care in the mating? 'Certainly.' And there is no reason to
suppose that less care is required in the marriage of human beings. But
then our rulers must be skilful physicians of the State, for they will
often need a strong dose of falsehood in order to bring about desirable
unions between their subjects. The good must be paired with the good,
and the bad with the bad, and the offspring of the one must be reared,
and of the other destroyed; in this way the flock will be preserved in
prime condition. Hymeneal festivals will be celebrated at times fixed
with an eye to population, and the brides and bridegrooms will meet at
them; and by an ingenious system of lots the rulers will contrive that
the brave and the fair come together, and that those of inferior breed
are paired with inferiors--the latter will ascribe to chance what is
really the invention of the rulers. And when children are born, the
offspring of the brave and fair will be carried to an enclosure in a
certain part of the city, and there attended by suitable nurses; the
rest will be hurried away to places unknown. The mothers will be brought
to the fold and will suckle the children; care however must be taken
that none of them recognise their own offspring; and if necessary other
nurses may also be hired. The trouble of watching and getting up
at night will be transferred to attendants. 'Then the wives of our
guardians will have a fine easy time when they are having children.' And
quite right too, I said, that they should.

The parents ought to be in the prime of life, which for a man may be
reckoned at thirty years--from twenty-five, when he has 'passed the
point at which the speed of life is greatest,' to fifty-five; and at
twenty years for a woman--from twenty to forty. Any one above or below
those ages who partakes in the hymeneals shall be guilty of impiety;
also every one who forms a marriage connexion at other times without the
consent of the rulers. This latter regulation applies to those who are
within the specified ages, after which they may range at will, provided
they avoid the prohibited degrees of parents and children, or
of brothers and sisters, which last, however, are not absolutely
prohibited, if a dispensation be procured. 'But how shall we know the
degrees of affinity, when all things are common?' The answer is, that
brothers and sisters are all such as are born seven or nine months after
the espousals, and their parents those who are then es