pleasures, but
simply that they shall pay obedience to the laws, since in the end that
state will prove most powerful and most prosperous in which the
citizens abide by these; but without concord neither can a state be well
administered nor a household well organised.

(24) Cf. "Pol. Lac." viii. See Newman, op. cit. i. 396.

(25) Lit. "the Gerousiai." {S} or {X S} uses the Spartan phraseology.

(26) Lit. "the best men." {S} or {X S} speaks as an "aristocrat."

(27) Cf. "Hell." II. iv. 43; Lys. xxv. 21 foll.; Schneid. cf. Lycurg.
"u Leocr." 189.

And if we turn to private life, what better protection can a man
have than obedience to the laws? This shall be his safeguard against
penalties, his guarantee of honours at the hands of the community; it
shall be a clue to thread his way through the mazes of the law courts
unbewildered, secure against defeat, assured of victory. (28) It is
to him, the law-loving citizen, that men will turn in confidence when
seeking a guardian of the most sacred deposits, be it of money or be it
their sons or daughters. He, in the eyes of the state collectively, is
trustworthy--he and no other; who alone may be depended on to render to
all alike their dues--to parents and kinsmen and servants, to friends
and fellow-citizens and foreigners. This is he whom the enemy will
soonest trust to arrange an armistice, or a truce, or a treaty of peace.
They would like to become the allies of this man, and to fight on
his side. This is he to whom the allies (29) of his country will most
confidently entrust the command of their forces, or of a garrison, or
their states themselves. This, again, is he who may be counted on to
recompense kindness with gratitude, and who, therefore, is more sure of
kindly treatment than another whose sense of gratitude is fuller. (30)
The most desirable among friends, the enemy of all others to be avoided,
clearly he is not the person whom a foreign state would choose to go
to war with; encompassed by a host of friends and exempt from foes, his
very character has a charm to compel friendship and alliance, and before
him hatred and hostility melt away.

(28) Or, "ignorant of hostile, assured of favourable verdict."

(29) Lit. "the Allies," e.g. of Sparta or of Athens, etc.

(30) Lit. "From whom may the doer of a deed of kindness more
confidently expect the recompense of gratitude than from your
lover of the law? and whom would one select as the recipien