712–713
Clinias
Clin. And I, Megillus, find myself equally perplexed; for I find it very difficult to affirm that our Cnosian polity is any one of these.
Athenian
Ath. Yes, my good Sirs; for you do, in fact, partake in a number of polities. But those we named just now are not polities, but arrangements of States which rule or serve parts of themselves, and each is named after the ruling power. But if the State ought to be named after any such thing, the name it should have borne is that of the God who is the true ruler of rational men.
Clinias
Clin. Who is that God?
Athenian
Ath. May we, then, do a little more story-telling, if we are to answer this question suitably?
Clinias
Clin. Should we not do so?
Athenian
Ath. We should. Long ages before even those cities existed whose formation we have described above, there existed in the time of Cronos, it is said, a most prosperous government and settlement, on which the best of the States now existing is modelled.Cp.Politic. 271.
5
Clinias
Clin. Evidently it is most important to hear about it.
Athenian
Ath. I, for one, think so; and that is why I have introduced the mention of it.
Megillus
Meg. You were perfectly right to do so; and, since your story is pertinent, you will be quite right in going on with it to the end.