Kitap 4
4.19
Do you know what is meant by unwritten laws, Hippias?Yes, those that are uniformly observed in every country.Could you say that men made them?Nay, how could that be, seeing that they cannot all meet together and do not speak the same language?Then by whom have these laws been made, do you suppose?I think that the gods made these laws for men. For among all men the first law is to fear the gods.
4.20
Is not the duty of honouring parents another universal law?Yes, that is another.And that parents shall not have sexual intercourse with their children nor children with their parents?Cyropaedia V. i. 10.No, I don’t think that is a law of God.Why so?Because I notice that some transgress it.
4.21
Yes, and they do many other things contrary to the laws. But surely the transgressors of the laws ordained by the gods pay a penalty that a man can in no wise escape, as some, when they transgress the laws ordained by man, escape punishment, either by concealment or by violence.
4.22
And pray what sort of penalty is it, Socrates, that may not be avoided by parents and children who have intercourse with one another?The greatest, of course. For what greater penalty can men incur when they beget children than begetting them badly?
