ds, one, or more than one, happy are
the men who, living after this manner, dwell there; and therefore to
this we are to look for the pattern of the state, and to cling to this,
and to seek with all our might for one which is like this. The state
which we have now in hand, when created, will be nearest to immortality
and the only one which takes the second place; and after that, by the
grace of God, we will complete the third one. And we will begin by
speaking of the nature and origin of the second.

Let the citizens at once distribute their land and houses, and not
till the land in common, since a community of goods goes beyond
their proposed origin, and nurture, and education. But in making the
distribution, let the several possessors feel that their particular
lots also belong to the whole city; and seeing that the earth is their
parent, let them tend her more carefully than children do their mother.
For she is a goddess and their queen, and they are her mortal subjects.
Such also are the feelings which they ought to entertain to the Gods and
demi-gods of the country. And in order that the distribution may always
remain, they ought to consider further that the present number
of families should be always retained, and neither increased nor
diminished. This may be secured for the whole city in the following
manner:--Let the possessor of a lot leave the one of his children who is
his best beloved, and one only, to be the heir of his dwelling, and
his successor in the duty of ministering to the Gods, the state and the
family, as well the living members of it as those who are departed when
he comes into the inheritance; but of his other children, if he have
more than one, he shall give the females in marriage according to the
law to be hereafter enacted, and the males he shall distribute as sons
to those citizens who have no children, and are disposed to receive
them; or if there should be none such, and particular individuals
have too many children, male or female, or too few, as in the case
of barrenness--in all these cases let the highest and most honourable
magistracy created by us judge and determine what is to be done with
the redundant or deficient, and devise a means that the number of 5040
houses shall always remain the same. There are many ways of regulating
numbers; for they in whom generation is affluent may be made to refrain
(compare Arist. Pol.), and, on the other hand, special care may be taken
to increase