entertainment provided them at the temples by
hospitable persons, and the priests and ministers of the temples
should see and attend to them. But they should not remain more than a
reasonable time; let them see and hear that for the sake of which they
came, and then go away, neither having suffered nor done any harm. The
priests shall be their judges, if any of them receive or do any wrong up
to the sum of fifty drachmae, but if any greater charge be brought,
in such cases the suit shall come before the wardens of the agora. The
third kind of stranger is he who comes on some public business from
another land, and is to be received with public honours. He is to be
received only by the generals and commanders of horse and foot, and the
host by whom he is entertained, in conjunction with the Prytanes, shall
have the sole charge of what concerns him. There is a fourth class of
persons answering to our spectators, who come from another land to look
at ours. In the first place, such visits will be rare, and the visitor
should be at least fifty years of age; he may possibly be wanting to
see something that is rich and rare in other states, or himself to show
something in like manner to another city. Let such an one, then, go
unbidden to the doors of the wise and rich, being one of them himself:
let him go, for example, to the house of the superintendent of
education, confident that he is a fitting guest of such a host, or let
him go to the house of some of those who have gained the prize of virtue
and hold discourse with them, both learning from them, and also teaching
them; and when he has seen and heard all, he shall depart, as a friend
taking leave of friends, and be honoured by them with gifts and suitable
tributes of respect. These are the customs, according to which our
city should receive all strangers of either sex who come from other
countries, and should send forth her own citizens, showing respect to
Zeus, the God of hospitality, not forbidding strangers at meals and
sacrifices, as is the manner which prevails among the children of the
Nile, nor driving them away by savage proclamations.

When a man becomes surety, let him give the security in a distinct form,
acknowledging the whole transaction in a written document, and in the
presence of not less than three witnesses if the sum be under a thousand
drachmae, and of not less than five witnesses if the sum be above a
thousand drachmae. The agent of a dishonest or unt