Thus will orphan children have a second birth. After their firstbirth we spoke of their nurture and education, and after theirsecond birth, when they have lost their parents, we ought to takemeasures that the misfortune of orphanhood may be as little sad tothem as possible. In the first place, we say that the guardians of thelaw are lawgivers and fathers to them, not inferior to their naturalfathers. Moreover, they shall take charge of them year by year as oftheir own kindred; and we have given both to them and to thechildren"s own guardians a suitable admonition concerning thenurture of orphans. And we seem to have spoken opportunely in ourformer discourse, when we said that the souls of the dead have thepower after death of taking an interest in human affairs, aboutwhich there are many tales and traditions, long indeed, but true;and seeing that they are so many and so ancient, we must believe them,and we must also believe the lawgivers, who tell us that thesethings are true, if they are not to be regarded as utter fools. But ifthese things are really so, in the first place men should have afear of the Gods above, who regard the loneliness of the orphans;and in the second place of the souls of the departed, who by natureincline to take an especial care of their own children, and arefriendly to those who honour, and unfriendly to those who dishonourthem. Men should also fear the souls of the living who are aged andhigh in honour; wherever a city is well ordered and prosperous,their descendants cherish them, and so live happily; old persons arequick to see and hear all that relates to them, and are propitiousto those who are just in the fulfilment of such duties, and theypunish those who wrong the orphan and the desolate, considering thatthey are the greatest and most sacred of trusts. To all whichmatters the guardian and magistrate ought to apply his mind, if he hasany, and take heed of the nurture and education of the orphans,seeking in every possible way to do them good, for he is making acontribution to his own good and that of his children. He who obeysthe tale which precedes the law, and does no wrong to an orphan,will never experience the wrath of the legislator. But he who isdisobedient, and wrongs any one who is bereft of father or mother,shall pay twice the penalty which he would have paid if he had wrongedone whose parents had been alive. As touching other legislationconcerning guardians in their relation to orphans, or concerningmagistrates and their superintendence of the guardians, if they didnot possess examples of the manner in which children of freemen shouldbe brought up in the bringing up of their own children, and of thecare of their property in the care of their own, or if they had notjust laws fairly stated about these very things-there would havebeen reason in making laws for them, under the idea that they were apeculiar-class, and we might distinguish and make separate rules forthe life of those who are orphans and of those who are not orphans.
But as the case stands, the condition of orphans with us not differentfrom the case of those who have father, though in regard to honour anddishonour, and the attention given to them, the two are not usuallyplaced upon a level. Wherefore, touching the legislation aboutorphans, the law speaks in serious accents, both of persuasion andthreatening, and such a threat as the following will be by no meansout of place:-He who is the guardian of an orphan of either sex, andhe among the guardians of the law to whom the superintendence ofthis guardian has been assigned, shall love the unfortunate orphanas though he were his own child, and he shall be as careful anddiligent in the management of his possessions as he would be if theywere his own, or even more careful and dilligent. Let every one whohas the care of an orphan observe this law. But any one who actscontrary to the law on these matters, if he be a guardian of thechild, may be fined by a magistrate, or, if he be himself amagistrate, the guardian may bring him before the court of selectjudges, and punish him, if convicted, by exacting a fine of double theamount of that inflicted by the court. And if a guardian appears tothe relations of the orphan, or to any other citizen, to actnegligently or dishonestly, let them bring him before the samecourt, and whatever damages are given against him, let him payfourfold, and let half belong to the orphan and half to him whoprocured the conviction. If any orphan arrives at years of discretion,and thinks that he has been ill-used by his guardians, let himwithin five years of the expiration of the guardianship be allowedto bring them to trial; and if any of them be convicted, the courtshall determine what he shall pay or suffer. And if magistrate shallappear to have wronged the orphan by neglect, and he be convicted, letthe court determine what he shall suffer or pay to the orphan, andif there be dishonesty in addition to neglect, besides paying thefine, let him be deposed from his office of guardian of the law, andlet the state appoint another guardian of the law for the city and forthe country in his room.
