The ''Laws'' () is

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's last and longest

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

. The conversation depicted in the work's twelve books begins with the question of who is given the credit for establishing a civilization's laws. Its musings on the ethics of government and law have frequently been compared to Plato's more widely read ''

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

''. Some scholars see this as the work of Plato as an older man having failed in his effort to guide the rule of the tyrant Dionysius II of Syracuse. These events are alluded to in the '' Seventh Letter''. The text is noteworthy as the only Platonic dialogue not to feature

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

Setting

Characters

Unlike most of Plato's dialogues,

does not appear in the ''Laws''. The conversation is instead led by an

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Stranger * An Athenian "Stranger" () * Cleinias of

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

* Megillus of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Summary

The Athenian Stranger joins the other two on their religious pilgrimage from

, on Crete to the cave of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

on Mount Ida. The entire dialogue takes place during this journey, which mimics the action of

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

: said by the Cretans to have made their ancient laws, Minos walked this path every nine years in order to receive instruction from Zeus on lawgiving. It is also said to be the longest day of the year, allowing for the densely packed twelve books. The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect. That is the question of the Platonic dialogue ''

''. The dialogue rather proceeds from the question, "who it is that receives credit for creating laws." By the end of the third book Cleinias announces that he has in fact been given the responsibility of creating the laws for a new Cretan colony, and that he would like the Athenian stranger's assistance. The rest of the dialogue proceeds with the three old men, walking towards the cave and making laws for this new city which is called the city of Magnesia.

Book I-II: Purpose of government

While traveling from Knossos to the shrine of Zeus on Mount Ida, the Athenian begins by asking if the other two attribute their laws to a divine or a human origin. Both Clinias and Megillus say that their laws have a divine origin. The laws of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

are said to come from

and Rhadamanthus, who consulted with

Book III: History of constitutions

Book IV-V: Foundation of a state

Book VI: Political offices

Book VII-VIII: Education

Book IX: Criminal Law

Book X: Religious law

Book XI-XII: Other laws

Interpretations and themes

The questions of the ''Laws'' are quite numerous, including: * Divine revelation, divine law and law-giving * The role of intelligence in law-giving * The relations of philosophy, religion, and politics * The role of music, exercise and dance in education *

Natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

and natural right The dialogue uses primarily the Athenian and Spartan (Lacedaemonian) law systems as background for pinpointing a choice of laws, which the speakers imagine as a more or less coherent set for the new city they are talking about.

Ontological priority of soul

The tenth book of the ''Laws'' most famously discusses the priority of soul: both explanatory priority and ontological priority. Plato here refutes the views of his predecessors who argued that soul (and what soul is related to, such as intelligence, knowledge, skill, etc.) is ''posterior'' to corporeal things such as earth and fire. The natural philosophers had explained soul, intelligence, and so on, in terms of corporeal things: corporeal things exist first and give rise to psychic phenomena. In contrast, Plato argues that soul is first, both as that in terms of which corporeal things ought to be explained and as that which gives rise to the corporeal world. Plato concludes this by relying on his view that the soul is intelligent and a self-mover and that soul is that which supervises the cosmos. There is an important scholarly discussion of whether Plato means to allow for there to be an evil soul governing the cosmos, alongside a virtuous soul. Gabriela Carone, for instance, maintains that Plato "does not dismiss the existence of a kind of evil soul as such." But more-recent scholarship has argued otherwise. In general, recent scholars have understood Plato's psychology to be such that souls are by their very nature intelligent (for it is by means of their intelligence that they move things), and that Plato's view of intelligence requires that intelligent things not be vicious; this rules out the very possibility of an evil soul.

