them. What is he to do? He will have to
praise and blame hunting with a view to the exercise and pursuits of
youth. And, on the other hand, the young man must listen obediently;
neither pleasure nor pain should hinder him, and he should regard as his
standard of action the praises and injunctions of the legislator rather
than the punishments which he imposes by law. This being premised, there
will follow next in order moderate praise and censure of hunting; the
praise being assigned to that kind which will make the souls of young
men better, and the censure to that which has the opposite effect. And
now let us address young men in the form of a prayer for their welfare:
O friends, we will say to them, may no desire or love of hunting in the
sea, or of angling or of catching the creatures in the waters, ever take
possession of you, either when you are awake or when you are asleep, by
hook or with weels, which latter is a very lazy contrivance; and let not
any desire of catching men and of piracy by sea enter into your souls
and make you cruel and lawless hunters. And as to the desire of thieving
in town or country, may it never enter into your most passing thoughts;
nor let the insidious fancy of catching birds, which is hardly worthy
of freemen, come into the head of any youth. There remains therefore for
our athletes only the hunting and catching of land animals, of which the
one sort is called hunting by night, in which the hunters sleep in turn
and are lazy; this is not to be commended any more than that which has
intervals of rest, in which the wild strength of beasts is subdued by
nets and snares, and not by the victory of a laborious spirit. Thus,
only the best kind of hunting is allowed at all--that of quadrupeds,
which is carried on with horses and dogs and men's own persons, and they
get the victory over the animals by running them down and striking them
and hurling at them, those who have a care of godlike manhood taking
them with their own hands. The praise and blame which is assigned to all
these things has now been declared; and let the law be as follows: Let
no one hinder these who verily are sacred hunters from following the
chase wherever and whithersoever they will; but the hunter by night, who
trusts to his nets and gins, shall not be allowed to hunt anywhere.
The fowler in the mountains and waste places shall be permitted, but on
cultivated ground and on consecrated wilds he shall not be permitted;
and