Laws

Laws (Nomoi), dialogue by Plato, his last and longest work (in twelve books), probably left unrevised at his death. It lacks the vigour and charm of the earlier dialogues; the style is tortuous and the sentences very long. The interlocutors are three elderly men, an unnamed Athenian, Cleinias a Cretan, and a Spartan Megillus. The dramatic situation is fully revealed only at the end of book 3. The Cretans have decided to refound a deserted city, and the task has been entrusted to ten commissioners, of whom Cleinias is chief. Cleinias and Megillus have met an Athenian and are walking on a midsummer's day from Cnossus to the cave and temple of Dictē, the traditional birthplace of Zeus. Their conversation turns to the merits of the traditional lawgivers of Sparta and Cnossus, Lycurgus and Minos, whom the Athenian criticizes for directing their laws towards superiority in war, whereas peace not war is the business of the legislator. The Athenian stranger seems to have had experience of life in a city under a tyrant, and to represent the views of an organized group of scientific thinkers (such as Plato's Academy at Athens), being knowledgeable about jurisprudence and constitutional theory. The conversation therefore develops into a complete outline of a constitution and code of laws for the new city, and the Athenian lays down for Cleinias the number of its citizens and their distribution, its organization in respect of magistrates, marriage, property (including slaves), and the material conditions of life generally, education, festivals, and other regulations. The three last books are mainly concerned with criminal offences and their expiations. The general purpose of the Laws seems to be to provide a model of procedure for those members of the Academy who at this time were often called upon to assist in drawing up a written constitution and laws for some newly founded city.