held office for a month, or for
thirty-five days only. It was almost as if, in our own country, the
Ministry or the Houses of Parliament were to change every month. The
average ability of the Athenian and Magnesian councillors could not have
been very high, considering there were so many of them. And yet they
were entrusted with the performance of the most important executive
duties. In these respects the constitution of the Laws resembles Athens
far more than Sparta. All the citizens were to be, not merely soldiers,
but politicians and administrators.

(ii) There are numerous minor particulars in which the Laws of Plato
resemble those of Athens. These are less interesting than the preceding,
but they show even more strikingly how closely in the composition of his
work Plato has followed the laws and customs of his own country.

(1) Evidence. (a) At Athens a child was not allowed to give evidence
(Telfy). Plato has a similar law: 'A child shall be allowed to give
evidence only in cases of murder.' (b) At Athens an unwilling witness
might be summoned; but he was not required to appear if he was ready
to declare on oath that he knew nothing about the matter in question
(Telfy). So in the Laws. (c) Athenian law enacted that when more than
half the witnesses in a case had been convicted of perjury, there was to
be a new trial (anadikos krisis--Telfy). There is a similar provision in
the Laws. (d) False-witness was punished at Athens by atimia and a fine
(Telfy). Plato is at once more lenient and more severe: 'If a man be
twice convicted of false-witness, he shall not be required, and if
thrice, he shall not be allowed to bear witness; and if he dare to
witness after he has been convicted three times,...he shall be punished
with death.'

(2) Murder. (a) Wilful murder was punished in Athenian law by death,
perpetual exile, and confiscation of property (Telfy). Plato, too,
has the alternative of death or exile, but he does not confiscate the
murderer's property. (b) The Parricide was not allowed to escape by
going into exile at Athens (Telfy), nor, apparently, in the Laws. (c)
A homicide, if forgiven by his victim before death, received no
punishment, either at Athens (Telfy), or in the Magnesian state. In both
(Telfy) the contriver of a murder is punished as severely as the doer;
and persons accused of the crime are forbidden to enter temples or
the agora until they have been tried (Telfy). (d) At Athens slaves who
killed