[480] Plato, Legg. xii. p. 967 A-D. διανοίαις βουλήσεως ἀγαθῶν περὶ τελουμένων … μήποτ’ ἂν ἄψυχα ὄντα οὕτως εἰς ἀκρίβειαν θαυμαστοῖς λογισμοῖς ἂν ἐχρῆτο, νοῦν μὴ κεκτημένα … τόν τε εἰρημένον ἐν τοῖς ἄστροις νοῦν τῶν ὄντων.
These are the capital religious or kosmical dogmas which the members of the Nocturnal Council must embrace and expound to others, together with the mathematical and musical teaching suitable to illustrate them. Application must be made of these dogmas to improve the laws and customs of the city, and the dispositions of the citizens.[481]
[481] Plato, Legg. xii. p. 967 E.
When this Nocturnal Council, with its members properly trained and qualified, shall be established in the akropolis — symbolising the conjunction of Reason with the head or with the two knowledge-giving senses — the Magnêtic City may securely be entrusted to it, with certainty of an admirable result.[482]
[482] Plato, Legg. xii. p. 969 B.
EPINOMIS.
Leges close, without describing the education proper for the Nocturnal Counsellors. Epinomis — supplying this defect.
Here closes the dialogue called Leges: somewhat prematurely, since the peculiar training indispensable for these Nocturnal Counsellors has not yet been declared. The short dialogue called Epinomis supplies this defect. It purports to be a second day’s conversation between the same trio.
The Athenian declares his plan of education — Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy.