[1335b]
[1]
and the question of weather by the natural
philosophers, who say that north winds are more favorable than south. The particular kind of bodily constitution
in the parents that will be most beneficial for the offspring must be dwelt on
more in detail in our discussion of the management of children1; it is sufficient to speak of it in outline now. The athlete's
habit of body is not serviceable for bodily fitness as required by a citizen,
nor for health and parentage, nor yet is a habit that is too valetudinarian and
unfit for labor, but the condition that lies between them. The bodily habit
therefore should have been trained by exercise, but not by exercises that are
violent, and not for one form of labor only, as is the athlete's habit of body,
but for the pursuits of free men. And these arrangements must be provided alike
for men and women. And pregnant
women also must take care of their bodies, not avoiding exercise nor adopting a
low diet; this it is easy for the lawgiver to secure by ordering them to make a
journey daily for the due worship of the deities whose office is the control of
childbirth. As regards the mind, however, on the contrary it suits them to pass
the time more indolently than as regards their bodies; for children before birth
are evidently affected by the mother just as growing plants are by the
earth.As to exposing
or
[20]
rearing the children born, let
there be a law that no deformed child shall be reared; but on the ground of
number of children, if the regular customs hinder any of those born being
exposed, there must be a limit fixed to the procreation of offspring, and if any
people have a child as a result of intercourse in contravention of these
regulations, abortion must be practised on it before it has developed sensation
and life; for the line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by
the fact of having sensation and being alive. And since the beginning of the fit age for a man and for a
woman, at which they are to begin their union, has been defined, let it also be
decided for how long a time it is suitable for them to serve the state in the
matter of producing children. For the offspring of too elderly parents, as those
of too young ones, are born imperfect both in body and mind, and the children of
those that have arrived at old age are weaklings. Therefore the period must be
limited to correspond with the mental prime; and this in the case of most men is
the age stated by some of the poets, who measure men's age by periods of seven
years,2—it is about the age of fifty. Therefore persons exceeding this age by four or five years
must be discharged from the duty of producing children for the community, and
for the rest of their lives if they have intercourse it must be manifestly for
the sake of health or for some other similar reason. As to intercourse with
another woman or man, in general it must be dishonorable for them to be known to
take any part in it in any circumstances whatsoever as long as they are husband
and wife and bear those names, but any who may be discovered doing anything of
the sort during their period of parentage
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