§6.772ΑΘ. τῆς οὖν τοιαύτης σπουδῆς ἕνεκα χρὴ καὶ τὰς παιδιὰς ποιεῖσθαι χορεύοντάς τε καὶ χορευούσας κόρους καὶ κόρας, καὶ ἅμα δὴ θεωροῦντάς τε καὶ θεωρουμένους μετὰ λόγου τε καὶ ἡλικίας τινὸς ἐχούσης εἰκυίας προφάσεις, γυμνοὺς καὶ γυμνὰς μέχριπερ αἰδοῦς σώφρονος ἑκάστων.
ATH.: For the sake of this kind of earnestness, therefore, we must also arrange sports, with boys and girls dancing, and at the same time, seeing and being seen, with reasonable pretexts and at a suitable age, naked, both boys and girls, as far as the modest shame of each permits.
τούτων δʼ ἐπιμελητὰς πάντων καὶ κοσμητὰς τοὺς τῶν χορῶν ἄρχοντας γίγνεσθαι καὶ νομοθέτας μετὰ τῶν νομοφυλάκων, ὅσον ἂν ἡμεῖς ἐκλείπωμεν τάττοντες· ἀναγκαῖον δέ, ὅπερ εἴπομεν, περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα ὅσα σμικρὰ καὶ πολλὰ νομοθέτην μὲν ἐκλείπειν, τοὺς δʼ ἐμπείρους ἀεὶ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν γιγνομένους αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ τῆς χρείας μανθάνοντας, τάττεσθαι καὶ ἐπανορθουμένους κινεῖν κατʼ ἐνιαυτόν, ἕως ἂν ὅρος ἱκανὸς δόξῃ τῶν τοιούτων νομίμων καὶ ἐπιτηδευμάτων γεγονέναι.
And the directors of the dances must become the overseers and arrangers of all these things, and legislators in conjunction with the guardians of the laws, as far as we leave things unregulated; and it is necessary, as we said, that concerning all such things, which are small and many, the legislator should leave them out, while those who are always becoming experienced in them year by year, learning from use, should regulate them and modify them, amending them year by year, until a sufficient standard of such regulations and practices seems to have been reached.
χρόνος μὲν οὖν μέτριος ἅμα καὶ ἱκανὸς γίγνοιτʼ ἂν τῆς ἐμπειρίας δεκαετηρὶς θυσιῶν τε καὶ χορειῶν, ἐπὶ πάντα καὶ ἕκαστα ταχθείς, ζῶντος μὲν τοῦ τάξαντος νομοθέτου κοινῇ, τέλος δὲ σχόντος, αὐτὰς ἑκάστας τὰς ἀρχὰς εἰς τοὺς νομοφύλακας εἰσφερούσας τὸ παραλειπόμενον τῆς αὑτῶν ἀρχῆς ἐπανορθοῦσθαι, μέχριπερ ἂν τέλος ἔχειν ἕκαστον δόξῃ τοῦ καλῶς ἐξειργάσθαι, τότε δὲ ἀκίνητα θεμένους, ἤδη χρῆσθαι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων νόμων οὓς ἔταξε κατʼ ἀρχὰς ὁ θεὶς αὐτοῖς νομοθέτης· ὧν πέρι κινεῖν μὲν ἑκόντας μηδέποτε μηδέν, εἰ δέ τις ἀνάγκη δόξειέ ποτε καταλαβεῖν, πάσας μὲν τὰς ἀρχὰς χρὴ συμβούλους, πάντα δὲ τὸν δῆμον καὶ πάσας θεῶν μαντείας ἐπελθόντας, ἐὰν συμφωνῶσι πάντες, οὕτω κινεῖν, ἄλλως δὲ μηδέποτε μηδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ τὸν κωλύοντα ἀεὶ κατὰ νόμον κρατεῖν.
