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Yes, he replied; inasmuch as by the natural process of creation He is the author of this and of all other things.

Why, you see, there is a difference in the names ‘discord’ and ‘war,’ and I imagine that there is also a difference in their natures; the one is expressive of what is internal and domestic, the other of what is external and foreign; and the first of the two is termed discord, and only the second, war.

Shall we, then, speak of Him as the natural author or maker of the bed?

God knew this, and He desired to be the real maker of a real bed, not a particular maker of a particular bed, and therefore He created a bed which is essentially and by nature one only.

Both should be forbidden, in my judgment; I would take the annual produce and no more. Shall I tell you why?

Because even if He had made but two, a third would still appear behind them which both of them would have for their idea, and that would be the ideal bed and not the two others.

May I have the pleasure, he said, of hearing your opinion?

Again, as to the devastation of Hellenic territory or the burning of houses, what is to be the practice?

God, whether from choice or from necessity, made one bed in nature and one only; two or more such ideal beds neither ever have been nor ever will be made by God.

Neither shall we offer up arms at the temples of the gods, least of all the arms of Hellenes, if we care to maintain good feeling with other Hellenes; and, indeed, we have reason to fear that the offering of spoils taken from kinsmen may be a pollution unless commanded by the god himself?

Beds, then, are of three kinds, and there are three artists who superintend them: God, the maker of the bed, and the painter?

There is another which is the work of the carpenter?

Then we must abstain from spoiling the dead or hindering their burial?

Well then, here are three beds: one existing in nature, which is made by God, as I think that we may say—for no one else can be the maker?

And is there not illiberality and avarice in robbing a corpse, and also a degree of meanness and womanishness in making an enemy of the dead body when the real enemy has flown away and left only his fighting gear behind him,—is not this rather like a dog who cannot get at his assailant, quarrelling with the stones which strike him instead?

Suppose now that by the light of the examples just offered we enquire who this imitator is?

Next as to the slain; ought the conquerors, I said, to take anything but their armour? Does not the practice of despoiling an enemy afford an excuse for not facing the battle? Cowards skulk about the dead, pretending that they are fulfilling a duty, and many an army before now has been lost from this love of plunder.

No wonder, then, that his work too is an indistinct expression of truth.

Certainly, he said; they will in this way be united against the barbarians and will keep their hands off one another.

Then no Hellene should be owned by them as a slave; that is a rule which they will observe and advise the other Hellenes to observe.