[468a]
“But now what of
the conduct of war? What should be the attitude of the soldiers to one
another and the enemy? Am I right in my notions or not?”
“Tell me what notions,” he said. “Anyone of
them who deserts his post, or flings away his weapons,1 or is guilty of any similar act of
cowardice, should be reduced to the artisan or farmer class, should he
not?” “By all means.” “And anyone
who is taken alive by the enemy2 we will make a present of to his
captors, shall we not, to deal with their catch3
1 The terms are technical. Cf. Laws 943 D ff., Lipsius, Das attische Recht（1908), ii. pp. 452 ff.
2 εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους: technical. Cf. inscription in Bulletin de corr. hellénique, xii. p. 224, n. 1τῶν ἁλόντων εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους.
3 ἄγρᾳ: the word is chosen to give a touch of Spartan, or, as we should say, Roman severity. Cf. Sophist 235 C, Aeschylus Eumenides 148, Horace, Odes, iii. 5. 33 ff. Plutarch, De aud. poet. 30, says that in Homer no Greeks are taken prisoners, only Trojans.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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