[Laws by Plato]@TWC D-Link bookLaws BOOK VII 35/38
For the legislator appears to have a duty imposed upon him which goes beyond mere legislation.
There is something over and above law which lies in a region between admonition and law, and has several times occurred to us in the course of discussion; for example, in the education of very young children there were things, as we maintain, which are not to be defined, and to regard them as matters of positive law is a great absurdity. Now, our laws and the whole constitution of our state having been thus delineated, the praise of the virtuous citizen is not complete when he is described as the person who serves the laws best and obeys them most, but the higher form of praise is that which describes him as the good citizen who passes through life undefiled and is obedient to the words of the legislator, both when he is giving laws and when he assigns praise and blame.
This is the truest word that can be spoken in praise of a citizen; and the true legislator ought not only to write his laws, but also to interweave with them all such things as seem to him honourable and dishonourable.
And the perfect citizen ought to seek to strengthen these no less than the principles of law which are sanctioned by punishments.
I will adduce an example which will clear up my meaning, and will be a sort of witness to my words.
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