And if he does not pay at the time agreed, let him pay double; and although interest is forbidden in other cases, let the workman receive after the expiration of a year interest at the rate of an obol a month for every drachma (equal to 200 per cent. per ann.).  And we may observe by the way, in speaking of craftsmen, that if our military craft do their work well, the state will praise those who honour them, and blame those who do not honour them.  Not that the first place of honour is to be assigned to the warrior; a higher still is reserved for those who obey the laws.

Most of the dealings between man and man are now settled, with the exception of such as relate to orphans and guardianships.  These lead us to speak of the intentions of the dying, about which we must make regulations.  I say ‘must’; for mankind cannot be allowed to dispose of their property as they please, in ways at variance with one another and with law and custom.  But a dying person is a strange being, and is not easily managed; he wants to be master of all he has, and is apt to use angry words.  He will say,—­’May I not do what I will with my own, and give much to my friends, and little to my enemies?’ ‘There is reason in that.’  O Cleinias, in my judgment the older lawgivers were too soft-hearted, and wanting in insight into human affairs.  They were too ready to listen to the outcry of a dying man, and hence they were induced to give him an absolute power of bequest.  But I would say to him:—­O creature of a day, you know neither what is yours nor yourself:  for you and your property are not your own, but belong to your whole family, past and to come, and property and family alike belong to the State.  And therefore I must take out of your hands the charge of what you leave behind you, with a view to the interests of all.  And I hope that you will not quarrel with us, now that you are going the way of all mankind; we will do our best for you and yours when you are no longer here.  Let this be our address to the living and dying, and let the law be as follows:—­The father who has sons shall appoint one of them to be the heir of the lot; and if he has given any other son to be adopted by another, the adoption shall also be recorded; and if he has still a son who has no lot, and has a chance of going to a colony, he may give him what he has more than the lot; or if he has more than one son unprovided for, he may divide the money between them.  A son who has a house of his own, and a daughter who is betrothed, are not to share in the bequest of money; and the son or daughter who, having inherited one lot, acquires another, is to bequeath the new inheritance to the next of kin.  If a man have only daughters, he may adopt the husband of any one of them; or if he have lost a son, let him make mention of the circumstance in his will and adopt another.  If he have no children, he may give away a tenth of his acquired property to whomsoever he likes; but he must adopt an heir