The Telos of Wise Legislation: Virtue and Death in Plato’s <i>Laws</i> I and II

Abstract Scholars have identified a primary goal of legislation in Plato’s Laws : to make citizens virtuous and thereby happy. But in focusing on this goal, they have left unexplored another: to shape how citizens understand and face death. This article shows how these two goals are tied together. I first argue that in book I, Kleinias serves as an example of how legislation can miseducate citizens by leaving them with conflicting views of virtue and thus with conflicting evaluations of death. Then, I turn to two of the Stranger’s statements on virtue, happiness, and death in books I and II and argue that these statements hold a positive teaching on virtue, and thereby death, that he thinks wise law must inculcate in citizens.