Moderating the aims of wise legislation : on the purpose of Dorian politics in Book III of Plato's Laws

This report analyzes Plato’s treatment of Dorian politics in Book III of his Laws. That treatment tests and finds insufficient a premise stated in Book I, that virtue is the necessary and sufficient condition for political prosperity. This premise is used to support the criteria of wise legislation set down in Books I and II. In challenging this premise, Plato uses Book III to show that wise legislation cannot aim for or rely upon virtue alone, be it civic or philosophic; wise legislation must look to the lower necessities, and most of all, the necessity of a mixed regime.