tle and benign,
and is a state which we by some divine presage and inspiration rightly
ascribe to God. Now, I say, he among men, too, who would be divine
ought to pursue after this mean habit--he should not rush headlong into
pleasures, for he will not be free from pains; nor should we allow
any one, young or old, male or female, to be thus given any more than
ourselves, and least of all the newly-born infant, for in infancy more
than at any other time the character is engrained by habit. Nay, more,
if I were not afraid of appearing to be ridiculous, I would say that a
woman during her year of pregnancy should of all women be most carefully
tended, and kept from violent or excessive pleasures and pains, and
should at that time cultivate gentleness and benevolence and kindness.

CLEINIAS: You need not ask Megillus, Stranger, which of us has most
truly spoken; for I myself agree that all men ought to avoid the life
of unmingled pain or pleasure, and pursue always a middle course. And
having spoken well, may I add that you have been well answered?

ATHENIAN: Very good, Cleinias; and now let us all three consider a
further point.

CLEINIAS: What is it?

ATHENIAN: That all the matters which we are now describing are commonly
called by the general name of unwritten customs, and what are termed
the laws of our ancestors are all of similar nature. And the reflection
which lately arose in our minds, that we can neither call these things
laws, nor yet leave them unmentioned, is justified; for they are the
bonds of the whole state, and come in between the written laws which
are or are hereafter to be laid down; they are just ancestral customs of
great antiquity, which, if they are rightly ordered and made habitual,
shield and preserve the previously existing written law; but if they
depart from right and fall into disorder, then they are like the props
of builders which slip away out of their place and cause a universal
ruin--one part drags another down, and the fair super-structure falls
because the old foundations are undermined. Reflecting upon this,
Cleinias, you ought to bind together the new state in every possible
way, omitting nothing, whether great or small, of what are called laws
or manners or pursuits, for by these means a city is bound together,
and all these things are only lasting when they depend upon one another;
and, therefore, we must not wonder if we find that many apparently
trifling customs or usages come