Comparison with Plato's Republic

The ''Laws'', like the earlier ''

'', concerns the making of a city in speech. Yet it is in opposition to the earlier dialogue, and the constitution of the hypothetical Magnesia described in the Laws differs from that of Kallipolis described in the Republic, on several key points. The city of the ''Laws'' differs in its allowance of private property and private families, and in the very existence of written laws, from the city of the ''Republic,'' with its property-system and community of wives for the guardians, and absence of written law. Also, whereas the ''Republic'' is a dialogue between Socrates and several young men, the ''Laws'' is a discussion among three old men contriving a device for reproductive law, with a view of hiding from virile youth their rhetorical strategy of piety, rituals and virtue. The city of the ''Laws'' is described as "second best" not because the city of the ''Republic'' is the best, but because it is the city of gods and their children. Traditionally, the ''Minos'' is thought to be the preface, and the '' Epinomis'' the epilogue, to the ''Laws'', but these are generally considered by scholars to be spurious.

Comparisons to other works on Ancient Greek law

Plato was not the only

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

author writing about the law systems of his day, and making comparisons between the

and the

n laws. Notably, the ''Constitution of the Spartans'' by

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

, the '' Constitution of the Athenians'', wrongly attributed to Xenophon, and the '' Constitution of the Athenians'', possibly by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

or one of his students, have also survived. Some centuries later

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

would also devote attention to the topic of Ancient Greek law systems, e.g. in his ''Life of Lycurgus''. Lycurgus was the legendary law-giver of the Lacedaemonians. Plutarch compares Lycurgus and his Spartan laws to the law system

Numa Pompilius Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the Roman mythology, legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political ins ...

supposedly introduced in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

around 700 BC. Both pseudo-Xenophon and Plutarch are stark admirers of the Spartan system, showing less reserve than Plato in expressing that admiration.

Reception

The impact of the ''Laws'' in antiquity was substantial. It is possible that Plato's contemporary

Isocrates Isocrates (; ; 436–338 BC) was an ancient Greek rhetorician, one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and writte ...

already took an interest in the work. Aristotle, who was critical of the dialogue, created a collection of excerpts from the extensive work. Aristotle incorrectly included the ''Laws'' as one of Plato's dialogues featuring Socrates; perhaps he knew another version in which Socrates appears, but most likely did not express himself clearly. Aristotle brought the ''Laws'' closely in line with Plato's

and considered both works largely in agreement with one other. He viewed the Athenian's proposed number of 5,000 citizens fit to bear arms as too high. According to Aristotle, the resulting unproductivity of the citizens would necessitate a large number of women and servants, which would, in turn, require a large territory. Aristotle sees another problem in the unchanging number of households amidst an increasing number of children. Aristotle notes that Plato does require a mixed constitution. However, he points out that Plato does not represent any element of a monarchy. In Aristotle's view, Plato's democratic portion is not profitable, while the oligarchical dominates. Aristotle's examination of the ''Laws'' shaped large portions of Books 7 and 8 of his ''Politics''. The author of the dialogue '' Epinomis'' – generally considered to be Philippus of Opus – developed his work as a continuation of the ''Laws''. As such, he let the same three persons appear in the dialogue as Plato: the Athenian, Cleinias, and Megillus. Just like Plato, he gave the Athenian the central role. In some instances, the views of the Athenian in ''Epinomis'' deviate from those of the Athenian in the ''Laws''.Leonardo Tarán: Academica: Plato, Philip of Opus, and the Pseudo-Platonic Epinomis, Philadelphia 1975, p. 72–79, 131 f. Georgios Gemistos, who called himself Plethon in his later life, wrote and named his ''Nómōn syngraphḗ'' (Νόμων συγγραφή) or ''Nómoi'' (Νόμοι, "Book of Laws") after the ''Laws'' dialogue.

Manuscripts

* Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 23

Published editions

* * (Greek text only) * (literal translation) Also available i
audio
* (nonliteral translation) Also available vi
Project Gutenberg
* (Greek text only, no English translation) * (Greek and English text parallel
Volume 1Volume 2
* * * * * *

Notes

References

* * * Leonardo Tarán: Academica: Plato, Philip of Opus, and the Pseudo-Platonic Epinomis, Philadelphia 1975, p. 131 see note, p. 550;

External links

* * * {{Authority control Ancient Greek law Dialogues of Plato Philosophy of law Political philosophy in ancient Greece