Works (Laws, Definitions)

313 c and hearing one thing and what is heard another, and law one thing and what is considered lawful another? Is it this way, or how does it seem to you?
COMP. It seems different to me now.
5 SOC. Law, then, is not what is considered lawful.
COMP. It does not seem so to me.
SOC. What then could law be? Let us examine it in this way. If someone were to ask us about the things just mentioned: "Since you say that things seen are seen by sight, what is it that sees?" We would answer him that it is by that sensation which reveals things through the eyes. And if he asked us again, "What then? Since things heard are heard by hearing, what is it that hears?" We would answer him 5 that it is by that sensation which reveals sounds to us through the ears. Thus, then, if he were to ask us, "Since things considered lawful are considered such by law, what is it that is law, by which they are considered lawful? b Is it by some sensation or revelation, just as things learned are learned by the knowledge that reveals them, or by some discovery, just as things discovered are found? For example, healthy and diseased things are found by medicine, and what the gods intend, as the seers say, is found by divination? For expertise original: "τέχνη" is to us a discovery of things, is it not?"
COMP. Certainly.
SOC. What then, among these, should we most assume law to be?
10 COMP. These decrees and resolutions original: "δόγματα καὶ ψηφίσματα", it seems to me. For what else could one say law is? Thus, it is likely, as you ask, that this whole thing, law, is a decree of the city.
SOC. You speak of law, as it seems, as a political opinion original: "δόξαν ... πολιτικὴν".
COMP. I do.