You see that he quite knew triremes on the sea, in the neighbourhood of fighting men, to be an evil;—­lions might be trained in that way to fly from a herd of deer.  Moreover, naval powers which owe their safety to ships, do not give honour to that sort of warlike excellence which is most deserving of it.  For he who owes his safety to the pilot and the captain, and the oarsman, and all sorts of rather inferior persons, cannot rightly give honour to whom honour is due.  But how can a state be in a right condition which cannot justly award honour?

Cleinias:  It is hardly possible, I admit; and yet, Stranger, we Cretans are in the habit of saying that the battle of Salamis was the salvation of Hellas.

Athenian:  Why, yes; and that is an opinion which is widely spread both among Hellenes and barbarians.  But Megillus and I say rather, that the battle of Marathon was the beginning, and the battle of Plataea the completion, of the great deliverance, and that these battles by land made the Hellenes better; whereas the sea-fights of Salamis and Artemisium—­for I may as well put them both together—­made them no better, if I may say so without offence about the battles which helped to save us.  And in estimating the goodness of a state, we regard both the situation of the country and the order of the laws, considering that the mere preservation and continuance of life is not the most honourable thing for men, as the vulgar think, but the continuance of the best life, while we live; and that again, if I am not mistaken, is a remark which has been made already.

Cleinias:  Yes.

Athenian:  Then we have only to ask, whether we are taking the course which we acknowledge to be the best for the settlement and legislation of states.

Cleinias:  The best by far.

Athenian:  And now let me proceed to another question:  Who are to be the colonists?  May any one come out of all Crete; and is the idea that the population in the several states is too numerous for the means of subsistence?  For I suppose that you are not going to send out a general invitation to any Hellene who likes to come.  And yet I observe that to your country settlers have come from Argos and Aegina and other parts of Hellas.  Tell me, then, whence do you draw your recruits in the present enterprise?

Cleinias:  They will come from all Crete; and of other Hellenes, Peloponnesians will be most acceptable.  For, as you truly observe, there are Cretans of Argive descent; and the race of Cretans which has the highest character at the present day is the Gortynian, and this has come from Gortys in the Peloponnesus.