Kitap 3
696
Ath. Yet, in truth, you have made a reply, and a reasonable one. For if you had declared for either of the alternatives in my question, you would have said what is, to my mind, quite out of tune.
696
Meg. So it has turned out to be all right.
696
Ath. Very good. Accordingly, the additional element in objects deserving of honor or dishonor will be one that demands not speech so much as a kind of speechless silence.i.e., temperance, regarded as merely an adjunct to civic merit, requires no further discussion at this point.
696
Meg. I suppose you mean temperance.
696
Ath. Yes. And of the rest, that which, with the addition of temperance, benefits us most would best deserve to be held in the highest honor, and the second in degree of benefit put second in order of honor; and so with each of the others in succession—to each it will be proper to assign the honor due to its rank.
697
Meg. Just so.
697
Ath. Well then, shall we not declare that the distribution of these things is the lawgiver’s task?
697
Meg. Certainly.
697
Ath. Is it your wish that we should hand over the whole distribution to him, to deal with every case and all the details, while we—as legal enthusiasts ourselves also—confine ourselves to making a threefold division, and endeavor to distinguish what comes first in importance, and what second and third?Cp. Plat. Laws 631b, c; Plat. Laws 661a ff.; Plat. Laws 726a ff.; Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1098b 12 ff.
697
Meg. By all means.
