lue, and do the work gratis in a specified time. The contractor,
like the seller, is enjoined by law to charge the simple value of his
work; in a free city, art should be a true thing, and the artist must
not practise on the ignorance of others. On the other hand, he who has
ordered any work and does not pay the workman according to agreement,
dishonours Zeus and Athene, and breaks the bonds of society. And if
he does not pay at the time agreed, let him pay double; and although
interest is forbidden in other cases, let the workman receive after the
expiration of a year interest at the rate of an obol a month for every
drachma (equal to 200 per cent. per ann.). And we may observe by the
way, in speaking of craftsmen, that if our military craft do their work
well, the state will praise those who honour them, and blame those who
do not honour them. Not that the first place of honour is to be assigned
to the warrior; a higher still is reserved for those who obey the laws.

Most of the dealings between man and man are now settled, with the
exception of such as relate to orphans and guardianships. These lead
us to speak of the intentions of the dying, about which we must make
regulations. I say 'must'; for mankind cannot be allowed to dispose of
their property as they please, in ways at variance with one another and
with law and custom. But a dying person is a strange being, and is not
easily managed; he wants to be master of all he has, and is apt to use
angry words. He will say,--'May I not do what I will with my own, and
give much to my friends, and little to my enemies?' 'There is reason
in that.' O Cleinias, in my judgment the older lawgivers were too
soft-hearted, and wanting in insight into human affairs. They were
too ready to listen to the outcry of a dying man, and hence they were
induced to give him an absolute power of bequest. But I would say to
him:--O creature of a day, you know neither what is yours nor yourself:
for you and your property are not your own, but belong to your whole
family, past and to come, and property and family alike belong to the
State. And therefore I must take out of your hands the charge of what
you leave behind you, with a view to the interests of all. And I hope
that you will not quarrel with us, now that you are going the way of all
mankind; we will do our best for you and yours when you are no longer
here. Let this be our address to the living and dying, and let the law
be as follows: