to have the gift of understanding me. But first let me
make an apology. The Athenian citizen is reputed among all the Hellenes
to be a great talker, whereas Sparta is renowned for brevity, and the
Cretans have more wit than words. Now I am afraid of appearing to elicit
a very long discourse out of very small materials. For drinking indeed
may appear to be a slight matter, and yet is one which cannot be rightly
ordered according to nature, without correct principles of music; these
are

necessary to any clear or satisfactory treatment of the subject, and
music again runs up into education generally, and there is much to be
said about all this. What would you say then to leaving these matters
for the present, and passing on to some other question of law?

MEGILLUS: O Athenian Stranger, let me tell you what perhaps you do not
know, that our family is the proxenus of your state. I imagine that
from their earliest youth all boys, when they are told that they are the
proxeni of a particular state, feel kindly towards their second country;
and this has certainly been my own feeling. I can well remember from the
days of my boyhood, how, when any Lacedaemonians praised or blamed
the Athenians, they used to say to me,--'See, Megillus, how ill or how
well,' as the case might be, 'has your state treated us'; and having
always had to fight your battles against detractors when I heard you
assailed, I became warmly attached to you. And I always like to hear
the Athenian tongue spoken; the common saying is quite true, that a good
Athenian is more than ordinarily good, for he is the only man who is
freely and genuinely good by the divine inspiration of his own nature,
and is not manufactured. Therefore be assured that I shall like to hear
you say whatever you have to say.

CLEINIAS: Yes, Stranger; and when you have heard me speak, say boldly
what is in your thoughts. Let me remind you of a tie which unites you to
Crete. You must have heard here the story of the prophet Epimenides, who
was of my family, and came to Athens ten years before the Persian war,
in accordance with the response of the Oracle, and offered certain
sacrifices which the God commanded. The Athenians were at that time in
dread of the Persian invasion; and he said that for ten years they would
not come, and that when they came, they would go away again without
accomplishing any of their objects, and would suffer more evil than they
inflicted. At that time my forefat