,' and that 'he who gives credit must be satisfied whether he
obtain his money or not, for in such exchanges he will not be protected
by law. (d) Athenian law forbad an extortionate rate of interest
(Telfy); Plato allows interest in one case only--if a contractor does
not receive the price of his work within a year of the time agreed--and
at the rate of 200 per cent. per annum for every drachma a monthly
interest of an obol. (e) Both at Athens and in the Laws sales were to be
registered (Telfy), as well as births (Telfy).

(21) Sumptuary laws. Extravagance at weddings (Telfy), and at funerals
(Telfy) was forbidden at Athens and also in the Magnesian state.

There remains the subject of family life, which in Plato's Laws
partakes both of an Athenian and Spartan character. Under this head may
conveniently be included the condition of women and of slaves. To family
life may be added citizenship.

As at Sparta, marriages are to be contracted for the good of the state;
and they may be dissolved on the same ground, where there is a failure
of issue,--the interest of the state requiring that every one of the
5040 lots should have an heir. Divorces are likewise permitted by Plato
where there is an incompatibility of temper, as at Athens by mutual
consent. The duty of having children is also enforced by a still higher
motive, expressed by Plato in the noble words:--'A man should cling to
immortality, and leave behind him children's children to be the servants
of God in his place.' Again, as at Athens, the father is allowed to put
away his undutiful son, but only with the consent of impartial persons
(Telfy), and the only suit which may be brought by a son against a
father is for imbecility. The class of elder and younger men and women
are still to regard one another, as in the Republic, as standing in the
relation of parents and children. This is a trait of Spartan character
rather than of Athenian. A peculiar sanctity and tenderness was to be
shown towards the aged; the parent or grandparent stricken with years
was to be loved and worshipped like the image of a God, and was to be
deemed far more able than any lifeless statue to bring good or ill
to his descendants. Great care is to be taken of orphans: they are
entrusted to the fifteen eldest Guardians of the Law, who are to be
'lawgivers and fathers to them not inferior to their natural fathers,'
as at Athens they were entrusted to the Archons. Plato wishes to make
the misfo