there be a committee of matrons who shall meet every day at
the temple of Eilithyia at a time fixed by the magistrates, and inform
against any man or woman who does not observe the laws of married life.
The time of begetting children and the supervision of the parents shall
last for ten years only; if at the expiration of this period they have
no children, they may part, with the consent of their relatives and the
official matrons, and with a due regard to the interests of either; if
a dispute arise, ten of the guardians of the law shall be chosen as
arbiters. The matrons shall also have power to enter the houses of the
young people, if necessary, and to advise and threaten them. If their
efforts fail, let them go to the guardians of the law; and if they
too fail, the offender, whether man or woman, shall be forbidden to
be present at all family ceremonies. If when the time for begetting
children has ceased, either husband or wife have connexion with others
who are of an age to beget children, they shall be liable to the same
penalties as those who are still having a family. But when both parties
have ceased to beget children there shall be no penalties. If men
and women live soberly, the enactments of law may be left to slumber;
punishment is necessary only when there is great disorder of manners.

The first year of children's lives is to be registered in their
ancestral temples; the name of the archon of the year is to be inscribed
on a whited wall in every phratry, and the names of the living members
of the phratry close to them, to be erased at their decease. The proper
time of marriage for a woman shall be from sixteen years to twenty; for
a man, from thirty to thirty-five (compare Republic). The age of holding
office for a woman is to be forty, for a man thirty years. The time for
military service for a man is to be from twenty years to sixty; for a
woman, from the time that she has ceased to bear children until fifty.

BOOK VII. Now that we have married our citizens and brought their
children into the world, we have to find nurture and education for them.
This is a matter of precept rather than of law, and cannot be precisely
regulated by the legislator. For minute regulations are apt to be
transgressed, and frequent transgressions impair the habit of obedience
to the laws. I speak darkly, but I will also try to exhibit my wares in
the light of day. Am I not right in saying that a good education tends
to the impr