five days, and the grave-stone shall not be larger than is sufficient to contain an inscription of four heroic verses.  The dead are only to be exposed for three days, which is long enough to test the reality of death.  The legislator will instruct the people that the body is a mere shadow or image, and that the soul, which is our true being, is gone to give an account of herself before the Gods below.  When they hear this, the good are full of hope, and the evil are terrified.  It is also said that not much can be done for any one after death.  And therefore while in life all man should be helped by their kindred to pass their days justly and holily, that they may depart in peace.  When a man loses a son or a brother, he should consider that the beloved one has gone away to fulfil his destiny in another place, and should not waste money over his lifeless remains.  Let the law then order a moderate funeral of five minae for the first class, of three for the second, of two for the third, of one for the fourth.  One of the guardians of the law, to be selected by the relatives, shall assist them in arranging the affairs of the deceased.  There would be a want of delicacy in prescribing that there should or should not be mourning for the dead.  But, at any rate, such mourning is to be confined to the house; there must be no processions in the streets, and the dead body shall be taken out of the city before daybreak.  Regulations about other forms of burial and about the non-burial of parricides and other sacrilegious persons have already been laid down.  The work of legislation is therefore nearly completed; its end will be finally accomplished when we have provided for the continuance of the state.

Do you remember the names of the Fates?  Lachesis, the giver of the lots, is the first of them; Clotho, the spinster, the second; Atropos, the unchanging one, is the third and last, who makes the threads of the web irreversible.  And we too want to make our laws irreversible, for the unchangeable quality in them will be the salvation of the state, and the source of health and order in the bodies and souls of our citizens.  ’But can such a quality be implanted?’ I think that it may; and at any rate we must try; for, after all our labour, to have been piling up a fabric which has no foundation would be too ridiculous.  ’What foundation would you lay?’ We have already instituted an assembly which was composed of the ten oldest guardians of the law, and secondly, of those who had received prizes of virtue, and thirdly, of the travellers who had gone abroad to enquire into the laws of other countries.  Moreover, each of the members was to choose a young man, of not less than thirty years of age, to be approved by the rest; and they were to meet at dawn, when all the world is at leisure.  This assembly will be an anchor to the vessel of state, and provide the means of permanence; for the constitutions of states, like all other things, have their proper saviours,