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with a certain bridle, with the laws, he restrained; and the reins of this bridle he entrusted to the rulers, as to charioteers. By these, cities are ordered, and villages, and armies; for who would have endured the hands of the unjust, if the fear of the laws had not restrained the forward rush of their grasping flame? For like fish the greater would have devoured the lesser, if the law had not shown its sharpened sword, and the burning pyre, and all the other things that were devised by the rulers for the punishment of those living in evildoing. For if even when the laws threaten, and the rulers punish, there are some who are disposed more savagely than any beast towards their neighbors, and leap like scorpions, and bite like snakes, and rage like dogs, and roar against their own kind, just as lions do against other species, what would they not have done if there were no laws 83.673 and no rulers to punish? But now, while transgressions are dared by some, yet those who dare them try to escape notice, fearing the laws, and they attempt to conceal their injustice with clever arguments; and the one who is wronged fearlessly approaches the judges, and brings a written charge of the injustice, and does not fear the power of the wrongdoer, nor shudders at the prominence of his wealth; but he runs to the court as to a harbor, and recounts the forms of the injustice, and calls for the laws to be brought forth, and beseeches the judge to judge according to them. And he delivers the verdict, and orders the stolen house, or field, or vessel to be returned to the wronged man; and often he also punishes with a monetary fine the one who has dared the injustice. Because of this fear, both burglars and clothes-stealers pursue their injustice not openly, but secretly, and by trying to escape notice, they proclaim their fear. For otherwise, taking daggers, they would have slaughtered all they met, and divided up their possessions. But since they are afraid, the majority remain quiet, while those who dare wickedness either lie in wait on the more desolate roads, or do evil by night in the cities, taking the darkness, and sleep, and the quiet of all, as allies for their robbery. And when two or three of these are caught and punished by the laws, they become a sufficient example of benefit to the others, and seeing the punishment of their fellows, they hate wickedness as the mother of such deaths. But I do not know how I have digressed into these arguments, when I wished to discuss the cause of slavery; it is time therefore to return to the point from which I digressed. That the Creator of all things, therefore, from the beginning made the nature of all human beings one, and from one man and one woman filled the whole inhabited world with this race, the divine Scripture is witness; and nature also bears witness to the divine Scripture. For those who inhabit the regions toward the rising and setting sun, and those allotted the southern and northern parts, and those who live in the middle of this, have one form of physical structure, the same number of senses, differing only in customs and colors. But customs are produced by habits, and the free will of the soul. And it is possible to find this difference even among ourselves. But the difference in colors is brought about by the location of the regions. For those who live far from the sun's ray have a whiter surface of the body. But those allotted to live in the eastern and western sections toward the southern part of the pole, being closer to the ray, are blackened in body, 83.676 like certain woods that are charred by greater contact with fire, and take on a black complexion. Therefore the nature of human beings is one, both of rulers and of ruled, and of subjects and kings, and of slaves and masters. And since nature is one, it proclaims the justice of the Creator; but being divided over time into slavery and mastery, and by these

