Such a character of God, if not ridiculed by our young men, is likely to be imitated by them.
Nor should our citizens be given to excess of laughter--'Such violent delights' are followed by a violent re-action.

The description in the Iliad of the gods shaking their sides at the clumsiness of Hephaestus will not be admitted by us.

'Certainly not.' Truth should have a high place among the virtues, for falsehood, as we were saying, is useless to the gods, and only useful to men as a medicine.

But this employment of falsehood must remain a privilege of state; the common man must not in return tell a lie to the ruler; any more than the patient would tell a lie to his physician, or the sailor to his captain.
In the next place our youth must be temperate, and temperance consists in self-control and obedience to authority.

That is a lesson which Homer teaches in some places: 'The Achaeans marched on breathing prowess, in silent awe of their leaders;'-- but a very different one in other places: 'O heavy with wine, who hast the eyes of a dog, but the heart of a stag.' Language of the latter kind will not impress self-control on the minds of youth.