[20]
“Undoubtedly,” said Philip; “at any rate, your legs appear so nearly equal in weight to your shoulders that I imagine if you were to go to the market commissioners and put your lower parts in the scale against your upper parts, as if they were loaves of bread,1 they would let you off without a fine.”“When you are ready to begin your lessons, Socrates,” said Callias, “pray invite me, so that I may be opposite you in the figures and may learn with you.”
1 Since the Athenians were dependent largely on imported grain, they developed an elaborate system of regulations, administered by several sets of officials, to protect the consumers from speculation and extortion. One set of officials controlled the weight and the price of bread.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 4. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1979.
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