Hence we
infer that sometimes and in certain cases laws may be changed; but
when we look at the matter from another point of view, great caution
would seem to be required. For the habit of lightly changing the
laws is an evil, and, when the advantage is small, some errors both of
lawgivers and rulers had better be left; the citizen will not gain
so much by making the change as he will lose by the habit of
disobedience. The analogy of the arts is false; a change in a law is a
very different thing from a change in an art. For the law has no power
to command obedience except that of habit, which can only be given
by time, so that a readiness to change from old to new laws
enfeebles the power of the law. Even if we admit that the laws are
to be changed, are they all to be changed, and in every state? And are
they to be changed by anybody who likes, or only by certain persons?
These are very important questions; and therefore we had better
reserve the discussion of them to a more suitable occasion.
IX
In the governments of Lacedaemon and Crete, and indeed in all
governments, two points have to be considered: first, whether any
particular law is good or bad, when compared with the perfect state;
secondly, whether it is or is not consistent with the idea and
character which the lawgiver has set before his citizens.
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