In the next place,it will be proper to appoint directors of music and gymnastic,two kinds of each-of the one kind the business will be education,of the other,the superintendence of contests.In speaking of education,the law means to speak of those who have the care of order and instruction in gymnasia and schools,and of the going to school,and of school buildings for boys and girls;and in speaking of contests,the law refers to the judges of gymnastics and of music;these again are divided into two classes,the one having to do with music,the other with gymnastics;and the same who judge of the gymnastic contests of men,shall judge of horses;but in music there shall be one set of judges of solo singing,and of imitation-Imean of rhapsodists,players on the harp,the flute and the like,and another who shall judge of choral song.First of all,we must choose directors for the choruses of boys,and men,and maidens,whom they shall follow in the amusement of the dance,and for our other musical arrangements;-one director will be enough for the choruses,and he should be not less than forty years of age.One director will also be enough to introduce the solo singers,and to give judgment on the competitors,and he ought not to be less than thirty years of age.The director and manager of the choruses shall be elected after the following manner:-Let any persons who commonly take an interest in such matters go to the meeting,and be fined if they do not go (the guardians of the law shall judge of their fault),but those who have no interest shall not be compelled.The elector shall propose as director some one who understands music,and he in the scrutiny may be challenged on the one part by those who say he has no skill,and defended on the other hand by those who say that he has.Ten are to be elected by vote,and he of the ten who is chosen by lot shall undergo a scrutiny,and lead the choruses for a year according to law.And in like manner the competitor who wins the lot shall be leader of the solo and concert music for that year;and he who is thus elected shall deliver the award to the judges.In the next place,we have to choose judges in the contests of horses and of men;these shall be selected from the third and also from the second class of citizens,and three first classes shall be compelled to go to the election,but the lowest may stay away with impunity;and let there be three elected by lot out of the twenty who have been chosen previously,and they must also have the vote and approval of the examiners.But if any one is rejected in the scrutiny at any ballot or decision,others shall be chosen in the same manner,and undergo a similar scrutiny.
There remains the minister of the education of youth,male and female;he too will rule according to law;one such minister will be sufficient,and he must be fifty years old,and have children lawfully begotten,both boys and girls by preference,at any rate,one or the other.He who is elected,and he who is the elector,should consider that of all the great offices of state,this is the greatest;for the first shoot of any plant,if it makes a good start towards the attainment of its natural excellence,has the greatest effect on its maturity;and this is not only true of plants,but of animals wild and tame,and also of men.Man,as we say,is a tame or civilized animal;nevertheless,he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature,and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized;but if he be insufficiently or ill educated he is the most savage of earthly creatures.Wherefore the legislator ought not to allow the education of children to become a secondary or accidental matter.In the first place,he who would be rightly provident about them,should begin by taking care that he is elected,who of all the citizens is in every way best;him the legislator shall do his utmost to appoint guardian and superintendent.To this end all the magistrates,with the exception of the council and prytanes,shall go to the temple of Apollo,and elect by ballot him of the guardians of the law whom they severally think will be the best superintendent of education.And he who has the greatest number of votes,after he has undergone a scrutiny at the hands of all the magistrates who have been his electors,with the exception of the guardians of the law-shall hold office for five years;and in the sixth year let another be chosen in like manner to fill his office.
If any one dies while he is holding a public office,and more than thirty days before his term of office expires,let those whose business it is elect another to the office in the same manner as before.And if any one who is entrusted with orphans dies,let the relations both on the father's and mother's side,who are residing at home,including cousins,appoint another guardian within ten days,or be fined a drachma a day for neglect to do so.
A city which has no regular courts of law ceases to be a city;and again,if a judge is silent and says no more in preliminary proceedings than the litigants,as is the case in arbitrations,he will never be able to decide justly;wherefore a multitude of judges will not easily judge well,nor a few if they are bad.The point in dispute between the parties should be made clear;and time,and deliberation,and repeated examination,greatly tend to clear up doubts.For this reason,he who goes to law with another should go first of all to his neighbours and friends who know best the questions at issue.And if he be unable to obtain from them a satisfactory decision,let him have recourse to another court;and if the two courts cannot settle the matter,let a third put an end to the suit.