What Is Law?
Is it some sensation or showing, as when things learnt are learnt by knowledge showing them, or some discovery, as when things discovered are discovered—for instance, the causes of health and sickness by medicine, or the designs of the gods, as the prophets say, by prophecy; for art is surely our discovery of things, is it not?
Law is discovery of reality; Lawgivers are “apportioners and shepherds of men”.
Socrates presents Minos, king of Crete, as a lawgiver who received education from Zeus and ruled with wisdom and justice for many generations. He also suggests that Minos suffered a bad reputation as an unjust tyrant because he made war on Athens and offended the Greek poets who had great influence over public opinion.
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