316 c

COMP. I know that it belongs to medicine.
SOC. Do you therefore call those who are knowledgeable about these things doctors?
COMP. I do.
SOC. Do those who are knowledgeable believe the same things about the same matters, or do they believe different things?
COMP. They believe the same things, in my opinion.
SOC. Do the Greeks alone believe the same things among themselves, or do the foreigners also believe the same things as the Greeks, regarding those matters they know?
COMP. It is surely necessary for those who know the same things to believe them, both Greeks and foreigners.
SOC. You answered well. And does this hold always?
COMP. Yes, and always.
SOC. Do doctors write about health exactly what they also believe to be true?
COMP. Yes.
SOC. These writings of the doctors, therefore, are medical and medicinal laws.
COMP. They are indeed medical.
SOC. Are agricultural writings also agricultural laws?
COMP. Yes.
SOC. To whom, then, do the writings and customs regarding the cultivation of gardens belong?
COMP. To gardeners.
SOC. These, therefore, are for us gardener's laws.
COMP. Yes.
SOC. They belong to those who know how to rule over gardens?
COMP. How could they not?
SOC. And gardeners know how?
COMP. Yes.
SOC. To whom do the writings and customs regarding the preparation of food belong?
COMP. To cooks.
SOC. These, then, are cooking laws?
COMP. Cooking laws.
SOC. They belong to those who know how to rule over the preparation of food, as it seems?
COMP. Yes.
SOC. And cooks, as they say, know how?
COMP. They do know.
SOC. Very well; and to whom do the writings and customs regarding the administration of a city belong? Are they not to those who know how to rule over cities?
COMP. That is my opinion.
SOC. And does anyone know this other than those who are political and kingly?
COMP. Surely only them.
SOC. These are, therefore, political writings, which people call laws, the writings of kings and good men.