pottery, for the weaving and plastic arts do not require the use of
metals. In those days they were neither poor nor rich, and there was no
insolence or injustice among them; for they were of noble natures, and
lived up to their principles, and believed what they were told; knowing
nothing of land or naval warfare, or of legal practices or party
conflicts, they were simpler and more temperate, and also more just than
the men of our day. 'Very true.' I am showing whence the need of lawgivers
arises, for in primitive ages they neither had nor wanted them. Men lived
according to the customs of their fathers, in a simple manner, under a
patriarchal government, such as still exists both among Hellenes and
barbarians, and is described in Homer as prevailing among the Cyclopes:--

'They have no laws, and they dwell in rocks or on the tops of mountains,
and every one is the judge of his wife and children, and they do not
trouble themselves about one another.'

'That is a charming poet of yours, though I know little of him, for in
Crete foreign poets are not much read.' 'But he is well known in Sparta,
though he describes Ionian rather than Dorian manners, and he seems to
take your view of primitive society.' May we not suppose that government
arose out of the union of single families who survived the destruction,
and were under the rule of patriarchs, because they had originally
descended from a single father and mother? 'That is very probable.' As
time went on, men increased in number, and tilled the ground, living in a
common habitation, which they protected by walls against wild beasts; but
the several families retained the laws and customs which they separately
received from their first parents. They would naturally like their own
laws better than any others, and would be already formed by them when they
met in a common society: thus legislation imperceptibly began among them.
For in the next stage the associated families would appoint