[344c]
And this is the reason why every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects1 carefully avoids writing, lest thereby he may possibly cast them as a prey to the envy and stupidity of the public. In one word, then, our conclusion must be that whenever one sees a man's written compositions—whether they be the laws of a legislator or anything else in any other form,—these are not his most serious works, if so be that the writer himself is serious: rather those works abide in the fairest region he possesses.2 If, however, these really are his serious efforts, and put into writing, it is not the gods but mortal men who
1 For legislation as not a “serious” subject but “playful” see Plat. Laws 769a; cf. Plat. Stat. 294a.
2 i.e. in his head, the abode of unexpressed thoughts; cf. Plat. Tim. 44d.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 7 translated by R.G. Bury. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966.
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