Cle. It is hardly possible, I admit; and yet, Stranger, we Cretansare in the habit of saying that the battle of Salamis was thesalvation of Hellas.
Ath. Why, yes; and that is an opinion which is widely spread bothamong Hellenes and barbarians. But Megillus and I say rather, that thebattle of Marathon was the beginning, and the battle of Plataea thecompletion, of the great deliverance, and that these battles by landmade the Hellenes better; whereas the sea-fights of Salamis andArtemisium-for I may as well put them both together-made them nobetter, if I may say so without offence about the battles which helpedto save us. And in estimating the goodness of a state, we regardboth the situation of the country and the order of the laws,considering that the mere preservation and continuance of life isnot the most honourable thing for men, as the vulgar think, but thecontinuance of the best life, while we live; and that again, if I amjot mistaken, is remark which has been made already.
Cle. Yes.
Ath. Then we have only to ask whether we are taking the course whichwe acknowledge to be the best for the settlement and legislation ofstates.
Cle. The best by far.
Ath. And now let me proceed to another question: Who are to be thecolonists? May any one come out of all Crete; and is the idea that thepopulation in the several states is too numerous for the means ofsubsistence? For I suppose that you are not going to send out ageneral invitation to any Hellene who likes to come. And yet I observethat to your country settlers have come from Argos and Aegina andother parts of Hellas. Tell me, then, whence do you draw your recruitsin 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 hasthe highest character at the present day is the Gortynian, and thishas come from Gortys in the Peloponnesus.
Ath. Cities find colonization in some respects easier if thecolonists are one race, which like a swarm of bees is sent out froma single country, either when friends leave friends, owing to somepressure of population or other similar necessity, or when a portionof a state is driven by factions to emigrate. And there have beenwhole cities which have taken flight when utterly conquered by asuperior power in war. This, however, which is in one way an advantageto the colonist or legislator, in another point of view creates adifficulty. There is an element of friendship in the community ofrace, and language, and language, and laws, and in common templesand rites of worship; but colonies which are of this homogeneoussort are apt to kick against any laws or any form of constitutiondiffering from that which they had at home; and although the badnessof their own laws may have been the cause of the factions whichprevailed among them, yet from the force of habit they would fainpreserve the very customs which were their ruin, and the leader of thecolony, who is their legislator, finds them troublesome andrebellious. On the other hand, the conflux of several populationsmight be more disposed to listen to new laws; but then, to make themcombine and pull together, as they say of horses, is a mostdifficult task, and the work of years. And yet there is nothingwhich tends more to the improvement of mankind than legislation andcolonization.
Cle. No doubt; but I should like to know why you say so.
Ath. My good friend, I am afraid that the course of myspeculations is leading me to say something depreciatory oflegislators; but if the word be to the purpose, there can be noharm. And yet, why am I disquieted, for I believe that the sameprinciple applies equally to all human things?
Cle. To what are you referring?
Ath. I was going to say that man never legislates, but accidentsof all sorts, which legislate for us in all sorts of ways. Theviolence of war and the hard necessity of poverty are constantlyoverturning governments and changing laws. And the power of discasehas often caused innovations in the state, when there have beenpestilences, or when there has been a succession of bad seasonscontinuing during many years. Any one who sees all this, naturallyrushes to the conclusion of which I was speaking, that no mortallegislates in anything, but that in human affairs chance is almosteverything. And this may be said of the arts of the sailor, and thepilot, and the physician, and the general, and may seem to be wellsaid; and yet there is another thing which may be said with equaltruth of all of them.
Cle. What is it?
Ath. That God governs all things, and that chance and opportunityco-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 greatadvantage 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 asto other things: even supposing all the conditions to be favourablewhich are needed for the happiness of the state, yet the truelegislator must from time to time appear on the scene?
Cle. Most true.
Ath. In each case the artist would be able to pray rightly forcertain conditions, and if these were granted by fortune, he wouldthen only require to exercise his art?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And all the other artists just now mentioned, if they werebidden to offer up each their special prayer, would do so?
Cle. Of course.
Ath. And the legislator would do likewise?
Cle. I believe that he would.
Ath. "Come, legislator," we will say to him; "what are theconditions which you require in a state before you can organize it?"How ought he to answer this question? Shall I give his answer?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. He will say-"Give me a state which is governed by a tyrant, andlet the tyrant be young and have a good memory; let him be quick atlearning, and of a courageous and noble nature; let him have thatquality which, as I said before, is the inseparable companion of allthe other parts of virtue, if there is to be any good in them."Cle. I suppose, Megillus, that this companion virtue of which theStranger speaks, must be temperance?