And now having spoken of assaults,let us sum up all acts of violence under a single law,which shall be as follows:-No one shall take or carry away any of his neighbour's goods,neither shall he use anything which is his neighbour's without the consent of the owner;for these are the offences which are and have been,and will ever be,the source of all the aforesaid evils.The greatest of them are excesses and insolences of youth,and are offences against the greatest when they are done against religion;and especially great when in violation of public and holy rites,or of the partly-common rites in which tribes and phratries share;and in the second degree great when they are committed against private rites and sepulchres,and in the third degree (not to repeat the acts formerly mentioned),when insults are offered to parents;the fourth kind of violence is when any one,regardless of the authority of the rulers,takes or carries away or makes use of anything which belongs to them,not having their consent;and the fifth kind is when the violation of the civil rights of an individual demands reparation.There should be a common law embracing all these cases.For we have already said in general terms what shall be the punishment of sacrilege,whether fraudulent or violent,and now we have to determine what is to be the punishment of those who speak or act insolently toward the Gods.
But first we must give them an admonition which may be in the following terms:-No one who in obedience to the laws believed that there were Gods,ever intentionally did any unholy act,or uttered any unlawful word;but he who did must have supposed one of three things-either that they did not exist,-which is the first possibility,or secondly,that,if they did,they took no care of man,or thirdly,that they were easily appeased and turned aside from their purpose,by sacrifices and prayers.
Cleinias.What shall we say or do to these persons?
Athenian Stranger.My good friend,let us first hear the jests which I suspect that they in their superiority will utter against us.
Cle.What jests?
Ath.They will make some irreverent speech of this sort:-"Oinhabitants of Athens,and Sparta,and Cnosus,"they will reply,"in that you speak truly;for some of us deny the very existence of the Gods,while others,as you say,are of opinion that they do not care about us;and others that they are turned from their course by gifts.Now we have a right to claim,as you yourself allowed,in the matter of laws,that before you are hard upon us and threaten us,you should argue with us and convince us-you should first attempt to teach and persuade us that there are Gods by reasonable evidences,and also that they are too good to be unrighteous,or to be propitiated,or turned from their course by gifts.For when we hear such things said of them by those who are esteemed to be the best of poets,and orators,and prophets,and priests,and by innumerable others,the thoughts of most of us are not set upon abstaining from unrighteous acts,but upon doing them and atoning for them.When lawgivers profess that they are gentle and not stern,we think that they should first of all use persuasion to us,and show us the existence of Gods,if not in a better manner than other men,at any rate in a truer;and who knows but that we shall hearken to you?If then our request is a fair one,please to accept our challenge."Cle.But is there any difficulty in proving the existence of the Gods?
Ath.How would you prove it?
Cle.How?In the first place,the earth and the sun,and the stars and the universe,and the fair order of the seasons,and the division of them into years and months,furnish proofs of their existence;and also there is the fact that all Hellenes and barbarians believe in them.
Ath.I fear,my sweet friend,though I will not say that I much regard,the contempt with which the profane will be likely to assail us.For you do not understand the nature of their complaint,and you fancy that they rush into impiety only from a love of sensual pleasure.
Cle.Why,Stranger,what other reason is there?
Ath.One which you who live in a different atmosphere would never guess.
Cle.What is it?
Ath.A very grievous sort of ignorance which is imagined to be the greatest wisdom.
Cle.What do you mean?
Ath.At Athens there are tales preserved in writing which the virtue of your state,as I am informed,refuses to admit.They speak of the Gods in prose as well as verse,and the oldest of them tell of the origin of the heavens and of the world,and not far from the beginning of their story they proceed to narrate the birth of the Gods,and how after they were born they behaved to one another.Whether these stories have in other ways a good or a bad influence,I should not like to be severe upon them,because they are ancient;but,looking at them with reference to the duties of children to their parents,Icannot praise them,or think that they are useful,or at all true.
Of the words of the ancients I have nothing more to say;and Ishould wish to say of them only what is pleasing to the Gods.But as to our younger generation and their wisdom,I cannot let them off when they do mischief.For do but mark the effect of their words:when you and I argue for the existence of the Gods,and produce the sun,moon,stars,and earth,claiming for them a divine being,if we would listen to the aforesaid philosophers we should say that they are earth and stones only,which can have no care at all of human affairs,and that all religion is a cooking up of words and a make-believe.
Cle.One such teacher,O Stranger,would be bad enough,and you imply that there are many of them,which is worse.