certain. The dialogue of the Laws was written subsequently to the Republic, (*) and is supposed to be held by three fictitious persons-an Athenian, a Cretan, and a Lacedæmonian-who are represented as meeting in the Island of Crete. Socrates has no

part in it; and it is in form, as well as in substance, the work of Plato.(23)

(22) See above, p. 245, note 17. Aristotle, in his criticism of the Laws (Pol. ii. 6), appears to have forgotten that Socrates is not an interlocutor in the dialogue. He attributes the supposition of 5000 landowners (which he considers an impossibility) to Socrates. See Leg. v. 8, p. 737. In Pol. ii. 7, Aristotle ascribes an opinion in the Laws, concerning the acquisition of land, to Plato himself. See Leg. v. p. 744.

(23) Aristotle, Pol. ii. 1-5, in his detailed criticism of the Platonic republic, attributes the doctrines of it to Socrates. How far he means to imply that the opinions are really the opinions of Socrates, is uncertain. He may mean only to show, that he does not impute to Plato opinions which are put in the mouth of secondary personages, and which are introduced in order to be refuted. Thus, in referring to the argument concerning the opposition of law and nature, attributed in the Gorgias to Callicles, Aristotle distinctly names Callicles : ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ Καλλικλῆς ἐν τῷ Γοργία γέγραπται Xeyov.-De Soph. El. c. 12. Brandis thinks that Aristotle's references to Socrates, in connexion with the doctrines of the Platonic state, are intended to imply merely that they were his opinions in substance.-Gesch. der Gr. Röm. Phil. vol. ii. p. 65. Mr. Grote, however, thinks that the political and social views of the Republic must not be attributed to Socrates, Hist. of Gr. vol. viii. p. 550. There is no ground for supposing, with Goettling, ad Aristot. Pol. p. 317, that Aristotle names Socrates instead of Plato, non sine cavillatione.' Cicero, like Aristotle, speaks of Socrates as the author of the ideal state in the Republic: Quare prima sit hæc forma et species et origo tyranni, inventa nobis in eâ republicâ, quam auspicato Romulus condiderit, non in illâ quam, ut perscripsit Plato, sibi ipse Socrates peripatetico illo in sermone depinxerit'-Rep. ii. 29; also, ii. 1 and 11, apud Platonem Socrates.' It seems improbable that, if Socrates had publicly, in the presence of hostile or indifferent persons, maintained the doctrines of the Republic concerning the community of property and women, they should not have been used against him on his trial by his accusers, of which there is no trace. On the other hand, it can hardly be supposed that Plato, both in the Republic and in the Timæus, should have deliberately ascribed these doctrines to him without any foundation. The probability is, that he really entertained these opinions, and had expressed them in private to some friends. Community of women is treated as the doctrine of Socrates, not of Plato, by Lucian, Vit. Auct. c. 17; where, see Gesner's note. It is ascribed to both by Agathias, Hist. i. 4. As to the historical value of Plato's reports of the opinions of Socrates, see Brandis, ib. vol. ii. p. 18-23; Athen. xi. p. 505 D-F; Diog. Laert. iii. 35. The argument of Cicero, in Rep. i. 10, concerning the reference to arithmetical matters in the Republic, implies that Plato assumed the liberty of attributing to Socrates what doctrines he pleased. It is remarkable that Aristotle ascribes the doctrines of the Laws to Socrates, although Socrates is not an interlocutor in that dialogue.-Pol. ii. 6. Brandis thinks that this reference of the laws to Socrates is not because

The division of the treatment of the ideal problem of government into a Republic, or organic constitution of a state, and Laws, or products of the legislative power in action, introduced by Plato, was imitated by later writers, particularly by Cicero, who composed a treatise De Republicá, and a treatise De Legibus.(24) Aristotle remarks, that all inquirers add ideal laws to ideal constitutions, but not the converse.(25)

As the Republic and Laws of Plato are the earliest works in which the problem of an ideal state was systematically treated, and, moreover, as they far exceed in dialectical skill and literary excellence all their successors in the same line, it will be proper to give a brief account of the mode in which he has discussed the subject.

The ideal state of Plato is founded on the intellectual and moral qualifications of the rulers. They are to be formed for the exercise of their high function by a proper training, and are to possess the philosophical character. Until philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers, the ideal state of Plato, as

Aristotle identifies him with the Athenian interlocutor in the dialogue, but in order to designate Plato as the author both of this work and of the Republic. Ib. p. 178, n. This purpose might, however, have been better attained by using the name of Plato himself.

Quintilian considers the name of Socrates as merely a mask for Plato's own opinions: Quæ omnia sunt quidem scripta in hoc libro [the Gorgias], dictaque a Socrate, cujus personâ videtur Plato significare quid sentiat.'ii. 15, § 26.

