Memorabilia

Then have you ever found me dealing in perjury or calumny, or stirring up strife between friends or fellow-citizens, or doing any other unjust act?I have not.To abstain from what is unjust is just, don’t you think?Even now, Socrates, you are clearly endeavouring to avoid stating what you think Justice to be. You are saying not what the just do, but what they don’t do.

Well, I thought that unwillingness to do injustice was sufficient proof of Justice. But, if you don’t think so, see whether you like this better: I say that what is lawful is just.[*](Cyropaedia I. iii. 17.)Do you mean, Socrates, that lawful and just are the same thing?I do.

Because I don’t see what you mean by lawful or what you mean by just.Does the expression laws of a state convey a meaning to you?It does.And what do you think they are?Covenants made by the citizens whereby they have enacted what ought to be done and what ought to be avoided.Then would not that citizen who acts in accordance with these act lawfully, and he who transgresses them act unlawfully?Yes, certainly.And would not he who obeys them do what is just, and he who disobeys them do what is unjust?Certainly.Then would not he who does what is just be just, and he who does what is unjust be unjust?Of course.Consequently he who acts lawfully is just, and he who acts unlawfully is unjust.

Laws, said Hippias, can hardly be thought of much account, Socrates, or observance of them, seeing that the very men who passed them often reject and amend them.Yes, said Socrates, and after going to war, cities often make peace again.To be sure.Then is there any difference, do you think, between belittling those who obey the laws on the ground that the laws may be annulled, and blaming those who behave well in the wars on the ground that peace may be made? Or do you really censure those who are eager to help their fatherland in the wars?No, of course not.

Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian now — have you realised that he would not have made Sparta to differ from other cities in any respect, had he not established obedience to the laws most securely in her? Among rulers in cities, are you not aware that those who do most to make the citizens obey the laws are the best, and that the city in which the citizens are most obedient to the laws has the best time in peace and is irresistible in war?