th
should be trained. They may be regarded as an amusement, as well as a
useful and innocent branch of knowledge;--I think that we may include
them provisionally. 'Yes; that will be the way.' The next question is,
whether astronomy shall be made a part of education. About the stars
there is a strange notion prevalent. Men often suppose that it is
impious to enquire into the nature of God and the world, whereas the
very reverse is the truth. 'How do you mean?' What I am going to say may
seem absurd and at variance with the usual language of age, and yet if
true and advantageous to the state, and pleasing to God, ought not to be
withheld. 'Let us hear.' My dear friend, how falsely do we and all the
Hellenes speak about the sun and moon! 'In what respect?' We are always
saying that they and certain of the other stars do not keep the same
path, and we term them planets. 'Yes; and I have seen the morning and
evening stars go all manner of ways, and the sun and moon doing what we
know that they always do. But I wish that you would explain your meaning
further.' You will easily understand what I have had no difficulty
in understanding myself, though we are both of us past the time of
learning. 'True; but what is this marvellous knowledge which youth are
to acquire, and of which we are ignorant?' Men say that the sun, moon,
and stars are planets or wanderers; but this is the reverse of the fact.
Each of them moves in one orbit only, which is circular, and not in
many; nor is the swiftest of them the slowest, as appears to human eyes.
What an insult should we offer to Olympian runners if we were to put
the first last and the last first! And if that is a ridiculous error in
speaking of men, how much more in speaking of the Gods? They cannot be
pleased at our telling falsehoods about them. 'They cannot.' Then people
should at least learn so much about them as will enable them to avoid
impiety.

Enough of education. Hunting and similar pursuits now claim our
attention. These require for their regulation that mixture of law and
admonition of which we have often spoken; e.g., in what we were saying
about the nurture of young children. And therefore the whole duty of the
citizen will not consist in mere obedience to the laws; he must regard
not only the enactments but also the precepts of the legislator. I
will illustrate my meaning by an example. Of hunting there are many
kinds--hunting of fish and fowl, man and beast, enemies and fr