ble principles,
then the aspect of things would change, and retail traders would be
regarded as nursing fathers and mothers. In our own day the trader
goes and settles in distant places, and receives the weary traveller
hospitably at first, but in the end treats him as an enemy and a
captive, whom he only liberates for an enormous ransom. This is what
has brought retail trade into disrepute, and against this the legislator
ought to provide. Men have said of old, that to fight against two
opponents is hard; and the two opponents of whom I am thinking are
wealth and poverty--the one corrupting men by luxury; the other, through
misery, depriving them of the sense of shame. What remedies can a city
find for this disease? First, to have as few retail traders as possible;
secondly, to give retail trade over to a class whose corruption will not
injure the state; and thirdly, to restrain the insolence and meanness of
the retailers.

Let us make the following laws:--(1) In the city of the Magnetes none of
the 5040 citizens shall be a retailer or merchant, or do any service to
any private persons who do not equally serve him, except to his father
and mother and their fathers and mothers, and generally to his elders
who are freemen, and whom he serves as a freeman. He who follows an
illiberal pursuit may be cited for dishonouring his family, and kept
in bonds for a year; and if he offend again, he shall be bound for two
years; and for every offence his punishment shall be doubled: (2) Every
retailer shall be a metic or a foreigner: (3) The guardians of the law
shall have a special care of this part of the community, whose calling
exposes them to peculiar temptations. They shall consult with persons of
experience, and find out what prices will yield the traders a moderate
profit, and fix them.

When a man does not fulfil his contract, he being under no legal or
other impediment, the case shall be brought before the court of the
tribes, if not previously settled by arbitration. The class of artisans
is consecrated to Hephaestus and Athene; the makers of weapons to Ares
and Athene: all of whom, remembering that the Gods are their ancestors,
should be ashamed to deceive in the practice of their craft. If any man
is lazy in the fulfilment of his work, and fancies, foolish fellow, that
his patron God will not deal hardly with him, he will be punished by the
God; and let the law follow:--He who fails in his undertaking shall pay
the va