§6.753ΑΘ. τόνδε.
ATH.: The following way.
φημί, ὦ παῖδες Κρητῶν, χρῆναι Κνωσίους, διὰ τὸ πρεσβεύειν τῶν πολλῶν πόλεων, κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν ἀφικομένων εἰς τὴν συνοίκησιν ταύτην ἐξ αὑτῶν τε καὶ ἐκείνων αἱρεῖσθαι τριάκοντα μὲν καὶ ἑπτὰ τοὺς πάντας, ἐννέα δὲ καὶ δέκα ἐκ τῶν ἐποικησάντων, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἐξ αὐτῆς Κνωσοῦ·
I say, O children of Crete, that the Cnossians, by virtue of their seniority among the many cities, must, in common with those who have arrived for this joint settlement, elect from themselves and those others thirty-seven in all: nineteen from the settlers, and the others from Cnossus itself.
τούτους δʼ οἱ Κνώσιοι τῇ πόλει σοι δόντων, καὶ αὐτόν σε πολίτην εἶναι ταύτης τῆς ἀποικίας καὶ ἕνα τῶν ὀκτωκαίδεκα, πείσαντες ἢ τῇ μετρίᾳ δυνάμει βιασάμενοι.
And let the Cnossians give these to your city, having persuaded or by moderate force compelled you yourself also to be a citizen of this colony and one of the eighteen.
ΚΛ. τί δῆτα οὐ καὶ σύ τε καὶ ὁ Μέγιλλος, ὦ ξένε, ἐκοινωνησάτην ἡμῖν τῆς πολιτείας;
CLE.: Why indeed, stranger, did not both you and Megillus share with us in the constitution?
ΑΘ. μέγα μέν, ὦ Κλεινία, φρονοῦσιν αἱ Ἀθῆναι, μέγα δὲ καὶ ἡ Σπάρτη, καὶ μακρὰν ἀποικοῦσιν ἑκάτεραι· σοὶ δὲ κατὰ πάντα ἐμμελῶς ἔχει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις οἰκισταῖς κατὰ ταὐτά, ὥσπερ τὰ περὶ σοῦ νῦν λεγόμενα.
ATH.: Athens, O Cleinias, is high-minded, and Sparta is also high-minded, and both are settled far away; but for you, everything is fitting, and for the other founders in the same way, just as what is now said about you.
ὡς μὲν οὖν γένοιτʼ ἂν ἐπιεικέστατα ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἡμῖν τὰ νῦν, εἰρήσθω, προελθόντος δὲ χρόνου καὶ μεινάσης τῆς πολιτείας, αἵρεσις αὐτῶν ἔστω τοιάδε τις· πάντες μὲν κοινωνούντων τῆς τῶν ἀρχόντων αἱρέσεως ὁπόσοιπερ ἂν ὅπλα ἱππικὰ ἢ πεζικὰ τιθῶνται καὶ πολέμου κεκοινωνήκωσιν ἐν ταῖς σφετέραις αὐτῶν τῆς ἡλικίας δυνάμεσιν· ποιεῖσθαι δὲ τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐν ἱερῷ ὅπερ ἂν ἡ πόλις ἡγῆται τιμιώτατον, φέρειν δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ βωμὸν ἕκαστον εἰς πινάκιον γράψαντα τοὔνομα πατρόθεν καὶ φυλῆς καὶ δήμου ὁπόθεν ἂν δημοτεύηται, παρεγγράφειν δὲ καὶ τὸ αὑτοῦ κατὰ ταὐτὰ οὕτως ὄνομα.
Let this be said, then, as to how things might be done most reasonably from our present circumstances; but as time advances and the constitution remains, let the election of them be of this kind: let all share in the election of the officials, as many as bear cavalry or infantry arms and have shared in war within the limits of their active military age; and let them make the election in the sanctuary which the city considers most honorable, and each bring to the altar of the god a small tablet, having written the name [of the candidate] with his father's name, his tribe, and the deme from which he is registered, and write alongside his own name in the same way.
τῷ βουλομένῳ δʼ ἐξέστω τῶν πινακίων ὅτιπερ ἂν φαίνηται μὴ κατὰ νοῦν αὑτῷ γεγραμμένον ἀνελόντα εἰς ἀγορὰν θεῖναι μὴ ἔλαττον τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν.
And let it be permitted to anyone who wishes, if any of the tablets appears to him to be written not to his mind, to take it up and place it in the marketplace for not less than thirty days.
τὰ δὲ τῶν πινακίων κριθέντα ἐν πρώτοις μέχρι τριακοσίων δεῖξαι τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἰδεῖν πάσῃ τῇ πόλει, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ὡσαύτως ἐκ τούτων φέρειν πάλιν ὃν ἂν ἕκαστος βούληται, τοὺς δὲ τὸ δεύτερον ἐξ αὐτῶν προκριθέντας ἑκατὸν δεῖξαι πάλιν ἅπασιν.
And the officials must display to the whole city to see those tablets which are selected among the first up to three hundred, and the city in the same way must bring votes again from these for whomsoever each wishes, and [the officials] must display again to all the hundred who are pre-selected the second time from them.
τὸ δὲ τρίτον φερέτω μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἑκατὸν ὁ βουληθεὶς ὃν ἂν βούληται, διὰ τομίων πορευόμενος· ἑπτὰ δὲ καὶ τριάκοντα, οἷς ἂν πλεῖσται γένωνται ψῆφοι, κρίναντες ἀποφηνάντων ἄρχοντας.
And the third time, let anyone who wishes bring his vote from the hundred for whomsoever he wishes, passing through the parts of the sacrificial victims; and the thirty-seven who get the most votes, after they have been judged, let them declare them officials.
τίνες οὖν, ὦ Κλεινία καὶ Μέγιλλε, πάντα ἡμῖν ταῦτʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει καταστήσουσι τῶν ἀρχῶν τε πέρι καὶ δοκιμασιῶν αὐτῶν;
Who then, Cleinias and Megillus, will establish all these things for us in the city, concerning both the offices and their examinations?
ἆρα ἐννοοῦμεν ὡς ταῖς πρῶτον οὕτω καταζευγνυμέναις πόλεσιν ἀνάγκη μὲν εἶναί τινας, οἵτινες δὲ εἶεν ἂν πρὸς πασῶν τῶν ἀρχῶν γεγονότες, οὐκ ἔστιν;
Do we reflect that for cities being first so harnessed together, it is necessary that there be some who establish them, but there are none who have existed prior to all the offices?
δεῖ μὴν ἁμῶς γέ πως, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ φαύλους ἀλλʼ ὅτι μάλιστα ἄκρους.
Yet they must be there in some way or other, and these not ordinary men, but as far as possible the most excellent.
ἀρχὴ γὰρ λέγεται μὲν ἥμισυ παντὸς ἐν ταῖς παροιμίαις ἔργου, καὶ τό γε καλῶς ἄρξασθαι πάντες ἐγκωμιάζομεν ἑκάστοτε·
For 'the beginning' is said in proverbs to be half of every work, and we all praise a good beginning on every occasion.