And to men living under this second polity there remains a work to be accomplished which is far from being small or insignificant,but is the greatest of all works,and ordained by the appointment of righteous law.For the life which may be truly said to be concerned with the virtue of body and soul is twice,or more than twice,as full of toil and trouble as the pursuit after Pythian and Olympic victories,which debars a man from every employment of life.For there ought to be no bye-work interfering with the greater work of providing the necessary exercise and nourishment for the body,and instruction and education for the soul.Night and day are not long enough for the accomplishment of their perfection and consummation;and therefore to this end all freemen ought to arrange the way in which they will spend their time during the whole course of the day,from morning till evening and from evening till the morning of the next sunrise.There may seem to be some impropriety in the legislator determining minutely the numberless details of the management of the house,including such particulars as the duty of wakefulness in those who are to be perpetual watchmen of the whole city;for that any citizen should continue during the whole of any night in sleep,instead of being seen by all his servants,always the first to awake and get up-this,whether the regulation is to be called a law or only a practice,should be deemed base and unworthy of a freeman;also that the mistress of the house should be awakened by her handmaidens instead of herself first awakening them,is what the slaves,male and female,and the serving-boys,and,if that were possible,everybody and everything in the house should regard as base.If they rise early,they may all of them do much of their public and of their household business,as magistrates in the city,and masters and mistresses in their private houses,before the sun is up.Much sleep is not required by nature,either for our souls or bodies,or for the actions which they perform.
For no one who is asleep is good for anything,any more than if he were dead;but he of us who has the most regard for life and reason keeps awake as long he can,reserving only so much time for sleep as is expedient for health;and much sleep is not required,if the habit of moderation be once rightly formed.Magistrates in states who keep awake at night are terrible to the bad,whether enemies or citizens,and are honoured and reverenced by the just and temperate,and are useful to themselves and to the whole state.
A night which is passed in such a manner,in addition to all the above-mentioned advantages,infuses a sort of courage into the minds of the citizens.When the day breaks,the time has arrived for youth to go to their schoolmasters.Now neither sheep nor any other animals can live without a shepherd,nor can children be left without tutors,or slaves without masters.And of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable,inasmuch as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated;he is the most insidious,sharp-witted,and insubordinate of animals.Wherefore he must be bound with many bridles;in the first place,when he gets away from mothers and nurses,he must be under the management of tutors on account of his childishness and foolishness;then,again,being a freeman,he must be controlled by teachers,no matter what they teach,and by studies;but he is also a slave,and in that regard any freeman who comes in his way may punish him and his tutor and his instructor,if any of them does anything wrong;and he who comes across him and does not inflict upon him the punishment which he deserves,shall incur the greatest disgrace;and let the guardian of the law,who is the director of education,see to him who coming in the way of the offences which we have mentioned,does not chastise them when he ought,or chastises them in a way which he ought not;let him keep a sharp look-out,and take especial care of the training of our children,directing their natures,and always turning them to good according to the law.
But how can our law sufficiently train the director of education.