Ath.O my friends,we will say to them,hard is it for you,who are creatures of a day,to know what is yours-hard too,as the Delphic oracle says,to know yourselves at this hour.Now I,as the legislator,regard you and your possessions,not as belonging to yourselves,but as belonging to your whole family,both past and future,and yet more do regard both family and possessions as belonging to the state;wherefore,if some one steals upon you with flattery,when you are tossed on the sea of disease or old age,and persuades you to dispose of your property in a way that is not for the best,I will not,if I can help,allow this;but I will legislate with a view to the whole,considering what is best both for the state and for the family,esteeming as I ought the feelings of an individual at a lower rate;and I hope that you will depart in peace and kindness towards us,as you are going the way of all mankind;and we will impartially take care of all your concerns,not neglecting any of them,if we can possibly help.Let this be our prelude and consolation to the living and dying,Cleinias,and let the law be as follows:
He who makes a disposition in a testament,if he be the father of a family,shall first of all inscribe as his heir any one of his sons whom he may think fit;and if he gives any of his children to be adopted by another citizen,let the adoption be inscribed.And if he has a son remaining over and above who has not been adopted upon any lot,and who may be expected to be sent out to a colony according to law,to him his father may give as much as he pleases of the rest of his property,with the exception of the paternal lot and the fixtures on the lot.And if there are other sons,let him distribute among them what there is more than the lot in such portions as he pleases.And if one of the sons has already a house of his own,he shall not give him of the money,nor shall he give money to a daughter who has been betrothed,but if she is not betrothed he may give her money.And if any of the sons or daughters shall be found to have another lot of land in the country,which has accrued after the testament has been made,they shall leave the lot which they have inherited to the heir of the man who has made the will.If the testator has no sons,but only daughters,let him choose the husband of any one of his daughters whom he pleases,and leave and inscribe him as his son and heir.And if a man have lost his son,when he was a child,and before he could be reckoned among grown-up men,whether his own or an adopted son,let the testator make mention of the circumstance and inscribe whom he will to be his second son in hope of better fortune.If the testator has no children at all,he may select and give to any one whom he pleases the tenth part of the property which he has acquired;but let him not be blamed if he gives all the rest to his adopted son,and makes a friend of him according to the law.If the sons of a man require guardians,and:the father when he dies leaves a will appointing guardians,those have been named by him,whoever they are and whatever their number be,if they are able and willing to take charge of the children,shall be recognized according to the provisions of the will.But if he dies and has made no will,or a will in which he has appointed no guardians,then the next of kin,two on the father's and two on the mother's side,and one of the friends of the deceased,shall have the authority of guardians,whom the guardians of the law shall appoint when the orphans require guardians.And the fifteen eldest guardians of the law shall have the whole care and charge of the orphans,divided into threes according to seniority-a body of three for one year,and then another body of three for the next year,until the cycle of the five periods is complete;and this,as far as possible,is to continue always.If a man dies,having made no will at all,and leaves sons who require the care of guardians,they shall share in the protection which is afforded by these laws.
And if a man dying by some unexpected fate leaves daughters behind him,let him pardon the legislator if he gives them in marriage,he have a regard only to two out of three conditions-nearness of kin and the preservation of the lot,and omits the third condition,which a father would naturally consider,for he would choose out of all the citizens a son for himself,and a husband for his daughter,with a view to his character and disposition-the father,say,shall forgive the legislator if he disregards this,which to him is an impossible consideration.Let the law about these matters where practicable be as follows:-If a man dies without making a will,and leaves behind him daughters,let his brother,being the son of the same father or of the same mother,having no lot,marry the daughter and have the lot of the dead man.And if he have no brother,but only a brother's son,in like manner let them marry,if they be of a suitable age;and if there be not even a brother's son,but only the son of a sister,let them do likewise,and so in the fourth degree,if there be only the testator's father's brother,or in the fifth degree,his father's brother's son,or in the sixth degree,the child of his father's sister.Let kindred be always reckoned in this way:if a person leaves daughters the relationship shall proceed upwards through brothers and sisters,and brothers'and sisters'children,and first the males shall come,and after them the females in the same family.