Laws

Plato · David Horan

Well, my friends, was it a god or some human who was responsible for establishing your laws? A god, stranger. Yes, that is the fairest answer. Among ourselves in Crete it was Zeus, while among the Spartans, where this man comes from, I think they say it was Apollo. Is this so? Yes. Don’t you say, as Homer does, that Minos used to make regular visits every ninth year to be with his father, Zeus, and he set down the laws for your cities based upon his pronouncements? Yes, that is what we say. And, indeed, we also say that his brother, Rhadamanthus – you have heard the name I am sure – was exceedingly just. And we Cretans would maintain that he won this reputation, deservedly, based on the way he dealt with the legal issues of the time. A good reputation indeed, and most befitting to a son of Zeus. And since yourself and this man have been brought up under such lawful customs as these, I …

Editions (plain text / reader):

• David Horan (this edition) — read
• Benjamin Jowett — read
• R.G. Bury (Loeb, 1926) — read
• Greek text — read
• Spanish — read
• Thomas Taylor (1804) — read

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