Wherefore the soul also is second (or next to God) in honour; and third, as every one will perceive, comes the honour of the body in natural order.

Having determined this, we have next to consider that there is a natural honour of the body, and that of honours some are true and some are counterfeit.

To decide which are which is the business of the legislator; and he, I suspect, would intimate that they are as follows:--Honour is not to be given to the fair body, or to the strong or the swift or the tall, or to the healthy body (although many may think otherwise), any more than to their opposites; but the mean states of all these habits are by far the safest and most moderate; for the one extreme makes the soul braggart and insolent, and the other, illiberal and base; and money, and property, and distinction all go to the same tune.

The excess of any of these things is apt to be a source of hatreds and divisions among states and individuals; and the defect of them is commonly a cause of slavery.

And, therefore, I would not have any one fond of heaping up riches for the sake of his children, in order that he may leave them as rich as possible.