[461a]
“That
is,” he said, “the maturity and prime for both of body
and mind.” “Then, if anyone older or younger than the
prescribed age meddles with procreation for the state, we shall say that his
error is an impiety and an injustice, since he is begetting for the city a
child whose birth, if it escapes discovery, will not be attended by the
sacrifices and the prayers which the priests and priestesses and the entire
city prefer at the ceremonial marriages, that ever better offspring may
spring from good sires1 and from fathers helpful to
the state
1 Cf. Horace, Odes iv. 4. 29.
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