It would be well that every man should come to the colony having allthings equal; but seeing that this is not possible, and one man willhave greater possessions than another, for many reasons and inparticular in order to preserve equality in special crises of thestate, qualifications of property must be unequal, in order thatoffices and contributions and distributions may be proportioned to thevalue of each person"s wealth, and not solely to the virtue of hisancestors or himself, nor yet to the strength and beauty of hisperson, but also to the measure of his wealth or poverty; and so bya law of inequality, which will be in proportion to his wealth, hewill receive honours and offices as equally as possible, and therewill be no quarrels and disputes. To which end there should be fourdifferent standards appointed according to the amount of property:
there should be a first and a second and a third and a fourth class,in which the citizens will be placed, and they will be called by theseor similar names: they may continue in the same rank, or pass intoanother in any individual case, on becoming richer from being, poorer,or poorer from being richer. The form of law which I should propose asthe natural sequel would be as follows:-In a state which is desirousof being saved from the greatest of all plagues-not faction, butrather distraction;-here should exist among the citizens neitherextreme poverty, nor, again, excess of wealth, for both are productiveof both these evils. Now the legislator should determine what is to bethe limit of poverty or wealth. Let the limit of poverty be thevalue of the lot; this ought to be preserved, and no ruler, nor anyone else who aspires after a reputation for virtue, will allow the lotto be impaired in any case. This the legislator gives as a measure,and he will permit a man to acquire double or triple, or as much asfour times the amount of this. But if a person have yet greaterriches, whether he has found them, or they have been given to him,or he has made them in business, or has acquired by any stroke offortune that which is in excess of the measure, if he give back thesurplus to the state, and to the Gods who are the patrons of thestate, he shall suffer no penalty or loss of reputation; but if hedisobeys this our law any one who likes may inform against him andreceive half the value of the excess, and the delinquent shall pay asum equal to the excess out of his own property, and the other half ofthe excess shall belong to the Gods. And let every possession of everyman, with the exception of the lot, be publicly registered beforethe magistrates whom the law appoints, so that all suits about moneymay be easy and quite simple.
The next thing to be noted is, that the city should be placed asnearly as possible in the centre of the country; we should choose aplace which possesses what is suitable for a city, and this may easilybe imagined and described. Then we will divide the city into twelveportions, first founding temples to Hestia, to Zeus and to Athene,in a spot which we will call the Acropolis, and surround with acircular wall, making the division of the entire city and countryradiate from this point. The twelve portions shall be equalized by theprovision that those which are of good land shall be smaller. whilethose of inferior quality shall be larger. The number of the lotsshall be 5040, and each of them shall be divided into two, and everyallotment shall be composed of two such sections; one of land near thecity, the other of land which is at a distance. This arrangement shallbe carried out in the following manner: The section which is nearthe city shall be added to that which is on borders, and form one lot,and the portion which is next nearest shall be added to the portionwhich is next farthest; and so of the rest. Moreover, in the twosections of the lots the same principle of equalization of the soilought to be maintained; the badness and goodness shall becompensated by more and less. And the legislator shall divide thecitizens into twelve parts, and arrange the rest of their property, asfar as possible, so as to form twelve equal parts; and there shallbe a registration of all. After this they shall assign twelve lotsto twelve Gods, and call them by their names, and dedicate to each Godtheir several portions, and call the tribes after them. And they shalldistribute the twelve divisions of the city in the same way in whichthey divided the country; and every man shall have two habitations,one in the centre of the country, and the other at the extremity.
Enough of the manner of settlement.