Hermes and Zeus, and let there be a penalty
fixed, which he shall suffer or pay if he be convicted.

Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing; and none of the sons of
Zeus delight in fraud and violence, or ever practised either. Wherefore
let no one be deluded by poets or mythologers into a mistaken belief
of such things, nor let him suppose, when he thieves or is guilty
of violence, that he is doing nothing base, but only what the Gods
themselves do. For such tales are untrue and improbable; and he who
steals or robs contrary to the law, is never either a God or the son of
a God; of this the legislator ought to be better informed than all the
poets put together. Happy is he and may he be for ever happy, who is
persuaded and listens to our words; but he who disobeys shall have to
contend against the following law: If a man steal anything belonging
to the public, whether that which he steals be much or little, he shall
have the same punishment. For he who steals a little steals with the
same wish as he who steals much, but with less power, and he who
takes up a greater amount, not having deposited it, is wholly unjust.
Wherefore the law is not disposed to inflict a less penalty on the one
than on the other because his theft is less, but on the ground that the
thief may possibly be in one case still curable, and may in another case
be incurable. If any one convict in a court of law a stranger or a slave
of a theft of public property, let the court determine what punishment
he shall suffer, or what penalty he shall pay, bearing in mind that he
is probably not incurable. But the citizen who has been brought up
as our citizens will have been, if he be found guilty of robbing his
country by fraud or violence, whether he be caught in the act or not,
shall be punished with death; for he is incurable.

Now for expeditions of war much consideration and many laws are
required; the great principle of all is that no one of either sex should
be without a commander; nor should the mind of any one be accustomed to
do anything, either in jest or earnest, of his own motion, but in war
and in peace he should look to and follow his leader, even in the least
things being under his guidance; for example, he should stand or move,
or exercise, or wash, or take his meals, or get up in the night to keep
guard and deliver messages when he is bidden; and in the hour of danger
he should not pursue and not retreat except by order of his super