第91章 BOOK VIII(10)

In the second place,our citizens should have separate houses duly ordered,and this will be the order proper for men like them.There shall be twelve hamlets,one in the middle of each twelfth portion,and in each hamlet they shall first set apart a market-place,and the temples of the Gods,and of their attendant demigods;and if there be any local deities of the Magnetes,or holy seats of other ancient deities,whose memory has been preserved,to these let them pay their ancient honours.But Hestia,and Zeus,and Athene will have temples everywhere together with the God who presides in each of the twelve districts.And the first erection of houses shall be around these temples,where the ground is highest,in order to provide the safest and most defensible place of retreat for the guards.All the rest of the country they shall settle in the following manner:-They shall make thirteen divisions of the craftsmen;one of them they shall establish in the city,and this,again,they shall subdivide into twelve lesser divisions,among the twelve districts of the city,and the remainder shall be distributed in the country round about;and in each village they shall settle various classes of craftsmen,with a view to the convenience of the husbandmen.And the chief officers of the wardens of the country shall superintend all these matters,and see how many of them,and which class of them,each place requires;and fix them where they are likely to be least troublesome,and most useful to the husbandman.And the wardens of the city shall see to similar matters in the city.

Now the wardens of the agora ought to see to the details of the agora.Their first care,after the temples which are in the agora have been seen to,should be to prevent any one from doing any in dealings between man and man;in the second;place,as being inspectors of temperance and violence,they should chastise him who requires chastisement.Touching articles of gale,they should first see whether the articles which the citizens are under regulations to sell to strangers are sold to them,as the law ordains.And let the law be as follows:-on the first day of the month,the persons in charge,whoever they are,whether strangers or slaves,who have the charge on behalf of the citizens,shall produce to the strangers the portion which falls to them,in the first place,a twelfth portion of the corn;-the stranger shall purchase corn for the whole month,and other cereals,on the first market day;and on the tenth day of the month the one party shall sell,and the other buy,liquids sufficient to last during the whole month;and on the twenty-third day there shall be a sale of animals by those who are willing to sell to the people who want to buy,and of implements and other things which husbandmen sell (such as skins and all kinds of clothing,either woven or made of felt and other goods of the same sort),and which strangers are compelled to buy and purchase of others.As to the retail trade in these things,whether of barley or wheat set apart for meal and flour,or any other kind of food,no one shall sell them to citizens or their slaves,nor shall any one buy of a citizen;but let the stranger sell them in the market of strangers,to artisans and their slaves,making an exchange of wine and food,which is commonly called retail trade.And butchers shall offer for sale parts of dismembered animals to the strangers,and artisans,and their servants.Let any stranger who likes buy fuel from day to day wholesale,from those who have the care of it in the country,and let him sell to the strangers as much he pleases and when he pleases.As to other goods and implements which are likely to be wanted,they shall sell them in common market,at any place which the guardians of the law and the wardens of the market and city,choosing according to their judgment,shall determine;at such places they shall exchange money for goods,and goods for money,neither party giving credit to the other;and he who gives credit must be satisfied,whether he obtain his money not,for in such exchanges he will not be protected by law.But whenever property has been bought or sold,greater in quantity or value than is allowed by the law,which has determined within what limited a man may increase and diminish his possessions,let the excess be registered in the books of the guardians of the law;in case of diminution,let there be an erasure made.And let the same rule be observed about the registration of the property of the metics.Any one who likes may come and be a metic on certain conditions;a foreigner,if he likes,and is able to settle,may dwell in the land,but he must practise an art,and not abide more than twenty years from the time at which he has registered himself;and he shall pay no sojourner's tax,however small,except good conduct,nor any other tax for buying and selling.But when the twenty years have expired,he shall take his property with him and depart.And if in the course of these years he should chance to distinguish himself by any considerable benefit which he confers on the state,and he thinks that he can persuade the council and assembly,either to grant him delay in leaving the country,or to allow him to remain for the whole of his life,let him go and persuade the city,and whatever they assent to at his instance shall take effect.For the children of the metics,being artisans,and of fifteen years of age,let the time of their sojourn commence after their fifteenth year;and let them remain for twenty years,and then go where they like;but any of them who wishes to remain,may do so,if he can persuade the council and assembly.And if he depart,let him erase all the entries which have been made by him in the register kept by the magistrates.