Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 38

In hac re dissentio a Posidonio, qui inprobo, inquit, quod Platonis legibus adiecta principia sunt. Legem enim brevem esse oportet, quo facilius ab imperitis teneatur. Velut emissa divinitus vox sit; iubeat, non disputet. Nihil videtur mihi frigidius, nihil ineptius quam lex cum prologo. Mone, dic, quid me velis fecisse; non disco, sed pareo. Proficiunt vero; itaque malis moribus uti videbis civitates usas malis legibus. At non apud omnis proficiunt.

Sur ce point je suis d’autre avis que Posidonius, qui n’approuve pas que les lois de Platon soient accompagnées d’exposés de motifs. « La loi, dit-il, doit être brève, pour être plus facilement retenue par les ignorants ; qu’elle soit comme une voix partie du ciel ; qu’elle ordonne et ne discute pas. Rien ne me semble plus froid ni plus déplacé qu’une loi avec préambule.

On this point I disagree with Posidonius, who says: “I do not think that Plato’s Laws should have the preambles added to them. For a law should be brief, in order that the uninitiated may grasp it all the more easily. It should be a voice, as it were, sent down from heaven; it should command, not discuss. Nothing seems to me more dull or more foolish than a law with a preamble. Warn me, tell me what you wish me to do; I am not learning but obeying.” But laws framed in this way are helpful; hence you will notice that a state with defective laws will have defective morals.