第138章 BOOK XII(9)

And the plaintiff,if when defeated before the first judges he persist in going on to the second,shall if he wins receive in addition to the damages a fifth part more,and if defeated he shall pay a like sum;but if he is not satisfied with the previous decision,and will insist on proceeding to a third court,then if he win he shall receive from the defendant the amount of the damages and,as I said before,half as much again,and the plaintiff,if he lose,shall pay half of the damages claimed,Now the assignment by lot of judges to courts and the completion of the number of them,and the appointment of servants to the different magistrates,and the times at which the several causes should be heard,and the votings and delays,and all the things that necessarily concern suits,and the order of causes,and the time in which answers have to be put in and parties are to appear-of these and other things akin to these we have indeed already spoken,but there is no harm in repeating what is right twice or thrice:-All lesser and easier matters which the elder legislator has omitted may be supplied by the younger one.Private courts will be sufficiently regulated in this way,and the public and state courts,and those which the magistrates must use in the administration of their several offices,exist in many other states.Many very respectable institutions of this sort have been framed by good men,and from them the guardians of the law may by reflection derive what is necessary,for the order of our new state,considering and correcting them,and bringing them to the test of experience,until every detail appears to be satisfactorily determined;and then putting the final seal upon them,and making them irreversible,they shall use them for ever afterwards.As to what relates to the silence of judges and the abstinence from words of evil omen and the reverse,and the different notions of the just and good and honourable which exist in our:own as compared with other states,they have been partly mentioned already,and another part of them will be mentioned hereafter as we draw near the end.To all these matters he who would be an equal judge,shall justly look,and he shall possess writings about them that he may learn them.For of all kinds of knowledge the knowledge of good laws has the greatest power of improving the learner;otherwise there would be no meaning the divine and admirable law possessing a name akin to mind (nous,nomos).And of all other words,such as the praises and censures of individuals which occur in poetry and also in prose,whether written down or uttered in daily conversation,whether men dispute about them in the spirit of contention or weakly assent to them,as is often the case-of all these the one sure test is the writings of the legislator,which the righteous judge ought to have in his mind as the antidote of all other words,and thus make himself and the city stand upright,procuring for the good the continuance and increase of justice,and for the bad,on the other hand,a conversion from ignorance and intemperance,and in general from all unrighteousness,as far as their evil minds can be healed,but to those whose web of life is in reality finished,giving death,which is the only remedy for souls in their condition,as I may say truly again and again.And such judges and chiefs of judges will be worthy of receiving praise from the whole city.

When the suits of the year are completed the following laws shall regulate their execution:-In the first place,the judge shall assign to the party who wins the suit the whole property of him who loses,with the exception of mere necessaries,and the assignment shall be made through the herald immediately after each decision in the hearing of the judges;and when the month arrives following the month in which the courts are sitting (unless the gainer of the suit has been previously satisfied),the court shall follow up the case,and hand over to the winner the goods of the loser;but if they find that he has not the means of paying,and the sum deficient is not less than a drachma,the insolvent person shall not have any right of going to law with any other man until he have satisfied the debt of the winning party;but other persons shall still have the right of bringing suits against him.And if any one after he is condemned refuses to acknowledge the authority which condemned him,let the magistrates who are thus deprived of their authority bring him before the court of the guardians of the law,and if he be cast,let him be punished with death,as a subverter of the whole state and of the laws.

Thus a man is born and brought up,and after this manner he begets and brings up his own children,and has his share of dealings with other men,and suffers if he has done wrong to any one,and receives satisfaction if he has been wronged,and so at length in due time he grows old under the protection of the laws,and his end comes in the order of nature.Concerning the dead of either sex,the religious ceremonies which may fittingly be performed,whether appertaining to the Gods of the underworld or of this,shall be decided by the interpreters with absolute authority.Their sepulchres are not to be in places which are fit for cultivation,and there shall be no monuments in such spots,either large or small,but they shall occupy that part of the country which is naturally adapted for receiving and concealing the bodies of the dead with as little hurt as possible to the living.