in which the pleasure is less exciting;-in all these cases, every man when
the pleasure is greater, moves his body more, and less when the pleasure is
less; and, again, if he be more orderly and has learned courage from
discipline he waves less, but if he be a coward, and has no training or
self-control, he makes greater and more violent movements, and in general
when he is speaking or singing he is not altogether able to keep his body
still; and so out of the imitation of words in gestures the whole art of
dancing has arisen. And in these various kinds of imitation one man moves in
an orderly, another in a disorderly manner; and as the ancients may be
observed to have given many names which are according to nature and
deserving of praise, so there is an excellent one which they have given to
the dances of men who in their times of prosperity are moderate in their
pleasures-the giver of names, whoever he was, assigned to them a very true,
and poetical, and rational name, when he called them Emmeleiai, or dances of
order, thus establishing two kinds of dances of the nobler sort, the dance
of war which he called the Pyrrhic, and the dance of peace which he called
Emmeleia, or the dance of order; giving to each their appropriate and
becoming name. These things the legislator should indicate in general
outline, and the guardian of the law should enquire into them and search
them out, combining dancing with music, and assigning to the several
sacrificial feasts that which is suitable to them; and when he has
consecrated all of them in due order, he shall for the future change
nothing, whether of dance or song. Thenceforward the city and the citizens
shall continue to have the same pleasures, themselves being as far as
possible alike, and shall live well and happily.
I have described the dances which are appropriate to noble bodies and
generous souls. But it is necessary also to consider and know uncomely
persons and thoughts, and those which are intended to produce laughter in
comedy, and have a comic character in respect of style, song, and dance, and
of the imitations which these afford. For serious things cannot be
understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites,
if a man is really to have intelligence of either; but he can not carry out
both in action, if he is to have any degree of virtue. And for this very
reason he should learn them both, in order that he may not in ignorance do
or say anything which is ridiculous and out of place-he should command
slaves and hired strangers to imitate such things, but he should never take
any serious interest in them himself, nor should any freeman or freewoman be
discovered taking pains to learn them; and there should always be some
element of novelty in the imitation. Let these then be laid down, both in
law and in our discourse, as the regulations of laughable amusements which
are generally called comedy. And, if any of the serious poets, as they are
termed, who write tragedy, come to us and say-"O strangers, may we go to
your city and country or may we not, and shall we bring with us our
poetry-what is your will about these matters?"-how shall we answer the
divine men? I think that our answer should be as follows:-Best of strangers,
we will say to them, we also according to our ability are tragic poets, and
our tragedy is the best and noblest; for our whole state is an imitation of
the best and noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truth of
tragedy. You are poets and we are poets, both makers of the same strains,
rivals and antagonists in the noblest of dramas, which true law can alone
perfect, as our hope is. Do not then suppose that we shall all in a moment
allow you to erect your stage in the agora, or introduce the fair voices of
your actors, speaking above our own, and permit you to harangue our women
and children, and the common people, about our institutions, in language
other than our own, and very often the opposite of our own. For a state
would be mad which gave you this licence, until the magistrates had
determined whether your poetry might be recited, and was fit for publication
or not. Wherefore, O ye sons and scions of the softer Muses, first of all
show your songs to the magistrates, and let them compare them with our own,
and if they are the same or better we will give you a chorus; but if not,
then, my friends, we cannot. Let these, then, be the customs ordained by law
about all dances and the teaching of them, and let matters relating to
slaves be separated from those relating to masters, if you do not object.
Cle. We can have no hesitation in assenting when you put the matter
thus.
Ath. There still remain three studies suitable for freemen.
Arithmetic is one of them; the measurement of length, surface, and depth is
the second; and the third has to do with the revolutions of the stars in
relation to one another. Not every one has need to toil through all these
things in a strictly scientific manner, but only a few, and who they are to
be we will hereafter indicate at the end, which will be the proper place;
not to know what is necessary for mankind in general, and what is the truth,
is disgraceful to every one: and yet to enter into these matters minutely is
neither easy, nor at all possible for every one; but there is something in
them which is necessary and cannot be set aside, and probably he who made
the proverb about God originally had this in view when he said, that "not
even God himself can fight against necessity";-he meant, if I am not
mistaken, divine necessity; for as to the human necessities of which the
many speak, when they talk in this manner, nothing can be more ridiculous
than such an application of the words.
Cle. And what necessities of knowledge are there, Stranger, which are
divine and not human?
Ath. I conceive them to be those of which he who has no use nor any
knowledge at all cannot be a God, or demi-god, or hero to mankind, or able
to take any serious thought or charge of them. And very unlike a divine man
would he be, who is unable to count one, two, three, or to distinguish odd
and even numbers, or is unable to count at all, or reckon night and day, and
who is totally unacquainted with the revolution of the sun and moon, and the
other stars. There would be great folly in supposing that all these are not
necessary parts of knowledge to him who intends to know anything about the
highest kinds of knowledge; but which these are, and how many there are of
them, and when they are to be learned, and what is to be learned together
and what apart, and the whole correlation of them, must be rightly
apprehended first; and these leading the way we may proceed to the other
parts of knowledge. For so necessity grounded in nature constrains us,
against which we say that no God contends, or ever will contend.
Cle. I think, Stranger, that what you have now said is very true and
agreeable to nature.
Ath. Yes, Cleinias, that is so. But it is difficult for the
legislator to begin with these studies; at a more convenient time we will
make regulations for them.
Cle. You seem, Stranger, to be afraid of our habitual ignorance of
the subject: there is no reason why that should prevent you from speaking
out.
Ath. I certainly am afraid of the difficulties to which you allude,
but I am still more afraid of those who apply themselves to this sort of
knowledge, and apply themselves badly. For entire ignorance is not so
terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too
much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with an ill bringing up,
are far more fatal.
Cle. True.
Ath. All freemen, I conceive, should learn as much of these branches
of knowledge as every child in Egypt is taught when he learns the alphabet.
In that country arithmetical games have been invented for the use of mere
children, which they learn as a pleasure and amusement. They have to
distribute apples and garlands, us