Aristotle wrote a summary of the Laws, and also of the Republic of Plato, the former in three, the latter in two books, according to the division of the subsequent editors.-See Diog. Laert. v. 22. The titles are, τὰ ἐκ τῶν Νόμων Πλάτωνος, and τὰ ἐκ τῆς Πολιτείας. Theophrastus likewise wrote an ἐπιτομὴ τῆς Πλάτωνος Πολιτείας, in two books. Ib. v. 43.

(24) Atqui si quæres, ego quid expectem: quoniam scriptum est a te de optimo reipublicæ statu, consequens esse videtur ut scribas tu idem de legibus. Sic enim fecisse video Platonem illum tuum, quem tu admiraris, quem omnibus anteponis, quem maxime diligis.'-De Leg. i. 5. Sed ut vir doctissimus fecit Plato, atque idem gravissimus philosophorum omnium, qui princeps de republicâ conscripsit, idemque separatim de legibus ejus, id mihi credo esse faciendum, ut priusquam ipsam legem recitem, de ejus legis laude dicam.'-Ib. ii. 6.

A supposed dialogue of Diogenes with Plato, in which the former reproaches the latter with the inutility of writing a work on laws, after his work on the republic, is given in Stob. Anth. xiii. 37.

(25) Pol. iv. 1.

he expressly declares, can never be realized. (2) In the Republic, the form of the perfect government is not distinctly specified. It is an aristocracy,(") that is, a government of the best men in the community; but one of these best men-these philosophers, according to the Platonic conception-is, by some process which is not described, to be appointed for a time king, with unlimited powers. (2) The aristocracy, or best form of government, is, therefore, the government of an absolute king. In this respect, the views of Plato agree with those of Xenophon, as set forth in the Cyropædia. In the ideal state of the Laws, these views are somewhat modified. This commonwealth-a supposed colony in the island of Crete-is to be a golden mean between monarchy and democracy ;(") it is to be governed by a council

(26) Rep. v. 18, p. 473 ; vi. 12, p. 499; vii. 17, p. 540. Marcus Antoninus always had in his mouth the saying of Plato: Florere civitates si aut philosophi imperarent, aut imperatores philosopharentur.'-Jul. Capitolin. c. 27. Compare also the account of the Platonic philosophers in the reign of Justinian, who, according to Agathias (Hist. fi. 30), expected to find in Persia the ideal excellences of the Platonic commonwealth reduced to reality: ὡς εἴη παρ ̓ ἐκείνοις δικαιότατον μὲν τὸ ἄρχον, καὶ ὁποῖον εἶναι ὁ Πλάτωνος βούλεται λόγος, φιλοσοφίας τε καὶ βασιλείας ἐς ταὐτὸ συνελθούσης. (27) Rep. viii. 2, p. 554.

(28) The ideal state is a Barideía, Rep. viii. ad init. p. 543. Royalty is at the head of the five forms of government enumerated by Plato, viz.: 1. βασιλεία.

2. TOKρaría, the government of ambition, equivalent to the Cretan and Lacedæmonian constitution.

3. ὀλιγαρχία.

4. δημοκρατία.

5. τυραννίς.

See Rep. viii. 1 and 2, p. 544-5; and ix. 6, p. 580. The same governments (with the exception of the second) are mentioned ix. 11, p. 587, where ἀριστοκρατία and βασιλεία are identified.

The Tipoκparía of Plato, the government of honour (Rep. viii. 2), must be distinguished from the Tipoкparía of Aristotle, the government founded upon the ríunua, or valuation of property. In Rep. vii. 17, p. 540, he speaks of one or several true philosophers ruling the perfect state.

According to Ritter, Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. ii. p. 444, the ideal republic of Plato is an absolute royalty, or a monarchical kingdom. In the Laws, an ȧpioтoкparía is said to be an imitation of the reign of Saturn upon earth, or the golden age.-Leg. iv. p. 713. In iii. 4, p. 681, the word apoтoкparía is nearly equivalent to oxyapxía. But in iv. 5, p. 712, aristocracy and oligarchy are distinguished, as in Rep. viii. 3, p. 547.

(29) Leg. vi. 5, p. 756.

and various magistrates, of whom thirty-seven nomophylaces are the chief.(30)

In the first ideal state, or that of the republic, the free community is divided into three classes-the guardians, the fighting men, and the artisans. (3) The most characteristic institution of the Platonic state, however, is, that there is a community of women, children, and goods. The grounds of this institution

are developed at great length, and with a manifest predilection, under the person of Socrates, in the Republic. (2) In the Laws, likewise, where a gradation of ideal states, and three degrees of comparison, are admitted, the absolutely best or perfect state is described as characterized by the absence of all appropriation, and by the community of women, children, and goods. (3) Plato is a complete communist; and Aristotle, in criticizing his ideal state, considers its communist doctrines as its principal feature. (3) At the same time, like all the other speculative politicians of antiquity, he retains slavery.(35) The state or government likewise exercises an extensive and searching control over the expression of opinion on religious subjects, and on the acts of the gods, through the medium of poetry. Hence, poets are placed under severe restrictions. (36) It moreover regulates the whole system of education. All free children are the children of the state.