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τινι χαλινῷ, τοῖς νόμοις ἀνέστειλε· τούτου δὲ τοῦ χαλινοῦ τὰς ἡνίας, καθάπερ ἡνιόχοις, τοῖς ἄρχου σιν ἐνεχείρισεν. Ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ πόλεις κο σμοῦνται, καὶ κῶμαι, καὶ στρατεῖαι· τίς γὰρ ἂν ἤνεγκε τῶν ἀδίκων τὰς χεῖρας, εἰ μὴ τῆς πλεον εκτικῆς αὐτῶν φλογὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσω φορὰν ἐπεῖχε τῶν νόμων τὸ δέος; ∆ίκην γὰρ ἰχθύων κατ έφαγον ἂν οἱ μείζους τοὺς ἐλάττους, εἰ μὴ τὸ ξίφος ὁ νόμος τεθηγμένον ἐδείκνυε, καὶ τὴν πυρὰν ἁπτομένην, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα πρὸς τιμωρίαν τῶν κακουργίᾳ συζώντων ἐπενοήθη τοῖς ἄρχουσιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῶν νόμων ἀπειλούντων, καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων κο λαζόντων, εἰσί τινες, οἳ θηρίου παντὸς ἀγριώτεροι περὶ τοὺς πέλας διάκεινται, καὶ ᾄττουσιν ὡς σκορπίοι, καὶ δάκνουσιν ὡς ὄφεις, καὶ λυττῶσιν ὡς κύνες, καὶ βρύχονται κατὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων, ὥσπερ κατὰ τῶν ἀλλογενῶν οἱ λέοντες, τί οὐκ ἂν ἔδρασαν νόμων 83.673 οὐκ ὄντων, καὶ ἀρχόντων μὴ κολαζόντων; Νῦν δὲ, τολμῶνται μὲν ὑπ' ἐνίων παρανομίαι, λαν θάνειν δὲ ὅμως οἱ τολμῶντες πειρῶνται, τοὺς νόμους δειμαίνοντες, καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν τῇ δεινότητι τῶν λόγων συγκαλύπτειν ἐπιχειροῦσι· καὶ ὁ ἀδικούμενος ἀδεῶς πρόσεισι τοῖς δικάζουσι, καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀδικίας εἰσάγει γραφὴν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἠδικηκότος οὐ δέδοικε δυνα στείαν, οὐδὲ φρίττει τοῦ πλούτου τὴν περιφάνειαν· ἀλλ' ὡς εἰς λιμένα εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον τρέχει, καὶ τῆς ἀδικίας διηγεῖται τὰ εἴδη, καὶ τοὺς νόμους εἰς μέσον ἀχθῆναι παρακαλεῖ, καὶ κατὰ τούτους δικάζειν τὸν δικαστὴν ἱκετεύει. Ὁ δὲ τὴν ψῆφον ἐκφέρει, καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγεῖσαν οἰκίαν, ἢ τὸν ἀγρὸν, ἢ τὸ σκεῦος ἀποδοθῆναι τῷ ἠδικημένῳ κελεύει· κολάζει δὲ πολ λάκις καὶ ζημίᾳ χρημάτων τὸν τὴν ἀδικίαν τετολ μηκότα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὸ δέος, καὶ τοιχωρύχοι, καὶ λω ποδύται, οὐ προφανῶς, ἀλλὰ κρύβδην τὴν ἀδικίαν μετίασι, καὶ τῷ πειρᾶσθαι λανθάνειν, τὸ δέος κηρύτ τουσιν. Ἢ γὰρ ἂν ἐγχειρίδια λαβόντες, ἅπαντας τοὺς προστυχόντας κατέσφαξαν, καὶ τὰς ἐκείνων κτή σεις διείλοντο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ δειμαίνουσιν, οἱ πολλοὶ μὲν ἡσυχάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ τῆς πονηρίας κατατολμῶντες, ἢ τῶν ὁδῶν τὰς ἐρημοτέρας καταλοχῶσιν, ἢ νύκτωρ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι κακουργοῦσι, τὸ σκότος, καὶ τὸν ὕπνον, καὶ τὴν ἁπάντων ἡσυχίαν, εἰς συμμαχίαν τῆς λῃστείας λαμβάνοντες. Καὶ δύο δὲ τούτων ἢ τρεῖς φωραθέντες, καὶ κολασθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων, ἱκανὸν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὠφελείας ὑπόδειγμα γίνονται, καὶ τῶν ὁμοτρόπων τὴν τιμωρίαν ὁρῶντες, μισοῦσι τὴν πονη ρίαν, ὡς θανάτων τοιούτων μητέρα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως εἰς τούτους ἐξέβην τοὺς λόγους, τὴν τῆς δουλείας αἰτίαν διεξελθεῖν ἐθελήσας· ἐπανελθεῖν οὖν ὅθεν ἐξέβην καιρός. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ τῶν ὅλων ∆ημιουργὸς, μίαν εἰργάσατο πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς καὶ μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην τοῦδε τοῦ γένους ἐπλήρωσε, μάρτυς ἡ θεία Γραφή· μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ φύσις τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ. Οἵ τε γὰρ τὰ πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα καὶ δυό μενον, οἵ τε τὰ νότια καὶ τὰ βόρεια μέρη διειληχό τες, καὶ οἱ τὰ μέσα δὲ ταύτης οἰκοῦντες, ἓν ἔχουσι τὸ τῆς διαπλάσεως εἶδος, τὸν αὐτὸν τῶν αἰσθητη ρίων ἀριθμὸν, ἐν μόνοις ἤθεσι καὶ χρώμασι δια φέροντες. Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἤθη τὰ ἔθη ποιεῖ, καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτεξούσιον. Ταύτην δὲ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τὴν διαφοράν. Τὸ δὲ τῶν χρω μάτων ἑτεροῖον ἡ τῶν χωρίων ἀπεργάζεται θέσις. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ πόῤῥω τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος οἰκοῦντες, λευκοτέραν ἔχουσι τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἐπιφάνειαν. Οἱ δὲ τοῖς ἑῴοις καὶ ἑσπερίοις τμήμασι κατὰ τὸ νότιον τοῦ πόλου μέρος ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι λαχόντες, πλησιέστε ροι τῆς ἀκτῖνος γενόμενοι, μελαίνονται τὸ σῶμα, 83.676 ξύλων τινῶν δίκην τῇ πλείονι τοῦ πυρὸς ὁμιλίᾳ ἐπαν θρακουμένων, καὶ τὴν μέλαιναν χροιὰν ἐνδυομένων. Οὐκοῦν μία μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις, καὶ ἀρχόν των καὶ ἀρχομένων, καὶ ὑπηκόων καὶ βασιλέων, καὶ δούλων καὶ δεσποτῶν. Μία δὲ οὖσα ἡ φύσις, τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ κηρύττει τὸ δίκαιον· διαιρεθεῖσα δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ εἰς δουλείαν καὶ δεσποτείαν, καὶ τούτοις