§5.737ΑΘ. σωτηρίας τε γὰρ ἀρχὴ μεγίστη πόλεως αὕτη γίγνεται, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτης οἷον κρηπῖδος μονίμου ἐποικοδομεῖν δυνατὸν ὅντινα ἂν ὕστερον ἐποικοδομῇ τις κόσμον πολιτικὸν προσήκοντα τῇ τοιαύτῃ καταστάσει· ταύτης δὲ σαθρᾶς οὔσης τῆς μεταβάσεως, οὐκ εὔπορος ἡ μετὰ ταῦτα πολιτικὴ πρᾶξις οὐδεμιᾷ γίγνοιτʼ ἂν πόλει.
ATH.: For this becomes the greatest beginning of salvation for a city, and upon this, as a lasting foundation, it is possible to build whatever political order one may build later that is appropriate to such a state; but if this transition is unsound, the subsequent political action would not be easy for any city.
ἣν ἡμεῖς μέν, ὥς φαμεν, ἐκφεύγομεν· ὅμως δὲ εἰρῆσθαί γε ὀρθότερον, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐξεφεύγομεν, ὅπῃ ποτʼ ἂν ἐποιούμεθα αὐτῆς τὴν φυγήν.
We indeed, as we say, escape it; nevertheless, it would be more correct that it should be stated, even if we were not escaping it, in what way we would have made our escape from it.
εἰρήσθω δή νυν ὅτι διὰ τοῦ μὴ φιλοχρηματεῖν μετὰ δίκης, ἄλλη δʼ οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτʼ εὐρεῖα οὔτε στενὴ τῆς τοιαύτης μηχανῆς διαφυγή· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν οἷον ἕρμα πόλεως ἡμῖν κείσθω τὰ νῦν.
Let it then be said now that it is through not loving money, in company with justice, and that there is no other escape, either wide or narrow, from such a device; and let this be laid down for us as a ballast of the city for the present.
ἀνεγκλήτους γὰρ δεῖ τὰς οὐσίας πρὸς ἀλλήλους κατασκευάζεσθαι ἁμῶς γέ πως, ἢ μὴ προϊέναι πρότερον εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν ἑκόντα εἶναι τῆς ἄλλης κατασκευῆς οἷς ᾖ παλαιὰ ἐγκλήματα πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὅσοις νοῦ καὶ σμικρὸν μετῇ·
For their possessions must be established as blameless toward one another in some way or other, or else those who have ancient complaints against one another must not go forward willingly to the rest of the establishment, as many as have even a small share of sense.
οἷς δέ, ὡς ἡμῖν νῦν, θεὸς ἔδωκε καινήν τε πόλιν οἰκίζειν καὶ μή τινας ἔχθρας εἶναί πω πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τούτους ἔχθρας αὑτοῖς αἰτίους γενέσθαι διὰ τὴν διανομὴν τῆς γῆς τε καὶ οἰκήσεων οὐκ ἀνθρώπινος ἂν εἴη μετὰ κάκης πάσης ἀμαθία.
But for those to whom, as to us now, God has given to found a new city and to have no enmities as yet toward one another, that they themselves should become the causes of enmity toward themselves through the division of land and dwellings would be an ignorance not human, accompanied by all baseness.
τίς οὖν δὴ τρόπος ἂν εἴη τῆς ὀρθῆς διανομῆς;
What, then, would be the manner of correct division?
πρῶτον μὲν τὸν αὐτῶν ὄγκον τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ δεῖ τάξασθαι, πόσον εἶναι χρεών· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο τὴν διανομὴν τῶν πολιτῶν, καθʼ ὁπόσα μέρη πλήθει καὶ ὁπηλίκα διαιρετέον αὐτούς, ἀνομολογητέον· ἐπὶ δὲ ταῦτα τήν τε γῆν καὶ τὰς οἰκήσεις ὅτι μάλιστα ἴσας ἐπινεμητέον.
First, one must set the total amount of their number, how much it ought to be; after this, one must agree upon the division of the citizens, into how many parts in number and of what size they must be divided; and upon these, the land and dwellings must be distributed as equally as possible.
