Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Introductory — Twice during a literary career of half a century, .plato addressed his thoughts to a wider public than the literary circle or the philo sophical school. In’ the meridian of his life he produced the Republic, and, in old age, after a period of changeful activity, he indited what has come down to us in the twelve books of the Laws. In the interim, through much effort and disillusion ment, his thoughts had widened to embrace the whole Hellenic world; whereas in the Republ the horizon is still Athenian; althoughthe enr vironing cloud-land is illumined with cross-lights from a glorified Sparta, and from the wisdom of the greater Hellas in the distant west.