Ath.That the poet,according to the tradition which has ever prevailed among us,and is accepted of all men,when he sits down on the tripod of the muse,is not in his right mind;like a fountain,he allows to flow out freely whatever comes in,and his art being imitative,he is often compelled to represent men of opposite dispositions,and thus to contradict himself;neither can he tell whether there is more truth in one thing that he has said than in another.this is not the case in a law;the legislator must give not two rules about the same thing,but one only.Take an example from what you have just been saying.Of three kinds of funerals,there is one which is too extravagant,another is too niggardly,the third is a mean;and you choose and approve and order the last without qualification.But if I had an extremely rich wife,and she bade me bury her and describe her burial in a poem,I should praise the extravagant sort;and a poor miserly man,who had not much money to spend,would approve of the niggardly;and the man of moderate means,who was himself moderate,would praise a moderate funeral.
Now you in the capacity of legislator must not barely say "a moderate funeral,"but you must define what moderation is,and how much;unless you are definite,you must not suppose that you are speaking a language that can become law.
Cle.Certainly not.
Ath.And is our legislator to have no preface to his laws,but to say at once Do this,avoid that-and then holding the penalty in terrorem to go on to another law;offering never a word of advice or exhortation to those for whom he is legislating,after the manner of some doctors?For of doctors,as I may remind you,some have a gentler,others a ruder method of cure;and as children ask the doctor to be gentle with them,so we will ask the legislator to cure our disorders with the gentlest remedies.What I mean to say is,that besides doctors there are doctors'servants,who are also styled doctors.
Cle.Very true.
Ath.And whether they are slaves or freemen makes no difference;they acquire their knowledge of medicine by obeying and observing their masters;empirically and not according to the natural way of learning,as the manner of freemen is,who have learned scientifically themselves the art which they impart scientifically to their pupils.
You are aware that there are these two classes of doctors?
Cle.To be sure.
Ath.And did you ever observe that there are two classes of patients in states,slaves and freemen;and the slave doctors run about and cure the slaves,or wait for them in the dispensaries-practitioners of this sort never talk to their patients individually,or let them talk about their own individual complaints?The slave doctor prescribes what mere experience suggests,as if he had exact knowledge;and when he has given his orders,like a tyrant,he rushes off with equal assurance to some other servant who is ill;and so he relieves the master of the house of the care of his invalid slaves.But the other doctor,who is a freeman,attends and practises upon freemen;and he carries his enquiries far back,and goes into the nature of the disorder;he enters into discourse with the patient and with his friends,and is at once getting information from the sick man,and also instructing him as far as he is able,and he will not prescribe for him until he has first convinced him;at last,when he has brought the patient more and more under his persuasive influences and set him on the road to health,he attempts to effect a cure.Now which is the better way of proceeding in a physician and in a trainer?Is he the better who accomplishes his ends in a double way,or he who works in one way,and that the ruder and inferior?
Cle.I should say,Stranger,that the double way is far better.
Ath.Should you like to see an example of the double and single method in legislation?
Cle.Certainly I should.
Ath.What will be our first law?Will not the the order of nature,begin by making regulations for states about births?
Cle.He will.
Ath.In all states the birth of children goes back to the connection of marriage?
Cle.Very true.
Ath.And,according to the true order,the laws relating to marriage should be those which are first determined in every state?
Cle.Quite so.