ὄγκος δὴ πλήθους ἱκανὸς οὐκ ἄλλως ὀρθῶς γίγνοιτʼ ἂν λεχθεὶς ἢ πρὸς τὴν γῆν καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν πλησιοχώρων πόλεις· γῆ μὲν ὁπόση πόσους σώφρονας ὄντας ἱκανὴ τρέφειν, πλείονος δὲ οὐδὲν προσδεῖ, πλήθους δέ, ὁπόσοι τοὺς προσχώρους ἀδικοῦντάς τε αὐτοὺς ἀμύνασθαι δυνατοὶ καὶ γείτοσιν ἑαυτῶν ἀδικουμένοις βοηθῆσαι μὴ παντάπασιν ἀπόρως δύναιντʼ ἄν.
The sufficient size of the population cannot be correctly stated otherwise than in relation to the land and to the cities of the neighbors: as for land, however much is sufficient to support so many who are temperate—and there is no need of any more—and as for population, as many as are able to defend themselves when their neighbors wrong them, and are able to assist their own neighbors when they are wronged, not in an altogether helpless way.
ταῦτα δέ, ἰδόντες τὴν χώραν καὶ τοὺς γείτονας, ὁριούμεθα ἔργῳ καὶ λόγοις· νῦν δὲ σχήματος ἕνεκα καὶ ὑπογραφῆς, ἵνα περαίνηται, πρὸς τὴν νομοθεσίαν ὁ λόγος ἴτω.
These things, having seen the territory and the neighbors, we shall define in deed and in words; but now, for the sake of outline and sketch, so that the argument may proceed, let it go forward to the legislation.
πεντάκις μὲν χίλιοι ἔστωσαν καὶ τετταράκοντα, ἀριθμοῦ τινος ἕνεκα προσήκοντος, γεωμόροι τε καὶ ἀμυνοῦντες τῇ νομῇ· γῆ δὲ καὶ οἰκήσεις ὡσαύτως τὰ αὐτὰ μέρη διανεμηθήτων, γενόμενα ἀνὴρ καὶ κλῆρος συννομή.
Let there be five thousand and forty landowners who are to defend the distribution, for the sake of a certain suitable number; and let the land and dwellings likewise be divided into the same parts, a man and his lot becoming a shared allotment.
δύο μὲν δὴ μέρη τοῦ παντὸς ἀριθμοῦ τὸ πρῶτον νεμηθήτω, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τρία τὸν αὐτόν· πέφυκε γὰρ καὶ τέτταρα καὶ πέντε καὶ μέχρι τῶν δέκα ἐφεξῆς.
Now, first let two parts of the whole number be divided, and after this, three in the same way; for it is also naturally divisible by four and five and successively up to ten.
§5.738ΑΘ. δεῖ δὴ περὶ ἀριθμῶν τό γε τοσοῦτον πάντα ἄνδρα νομοθετοῦντα νενοηκέναι, τίς ἀριθμὸς καὶ ποῖος πάσαις πόλεσιν χρησιμώτατος ἂν εἴη.
ATH.: Every man who legislates must conceive at least this much concerning numbers: what number and of what kind would be most useful for all cities.
λέγωμεν δὴ τὸν πλείστας καὶ ἐφεξῆς μάλιστα διανομὰς ἐν αὑτῷ κεκτημένον.
Let us then state the one which possesses the most and most successive divisions in itself.
ὁ μὲν δὴ πᾶς εἰς πάντα πάσας τομὰς εἴληχεν· ὁ δὲ τῶν τετταράκοντα καὶ πεντακισχιλίων εἴς τε πόλεμον καὶ ὅσα κατʼ εἰρήνην πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ συμβόλαια καὶ κοινωνήματα, εἰσφορῶν τε πέρι καὶ διανομῶν, οὐ πλείους μιᾶς δεουσῶν ἑξήκοντα δύναιτʼ ἂν τέμνεσθαι τομῶν, συνεχεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ μιᾶς μέχρι τῶν δέκα.
Now, every number has fallen to the lot of every division; but that of five thousand and forty, for war and for all transactions and associations in peace, concerning taxes and distributions, can be divided by no more than sixty divisions less one, and continuously from one up to ten.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν δὴ καὶ κατὰ σχολὴν δεῖ βεβαίως λαβεῖν, οἷς ἂν ὁ νόμος προστάττῃ λαμβάνειν· ἔχει γὰρ οὖν οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ ταύτῃ, δεῖ δὲ αὐτὰ ῥηθῆναι τῶνδε ἕνεκα κατοικίζοντι πόλιν.
These things, then, must be grasped securely at leisure by those whom the law orders to grasp them; for they are indeed not otherwise than this, and they must be spoken for the sake of the following things to one who is founding a city.