A moderate and at the same time sufficient time for this experience would be a period of ten years for sacrifices and dances, directed over all and each, during the lifetime of the legislating founder in common, but after his death, each of the offices itself, bringing what has been left out in its own department to the guardians of the laws, should correct it, until each is thought to have reached the end of being well completed; and then, having established them as unalterable, they should use them henceforth along with the other laws which the legislator who established them prescribed for them at the beginning; concerning which they must never change anything voluntarily, but if any necessity should ever seem to overtake them, they must consult all the offices, and approach the whole people and all the oracles of the gods, and if they all agree, they may change them in this way, but otherwise never on any account, but the one who prevents change must always prevail according to law.
ὁπότε τις οὖν καὶ ὁπηνίκα τῶν πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι γεγονότων ἔτη, σκοπῶν καὶ σκοπούμενος ὑπʼ ἄλλων, κατὰ νοῦν ἑαυτῷ καὶ πρέποντα εἰς παίδων κοινωνίαν καὶ γένεσιν ἐξηυρηκέναι πιστεύει, γαμείτω μὲν πᾶς ἐντὸς τῶν πέντε καὶ τριάκοντα ἐτῶν, τὸ δὲ πρέπον καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ὡς χρὴ ζητεῖν, πρῶτον ἐπακουσάτω· δεῖ γάρ, ὥς φησιν Κλεινίας, ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ νόμου προοίμιον οἰκεῖον ἑκάστῳ προτιθέναι.
Whenever, then, anyone who has reached the age of twenty-five, while observing and being observed by others, believes he has found a partner to his mind and suitable for the partnership and generation of children, let him marry, everyone within thirty-five years of age; but first let him hear how one ought to seek what is suitable and fitting; for it is necessary, as Cleinias says, to place before each law a preamble appropriate to it.
ΚΛ. κάλλιστα, ὦ ξένε, διεμνημόνευσας, ἔλαβές τε τοῦ λόγου καιρὸν καὶ μάλʼ ἐμοὶ δοκοῦντʼ εἶναι σύμμετρον.
CLE.: Most beautifully, O stranger, have you remembered this, and you have seized a fitting moment in the discourse, and one that seems to me highly appropriate.
§6.773ΑΘ. εὖ λέγεις. ὦ παῖ, τοίνυν φῶμεν ἀγαθῶν πατέρων φύντι, τοὺς παρὰ τοῖς ἔμφροσιν εὐδόξους γάμους χρὴ γαμεῖν, οἵ σοι παραινοῖεν ἂν μὴ φεύγειν τὸν τῶν πενήτων μηδὲ τὸν τῶν πλουσίων διώκειν διαφερόντως γάμον, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν τἆλλα ἰσάζῃ, τὸν ὑποδεέστερον ἀεὶ τιμῶντα εἰς τὴν κοινωνίαν συνιέναι. τῇ τε γὰρ πόλει σύμφορον ἂν εἴη ταύτῃ ταῖς τε συνιούσαις ἑστίαις· τὸ γὰρ ὁμαλὸν καὶ σύμμετρον ἀκράτου μυρίον διαφέρει πρὸς ἀρετήν.
ATH.: You speak well. “O boy, then let us say to him who is born of good fathers: you ought to contract marriages that are held in high repute among the sensible, who would advise you not to avoid marriage with the poor, nor to pursue marriage with the rich particularly, but, if other things are equal, always to value the lower one and enter into that partnership.” For this would be advantageous both for the city and for the hearths that are being united; for what is even and moderate is infinitely superior to what is unmixed, in respect of virtue.
κοσμίων τε πατέρων χρὴ προθυμεῖσθαι γίγνεσθαι κηδεστὴν τὸν αὑτῷ συνειδότα ἰταμώτερον ἅμα καὶ θᾶττον τοῦ δέοντος πρὸς πάσας τὰς πράξεις φερόμενον· τὸν δʼ ἐναντίως πεφυκότα ἐπὶ τἀναντία χρὴ κηδεύματα πορεύεσθαι.
