It is requisite that all those who inhabit a city and country
should in the first place be firmly persuaded that there are Gods,
in consequence of directing their attention to the heavens and
the world, and the orderly distribution of the natures which they
contain. For these are not the productions either of fortune or of
men. It is also requisite to reverence and honour these, as the
causes to us of every reasonable good. It is necessary, therefore,
that every one should so prepare his soul that it may be free from
every vice; since God is not honoured by a bad man, nor is he to be
worshiped sumptuously, nor with tragical expence, like some depraved
man; but by virtue, and the deliberate choice of beautiful and just
deeds. Hence it is necessary that every one should be good to the
utmost of his power, both in his actions and his deliberate choice,
if he wishes to be dear to divinity, and should not fear the loss of
money more than the loss of renown. And it is also requisite to call
him a better citizen who would rather sustain a loss of property than
of probity and justice.
Let, however, such things as the following be denounced by us
against those who are not easily impelled to do what we have above
enjoined, but whose soul is easily excited to injustice. All citizens
of this kind, both male and female, and also those who live in the
same house with them, should remember that there are Gods who punish
the unjust, and should place before their eyes that time in which to
every one there will be a final liberation from life. For all such
will repent when they are about to die, from a remembrance of their
unjust deeds, and from their being impelled to wish that all things
had been done by them justly. Hence it is necessary that every one,
in every action, should always associate to himself this time, as
if it were present: for thus he will especially pay attention to
probity and justice. But if an evil dæmon is present with any one,
converting him to injustice, such a one should abide in temples,
at altars, and in sacred groves, flying from injustice as a most
impious and noxious mistress, and supplicating the Gods to cooperate
with him in turning from it. He should also accede to those men who
are renowned for their probity, in order to hear them discourse
about a blessed life, and the punishment of bad men, that he may
be deterred from unjust deeds; but he should only dread avenging
dæmons. Those, likewise, that dwell in the city, should honour all
the Gods according to the legal rites of the country, which are to
be considered as the most beautiful of all others. All the citizens,
too, should obey the laws, reverence the rulers, and rise to them,
and comply with their mandates. For after the Gods, dæmons, and
heroes, proximate honours are paid by men who are intelligent, and
wish to be saved, to parents, the laws, and the rulers. Let, however,
no one make the city to be dearer to him than his country, since he
will thus excite the indignation of the Gods of the country: for such
conduct is the beginning of treachery. And farther still, for a man
to be deprived of his own country, and to live in a foreign land, is
a thing of a more afflictive nature, and more difficult to be borne
[than most other misfortunes]: for nothing is more allied to us than
our country. Nor let any one think that a citizen, whom the laws
have permitted to partake of the polity, should be considered by him
as an implacable enemy; since a man who is capable of thus thinking
can neither govern nor judge in a proper manner, in consequence of
his anger predominating over his reason. Let no one, likewise, speak
ill either of the city in common, or of a citizen privately. But let
the guardians of the laws keep a watchful eye over offenders, in
the first place by admonishing them; and in the next place, if they
are not restrained by this from acting ill, let them be careful that
they are punished. And with respect to the established laws, if some
one of them should appear not to be well ordained, let it be changed
into one that is better. But where all of them remain, let them be
[universally] obeyed; as it is neither beautiful, nor beneficial,
for the established laws to be vanquished by men; though it is both
profitable and beautiful, to be restrained, as if vanquished, by
a more excellent law. It is requisite, however, to punish those
who transgress these, as machinating for the city the principle of
the greatest evils anarchy. But the magistrates should neither be
arrogant, nor judge insultingly, nor in passing sentence be mindful
either of friendship or hatred, but of what is just. For thus they
will decide most justly, and will be worthy of the magistracy. It is
fit, therefore, that slaves should do what is just through fear, but
those that are free, through shame, and for the sake of the beautiful
in conduct. Hence it is requisite that the governors should be men of
this kind, in order that they may be reverenced by those whom they
govern. But if any one wishes to change some one of the established
laws, or to introduce another law, let him, with a halter about his
neck, speak of the subject of his wishes to the people. And if it
shall appear from the suffrages, that the law already established
should be dissolved, or that a new law should be introduced, let him
not be punished. But if it should be thought that the preexisting
law is better, or that the law which is intended to be introduced is
unjust, let him who wishes to change an old, or to introduce a new
law, be executed by the halter.