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Section 319

SOCRATES. Consider this: the tragic poets in Athens, who are always looking for a good villain, chose Minos because of the ancient enmity between our city and his. But Rhadamanthys, his brother, they praise as a just judge in the underworld. Yet both were educated by Zeus, and both administered the laws of Zeus. But Minos was the king, the one who established the laws, while Rhadamanthys only carried them out. To be a familiar friend of Zeus means to be educated by him. For Zeus is the greatest of sophists, the greatest teacher of virtue. Minos went into the cave of Zeus every ninth year to learn the laws from him, and then he brought them out and established them for the people. This is why his laws are divine and have lasted so long.

COMRADE. But what about Talos, Socrates? The stories say he was a man of bronze who guarded the island of Crete.

SOCRATES. Ah, Talos was also a judge. Minos established him to go around the island three times a year, carrying the laws inscribed on tablets of bronze. That is why he was called the "man of bronze," not because he was literally made of metal, but because he carried the bronze tablets of the law. He enforced the laws of Minos in the countryside, while Rhadamanthys enforced them in the city.