ese the one sure test is the
writings of the legislator, which the righteous judge ought to have in
his mind as the antidote of all other words, and thus make himself
and the city stand upright, procuring for the good the continuance and
increase of justice, and for the bad, on the other hand, a
conversion from ignorance and intemperance, and in general from all
unrighteousness, as far as their evil minds can be healed, but to those
whose web of life is in reality finished, giving death, which is the
only remedy for souls in their condition, as I may say truly again and
again. And such judges and chiefs of judges will be worthy of receiving
praise from the whole city.

When the suits of the year are completed the following laws shall
regulate their execution: In the first place, the judge shall assign to
the party who wins the suit the whole property of him who loses, with
the exception of mere necessaries, and the assignment shall be made
through the herald immediately after each decision in the hearing of
the judges; and when the month arrives following the month in which the
courts are sitting, (unless the gainer of the suit has been previously
satisfied) the court shall follow up the case, and hand over to the
winner the goods of the loser; but if they find that he has not the
means of paying, and the sum deficient is not less than a drachma, the
insolvent person shall not have any right of going to law with any other
man until he have satisfied the debt of the winning party; but other
persons shall still have the right of bringing suits against him. And if
any one after he is condemned refuses to acknowledge the authority
which condemned him, let the magistrates who are thus deprived of their
authority bring him before the court of the guardians of the law, and if
he be cast, let him be punished with death, as a subverter of the whole
state and of the laws.

Thus a man is born and brought up, and after this manner he begets and
brings up his own children, and has his share of dealings with
other men, and suffers if he has done wrong to any one, and receives
satisfaction if he has been wronged, and so at length in due time he
grows old under the protection of the laws, and his end comes in the
order of nature. Concerning the dead of either sex, the religious
ceremonies which may fittingly be performed, whether appertaining to the
Gods of the under-world or of this, shall be decided by the interpreters
with absolut