80

"Reduce the size of the population and the state. Ensure that even though the people have tools of war for a troop ora battalion they will not use them; And also that they will be reluctant to move to distant places becausethey look on death as no light matter. Even when they have ships and carts, they will have no use for them; And even when they have armor and weapons, they will have no occasionto make a show of them. Bring it about that the people will return to the use of the knottedrope, Will find relish in their food And beauty in their clothes, Will be content in their abode And happy in the way they live. Though adjoining states are within sight of one another, And the sound of dogs barking and cocks crowing in one state can beheard in another, yet the people of one state will grow old and die without having hadany dealings with those of another."