another--he must know what he is about. And yet legislation has a poetical
or rhetorical element, and must find words which will wing their way to
the hearts of men. Laws must be promulgated before they are put in
execution, and mankind must be reasoned with before they are punished. The
legislator, when he promulgates a particular law, will courteously entreat
those who are willing to hear his voice. Upon the rebellious only does the
heavy blow descend. A sermon and a law in one, blending the secular
punishment with the religious sanction, appeared to Plato a new idea which
might have a great result in reforming the world. The experiment had never
been tried of reasoning with mankind; the laws of others had never had any
preambles, and Plato seems to have great pleasure in contemplating his
discovery.

In these quaint forms of thought and language, great principles of morals
and legislation are enunciated by him for the first time. They all go back
to mind and God, who holds the beginning, middle, and end of all things in
His hand. The adjustment of the divine and human elements in the world is
conceived in the spirit of modern popular philosophy, differing not much
in the mode of expression. At first sight the legislator appears to be
impotent, for all things are the sport of chance. But we admit also that
God governs all things, and that chance and opportunity co-operate with
Him (compare the saying, that chance is the name of the unknown cause).
Lastly, while we acknowledge that God and chance govern mankind and
provide the conditions of human action, experience will not allow us to
deny a place to art. We know that there is a use in having a pilot, though
the storm may overwhelm him; and a legislator is required to provide for
the happiness of a state, although he will pray for favourable conditions
under which he may exercise his art.

BOOK V. Hear now, all ye who heard the laws about Gods and ancestors: Of