emale, and dies
without making a will, let the previous law in general hold; and let a
man and a woman go forth from the family and share the deserted house,
and let the lot belong absolutely to them; and let the heiress in
the first degree be a sister, and in a second degree a daughter of a
brother, and in the third, a daughter of a sister, in the fourth degree
the sister of a father, and in the fifth degree the daughter of a
father's brother, and in a sixth degree of a father's sister; and
these shall dwell with their male kinsmen, according to the degree of
relationship and right, as we enacted before. Now we must not conceal
from ourselves that such laws are apt to be oppressive and that there
may sometimes be a hardship in the lawgiver commanding the kinsman
of the dead man to marry his relation; he may be thought not to have
considered the innumerable hindrances which may arise among men in
the execution of such ordinances; for there may be cases in which the
parties refuse to obey, and are ready to do anything rather than marry,
when there is some bodily or mental malady or defect among those who
are bidden to marry or be married. Persons may fancy that the legislator
never thought of this, but they are mistaken; wherefore let us make a
common prelude on behalf of the lawgiver and of his subjects, the law
begging the latter to forgive the legislator, in that he, having to
take care of the common weal, cannot order at the same time the
various circumstances of individuals, and begging him to pardon them if
naturally they are sometimes unable to fulfil the act which he in his
ignorance imposes upon them.

CLEINIAS: And how, Stranger, can we act most fairly under the
circumstances?

ATHENIAN: There must be arbiters chosen to deal with such laws and the
subjects of them.

CLEINIAS: What do you mean?

ATHENIAN: I mean to say, that a case may occur in which the nephew,
having a rich father, will be unwilling to marry the daughter of his
uncle; he will have a feeling of pride, and he will wish to look higher.
And there are cases in which the legislator will be imposing upon him
the greatest calamity, and he will be compelled to disobey the law,
if he is required, for example, to take a wife who is mad, or has some
other terrible malady of soul or body, such as makes life intolerable
to the sufferer. Then let what we are saying concerning these cases
be embodied in a law: If any one finds fault with the established