160

he is compelled to practice what he sees there, putting it into the characters of men both privately and publicly, and not only to mold himself—do you think he will prove a bad craftsman of temperance and justice 12.19.4 and all civic virtue? Not in the least, he said. But if the many perceive that we speak the truth about him, will they be angry with the philosophers and disbelieve us when we say that a city could never be happy otherwise, unless the painters who use the divine model should sketch it out? 12.19.5 They will not be angry, he said, if they perceive it. But what manner of sketch do you mean? Taking, I said, a city and the characters of men as if they were a tablet, they would first make it clean, which is not at all easy. 12.19.6 But you know that in this they would differ at once from others, in that they would not be willing to touch an individual or a city or to write laws, before they had either received 12.19.7 a clean slate or made it clean themselves. And rightly so, he said. Then after 12.19.8 this, do you think they would sketch the form of the constitution? Of course. Then, I suppose, as they worked they would look frequently in both directions, to that which is by nature just and beautiful and temperate and all such things, and again to that which they are producing in men, mixing and combining from various practices the manly image, judging by that which Homer too called 12.19.9 god-like and in the divine image when it appeared in men. Right, he said. And some things, I imagine, they would erase, and others they would paint in again, until they had made human characters as pleasing to the gods as possible.”

12.20.1 20. THAT YOUTHS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF VIRTUE THROUGH THE LEARNING OF CORRECT HYMNS AND ODES; FROM THE SECOND BOOK

OF THE LAWS “The argument seems to me for the third or fourth time to have come round to the same point, that education is the drawing and leading of children toward the reason which has been pronounced right by the law and has been agreed to be truly right by the experience of the most reasonable and the oldest. 12.20.2 So that the soul of the child may not be habituated to feeling joy and pain in opposition to the law and to those who have been persuaded by the law, but may follow along, rejoicing and grieving at the same things as the old man—for the sake of these things, what we call odes are in fact enchantments for souls, earnestly made for the sake of such a harmony as we describe; but because the souls of the young are not able to bear seriousness, they are called and practiced as games and odes, just as those who care for the sick and infirm in body try to offer wholesome nourishment in certain pleasant foods and drinks, but unwholesome nourishment in unpleasant ones, 12.20.3 so that they may be accustomed to embrace the one and rightly to hate the other. And the right lawgiver will persuade, or failing to persuade, compel the poet to compose rightly in his fine and praiseworthy words the figures in rhythms and the melodies in harmonies of temperate, brave, and in every way good men.” It is fitting, therefore, that among us also the children are accustomed to practice the odes made by the divine prophets and the hymns to God.

12.21.1 21. WHAT KIND OF THOUGHT THE ODES SHOULD CONTAIN

160

ἀνάγκη γένηται, ἃ ἐκεῖ ὁρᾷ, μελετῆσαι εἰς ἀνθρώπων ἤθη καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ τιθέναι καὶ μὴ μόνον ἑαυτὸν πλάττειν, ἆρα κακὸν δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν οἴει γενήσεσθαι σωφροσύνης τε καὶ δικαιοσύ12.19.4 νης καὶ ξυμπάσης τῆς δημοτικῆς ἀρετῆς; Ἥκιστά γε, ἦ δ' ὅς. Ἀλλ' ἐὰν δὴ αἴσθωνται οἱ πολλοὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγομεν, χαλεπανοῦσι δὴ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις καὶ ἀπιστήσουσιν ἡμῖν λέγουσιν ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἄλλως εὐδαιμονήσειε πόλις, εἰ μὴ αὐτὴν διαγράψειαν οἱ τῷ θείῳ παραδείγματι χρώμενοι ζω12.19.5 γράφοι; Οὐ χαλεπανοῦσιν, ἦ δ' ὅς, ἐάν περ αἴσθωνται. ἀλλὰ δὴ τίνα λέγεις τρόπον τῆς διαγραφῆς; Λαβόντες, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, ὥσπερ πίνακα πόλιν τε καὶ ἤθη ἀνθρώπων, πρῶτον μὲν καθαρὰν ποιήσειαν ἄν, ὃ οὐ πάνυ ῥᾴδιον. 12.19.6 ἀλλ' οὖν οἶσθ' ὅτι τούτῳ ἂν εὐθὺς τῶν ἄλλων διενέγκαιεν, τῷ μήτε ἰδιώτου μήτε πόλεως ἐθελῆσαι ἂν ἅψασθαι μηδὲ γράφειν νόμους, πρὶν ἢ παρα12.19.7 λαβεῖν καθαρὰν ἢ αὐτοὶ ποιῆσαι. Καὶ ὀρθῶς γε, ἔφη. Οὐκοῦν μετὰ 12.19.8 ταῦτα οἴει ὑπογράψασθαι ἂν τὸ σχῆμα τῆς πολιτείας; Τί μήν; Ἔπειτα, οἶμαι, ἀπεργαζόμενοι πυκνὰ ἂν ἑκατέρωσε ἀποβλέποιεν, πρός τε τὸ φύσει δίκαιον καὶ καλὸν καὶ σῶφρον καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο αὖ τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἐμποιοῖεν ξυμμιγνύντες τε καὶ κεραννύντες ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τὸ ἀνδρείκελον, ἀπ' ἐκείνου τεκμαιρόμενοι, ὃ δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐκάλεσεν 12.19.9 ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγγιγνόμενον θεοειδές τε καὶ θεοείκελον. Ὀρθῶς, ἔφη. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄν, οἶμαι, ἐξαλείφοιεν, τὸ δὲ πάλιν ἐγγράφοιεν, ἕως ὅτι μάλιστα τὰ ἀνθρώπεια ἤθη εἰς ὅσον ἐνδέχεται θεοφιλῆ ποιήσειαν.»

