第83章 BOOK VIII(2)

Ath.And shall the warriors of our city,who are destined when occasion calli to enter the greatest of all contests,and to fight for their lives,and their children,and their property,and the whole city,be worse prepared than boxers?And will the legislator,because he is afraid that their practising with one another may appear to some ridiculous,abstain from commanding them to go out and fight;will he not ordain that soldiers shall perform lesser exercises without arms every day,making dancing and all gymnastic tend to this end;and also will he not require that they shall practise some gymnastic exercises,greater as well as lesser,as often as every month;and that they shall have contests one with another in every part of the country,seizing upon posts and lying in ambush,and imitating in every respect the reality of war;fighting with boxing-gloves and hurling javelins,and using weapons somewhat dangerous,and as nearly as possible like the true ones,in order that the sport may not be altogether without fear,but may have terrors and to a certain degree show the man who has and who has not courage;and that the honour and dishonour which are assigned to them respectively,may prepare the whole city for the true conflict of life?If any one dies in these mimic contests,the homicide is involuntary,and we will make the slayer,when he has been purified according to law,to be pure of blood,considering that if a few men should die,others as good as they will be born;but that if fear is dead then the citizens will never find a test of superior and inferior natures,which is a far greater evil to the state than the loss of a few.

Cle.We are quite agreed,Stranger,that we should legislate about such things,and that the whole state should practise them supposed Ath.And what is the reason that dances and contests of this sort hardly ever exist in states,at least not to any extent worth speaking of?Is this due to the ignorance of mankind and their legislators?

Cle.Perhaps.

Ath.Certainly not,sweet Cleinias;there are two causes,which are quite enough to account for the deficiency.

Cle.What are they?

Ath.One cause is the love of wealth,which wholly absorbs men,and never for a moment allows them to think of anything but their own private possessions;on this the soul of every citizen hangs suspended,and can attend to nothing but his daily gain;mankind are ready to learn any branch of knowledge,and to follow any pursuit which tends to this end,and they laugh at every other:-that is one reason why a city will not be in earnest about such contests or any other good and honourable pursuit.But from an insatiable love of gold and silver,every man will stoop to any art or contrivance,seemly or unseemly,in the hope of becoming rich;and will make no objection to performing any action,holy,or unholy and utterly base,if only like a beast he have the power of eating and drinking all kinds of things,and procuring for himself in every sort of way the gratification of his lusts.

Cle.True.

Ath.Let this,then,be deemed one of the causes which prevent states from pursuing in an efficient manner the art of war,or any other noble aim,but makes the orderly and temperate part of mankind into merchants,and captains of ships,and servants,and converts the valiant sort into thieves and burglars and robbers of temples,and violent,tyrannical persons;many of whom are not without ability,but they are unfortunate.

Cle.What do you mean?

Ath.Must not they be truly unfortunate whose souls are compelled to pass through life always hungering?

Cle.Then that is one cause,Stranger;but you spoke of another.

Ath.Thank you for reminding me.

Cle.The insatiable life long love of wealth,as you were saying is one clause which absorbs mankind,and prevents them from rightly practising the arts of war:-Granted;and now tell me,what is the other?

Ath.Do you imagine that I delay because I am in a perplexity?

Cle.No;but we think that you are too severe upon the money-loving temper,of which you seem in the present discussion to have a peculiar dislike.

Ath.That is a very fair rebuke,Cleinias;and I will now proceed to the second cause.

Cle.Proceed.

Ath.I say that governments are a cause-democracy,oligarchy,tyranny,concerning which I have often spoken in the previous discourse;or rather governments they are not,for none of them exercises a voluntary rule over voluntary subjects;but they may be truly called states of discord,in which while the government is voluntary,the subjects always obey against their will,and have to be coerced;and the ruler fears the subject,and will not,if he can help,allow him to become either noble,or rich,or strong,or valiant,or warlike at all.These two are the chief causes of almost all evils,and of the evils of which I have been speaking they are notably the causes.But our state has escaped both of them;for her citizens have the greatest leisure,and they are not subject to one another,and will,I think,be made by these laws the reverse of lovers of money.Such a constitution may be reasonably supposed to be the only one existing which will accept the education which we have described,and the martial pastimes which have been perfected according to our idea.

Cle.True.

Ath.Then next we must remember,about all gymnastic contests,that only the warlike sort of them are to be practised and to have prizes of victory;and those which are not military are to be given up.The military sort had better be completely described and established by law;and first,let us speak of running and swiftness.

Cle.Very good.

Ath.Certainly the most military of all qualities is general activity of body,whether of foot or hand.For escaping or for capturing an enemy,quickness of foot is required;but hand-to-hand conflict and combat need vigour and strength.

Cle.Very true.

Ath.Neither of them can attain their greatest efficiency without arms.

Cle.How can they?