801
Athenian
Ath. That of auspicious speech; and must we have a kind of hymn that is altogether in all respects auspicious? Or shall I ordain that it shall be so, without further questioning?
Clinias
Clin. By all means ordain it so; for that is a law carried by a unanimous vote.
Athenian
Ath. What then, next to auspicious speech, should be the second law of music? Is it not that prayers should be made on each occasion to those gods to whom offering is made?
Athenian
Ath. The third law, I suppose, will be this,—that the poets, knowing that prayers are requests addressed to gods, must take the utmost care lest unwittingly they request a bad thing as though it were a good thing; for if such a prayer were made, it would prove, I fancy, a ludicrous blunder.
5
Athenian
Ath. Did not our argument convince us, a little while ago,Plat. Laws 742d. Plutus is the god of wealth. that no Plutus either in gold or in silver should dwell enshrined within the State?