820–821
Clinias
Clin. Yes, obviously.
Athenian
Ath. Shall we not, then, lay these down as necessary subjects of instruction, so that there may be no gap in our code of laws? Yet we ought to lay them down provisionally—like pledges capable of redemption—apart from the rest of our constitution, in case they fail to satisfy either us who enact them or you for whom they are enacted.
Clinias
Clin. Yes, that is the right way to lay them down.
Athenian
Ath. Consider next whether or not we approve of the children learning astronomy.
Clinias
Clin. Just tell us your opinion.
20
Athenian
Ath. About this there is a very strange fact—indeed, quite intolerable.
Clinias
Clin. What is that?
Athenian
Ath. We commonly assert that men ought not to enquire concerning the greatest god and about the universe, nor busy themselves in searching out their causes, since it is actually impious to do so; whereas the right course, in all probability, is exactly the opposite.
Clinias
Clin. Explain yourself.
Athenian
Ath. My statement sounds paradoxical, and it might be thought to be unbecoming in an old man; but the fact is that, when a man believes that a science is fair and true and beneficial to the State and altogether well-pleasing to God, he cannot possibly refrain any longer from declaring it.Cp. Plat. Laws 779b.
Clinias
Clin. That is reasonable; but what science of this kind shall we find on the subject of stars?
5
Athenian
Ath. At present, my good sirs, nearly all we Greeks say what is false about those mighty deities, the Sun and Moon.
Clinias
Clin. What is the falsehood?