8 an ordinance prevailed in several states, interdicting the sale of the original allotments. There is also a law which they attribute to Oxylus, the scope of which is to disallow mortgages on any portion of each citizen's land. As things are, however, we ought to regulate the matter by the law of the Aphytæans, for it is likely to promote the object we have in view. The people of Aphytis, although they are at once numerous, and only possess a small territory, are nevertheless universally engaged in tillage; for they do not register 10 the whole of a man's property," but only portions of it divided on such a scale, as actually to allow the poor to eclipse the rich in registrations. Next to the agricultural community, the best commonalty is that which is composed of herdsmen, who subsist on cattle; 12 for this mode of life presents many features of resemblance to agriculture; and, in all that relates to military achievements, the men are admirably trained in point of condition,13 and are personally 1 serviceable, and capable of living in the open air.15 Whereas almost all other communities, whereof the remaining forms of democracy are composed, are vastly inferior to these; for their's is an ill-conditioned 16 life, and none of the occupations in which the community—whether consisting of mechanics," or of shopkeeprs, 18 or of menials 19-is engaged,20 has any connection with moral excellence. Moreover, all these classes of men are prone to hold assemblies, because they are always tossing 21 about the market and the city; whereas agriculturists, owing to their dispersion throughout the land, neither resort to, nor are equally in need of, 7 Τοιοῦτόν τι δυνάμενος. 8 14 • Κλήρους. 6 * Τὸ μὴ δανείζειν. 9 Nûv. 10 Tipâσbai, i.e. to value, whether for a mortgage or any other purpose. 11 Ολαι αἱ κτήσεις. 12 Βόσκημα. 13 Τὰς ἕξεις. 14 Χρήσιμοι τὰ σώματα. 19 Θητικός. 15 Θυραυλεῖν. 16 Φαῦλος. 20 Μεταχειρίζεται. 17 Βάναυσος. 18 'Ayopaîos. 21 Κυλίεσθαι. these meetings. However, where the territory is so situated that the cultivated land is far distant from the capital, it is easy to establish either a sound democracy or a republic; for the people are compelled to live at a distance in the country, and therefore it is requisite, though there be a populace of shopkeepers, to avoid calling assemblies in democracies in the absence of the rural population. LXVII. 6 Supposing the children to be born, the nature1 of their nourishment has a great influence on their physical vigour. Nourishment abounding in milk seems best suited to their bodies, whether we regard2 the matter through the medium of other animals, or of those tribes with whom it is an object to induce a warlike habit. It is also desirable to employ whatever exercise is possible at so early an age. In order to avoid the distortion to which the suppleness 5 of their limbs exposes them, some nations, even to this day, employ mechanical instruments, which give straightness 7 to the frame. It is desirable, also, to inure them to cold from early childhood; for this capacity is highly conducive to health, and to military achievements. Thus, among many foreign nations, a custom prevails, in some places, of plunging babies into a cold river; in others, as among the Celts, of covering them with thin clothing.10 Indeed, it is better to inure them to all we can inure them to, on the threshold of life, and by degrees." And the bodily habit of children is, owing to its heat, well adapted 12 for habituation to cold. In infancy, therefore, our superintendence should be of this character and description; but the next 4 Κινήσεις. 1 Ὁποῖός τις ἂν ᾖ. 2 Partic. pres. *Οργανα μηχανικά. • Αποβάπτειν. 12 Εὐφυής. 8 Έξις. 8 Evve 10 Σκέπασμα μικρὸν ἀμπίσχειν. stage of life 18-down to the fifth year-which it is not desirable to introduce to any branch of learning, or to compulsory toil, lest it impede11 their growth, ought to be allowed sufficient exercise to avoid languor15 of constitution; and that exercise we must procure partly by general 16 activity, partly by amusements. And those amusements should neither be illiberal, nor laborious, nor unrestrained. Then, as to the character of the tales and fables they should listen to in childhood, let the rulers be very careful whom they entrust with the charge of children. For everything of this kind ought to pave the way 17 for their subsequent pursuits,18 so that most of their amusements ought to be imitations of the serious 18 studies of after life. Those lawgivers who denounce strong muscular exercise 19 and excitement in children, are mistaken in their interdict; they are congenial to growth. For they act as a kind of training 20 for their bodies; since the retention 21 of the breath gives strength to toil, and this is the case with children in violent exertion. 