Faction and war would be extinguished among them,
for being solitary they would incline to be friendly; and having
abundance of pasture and plenty of milk and flesh, they would have
nothing to quarrel about. We may assume that they had also dwellings,
clothes, pottery, for the weaving and plastic arts do not require the
use of metals. In those days they were neither poor nor rich, and
there was no insolence or injustice among them; for they were of noble
natures, and lived up to their principles, and believed what they were
told; knowing nothing of land or naval warfare, or of legal practices
or party conflicts, they were simpler and more temperate, and also more
just than the men of our day. 'Very true.' I am showing whence the need
of lawgivers arises, for in primitive ages they neither had nor wanted
them. Men lived according to the customs of their fathers, in a simple
manner, under a patriarchal government, such as still exists both among
Hellenes and barbarians, and is described in Homer as prevailing among
the Cyclopes:--

'They have no laws, and they dwell in rocks or on the tops of mountains,
and every one is the judge of his wife and children, and they do not
trouble themselves about one another.'

'That is a charming poet of yours, though I know little of him, for in
Crete foreign poets are not much read.' 'But he is well known in Sparta,
though he describes Ionian rather than Dorian manners, and he seems to
take your view of primitive society.' May we not suppose that government
arose out of the union of single families who survived the destruction,
and were under the rule of patriarchs, because they had originally
descended from a single father and mother? 'That is very probable.' As
time went on, men increased in number, and tilled the ground, living in
a common habitation, which they protected by walls against wild beasts;
but the several families retained the laws and customs which they
separately received from their first parents. They would naturally like
their own laws better than any others, and would be already formed by
them when they met in a common society: thus legislation imperceptibly
began among them. For in the next stage the associated families would
appoint plenipotentiaries, who would select and present to the chiefs
those of all their laws which they thought best. The chiefs in turn
would make a further selection, and would thus become the lawgivers
of the state, which they would form i