Let such be the character of the person who goes abroad,and let him go abroad under these conditions.In the next place,the stranger who comes from abroad should be received in a friendly spirit.Now there are four kinds of strangers,of whom we must make some mention-the first is he who comes and stays throughout the summer;this class are like birds of passage,taking wing in pursuit of commerce,and flying over the sea to other cities,while the season lasts;he shall be received in market-places and harbours and public buildings,near the city but outside,by those magistrates who are appointed to superintend these matters;and they shall take care that a stranger,whoever he be,duly receives justice;but he shall not be allowed to make any innovation.They shall hold the intercourse with him which is necessary,and this shall be as little as possible.The second kind is just a spectator who comes to see with his eyes and hear with his ears the festivals of the Muses;such ought to have entertainment provided them at the temples by hospitable persons,and the priests and ministers of the temples should see and attend to them.But they should not remain more than a reasonable time;let them see and hear that for the sake of which they came,and then go away,neither having suffered nor done any harm.The priests shall be their judges,if any of them receive or do any wrong up to the sum of fifty drachmae,but if any greater charge be brought,in such cases the suit shall come before the wardens of the agora.The third kind of stranger is he who comes on some public business from another land,and is to be received with public honours.
He is to be received only by the generals and commanders of horse and foot,and the host by whom he is entertained,in conjunction with the Prytanes,shall have the sole charge of what concerns him.
There is a fourth dass of persons answering to our spectators,who come from another land to look at ours.In the first place,such visits will be rare,and the visitor should be at least fifty years of age;he may possibly be wanting to see something that is rich and rare in other states,or himself to show something in like manner to another city.Let such an one,then,go unbidden to the doors of the wise and rich,being one of them himself:let him go,for example,to the house of the superintendent of education,confident that he is a fitting guest of such a host,or let him go to the house of some of those who have gained the prize of virtue and hold discourse with them,both learning from them,and also teaching them;and when he has seen and heard all,he shall depart,as a friend taking leave of friends,and be honoured by them with gifts and suitable tributes of respect.These are the customs,according to which our city should receive all strangers of either *** who come from other countries,and should send forth her own citizens,showing respect to Zeus,the God of hospitality,not forbidding strangers at meals and sacrifices,as is the manner which prevails among the children of the Nile,nor driving them away by savage proclamations.
When a man becomes surety,let him give the security in a distinct form,acknowledging the whole transaction in a written document,and in the presence of not less than three witnesses if the sum be under a thousand drachmae,and of not less than five witnesses if the sum be above a thousand drachmae.The agent of a dishonest or untrustworthy seller shall himself be responsible;both the agent and the principal shall be equally liable.If a person wishes to find anything in the house of another,he shall enter naked,or wearing only a short tunic and without a girdle,having first taken an oath by the customary Gods that he expects to find it there;he shall then make his search,and the other shall throw open his house and allow him to search things both sealed and unsealed.And if a person will not allow the searcher to make his search,he who is prevented shall go to law with him,estimating the value of the goods after which he is searching,and if the other be convicted he shall pay twice the value of the article.If the master be absent from home,the dwellers in the house shall let him search the unsealed property,and on the sealed property the searcher shall set another seal,and shall appoint any one whom he likes to guard them during five days;and if the master of the house be absent during a longer time,he shall take with him the wardens of the city,and so make his search,opening the sealed property as well as the unsealed,and then,together with the members of the family and the wardens of the city,he shall seal them up again as they were before.There shall be a limit of time in the case of disputed things,and he who has had possession of them during a certain time shall no longer be liable to be disturbed.As to houses and lands there can be no dispute in this state of ours;but if a man has any other possessions which he has used and openly shown in the city and in the agora and in the temples,and no one has put in a claim to them,and some one says that he was looking for them during this time,and the possessor is proved to have made no concealment,if they have continued for a year,the one having the goods and the other looking for them,the claim of the seeker shall not be allowed after the expiration of the year;or if he does not use or show the lost property in the market or in the city,but only in the country,and no one offers himself as the owner during five years,at the expiration of the five years the claim shall be barred for ever after;or if he uses them in the city but within the house,then the appointed time of claiming the goods shall be three years,or ten years if he has them in the country in private.And if he has them in another land,there shall be no limit of time or prescription,but whenever the owner finds them he may claim them.