e company, but if not, and if he be condemned a second
time, let him be punished with death. As to that class of monstrous
natures who not only believe that there are no Gods, or that they are
negligent, or to be propitiated, but in contempt of mankind conjure the
souls of the living and say that they can conjure the dead and promise
to charm the Gods with sacrifices and prayers, and will utterly
overthrow individuals and whole houses and states for the sake of
money--let him who is guilty of any of these things be condemned by the
court to be bound according to law in the prison which is in the centre
of the land, and let no freeman ever approach him, but let him receive
the rations of food appointed by the guardians of the law from the hands
of the public slaves; and when he is dead let him be cast beyond the
borders unburied, and if any freeman assist in burying him, let him pay
the penalty of impiety to any one who is willing to bring a suit against
him. But if he leaves behind him children who are fit to be citizens,
let the guardians of orphans take care of them, just as they would of
any other orphans, from the day on which their father is convicted.

In all these cases there should be one law, which will make men in
general less liable to transgress in word or deed, and less foolish,
because they will not be allowed to practise religious rites contrary
to law. And let this be the simple form of the law: No man shall have
sacred rites in a private house. When he would sacrifice, let him go to
the temples and hand over his offerings to the priests and priestesses,
who see to the sanctity of such things, and let him pray himself, and
let any one who pleases join with him in prayer. The reason of this is
as follows: Gods and temples are not easily instituted, and to establish
them rightly is the work of a mighty intellect. And women especially,
and men too, when they are sick or in danger, or in any sort of
difficulty, or again on their receiving any good fortune, have a way of
consecrating the occasion, vowing sacrifices, and promising shrines to
Gods, demigods, and sons of Gods; and when they are awakened by terrible
apparitions and dreams or remember visions, they find in altars and
temples the remedies of them, and will fill every house and village with
them, placing them in the open air, or wherever they may have had such
visions; and with a view to all these cases we should obey the law. The
law has also regard