12.20.1 κʹ. ΟΤΙ ΧΡΗ ΤΟΥΣ ΝΕΟΥΣ ∆Ι' ΕΚΜΑΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΥΜΝΩΝ ΟΡΘΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΩΙ∆ΩΝ ΕΙΣ ΑΡΕΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΛΗΨΙΝ ΠΡΟΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΑΖΕΙΝ· ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΥ

ΤΩΝ ΝΟΜΩΝ «∆οκεῖ μοι τρίτον ἢ τέταρτον ὁ λόγος εἰς ταὐτὸν περιφερόμενος ἥκειν, ὡς ἄρα παιδεία μέν ἐσθ' ἡ παίδων ὁλκή τε καὶ ἀγωγὴ πρὸς τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου λόγον ὀρθὸν εἰρημένον καὶ τοῖς ἐπιεικεστάτοις καὶ πρεσβυτάτοις δι' ἐμπειρίαν 12.20.2 ξυνδεδογμένον ὡς ὄντως ὀρθός ἐστιν. ἵν' οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ παιδὸς μὴ ἐναντία χαίρειν καὶ λυπεῖσθαι ἐθίζηται τῷ νόμῳ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου τεθειμένοις, ἀλλὰ ξυνέπηται χαίρουσά τε καὶ λυπουμένη τοῖς αὐτοῖς οἷσπερ ὁ γέρων, τούτων ἕνεκα, ἃς ᾠδὰς καλοῦμεν, ὄντως μὲν ἐπῳδαὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς αὗται νῦν γεγονέναι, πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ἣν λέγομεν συμφωνίαν ἐσπουδασμέναι, διὰ δὲ τὸ σπουδὴν μὴ δύνασθαι φέρειν τὰς τῶν νέων ψυχὰς παιδιαί τε καὶ ᾠδαὶ καλεῖσθαι καὶ πράττεσθαι, καθάπερ τοῖς κάμνουσί τε καὶ ἀσθενῶς ἴσχουσι τὰ σώματα ἐν ἡδέσι τέ τισι σιτίοις καὶ πόμασι τὴν χρηστὴν πει ρῶνται τροφὴν προσφέρειν οἷς μέλει τούτων, τὴν δὲ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐν ἀηδέσιν, 12.20.3 ἵνα τὴν μὲν ἀσπάζωνται, τὴν δὲ μισεῖν ὀρθῶς ἐθίζωνται. ταὐτὸν δὲ καὶ τὸν ποιητικὸν ὁ ὀρθὸς νομοθέτης ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ῥήμασι καὶ ἐπαινετοῖς πείσει τε καὶ ἀναγκάσει, μὴ πείθων, τὰ τῶν σωφρόνων τε καὶ ἀνδρείων καὶ πάντως ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν ἔν τε ῥυθμοῖς σχήματα καὶ ἐν ἁρμονίαισι μέλη ποιοῦντα ὀρθῶς ποιεῖν.» Εἰκότως ἄρα καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν τὰς ὑπὸ τῶν θείων προφητῶν πεποιημένας ᾠδὰς καὶ τοὺς εἰς θεὸν ὕμνους μελετᾶν οἱ παῖδες ἐθίζονται.

12.21.1 καʹ. ΟΠΟΙΑΣ ΧΡΗ ∆ΙΑΝΟΙΑΣ ΠΕΡΙΕΧΕΙΝ ΤΑΣ ΩΙ∆ΑΣ