Note 170 — Chapter XXXVII · REPUBLIC — REMARKS ON THE PLATONIC COMMONWEALTH. (continued 2)

Aristotel. Politic. vii. 16, p. 1334, b. 39. εἴπερ οὖν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς τὸν νομοθέτην ὁρᾷν δεῖ, ὅπως βέλτιστα τὰ σώματα γένηται τῶν τρεφομένων, πρῶτον μὲν ἐπιμελητέον περὶ τὴν σύζευξιν, πότε καὶ ποίους τινὰς ὄντας χρὴ ποιεῖσθοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους τὴν γαμικὴν ὁμιλίαν, &c. He names thirty-seven as the age proper for a man, eighteen for a woman, to marry. At the age of fifty-five a man becomes unfit to procreate for the public, and none of his children are to appear (ἀφεῖσθαι τῆς εἰς τὸ φανερὸν γεννήσεως, vii. 16, p. 1335, b. 36).