You see that he quite knew triremes on the sea,in the neighbourhood of fighting men,to be an evil;-lions might be trained in that way to fly from a herd of deer.Moreover,naval powers which owe their safety to ships,do not give honour to that sort of warlike excellence which is most deserving of it.For he who owes his safety to the pilot and the captain,and the oarsman,and all sorts of rather inferior persons cannot rightly give honour to whom honour is due.But how can a state be in a right condition which cannot justly award honour?
Cle.It is hardly possible,I admit;and yet,Stranger,we Cretans are in the habit of saying that the battle of Salamis was the salvation of Hellas.
Ath.Why,yes;and that is an opinion which is widely spread both among Hellenes and barbarians.But Megillus and I say rather,that the battle of Marathon was the beginning,and the battle of Plataea the completion,of the great deliverance,and that these battles by land made the Hellenes better;whereas the sea-fights of Salamis and Artemisium-for I may as well put them both together-made them no better,if I may say so without offence about the battles which helped to save us.And in estimating the goodness of a state,we regard both the situation of the country and the order of the laws,considering that the mere preservation and continuance of life is not the most honourable thing for men,as the vulgar think,but the continuance of the best life,while we live;and that again,if I am jot mistaken,is remark which has been made already.
Cle.Yes.
Ath.Then we have only to ask whether we are taking the course which we acknowledge to be the best for the settlement and legislation of states.
Cle.The best by far.
Ath.And now let me proceed to another question:Who are to be the colonists?May any one come out of all Crete;and is the idea that the population in the several states is too numerous for the means of subsistence?For I suppose that you are not going to send out a general invitation to any Hellene who likes to come.And yet I observe that to your country settlers have come from Argos and Aegina and other parts of Hellas.Tell me,then,whence do you draw your recruits in the present enterprise?
Cle.They will come from all Crete;and of other Hellenes,Peloponnesians will be most acceptable.For,as you truly observe,there are Cretans of Argive descent;and the race of Cretans which has the highest character at the present day is the Gortynian,and this has come from Gortys in the Peloponnesus.
Ath.Cities find colonization in some respects easier if the colonists are one race,which like a swarm of bees is sent out from a single country,either when friends leave friends,owing to some pressure of population or other similar necessity,or when a portion of a state is driven by factions to emigrate.And there have been whole cities which have taken flight when utterly conquered by a superior power in war.This,however,which is in one way an advantage to the colonist or legislator,in another point of view creates a difficulty.There is an element of friendship in the community of race,and language,and language,and laws,and in common temples and rites of worship;but colonies which are of this homogeneous sort are apt to kick against any laws or any form of constitution differing from that which they had at home;and although the badness of their own laws may have been the cause of the factions which prevailed among them,yet from the force of habit they would fain preserve the very customs which were their ruin,and the leader of the colony,who is their legislator,finds them troublesome and rebellious.On the other hand,the conflux of several populations might be more disposed to listen to new laws;but then,to make them combine and pull together,as they say of horses,is a most difficult task,and the work of years.And yet there is nothing which tends more to the improvement of mankind than legislation and colonization.
Cle.No doubt;but I should like to know why you say so.
Ath.My good friend,I am afraid that the course of my speculations is leading me to say something depreciatory of legislators;but if the word be to the purpose,there can be no harm.And yet,why am I disquieted,for I believe that the same principle applies equally to all human things?
Cle.To what are you referring?
Ath.I was going to say that man never legislates,but accidents of all sorts,which legislate for us in all sorts of ways.The violence of war and the hard necessity of poverty are constantly overturning governments and changing laws.And the power of discase has often caused innovations in the state,when there have been pestilences,or when there has been a succession of bad seasons continuing during many years.Any one who sees all this,naturally rushes to the conclusion of which I was speaking,that no mortal legislates in anything,but that in human affairs chance is almost everything.And this may be said of the arts of the sailor,and the pilot,and the physician,and the general,and may seem to be well said;and yet there is another thing which may be said with equal truth of all of them.
Cle.What is it?
Ath.That God governs all things,and that chance and opportunity co-operate with him in the government of human affairs.There is,however,a third and less extreme view,that art should be there also;for I should say that in a storm there must surely be a great advantage in having the aid of the pilot's art.You would agree?
Cle.Yes.
Ath.And does not a like principle apply to legislation as well as to other things:even supposing all the conditions to be favourable which are needed for the happiness of the state,yet the true legislator must from time to time appear on the scene?
Cle.Most true.
Ath.In each case the artist would be able to pray rightly for certain conditions,and if these were granted by fortune,he would then only require to exercise his art?
Cle.Certainly.