§12.958ΑΘ.οἷσιν δὲ ὄντως ἐπικεκλωσμέναι, θάνατον ἴαμα ταῖς οὕτω διατεθείσαις ψυχαῖς διανέμοντες, ὃ δικαίως εἴη πολλάκις ἂν εἰρημένον, ἄξιοι ἐπαίνου γίγνοιντʼ ἂν τῇ πάσῃ πόλει τοιοῦτοι δικασταὶ καὶ δικαστῶν ἡγεμόνες.
ATH. But for those for whom (evils) are truly spun, dispensing death as a remedy for souls so disposed (which would indeed be often correctly said), such judges and leaders of judges would be worthy of praise by the whole city.
ἐπειδὰν δὲ αἱ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν δίκαι τέλος ἐκδικασθεῖσαι σχῶσι, ταῖς πράξεσι νόμους αὐτῶν χρεὼν γίγνεσθαι τούσδε· πρῶτον μὲν ἡ δικάζουσα ἀρχὴ τὰ τοῦ ὀφλόντος τῷ νικήσαντι χρήματα πάντα ἀποδιδότω, χωρὶς τῶν ἀναγκαίων κεκτῆσθαι, μετὰ τὴν διαψήφισιν ἑκάστην εὐθὺς ὑπὸ κήρυκος, ἀκουόντων τῶν δικαστῶν·
And when the annual lawsuits have been fully judged and finished, the following laws must be made for their execution: first, let the magistrate who judged deliver all the property of the one who lost to the winner, apart from those things necessary to possess, immediately after each voting, by a herald, while the judges are listening.
ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ τῶν δικασίμων μηνῶν ἐχόμενος γένηται μήν, ἐάν τις μὴ ἀπαλλάττῃ τὸν νικήσαντα ἑκόντα ἑκών, ἡ δικάσασα ἀρχὴ συνεπομένη τῷ νικῶντι τὰ τοῦ ὀφλόντος παραδιδότω χρήματα.
And when the month following the court months arrives, if anyone does not willingly satisfy the willing winner, let the magistrate who judged, accompanying the winner, deliver the property of the one who lost.
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἔχωσιν ὁπόθεν, ἐλλείπῃ δὲ μὴ ἔλαττον δραχμῆς, μὴ πρότερον εἶναι τούτῳ δίκας πρὸς ἄλλον μηδένα, πρὶν ἂν ἐκπληρώσῃ τὸ χρέος ἅπαν τῷ νικήσαντι· ἄλλοις δὲ πρὸς τοῦτον ἔστωσαν δίκαι κυρίως.
And if they do not have the means, and the deficiency is not less than a drachma, let there be no lawsuits for this person against anyone else earlier, until he fully pays the debt in full to the winner; but let lawsuits by others against this person be valid.
ἐὰν δέ τις ἀφῃρῆται τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν καταδικάσασαν καταδικασθείς, εἰσαγόντων μὲν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ τῶν νομοφυλάκων δικαστήριον οἱ ἀφαιρεθέντες ἀδίκως, ἐὰν δέ τις ὄφλῃ τὴν τοιαύτην δίκην, ὡς ὅλην τὴν πόλιν καὶ νόμους φθείρων θανάτῳ ζημιούσθω.
And if anyone, having been condemned, repels the magistrate that condemned him, let those who were unjustly repelled bring him before the court of the guardians of the laws, and if anyone is convicted in such a lawsuit, let him be punished with death as one who destroys the whole city and its laws.
ἀνδρὶ δὴ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο γεννηθέντι καὶ ἐκτραφέντι, καὶ γεννήσαντι καὶ ἐκθρέψαντι τέκνα, καὶ συμμείξαντι συμβόλαια μετρίως, διδόντι τε δίκας εἴ τινα ἠδικήκει καὶ παρʼ ἑτέρου ἐκλαβόντι, σὺν τοῖς νόμοις ἐν μοίρᾳ γηράσαντι τελευτὴ γίγνοιτʼ ἂν κατὰ φύσιν.
For a man who after this has been born and brought up, and has begotten and reared children, and has engaged in contracts moderately, paying penalties if he had wronged anyone and receiving them from another, and having grown old in his proper portion along with the laws, death would happen according to nature.