οὔτʼ ἂν καινὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τις ποιῇ οὔτʼ ἂν παλαιὰν διεφθαρμένην ἐπισκευάζηται, περὶ θεῶν γε καὶ ἱερῶν, ἅττα τε ἐν τῇ πόλει ἑκάστοις ἱδρῦσθαι δεῖ καὶ ὧντινων ἐπονομάζεσθαι θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων, οὐδεὶς ἐπιχειρήσει κινεῖν νοῦν ἔχων ὅσα ἐκ Δελφῶν ἢ Δωδώνης ἢ παρʼ Ἄμμωνος ἤ τινες ἔπεισαν παλαιοὶ λόγοι ὁπῃδή τινας πείσαντες, φασμάτων γενομένων ἢ ἐπιπνοίας λεχθείσης θεῶν, πείσαντες δὲ θυσίας τελεταῖς συμμείκτους κατεστήσαντο εἴτε αὐτόθεν ἐπιχωρίους εἴτʼ οὖν Τυρρηνικὰς εἴτε Κυπρίας εἴτε ἄλλοθεν ὁθενοῦν, καθιέρωσαν δὲ τοῖς τοιούτοις λόγοις φήμας τε καὶ ἀγάλματα καὶ βωμοὺς καὶ ναούς, τεμένη τε τούτων ἑκάστοις ἐτεμένισαν·
Whether one is making a new city from the beginning or repairing an old, ruined one, concerning gods and temples, namely what must be established in the city for each and of which gods or daemons they must be named, no one possessing sense will attempt to alter whatever was established from Delphi or Dodona or from Ammon, or whatever ancient accounts persuaded some people, having persuaded them in some way, after apparitions occurred or an inspiration of gods was spoken, and having persuaded them, they established sacrifices mixed with mysteries, whether native to the place or else Tyrrhenian or Cyprian or from anywhere else, and consecrated by such accounts oracles and statues and altars and temples, and marked out sacred precincts for each of these; of these, a legislator must alter nothing at all, not even the smallest thing.
τούτων νομοθέτῃ τὸ σμικρότατον ἁπάντων οὐδὲν κινητέον, τοῖς δὲ μέρεσιν ἑκάστοις θεὸν ἢ δαίμονα ἢ καί τινα ἥρωα ἀποδοτέον, ἐν δὲ τῇ τῆς γῆς διανομῇ πρώτοις ἐξαίρετα τεμένη τε καὶ πάντα τὰ προσήκοντα ἀποδοτέον, ὅπως ἂν σύλλογοι ἑκάστων τῶν μερῶν κατὰ χρόνους γιγνόμενοι τοὺς προσταχθέντας εἴς τε τὰς χρείας ἑκάστας εὐμάρειαν παρασκευάζωσι καὶ φιλοφρονῶνταί τε ἀλλήλους μετὰ θυσιῶν καὶ οἰκειῶνται καὶ γνωρίζωσιν, οὗ μεῖζον οὐδὲν πόλει ἀγαθὸν ἢ γνωρίμους αὐτοὺς αὑτοῖς εἶναι.
Rather, to each of the parts one must assign a god or daemon or even some hero, and in the division of the land one must first assign to them chosen sacred precincts and all appropriate things, so that assemblies of each of the parts, occurring at the appointed times, may provide convenience for each of their needs, and they may be friendly to one another with sacrifices and become intimate and acquainted, than which there is no greater good for a city than that they should be known to one another.
ὅπου γὰρ μὴ φῶς ἀλλήλοις ἐστὶν ἀλλήλων ἐν τοῖς τρόποις ἀλλὰ σκότος, οὔτʼ ἂν τιμῆς τῆς ἀξίας οὔτʼ ἀρχῶν οὔτε δίκης ποτέ τις ἂν τῆς προσηκούσης ὀρθῶς τυγχάνοι· δεῖ δὴ πάντα ἄνδρα ἓν πρὸς ἓν τοῦτο σπεύδειν ἐν πάσαις πόλεσιν, ὅπως μήτε αὐτὸς κίβδηλός ποτε φανεῖται ὁτῳοῦν, ἁπλοῦς δὲ καὶ ἀληθὴς ἀεί, μήτε ἄλλος τοιοῦτος ὢν αὐτὸν διαπατήσει.
For where there is not light for one another in one another's characters, but darkness, no one would ever rightly obtain either the honor he deserves, or offices, or the appropriate justice; every man, indeed, must strive for this single goal in all cities: that he himself may never appear counterfeit to anyone, but always simple and true, and that no other such person may deceive him.