309–310
Stranger
Str. Then can we say that such interweaving and binding together of the bad with the bad or of the good with the bad ever becomes enduring, or that any science would ever seriously make use of it in uniting such persons?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Of course not.
20
Stranger
Str. But we may say that in those only who were of noble nature from their birth and have been nurtured as befits such natures it is implanted by the laws, and for them this is the medicine prescribed by science, and, as we said before, this bond which unites unlike and divergent parts of virtue is more divine.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Very true.
Stranger
Str. The remaining bonds, moreover, being human, are not very difficult to devise or, after one has devised them, to create, when once this divine bond exists.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. How so? And what are the bonds?
Stranger
Str. Those made between states concerning intermarriages and the sharing of children by adoption, More or less equivalent to naturalization. It apparently means the adoption into one state of children born to citizens of another. This was not, as a rule, practiced in the Greek city states, but Plato here seems to recommend it. and those relating to portionings and marriages within the state. For most people make such bonds without proper regard to the procreation of children.
5
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. How is that?
Stranger
Str. The pursuit of wealth or power in connection with matrimony—but why should anyone ever take the trouble to blame it, as though it were worth arguing about?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. There is no reason for doing so.
