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R.G. Bury (Loeb, 1926)
Plato · R.G. Bury (Loeb, 1926)
Scene: ascending from Cnossus to the cave of Zeus
The Laws, Plato's longest and final dialogue, sets out in great detail the constitution of a practicable city — a 'second-best' state for human beings as they are, where in the absence of philosopher-kings the rule of law, divinely sanctioned, must govern. It treats education, religion, marriage, property, and punishment, blending freedom and authority.
Notably, Socrates is absent; an Athenian Stranger leads the conversation. The work's concern with divine law, the soul's priority over body, and the argument that 'god is the measure of all things' made it deeply influential on later Platonist political and religious thought.
From the Plato Scroll Encyclopedia · open this entry in the reader
Ath. To whom do you ascribe the authorship of your legal arrangements, Strangers? To a god or to some man?
Clin: To a god, Stranger, most rightfully to a god. We Cretans call Zeus our lawgiver; while in Lacedaemon, where our friend here has his home, I believe they claim Apollo as theirs. Is not that so, Megillus?
Meg: Yes.
Ath: Do you then, like Homer, say that Minos used to go every ninth year to hold converse with his father Zeus, and that he was guided by his divine oracles in laying down the laws for your cities?
Clin: So our people say. And they say also that his brother Rhadamanthys,—no doubt you have heard the name,—was exceedingly just. And certainly we Cretans would maintain that he won this title owing to his righteous administration of justice in those days.
Ath: Yes, his renown is indeed glorious and well befitting a son of Zeus. And, since you and our friend Megillus were both brought up in legal institutions of so noble a kind, you would, I imagine, have no aversion to our occupying ourselves as we go along in discussion on the subject of government and laws. Certainly, as I am told, the road from Cnosus to the cave and temple of Zeus is a long one, and we are sure to find, in this sultry weather, shady resting-places among the high trees along the road: in them we can rest ofttimes, as befits our age, beguiling the time with discourse, and thus complete our journey in comfort.
Clin: True, Stranger; and as one proceeds further one finds in the groves cypress-trees of wonderful height and beauty, and meadows too, where we may rest ourselves and talk.
Ath: You say well.
Clin: Yes, indeed: and when we set eyes on them we shall say so still more emphatically. So let us be going, and good luck attend us.
Ath: Amen! And tell me now, for what reason did your law ordain the common meals you have, and your gymnastic schools and military equipment?
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The Athenian who turned Socratic conversation into a written philosophy and founded the Academy.
Plato was born around 428 BCE into a wealthy and politically prominent Athenian family; through his mother Perictione the family traced kinship to the lawgiver Solon, and his relatives Critias and Charmides were among the oligarchs of the Thirty. A late tradition says his given name was Aristocles and that 'Plato' — from the word for 'broad' — was a nickname. He grew up during the long agony of the Peloponnesian War and came of age amid the violence and disillusion that followed Athens' defeat.
Plato · R.G. Bury (Loeb, 1926). Each edition has its page, the reader and a plain-text file:
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