purify the house of the buyer.
He who exchanges money for money, or beast for beast, must warrant
either of them to be sound and good. As in the case of other laws, let
us have a preamble, relating to all this class of crime. Adulteration
is a kind of falsehood about which the many commonly say that at proper
times the practice may often be right, but they do not define at what
times. But the legislator will tell them, that no man should invoke the
Gods when he is practising deceit or fraud, in word or deed. For he is
the enemy of heaven, first, who swears falsely, not thinking of the Gods
by whom he swears, and secondly, he who lies to his superiors. (Now
the superiors are the betters of inferiors,--the elder of the younger,
parents of children, men of women, and rulers of subjects.) The trader
who cheats in the agora is a liar and is perjured--he respects neither
the name of God nor the regulations of the magistrates. If after hearing
this he will still be dishonest, let him listen to the law:--The seller
shall not have two prices on the same day, neither must he puff his
goods, nor offer to swear about them. If he break the law, any citizen
not less than thirty years of age may smite him. If he sell adulterated
goods, the slave or metic who informs against him shall have the goods;
the citizen who brings such a charge, if he prove it, shall offer up the
goods in question to the Gods of the agora; or if he fail to prove it,
shall be dishonoured. He who is detected in selling adulterated goods
shall be deprived of them, and shall receive a stripe for every drachma
of their value. The wardens of the agora and the guardians of the law
shall take experienced persons into counsel, and draw up regulations for
the agora. These shall be inscribed on a column in front of the court
of the wardens of the agora.--As to the wardens of the city, enough
has been said already. But if any omissions in the law are afterwards
discovered, the wardens and the guardians shall supply them, and have
them inscribed after the original regulations on a column before the
court of the wardens of the city.