Plato, Laws 737a

μεταβάσεως, οὐκ εὔπορος ἡ μετὰ ταῦτα πολιτικὴ πρᾶξις οὐδεμιᾷ γίγνοιτʼ ἂν πόλει. ἣν ἡμεῖς μέν, ὥς φαμεν, ἐκφεύγομεν· ὅμως δὲ εἰρῆσθαί γε ὀρθότερον, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐξεφεύγομεν, ὅπῃ ποτʼ ἂν ἐποιούμεθα αὐτῆς τὴν φυγήν. εἰρήσθω δή νυν ὅτι διὰ τοῦ μὴ φιλοχρηματεῖν μετὰ δίκης, ἄλλη δʼ οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτʼ εὐρεῖα οὔτε στενὴ τῆς τοιαύτης μηχανῆς διαφυγή· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν οἷον ἕρμα πόλεως ἡμῖν κείσθω τὰ νῦν. ἀνεγκλήτους

but if the foundation be rotten, the subsequent political operations will prove by no means easy for any State. This difficulty, as we say, we avoid; it is better, however, that we should explain the means by which, if we had not actually avoided it, we might have found a way of escape. Be it explained, then, that that means consists in renouncing avarice by the aid of justice, and that there is no way of escape, broad or narrow, other than this device. So let this stand fixed for us now as a kind of pillar of the State. The properties of the citizens must be established somehow or other on a basis that is secure from intestine disputes;