ates and men. 'I agree.' Let this, then, be our first
principle:--That the citizen who does not know how to choose between
good and evil must not have authority, although he possess great mental
gifts, and many accomplishments; for he is really a fool. On the other
hand, he who has this knowledge may be unable either to read or swim;
nevertheless, he shall be counted wise and permitted to rule. For how
can there be wisdom where there is no harmony?--the wise man is the
saviour, and he who is devoid of wisdom is the destroyer of states and
households. There are rulers and there are subjects in states. And the
first claim to rule is that of parents to rule over their children; the
second, that of the noble to rule over the ignoble; thirdly, the elder
must govern the younger; in the fourth place, the slave must obey his
master; fifthly, there is the power of the stronger, which the poet
Pindar declares to be according to nature; sixthly, there is the rule of
the wiser, which is also according to nature, as I must inform Pindar,
if he does not know, and is the rule of law over obedient subjects.
'Most true.' And there is a seventh kind of rule which the Gods
love,--in this the ruler is elected by lot.

Then, now, we playfully say to him who fancies that it is easy to
make laws:--You see, legislator, the many and inconsistent claims to
authority; here is a spring of troubles which you must stay. And first
of all you must help us to consider how the kings of Argos and Messene
in olden days destroyed their famous empire--did they forget the saying
of Hesiod, that 'the half is better than the whole'? And do we suppose
that the ignorance of this truth is less fatal to kings than to peoples?
'Probably the evil is increased by their way of life.' The kings of
those days transgressed the laws and violated their oaths. Their deeds
were not in harmony with their words, and their folly, which seemed to
them wisdom, was the ruin of the state. And how could the legislator
have prevented this evil?--the remedy is easy to see now, but was not
easy to foresee at the time. 'What is the remedy?' The institutions of
Sparta may teach you, Megillus. Wherever there is excess, whether the
vessel has too large a sail, or the body too much food, or the mind
too much power, there destruction is certain. And similarly, a man who
possesses arbitrary power is soon corrupted, and grows hateful to
his dearest friends. In order to guard against this evil,