Politics

nor should they be too close (for this has much difficulty; for respect is less present in such people, just as in those of the same age, and closeness is prone to complaints regarding household management). And further, the point from which we started and transitioned to this topic, is that the bodies of those who are born may be according to the will of the legislator. Almost all these things indeed happen under one single care. For since the limit of generation is defined, to speak for the most part, as the age of seventy years at the furthest for men, and fifty for women, the beginning of the union according to age must decline to these times. And the coupling of young people is bad for child-begetting; for in all animals the offspring of the young are imperfect, and more female-producing and small in form, so that this same thing must necessarily happen also in the case of humans. And this is a proof: for in those of the cities where it is the local custom to couple young men and young women, they are imperfect and small in their bodies. And further, in childbirth, young women suffer more and more of them perish; wherefore also some say that the oracle was given to the Troezenians for such a reason, because many were perishing on account of the younger women being married, and not with a view to the gathering of the crops. And further, also with a view to temperance, it is beneficial to make the giving in marriage of women when they are older; for young women who have experienced intercourse seem to be more wanton. And the bodies of males also seem to be harmed with respect to growth, if they make intercourse while the seed is still growing; for there is a certain defined time of this also, which it does not surpass while still filling up, or only slightly. Therefore, it is fitting to couple women around the age of eighteen years, and men at thirty-seven or a little before; for at such an age the union will be when they are at their prime in their bodies, and it will decline opportunely in time toward the cessation of child-begetting. And further, the succession of the children will be for the parents at the beginning of their prime, if generation happens immediately according to reason, and for the children when the age is already declining toward the number of seventy years. Concerning then when one must make the union, it has been said; but as to the times of the season, one must use those which most people use, having beautifully defined even now that they should make this cohabitation in winter. And they themselves must already consider with a view to child-begetting both the things said by physicians and those by natural philosophers; for the physicians speak sufficiently about the seasons of the bodies,