the
craftsmen, who undertake voluntarily or involuntarily the work of our
safety, as other craftsmen undertake other public works--if they execute
their work well the law will never tire of praising him who gives them
those honours which are the just rewards of the soldier; but if any one,
having already received the benefit of any noble service in war, does
not make the due return of honour, the law will blame him. Let this then
be the law, having an ingredient of praise, not compelling but advising
the great body of the citizens to honour the brave men who are the
saviours of the whole state, whether by their courage or by their
military skill--they should honour them, I say, in the second place; for
the first and highest tribute of respect is to be given to those who are
able above other men to honour the words of good legislators.

The greater part of the dealings between man and man have been now
regulated by us with the exception of those that relate to orphans and
the supervision of orphans by their guardians. These follow next in
order, and must be regulated in some way. But to arrive at them we must
begin with the testamentary wishes of the dying and the case of those
who may have happened to die intestate. When I said, Cleinias, that we
must regulate them, I had in my mind the difficulty and perplexity in
which all such matters are involved. You cannot leave them unregulated,
for individuals would make regulations at variance with one another, and
repugnant to the laws and habits of the living and to their own previous
habits, if a person were simply allowed to make any will which he
pleased, and this were to take effect in whatever state he may have been
at the end of his life; for most of us lose our senses in a manner, and
feel crushed when we think that we are about to die.

CLEINIAS: What do you mean, Stranger?

ATHENIAN: O Cleinias, a man when he is about to die is an intractable
creature, and is apt to use language which causes a great deal of
anxiety and trouble to the legislator.

CLEINIAS: In what way?

ATHENIAN: He wants to have the entire control of all his property, and
will use angry words.

CLEINIAS: Such as what?

ATHENIAN: O ye Gods, he will say, how monstrous that I am not allowed
to give, or not to give, my own to whom I will--less to him who has been
bad to me, and more to him who has been good to me, and whose badness
and goodness have been tested by me in time of sickness or in ol