persons
have already been laid down. The work of legislation is therefore nearly
completed; its end will be finally accomplished when we have provided
for the continuance of the state.

Do you remember the names of the Fates? Lachesis, the giver of the lots,
is the first of them; Clotho, the spinster, the second; Atropos, the
unchanging one, is the third and last, who makes the threads of the web
irreversible. And we too want to make our laws irreversible, for the
unchangeable quality in them will be the salvation of the state, and the
source of health and order in the bodies and souls of our citizens. 'But
can such a quality be implanted?' I think that it may; and at any rate
we must try; for, after all our labour, to have been piling up a fabric
which has no foundation would be too ridiculous. 'What foundation would
you lay?' We have already instituted an assembly which was composed
of the ten oldest guardians of the law, and secondly, of those who had
received prizes of virtue, and thirdly, of the travellers who had gone
abroad to enquire into the laws of other countries. Moreover, each of
the members was to choose a young man, of not less than thirty years of
age, to be approved by the rest; and they were to meet at dawn, when all
the world is at leisure. This assembly will be an anchor to the vessel
of state, and provide the means of permanence; for the constitutions of
states, like all other things, have their proper saviours, which are to
them what the head and soul are to the living being. 'How do you mean?'
Mind in the soul, and sight and hearing in the head, or rather, the
perfect union of mind and sense, may be justly called every man's
salvation. 'Certainly.' Yes; but of what nature is this union? In the
case of a ship, for example, the senses of the sailors are added to the
intelligence of the pilot, and the two together save the ship and
the men in the ship. Again, the physician and the general have their
objects; and the object of the one is health, of the other victory.
States, too, have their objects, and the ruler must understand, first,
their nature, and secondly, the means of attaining them, whether in laws
or men. The state which is wanting in this knowledge cannot be
expected to be wise when the time for action arrives. Now what class
or institution is there in our state which has such a saving power? 'I
suspect that you are referring to the Nocturnal Council.' Yes, to that
council which is to hav