[355c]
will be truly laid down by you as law, since it really makes those who obey it blessed1; whereas the phrase which terms the rich “blessed” is not only a miserable one in itself, being the senseless phrase of women and children, but also renders those who believe it equally miserable. That this exhortation of mine is true you will learn by actual experience if you make trial of what I am now saying concerning laws; for in all matters experience is held to be the truest test.2And when you have accepted laws of this kind, inasmuch as
1 cf. Plat. Laws 631b; also Plat. L. 355c infra, Plat. L. 6.323d.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 7 translated by R.G. Bury. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966.
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