Plato, Laws 701d

φερόμενον, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν ἀπό τινος ὄνου πεσεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐπανερωτᾶν τὸ νυνδὴ λεχθέν, τὸ τίνος δὴ χάριν ἕνεκα ταῦτα ἐλέχθη; καλῶς. ταῦτα τοίνυν εἴρηται ἐκείνων ἕνεκα. τίνων; ἐλέξαμεν ὡς τὸν νομοθέτην δεῖ τριῶν στοχαζόμενον νομοθετεῖν, ὅπως ἡ νομοθετουμένη πόλις ἐλευθέρα τε ἔσται καὶ φίλη ἑαυτῇ καὶ νοῦν ἕξει. ταῦτʼ ἦν· ἦ γάρ; πάνυ μὲν οὖν.

in its mouth, and so get a toss off the donkey (as the saying goes): consequently, I must once more repeat my question, and ask—With what object has all this been said? Very good. What has now been said bears on the objects previously stated. What were they? We said that the lawgiver must aim, in his legislation, at three objectives—to make the State he is legislating for free, and at unity with itself, and possessed of sense. That was so, was it not? Certainly.