In the Laws, Plato constantly uses analogies and interchanges between musical and legislative terminology, establishing an etymological connection between special categories of musical compositions (the nomoi) and the inviolability of their regulations. This usage was widely echoed in later sources, providing musical and literary critics with a law-based terminology which enabled them to describe and interpret musical phenomena as markers for political changes, leading to a distorted image of old-time mousikē. [http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/22129758-12341268]