let no one of the three portions be
greater than either of the other two--neither that which is assigned
to masters or to slaves, nor again that of the stranger; but let the
distribution to all be equal and alike, and let every citizen take his
two portions and distribute them among slaves and freemen, he having
power to determine the quantity and quality. And what remains he shall
distribute by measure and number among the animals who have to be
sustained from the earth, taking the whole number of them.

In the second place, our citizens should have separate houses duly
ordered; and this will be the order proper for men like them. There
shall be twelve hamlets, one in the middle of each twelfth portion,
and in each hamlet they shall first set apart a market-place, and the
temples of the Gods, and of their attendant demi-gods; and if there
be any local deities of the Magnetes, or holy seats of other ancient
deities, whose memory has been preserved, to these let them pay their
ancient honours. But Hestia, and Zeus, and Athene will have temples
everywhere together with the God who presides in each of the twelve
districts. And the first erection of houses shall be around these
temples, where the ground is highest, in order to provide the safest
and most defensible place of retreat for the guards. All the rest of
the country they shall settle in the following manner: They shall make
thirteen divisions of the craftsmen; one of them they shall establish
in the city, and this, again, they shall subdivide into twelve lesser
divisions, among the twelve districts of the city, and the remainder
shall be distributed in the country round about; and in each village
they shall settle various classes of craftsmen, with a view to the
convenience of the husbandmen. And the chief officers of the wardens
of the country shall superintend all these matters, and see how many of
them, and which class of them, each place requires; and fix them
where they are likely to be least troublesome, and most useful to the
husbandman. And the wardens of the city shall see to similar matters in
the city.

Now the wardens of the agora ought to see to the details of the agora.
Their first care, after the temples which are in the agora have been
seen to, should be to prevent any one from doing any wrong in dealings
between man and man; in the second place, as being inspectors of
temperance and violence, they should chastise him who requires
chastisement. T