ng, while the transgressor of the same will be law-less?

Certainly (he answered).

Soc. And I presume the law-loving citizen will do what is just and
right, while the lawless man will do what is unjust and wrong?

Hipp. Certainly.

Soc. And I presume that he who does what is just is just, and he who
does what is unjust is unjust?

Hipp. Of course.

Soc. It would appear, then, that the law-loving man is just, and the
lawless unjust?

Then Hippias: Well, but laws, Socrates, how should any one regard as a
serious matter either the laws themselves, or obedience to them,
which laws the very people who made them are perpetually rejecting and
altering?

Which is also true of war (Socrates replied); cities are perpetually
undertaking war and then making peace again.

Most true (he answered).

Soc. If so, what is the difference between depreciating obedience to law
because laws will be repealed, and depreciating good discipline in war
because peace will one day be made? But perhaps you object to enthusiasm
displayed in defence of one's home and fatherland in war?

No, indeed I do not! I heartily approve of it (he answered).

Soc. Then have you laid to heart the lesson taught by Lycurgus to the
Lacedaemonians, (24) and do you understand that if he succeeded
in giving Sparta a distinction above other states, it was only by
instilling into her, beyond all else, a spirit of obedience to the laws?
And among magistrates and rulers in the different states, you would
scarcely refuse the palm of superiority to those who best contribute
to make their fellow-citizens obedient to the laws? And you would
admit that any particular state in which obedience to the laws is the
paramount distinction of the citizens flourishes most in peace time, and
in time of war is irresistible? But, indeed, of all the blessings which
a state may enjoy, none stands higher than the blessing of unanimity.
"Concord among citizens"--that is the constant theme of exhortation
emphasised by the councils of elders (25) and by the choice spirits of
the community; (26) at all times and everywhere through the length and
breadth of all Hellas it is an established law that the citizens be
bound together by an oath of concord; (27) everywhere they do actually
swear this oath; not of course as implying that citizens shall all vote
for the same choruses, or give their plaudits to the same flute-players,
or choose the same poets, or limit themselves to the same