Any one who pleases may take away any tablet which he does not think properly filled up,and exhibit it in the Agara for a period of not less than thirty days.The tablets which are judged to be first,to the number of 300,shall be shown by the magistrates to the whole city,and the citizens shall in like manner select from these the candidates whom they prefer;and this second selection,to the number of 100,shall be again exhibited to the citizens;in the third,let any one who pleases select whom pleases out of the 100,walking through the parts of victims,and let them choose for magistrates and proclaim the seven and thirty who have the greatest number of votes.But who,Cleinias and Megillus,will order for us in the colony all this matter of the magistrates,and the scrutinies of them?If we reflect,we shall see that cities which are in process of construction like ours must have some such persons,who cannot possibly be elected before there are any magistrates;and yet they must be elected in some way,and they are not to be inferior men,but the best possible.For as the proverb says,"a good beginning is half the business";and "to have begun well"is praised by all,and in my opinion is a great deal more than half the business,and has never been praised by any one enough.
Cle.That is very true.
Ath.Then let us recognize the difficulty,and make clear to our own minds how the beginning is to be accomplished.There is only one proposal which I have to offer,and that is one which,under our circumstances,is both necessary and expedient.
Cle.What is it?
Ath.I maintain that this colony of ours has a father and mother,who are no other than the colonizing state.Well I know that many colonies have been,and will be,at enmity with their parents.But in early days the child,as in a family,loves and is beloved;even if there come a time later when the tie is broken,still,while he is in want of education,he naturally loves his parents and is beloved by them,and flies to his relatives for protection,and finds in them his only natural allies in time of need;and this parental feeling already exists in the Cnosians,as is shown by their care of the new city;and there is a similar feeling on the part of the young city towards Cnosus.And I repeat what I was saying-for there is no harm in repeating a good thing-that the Cnosians should take a common interest in all these matters,and choose,as far as they can,the eldest and best of the colonists,to the number of not less than a hundred;and let there be another hundred of the Cnosians themselves.These,I say,on their arrival,should have a joint care that the magistrates should be appointed according to law,and that when they are appointed they should undergo a scrutiny.When this has been effected,the Cnosians shall return home,and the new city do the best she can for her own preservation and happiness.I would have the seven-and-thirty now,and in all future time,chosen to fulfil the following duties:-Let them,in the first place,be the guardians of the law;and,secondly,of the registers in which each one registers before the magistrate the amount of his property,excepting four minae which are allowed to citizens of the first class,three allowed to the second,two to the third,and a single mina to the fourth.And if any one,despising the laws for the sake of gain,be found to possess anything more which has not been registered,let all that he has in excess be confiscated,and let him be liable to a suit which shall be the reverse of honourable or fortunate.And let any one who will,indict him on the charge of loving base gains,and proceed against him before the guardians of the law.And if he be cast,let him lose his share of the public possessions,and when there is any public distribution,let him have nothing but his original lot;and let him be written down a condemned man as long as he lives,in some place in which any one who pleases can read about his onces.The guardian of the law shall not hold office longer than twenty years,and shall not be less than fifty years of age when he is elected;or if he is elected when he is sixty years of age,he shall hold office for ten years only;and upon the same principle,he must not imagine that he will be permitted to hold such an important office as that of guardian of the laws after he is seventy years of age,if he live so long.