And he who is conscious of being rather headstrong and carried away faster than is proper toward all actions, ought to strive to become a son-in-law to orderly fathers; while he who is of the opposite nature ought to proceed toward opposite connections.
καὶ κατὰ παντὸς εἷς ἔστω μῦθος γάμου· τὸν γὰρ τῇ πόλει δεῖ συμφέροντα μνηστεύειν γάμον ἕκαστον, οὐ τὸν ἥδιστον αὑτῷ.
And let there be one rule of marriage for everyone: each man must court the marriage that is advantageous to the city, not the one that is most pleasant to himself.
φέρεται δέ πως πᾶς ἀεὶ κατὰ φύσιν πρὸς τὸν ὁμοιότατον αὑτῷ, ὅθεν ἀνώμαλος ἡ πόλις ὅλη γίγνεται χρήμασίν τε καὶ τρόπων ἤθεσιν· ἐξ ὧν ἃ μὴ βουλόμεθα συμβαίνειν ἡμῖν, καὶ μάλιστα συμβαίνει ταῖς πλείσταις πόλεσι.
But somehow everyone is always carried by nature toward the one most like himself, whence the whole city becomes unequal both in wealth and in the characters of their ways; from which things there happen to us what we do not wish to happen, and what especially happens to most cities.
ταῦτα δὴ διὰ λόγου μὲν νόμῳ προστάττειν, μὴ γαμεῖν πλούσιον πλουσίου, μηδὲ πολλὰ δυνάμενον πράττειν ἄλλου τοιούτου, θάττους δὲ ἤθεσι πρὸς βραδυτέρους καὶ βραδυτέρους πρὸς θάττους ἀναγκάζειν τῇ τῶν γάμων κοινωνίᾳ πορεύεσθαι, πρὸς τῷ γελοῖα εἶναι θυμὸν ἂν ἐγείραι πολλοῖς·
To prescribe these things indeed by a law in so many words—not to marry a rich person to a rich person, nor a man of great power to another of the same kind, and to compel those of quicker temperaments to go toward slower ones, and slower ones toward quicker ones, in the partnership of marriage—in addition to being ridiculous, would arouse anger in many.
οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον ἐννοεῖν ὅτι πόλιν εἶναι δεῖ δίκην κρατῆρος κεκραμένην, οὗ μαινόμενος μὲν οἶνος ἐγκεχυμένος ζεῖ, κολαζόμενος δὲ ὑπὸ νήφοντος ἑτέρου θεοῦ καλὴν κοινωνίαν λαβὼν ἀγαθὸν πῶμα καὶ μέτριον ἀπεργάζεται.
For it is not easy to understand that a city ought to be blended like a mixing bowl, where the maddened wine when poured in seethes, but being chastened by another, sober god, and taking a fine partnership, produces a good and moderate drink.
τοῦτʼ οὖν γιγνόμενον ἐν τῇ τῶν παίδων μείξει διορᾶν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν δυνατὸς οὐδείς· τούτων δὴ χάριν ἐᾶν μὲν νόμῳ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀναγκαῖον, ἐπᾴδοντα δὲ πείθειν πειρᾶσθαι τὴν τῶν παίδων ὁμαλότητα αὐτῶν αὑτοῖς τῆς τῶν γάμων ἰσότητος ἀπλήστου χρημάτων οὔσης περὶ πλείονος ἕκαστον ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ διʼ ὀνείδους ἀποτρέπειν τὸν περὶ τὰ χρήματα ἐν τοῖς γάμοις ἐσπουδακότα, ἀλλὰ μὴ γραπτῷ νόμῳ βιαζόμενον.
Now, to discern this happening in the intermingling of children is, so to speak, possible for no one; for the sake of these things, then, it is necessary to omit such matters from written law, but to try to persuade them by chanting charms, so that each values the equality of their children with one another more than the equality of a marriage that is greedy for wealth, and to turn away by reproach the one who is eager for wealth in marriages, rather than forcing him by a written law.