περὶ τελευτήσαντας δή, εἴτε τις ἄρρην εἴτε τις θῆλυς ᾖ, τὰ μὲν περὶ τὰ θεῖα νόμιμα τῶν τε ὑπὸ γῆς θεῶν καὶ τῶν τῇδε, ὅσα προσήκει τελεῖσθαι, τοὺς ἐξηγητὰς γίγνεσθαι κυρίους φράζοντας·
Concerning the deceased, whether male or female, regarding the sacred customs of the gods below the earth and those here, as many as are fitting to be performed, let the interpreters be authorities in declaring them.
θήκας δʼ εἶναι τῶν χωρίων ὁπόσα μὲν ἐργάσιμα μηδαμοῦ, μήτε τι μέγα μήτε τι σμικρὸν μνῆμα, ἃ δὲ ἡ χώρα πρὸς τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ μόνον φύσιν ἔχει, τὰ τῶν τετελευτηκότων σώματα μάλιστα ἀλυπήτως τοῖς ζῶσι δεχομένη κρύπτειν, ταῦτα ἐκπληροῦν, τοῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις ὅσα τροφὴν μήτηρ οὖσα ἡ γῆ πρὸς ταῦτα πέφυκεν βούλεσθαι φέρειν, μήτε ζῶν μήτε τις ἀποθανὼν στερείτω τὸν ζῶνθʼ ἡμῶν.
As for graves, let them be nowhere in cultivable lands, neither a large nor a small monument, but those parts of the land which have a nature for this very purpose alone, receiving and hiding the bodies of the deceased with the least annoyance to the living, let them fill these; and as for those things which the earth, being a mother, naturally wishes to bear for the nourishment of humans, let no one of us, living or dead, deprive the living of them.
§12.959ΑΘ. χῶμα δὲ μὴ χοῦν ὑψηλότερον πέντε ἀνδρῶν ἔργον, ἐν πένθʼ ἡμέραις ἀποτελούμενον· λίθινα δὲ ἐπιστήματα μὴ μείζω ποιεῖν ἢ ὅσα δέχεσθαι τῶν τοῦ τετελευτηκότος ἐγκώμια βίου μὴ πλείω τεττάρων ἡρωικῶν στίχων.
ATH. As for a mound, they must not heap it up higher than the work of five men completed in five days; and they must not make stone gravestones larger than what can receive praises of the deceased person's life, not exceeding four heroic verses.
τὰς δὲ προθέσεις πρῶτον μὲν μὴ μακρότερον χρόνον ἔνδον γίγνεσθαι τοῦ δηλοῦντος τόν τε ἐκτεθνεῶτα καὶ τὸν ὄντως τεθνηκότα, εἴη δʼ ἂν σχεδόν, ὡς τἀνθρώπινα, μέτρον ἔχουσα τριταία πρὸς τὸ μνῆμα ἐκφορά.
First, let the laying out of the body (prothesis) not be inside for a longer time than what reveals the deceased and the one who is truly dead; and as a moderate measure according to human affairs, the carrying out (ekphora) to the grave would take place on the third day.
πείθεσθαι δʼ ἐστὶ τῷ νομοθέτῃ χρεὼν τά τε ἄλλα καὶ λέγοντι ψυχὴν σώματος εἶναι τὸ πᾶν διαφέρουσαν, ἐν αὐτῷ τε τῷ βίῳ τὸ παρεχόμενον ἡμῶν ἕκαστον τοῦτʼ εἶναι μηδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ τὴν ψυχήν, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἰνδαλλόμενον ἡμῶν ἑκάστοις ἕπεσθαι, καὶ τελευτησάντων λέγεσθαι καλῶς εἴδωλα εἶναι τὰ τῶν νεκρῶν σώματα, τὸν δὲ ὄντα ἡμῶν ἕκαστον ὄντως, ἀθάνατον εἶναι ψυχὴν ἐπονομαζόμενον, παρὰ θεοὺς ἄλλους ἀπιέναι δώσοντα λόγον, καθάπερ ὁ νόμος ὁ πάτριος λέγει—τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἀγαθῷ θαρραλέον, τῷ δὲ κακῷ μάλα φοβερόν—βοήθειάν τε αὐτῷ μήτινα μεγάλην εἶναι τετελευτηκότι· ζῶντι γὰρ ἔδει βοηθεῖν πάντας τοὺς προσήκοντας, ὅπως ὅτι δικαιότατος ὢν καὶ ὁσιώτατος ἔζη τε ζῶν καὶ τελευτήσας ἀτιμώρητος ἂν κακῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐγίγνετο τὸν μετὰ τὸν ἐνθάδε βίον.
