Laws

Plato's longest work and probably his last, a dialogue in twelve books said to have been left unrevised at his death. An unnamed Athenian, a Cretan and a Spartan talk as they walk to a shrine of Zeus on Crete. The Athenian criticises their cities for training citizens only for war, defends well-run drinking parties as a test of self-control, and compares human beings to puppets pulled by the strings of passions and the golden cord of reason. After a survey of how constitutions rise and fall, the Cretan reveals he must help found a colony, and the three draft its laws. The city is to have 5,040 households, a mixed constitution between monarchy and democracy, and laws that open with preambles meant to persuade before they command. Book X argues that the gods exist, care for humans and cannot be bribed. The work ends with the Nocturnal Council that guards the laws.

It is Plato's most practical political work, more concerned with how real laws can persuade and educate citizens than with the ideal city of the Republic.