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Gods; in the second place, upon having. served ancient and honourable men
in the days of his youth. Furthermore, during the two years in which any one
is a warden of the country, his daily food ought to be of a simple and humble
kind. When the twelve have been chosen, let them and the five meet together,
and determine that they will be their own servants, and, like servants, will not
have other slaves and servants for their own use, neither will they use those of
the villagers and husbandmen for their private advantage, but for the public
service only; and in general they should make up their minds to live
independently by themselves, servants of each other and of themselves.
Further, at all seasons of the year, summer and winter alike, let them be under
arms and survey minutely the whole country; thus they will at once keep
guard, and at the same time acquire a perfect knowledge of every locality.
There can be no more important kind of information than the exact
knowledge of a man’s own country; and for this as well as for more general
reasons of pleasure and advantage, hunting with dogs and other kinds of
sports should be pursued by the young. The service to whom this is
committed may be called the secret police, or wardens of the country; the
name does not much signify, but every one who has the safety of the state at
heart will use his utmost diligence in this service.
After the wardens of the country, we have to speak of the election of
wardens of the agora and of the city. The wardens of the country were sixty in
number, and the wardens of the city will be three, and will divide the twelve
parts of the city into three; like the former, they shall have care of the ways,
and of the different high roads which lead out of the country into the city, and
of the buildings, that they may be all made according to law;—also of the
waters, which the guardians of the supply preserve and convey to them, care
being taken that they may reach the fountains pure and abundant, and be both
an ornament and a benefit to the city. These also should be men of influence,
and at leisure to take care of the public interest. Let every man propose as
warden of the city any one whom he likes out of the highest class, and when
the vote has been given on them, and the number is reduced to the six who
have the greatest number of votes, let the electing officers choose by lot three
out of the six, and when they have undergone a scrutiny let them hold office
according to the laws laid down for them. Next, let the wardens of the agora
be elected in like manner, out of the first and second class, five in number: ten
are to be first elected, and out of the ten five are to be chosen by lot, as in the
election of the wardens of the city:—these when they have undergone a
scrutiny are to be declared magistrates. Every one shall vote for every one,
and he who will not vote, if he be informed against before the magistrates,
shall be fined fifty drachmae, and shall also be deemed a bad citizen. Let any
one who likes go to the assembly and to the general council; it shall be
1440
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book The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Title
- The Complete Plato
- Author
- Plato
- Date
- ~347 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 1612
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International