plenipotentiaries, who would select and present to the chiefs those of all
their laws which they thought best. The chiefs in turn would make a
further selection, and would thus become the lawgivers of the state, which
they would form into an aristocracy or a monarchy. 'Probably.' In the
third stage various other forms of government would arise. This state of
society is described by Homer in speaking of the foundation of Dardania,
which, he says,

'was built at the foot of many-fountained Ida, for Ilium, the city of the
plain, as yet was not.'

Here, as also in the account of the Cyclopes, the poet by some divine
inspiration has attained truth. But to proceed with our tale. Ilium was
built in a wide plain, on a low hill, which was surrounded by streams
descending from Ida. This shows that many ages must have passed; for the
men who remembered the deluge would never have placed their city at the
mercy of the waters. When mankind began to multiply, many other cities
were built in similar situations. These cities carried on a ten years' war
against Troy, by sea as well as land, for men were ceasing to be afraid of
the sea, and, in the meantime, while the chiefs of the army were at Troy,
their homes fell into confusion. The youth revolted and refused to receive
their own fathers; deaths, murders, exiles ensued. Under the new name of
Dorians, which they received from their chief Dorieus, the exiles
returned: the rest of the story is part of the history of Sparta.

Thus, after digressing from the subject of laws into music and drinking,
we return to the settlement of Sparta, which in laws and institutions is
the sister of Crete. We have seen the rise of a first, second, and third
state, during the lapse of ages; and now we arrive at a fourth state, and
out of the comparison of all four we propose to gather the nature of laws