_Sokr._--Well, then! do you think that just things are just and unjust things are unjust? _Comp._--I think they are. _Sokr._--Do not all men in all communities, among the Persians as well as here, now as well as formerly, think so too? _Comp._--Unquestionably they do. _Sokr._--Are not things which weigh more, accounted heavier; and things which weigh less, accounted lighter, here, at Carthage, and everywhere else?[21] _Comp._--Certainly. _Sokr._--It seems, then, that honourable things are accounted honourable everywhere, and dishonourable things dishonourable? not the reverse. _Comp._--Yes, it is so. _Sokr._--Then, speaking universally, existent things or realities (not non-existents) are accounted existent and real, among us as well as among all other men? _Comp._--I think they are. _Sokr._--Whoever therefore fails in attaining the real fails in attaining the lawful.[22] _Comp._--As you now put it, Sokrates, it would seem that the same things are accounted lawful both by us at all times, and by all the rest of mankind besides. But when I reflect that we are perpetually changing our laws, I cannot persuade myself of what you affirm. [Footnote 21: Plato, Minos, 316 A. [Greek: Po/teron de\ ta\ plei=on e)/lkonta baru/tera nomi/zetai e)ntha/de, ta\ de\ e)/latton, koupho/tera, ê)\ tou)nanti/on?] The verb [Greek: nomi/zetai] deserves attention here, being the same word as has been employed in regard to law, and derived from [Greek: no/mos].] [Footnote 22: Plato, Minos, 316 B. [Greek: ou)kou=n, ô(s kata\ pa/ntôn ei)pei=n, ta\ o)/nta nomi/zetai ei)=nai, ou) ta\ mê\ o)/nta, kai\ par' ê(mi=n kai\ para\ toi=s a)/llois a(/pasin.] _Comp._ [Greek: E)/moige dokei=.] _Sokr._ [Greek: O(\s a)\n a)/ra tou= o)/ntos a(marta/nê|, tou= nomi/mou a(marta/nei.]] [Side-note: There are laws of health and of cure, composed by the few physicians wise upon those subjects, and unanimously declared by them. So also there are laws of farming, gardening, cookery, declared by the few wise in those respective pursuits. In like manner, the laws of a city are the judgments declared by the few wise men who know how to rule.]