Let this then be our exhortation concerning marriage, and let usremember what was said before-that a man should cling toimmortality, and leave behind him children"s children to be theservants of God in his place for ever. All this and much more may betruly said by way of prelude about the duty of marriage. But if aman will not listen and remains unsocial and alien among hisfellow-citizens, and is still unmarried at thirty-five years of age,let him pay a yearly fine;-he who of the highest class shall pay afine of a hundred drachmae, and he who is of the second dass a fine ofseventy drachmae; the third class shall pay sixty drachmae, and thefourth thirty drachmae, and let the money be sacred to Here; he whodoes not pay the fine annually shall owe ten times the sum, whichthe treasurer of the goddess shall exact; and if he fails in doing so,let him be answerable and give an account of the. money at hisaudit. He who refuses to marry shall be thus punished in money, andalso be deprived of all honour which the younger show to the elder;let no young man voluntarily obey him, and if he attempt to punish anyone, let every one come to the rescue and defend the injured person,and he who is present and does not come to the rescue, shall bepronounced by the law to be a coward and a bad citizen. Of themarriage portion I have already spoken; and again I say for theinstruction of poor men that he who neither gives nor receives a dowryon account of poverty, has a compensation; for the citizens of ourstate are provided with the necessaries of life, and wives will beless likely to be insolent, and husbands to be mean and subservient tothem on account of property. And he who obeys this law will do a nobleaction; but he who will not obey, and gives or receives more thanfifty drachmae as the price of the marriage garments if he be of thelowest, or more than a mina, or a mina and-a-half, if he be of thethird or second classes, or two minae if he be of the highest class,shall owe to the public treasury a similar sum, and that which isgiven or received shall be sacred to Here and Zeus; and let thetreasurers of these Gods exact the money, as was said before about theunmarried-that the treasurers of Here were to exact the money, orpay the fine themselves.
The betrothal by a father shall be valid in the first degree, thatby a grandfather in the second degree, and in the third degree,betrothal by brothers who have the same father; but if there arenone of these alive, the betrothal by a mother shall be valid inlike manner; in cases of unexampled fatality, the next of kin andthe guardians shall have authority. What are to be the rites beforemarriages, or any other sacred acts, relating either to future,present, or past marriages, shall be referred to the interpreters; andhe who follows their advice may be satisfied. Touching the marriagefestival, they shall assemble not more than five male and fivefemale friends of both families; and a like number of members of thefamily of either sex, and no man shall spend more than his meanswill allow; he who is of the richest class may spend a mina-he whois of the second, half a mina, and in the same proportion as thecensus of each decreases: all men shall praise him who is obedientto the law; but he who is disobedient shall be punished by theguardians of the law as a man wanting in true taste, anduninstructed in the laws of bridal song. Drunkenness is alwaysimproper, except at the festivals of the God who gave wine; andpeculiarly dangerous, when a man is engaged in the business ofmarriage; at such a crisis of their lives a bride and bridegroom oughtto have all their wits about them-they ought to take care that theiroffspring may be born of reasonable beings; for on what day or nightHeaven will give them increase, who can say? Moreover, they oughtnot to begetting children when their bodies are dissipated byintoxication, but their offspring should be compact and solid, quietand compounded properly; whereas the drunkard is all abroad in all hisactions, and beside himself both in body and soul. Wherefore, also,the drunken man is bad and unsteady in sowing the seed of increase,and is likely to beget offspring who will be unstable anduntrustworthy, and cannot be expected to walk straight either inbody or mind. Hence during the whole year and all his life long, andespecially while he is begetting children, ought to take care andnot intentionally do what is injurious to health, or what involvesinsolence and wrong; for he cannot help leaving the impression ofhimself on the souls and bodies of his offspring, and he begetschildren in every way inferior. And especially on the day and night ofmarriage should a man abstain from such things. For the beginning,which is also a God dwelling in man, preserves all things, if itmeet with proper respect from each individual. He who marries isfurther to consider that one of the two houses in the lot is thenest and nursery of his young, and there he is to marry and make ahome for himself and bring up his children, going away from his fatherand mother. For in friendships there must be some degree of desire, inorder to cement and bind together diversities of character; butexcessive intercourse not having the desire which is created bytime, insensibly dissolves friendships from a feeling of satiety;wherefore a man and his wife shall leave to his and her father andmother their own dwelling-places, and themselves go as to a colony anddwell there, and visit and be visited by their parents; and they shallbeget and bring up children, handing on the torch of life from onegeneration to another, and worshipping the Gods according to law forever.
In the next place, we have to consider what sort of property will bemost convenient. There is no difficulty either in understanding oracquiring most kinds of property, but there is great difficulty inwhat relates to slaves. And the reason is that we speak about themin a way which is right and which is not right; for what we sayabout our slaves is consistent and also inconsistent with our practiceabout them.
Megillus. I do not understand, Stranger, what you mean.