4 14 Εμποδίζειν. 21 Κάθεξις. LXVIII. Stupidity,' to use an exact definition,2 is a slowness of intellect in words and deeds; and the stupid man is a man who is likely, after reckoning by arithmetic, and adding up the sum, to ask a friend beside him, what it comes 5 to? And when defendant in a suit, and about to appear before the court, to forget all about it, and go into the country. And when present at the theatre, to be left alone asleep. And on any one informing him that one of 1 Αναισθησία. 2 Ως ὅρῳ Ο ψήφος. 4 Κεφάλαιον ποιεῖν. 3 εἰπεῖν, opposed to ὡς τύπῳ εἰπεῖν. 5 Τί γίνεται ; • Θεωρών. Χ . his own friends is dead, in order that he may go to the funeral, to say with vexation and tears, 'Good luck to him!' He is also sure, on receiving money due to him, to take witnesses with him; and, during winter, to dispute with his slave, because he has not bought cucumbers.8 And to fatigue his own children by compelling them to wrestle and play with hoops. And in cooking porridge 10 for them in the country, to render it uneatable," by putting salt twice into the dish." 12 Unseasonableness 13 is a choice 14 of time annoying to those in whose company we are; and the man who betrays this want of tact will, for instance, approach a friend who is deeply engaged,15 and take 16 him into his counsels; and give his mistress a serenade 17 when she is suffering from a fever. He will repair to a man who has been cast in a suit for sureties, 18 and beg him to give bail for him and will come forward to give his evidence, when the affair has already been decided. When invited to a marriage, he will disparage the female sex; 19 and ask people who have just arrived after a long journey, to take a constitutional.20 He is also very apt to bring a purchaser offering 21 a higher price to a man who has already sold his goods: and after people have heard and understood a subject, to rise and reiterate the information. When people are offering sacrifice and spending money, he will come and demand his interest. While a slave is being flogged, he will stand by and relate that his own servant hanged himself, after being whipped. And when present at an arbitration,22 he will set 23 both parties by the ears, though they are anxious for a compromise.24 This, and the following Exercises, are versions from Thucydides. LXIX. At a later period, indeed, the whole Grecian community, to use a broad expression, became convulsed : quarrels arising on every side between the popular and oligarchical leaders; the one party being anxious to introduce Athenian, the other Lacedæmonian, support. During peace, indeed, they would have had no pretext, nor even have been prepared to invite them; but, as they were at war, and a confederacy existed on each side for their adversaries' prejudice, and for their own aggrandisement therefrom, foreign interference was readily procured by the authors of revolutionary designs. In a state of faction, many terrible evils befell the cities: evils which exist, and ever will exist, while human nature remains the same; but in a greater, or in a more mitigated degree, and varied in their phenomena, according as modifications in their conditions may severally present themselves. For in peace and prosperity, both states and individuals display more virtue in their principles, because they are not involved in involuntary constraint: whereas war, as it robs men of the ease of every day subsistence, is a stern teacher, and assimilates the characters of most men to their fortunes. Thus, then, faction prevailed among the cities; and those which appeared later on the stage, when they heard of their predecessors, far exceeded them in the extravagance of their revolutionary schemes, at once in the studied ingenuity of their intrigues, and in the unheard of cruelties of their revenge. Moreover, they changed, at their own will and pleasure, the received acceptation of words as applied to conduct; for a reckless audacity was regarded as the gallantry of staunch party spirit; a farseeing deliberation was |