Pagina 206 van 1391

But then our rulers must be skilful physicians of the State, for

they will often need a strong dose of falsehood in order to bring

about desirable unions between their subjects. The good must be

paired with the good, and the bad with the bad, and the offspring

of the one must be reared, and of the other destroyed; in this

way the flock will be preserved in prime condition. Hymeneal

festivals will be celebrated at times fixed with an eye to

population, and the brides and bridegrooms will meet at them; and

by an ingenious system of lots the rulers will contrive that the

brave and the fair come together, and that those of inferior

breed are paired with inferiors-the latter will ascribe to chance

what is really the invention of the rulers. And when children are

born, the offspring of the brave and fair will be carried to an

enclosure in a certain part of the city, and there attended by

suitable nurses; the rest will be hurried away to places unknown.