Cle。Thatistrue。
Ath。Maywenotfairlymakeanswertohimonbehalfofthepoets？
Cle。Whatanswershallwemaketohim？
Ath。Thatthepoet，accordingtothetraditionwhichhaseverprevailedamongus，andisacceptedofallmen，whenhesitsdownonthetripodofthemuse，isnotinhisrightmind；likeafountain，heallowstoflowoutfreelywhatevercomesin，andhisartbeingimitative，heisoftencompelledtorepresentmenofoppositedispositions，andthustocontradicthimself；neithercanhetellwhetherthereismoretruthinonethingthathehassaidthaninanother。thisisnotthecaseinalaw；thelegislatormustgivenottworulesaboutthesamething，butoneonly。Takeanexamplefromwhatyouhavejustbeensaying。Ofthreekindsoffunerals，thereisonewhichistooextravagant，anotheristooniggardly，thethirdisamean；andyouchooseandapproveandorderthelastwithoutqualification。ButifIhadanextremelyrichwife，andshebademeburyheranddescribeherburialinapoem，Ishouldpraisetheextravagantsort；andapoormiserlyman，whohadnotmuchmoneytospend，wouldapproveoftheniggardly；andthemanofmoderatemeans，whowashimselfmoderate，wouldpraiseamoderatefuneral。
Nowyouinthecapacityoflegislatormustnotbarelysay“amoderatefuneral，“butyoumustdefinewhatmoderationis，andhowmuch；unlessyouaredefinite，youmustnotsupposethatyouarespeakingalanguagethatcanbecomelaw。