Book 8
835
Ath. Naturally: but I will try to explain myself more clearly. When in my discourse I came to the subject of education,Plat. Laws 771e. I saw young men and maidens consorting with one another affectionately; and, naturally, a feeling of alarm came upon me, as I asked myself how one is to manage a State like this in which young men and maidens are well-nourished but exempt from those severe and menial labors which are the surest means of quenching wantonness, and where the chief occupation of everyone all through life consists in sacrifices, feasts and dances. In a State such as this, how will the young abstain from those desires which frequently plunge many into ruin,—all those desires from which reason, in its endeavor to be law,A play on νόμος=νοῦς; cp. Plat. Laws 836e, Plat. Laws 714a. enjoins abstinence?