(30) Leg. vi. 2, p. 753.

(31) Rep. iv. 10, p. 434.

(32) Rep. v.

(33) Leg. v. 9, 10, p. 739. The plan of community of goods and women, under the imaginary gynæcocracy of Athens, is humorously described by Aristophanes.-Eccles. 555-709. Many of the real objections to the system are suggested in the course of the dialogue.

(34) Compare the excellent remarks on community of goods in Pol. ii. 5, beginning εὐπρόσωπος μὲν οὖν ἡ τοιαύτη νομοθεσία.

All the arguments of Socrates in the Republic (says Aristotle) are distinguished by their brilliancy, neatness, and originality, and their analytic spirit; but it is hard to possess every sort of excellence.'-Ib. c. 6.

(35) Leg. vi. 19, p. 777. Above, p. 28, iii. 30, p. 690, he enumerates the dominion of masters over slaves among the seven fundamental axioms of government. For Plato's legislation respecting homicide of slaves by freemen, and homicide and wounding of freemen by slaves, see Leg. ix. 9, p. 868, 869; ix. 11, p. 872; ix. 15, p. 879. Compare Politicus, c. 46, p. 309.

(36) As to the sorts of poetry which are to be admitted, see Rep. ii. 17-21, p. 377-383; x. 7, p. 606-7. Plato speaks of the old quarrel between

Plato conceives the conditions or groundwork of his state as purely ideal.(7) In the Republic, he identifies it with no actual community-he assigns to it neither place nor time. In the Laws, he imagines a new colony in Crete; but the community is not yet formed, and its basis is altogether hypothetical. He does not, like Xenophon, idealize a real model, but he builds upon a purely imaginary foundation. He describes the conditions of his state under the image of a pure tablet ready to receive a painting, or a model in wax,(38) and the state itself as an ideal pattern, (3) which can only be realized when certain circumstances, which never have occurred, shall occur. In another place, he compares his ideal state with a description of a dream; (40) and he more than once assimilates it to a mythical legend.(") If it is nowhere on the earth, he says, there is an archetype of it

philosophy and poetry, ib. x. 8, p. 607. See also, Leg. iv. 9, p. 719-vii. 9, p. 801, in which last passage a board of licensers, or censors, of poetical publications is instituted. Orators were expelled by most ancient writers from the perfect state, see Spengel, Artium Scriptores, p. 22. Compare Ammian. xxx. 4. According to Ritter (ib. vol. ii. p. 439-43), the two chief defects of the Platonic state are-1, that the action of the state is too comprehensive; 2, that men are treated as mere members of classes, and not as substantive individuals.

The first of these criticisms is just; but the fault is not peculiar to Plato. It is common, more or less, to all Utopianists. The justice of the latter is more doubtful; a political theorist must look at men in the aggregate, and not as single individuals.

(37) Compare Brandis, Gesch. der Gr. Röm. Phil. vol. ii. p. 540; Ritter, ib. vol. ii. p. 457.

(38) Rep. vi. 13, p. 501; Leg. v. 14, p. 746.

(39) He calls it a napádelyμa.-Rep. v. 17, p. 472; cf. vi. 13, p. 500 ; Leg. i. 7, p. 632; v. 10, p. 739; v. 14, p. 746. It is a péλovσa akρws Oikeiv Tóλis, in Rep. viii. ad init; a кaλλíñoλis, vii. 9, p. 527. In ii. 21, p. 383, a model institution is called a ros. In the Timæus, c. i. p. 17, the scope of the dialogue of the Republic is stated by Socrates to be, to determine how, and of what sort of men, the best state could be formed. In Leg. iii. 16, p. 702, he says: ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα εἴρηται τοῦ κατιδεῖν ἕνεκα πῶς ποτ ̓ ἂν πόλις ἄριστα οἰκοίη. Ib. v. 9, 10, p. 739, he makes three stages of ideal governments-the good, better, and best. Ib. vii. p. 801, a pattern law is an èxpayeîov, a model or die, from which an impression is taken. (40) Leg. v. 14, p. 746 : οἷον ὀνείρατα λέγων, ἢ πλάττων καθάπερ ἐκ κηροῦ τινὰ πόλιν καὶ πολίτας.

(41) Leg. i. 7, p. 632: πειρασόμεθα αὐτὸ παράδειγμα θέμενοι καὶ τἄλλα οὕτω διαμυθολογοῦντες παραμύθια ποιήσασθαι τῆς ὁδοῦ. vi. i. p. 752 : κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ἡμῖν τὰ νῦν μυθολογίαν.