And indeed, it is necessary to obey the legislator in other matters and especially when he says that the soul is entirely different from the body, and that in life itself each of us that manifests itself is nothing other than the soul, whereas the body, appearing as an image, follows each of us, and that after we have died, it is well said that the bodies of the dead are phantoms, and that the real being of each of us, being immortal and called the soul, goes away to other gods to give an account, just as the ancestral law says—which is a source of courage for the good, but very terrifying for the bad—and that there is no great help for him when dead; for all his relatives ought to have helped him when living, so that living as justly as possible and as piously as possible, and having died, he might become unpunished for evil transgressions in the life after the one here.
ἐκ δὲ τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων οὐδέποτε οἰκοφθορεῖν χρή, διαφερόντως νομίζοντα τὸν αὑτοῦ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν τῶν σαρκῶν ὄγκον θαπτόμενον, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὑὸν ἢ ἀδελφόν, ἢ ὅντινά τις μάλισθʼ ἡγεῖται ποθῶν θάπτειν, οἴχεσθαι περαίνοντα καὶ ἐμπιμπλάντα τὴν αὑτοῦ μοῖραν, τὸ δὲ παρὸν δεῖν εὖ ποιεῖν, τὰ μέτρια ἀναλίσκοντα ὡς εἰς ἄψυχον χθονίων βωμόν·
Since these things are so, one must never ruin one's estate, thinking exceptionally that this mass of flesh of his own is being buried, but rather that that son or brother, or whoever one most regrets and wishes to bury, has gone away, fulfilling and satisfying his own lot, and that one must treat well the present body, spending a moderate amount as if on a lifeless altar of the gods below.
τὸ δὲ μέτριον νομοθέτης ἂν μαντεύσαιτο οὐκ ἀσχημονέστατα.
And the legislator would divine the moderate amount most decently.
ἔστω δὴ νόμος οὗτος· τῷ μὲν δὴ τοῦ μεγίστου τιμήματος εἰς τὴν πᾶσαν ταφὴν ἀναλισκόμενα μὴ πλέον πέντε μνῶν, τῷ δὲ τοῦ δευτέρου τρεῖς μναῖ, καὶ δύο τῷ τοῦ τρίτου, μνᾶ δὲ τῷ τοῦ τετάρτου μέτρον ἂν ἔχοι τῶν ἀναλωμάτων.
Let this be the law: for the one of the highest property class, not more than five minae spent on the entire burial; for the second class, three minae; and two for the third; and a mina for the fourth would have the proper measure of expenditure.
νομοφύλαξι δὲ πολλά τε ἄλλα ἀνάγκη πράττειν καὶ πολλῶν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, τούτων δʼ οὐχ ἥκιστα, ὅπως ἂν παίδων τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ πάσης ἡλικίας ἐπιμελούμενοι ζῶσι, καὶ δὴ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἁπάντων νομοφύλαξ εἷς γέ τις ἐπιστατῇ, ὃν ἂν οἱ τοῦ τετελευτηκότος ἐπίσκοπον οἰκεῖοι παραλάβωσιν, ᾧ καλόν τʼ ἔστω καλῶς καὶ μετρίως τὰ περὶ τὸν τετελευτηκότα γιγνόμενα καὶ μὴ καλῶς αἰσχρόν.
It is necessary for the guardians of the laws to do many other things and to care for many, and not least of all, to care for children and men and every age as they live; and indeed, at the end of all, let one of the guardians of the laws preside as an inspector, whom the relatives of the deceased shall call in, to whom let it be a credit if the matters of the deceased are done beautifully and moderately, and a disgrace if not beautifully.