t find words which will wing their way to the hearts of men. Laws
must be promulgated before they are put in execution, and mankind must
be reasoned with before they are punished. The legislator, when he
promulgates a particular law, will courteously entreat those who are
willing to hear his voice. Upon the rebellious only does the heavy blow
descend. A sermon and a law in one, blending the secular punishment with
the religious sanction, appeared to Plato a new idea which might have a
great result in reforming the world. The experiment had never been
tried of reasoning with mankind; the laws of others had never had any
preambles, and Plato seems to have great pleasure in contemplating his
discovery.

In these quaint forms of thought and language, great principles of
morals and legislation are enunciated by him for the first time. They
all go back to mind and God, who holds the beginning, middle, and end of
all things in His hand. The adjustment of the divine and human elements
in the world is conceived in the spirit of modern popular philosophy,
differing not much in the mode of expression. At first sight the
legislator appears to be impotent, for all things are the sport of
chance. But we admit also that God governs all things, and that chance
and opportunity co-operate with Him (compare the saying, that chance is
the name of the unknown cause). Lastly, while we acknowledge that God
and chance govern mankind and provide the conditions of human action,
experience will not allow us to deny a place to art. We know that there
is a use in having a pilot, though the storm may overwhelm him; and a
legislator is required to provide for the happiness of a state, although
he will pray for favourable conditions under which he may exercise his
art.

BOOK V. Hear now, all ye who heard the laws about Gods and ancestors:
Of all human possessions the soul is most divine, and most truly a man's
own. For in every man there are two parts--a better which rules, and an
inferior which serves; and the ruler is to be preferred to the servant.
Wherefore I bid every one next after the Gods to honour his own soul,
and he can only honour her by making her better. A man does not honour
his soul by flattery, or gifts, or self-indulgence, or conceit of
knowledge, nor when he blames others for his own errors; nor when he
indulges in pleasure or refuses to bear pain; nor when he thinks that
life at any price is a good, because he fears the world belo