es all things, if used
with proper respect. He who marries should make one of the two houses
on the lot the nest and nursery of his young; he should leave his father
and mother, and then his affection for them will be only increased by
absence. He will go forth as to a colony, and will there rear up his
offspring, handing on the torch of life to another generation.

About property in general there is little difficulty, with the exception
of property in slaves, which is an institution of a very doubtful
character. The slavery of the Helots is approved by some and condemned
by others; and there is some doubt even about the slavery of the
Mariandynians at Heraclea and of the Thessalian Penestae. This makes us
ask, What shall we do about slaves? To which every one would agree in
replying,--Let us have the best and most attached whom we can get. All
of us have heard stories of slaves who have been better to their masters
than sons or brethren. Yet there is an opposite doctrine, that slaves
are never to be trusted; as Homer says, 'Slavery takes away half a man's
understanding.' And different persons treat them in different ways:
there are some who never trust them, and beat them like dogs, until
they make them many times more slavish than they were before; and others
pursue the opposite plan. Man is a troublesome animal, as has been often
shown, Megillus, notably in the revolts of the Messenians; and great
mischiefs have arisen in countries where there are large bodies of
slaves of one nationality. Two rules may be given for their management:
first that they should not, if possible, be of the same country or have
a common language; and secondly, that they should be treated by their
master with more justice even than equals, out of regard to himself
quite as much as to them. For he who is righteous in the treatment of
his slaves, or of any inferiors, will sow in them the seed of virtue.
Masters should never jest with their slaves: this, which is a common but
foolish practice, increases the difficulty and painfulness of managing
them.

Next as to habitations. These ought to have been spoken of before; for
no man can marry a wife, and have slaves, who has not a house for them
to live in. Let us supply the omission. The temples should be placed
round the Agora, and the city built in a circle on the heights. Near the
temples, which are holy places and the habitations of the Gods, should
be buildings for the magistrates, and the c