Phaedrus — Plato

2l8 PLATO THE TEACHER must not be forgotten : and there will be hosts of animals, if people are to eat them. Certainly. And living in this way we shall have much greater need of physicians than before? Much greater. And the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small now, and not enough? Quite true.

Then a slice of our neighbor's land will be wanted by us for pasture and tillage, and they will want a slice cf ours, if, like ourselves, they exceed the limit of necessity, and give themselves up to the unlimited accumulation of wealth ? That, Socrates, will be unavoidable. And then we shall go to war, Glaucon, — that will be the next thing. So we shall, he replied.

Then, without determining as yet whether war does good or harm, thus much we may affirm, that now we have discovered* war to be derived from causes which are also the causes of almost all the evils in States, private as well as public. Undoubtedly.

Then our State must once more enlarge ; and this time the enlargement will be nothing short of a whole army, which will have to go out and fight with the invaders for all ^^ that we have, as well as for the precious souls whom we were describing above. Why? he said; are they not capable of defending themselves ?

No, I said; not if you and all of us were right in the principle which was acknowledged at the first creation of the State: that principle was, as you will remember, that one man could liot practice many arts. Very tnie, he said. But is not ^-ar an art ? Certainly. And an art requiring as much attention as shoemaking ? Quite true.

And the shoemaker was not allowed to be a husbandman, or a weaver, or a builder — in order that we might have our shoes well made : but to him and to every other worker one 2p. 219work was assigned by us for which he was fitted by nature, and he was to continue working all his life long at that and at no other, and not to let opportunities slip, and then he would become a good workman. And is there any more important work than to be a good soldier ?

But is war an art so easily acquired, that a man may be a warrior who is also a husbandman, or shoemaker, or other artisan ; although no one in the world would be a good dice or draught ^® player who merely took up the game as a recreation, and had not from his earliest years devoted himself to this and nothing else ?

The mere handling of tools will not make a man a skilled workman, or master of defense, nor be of any use to him who knows not the nature of each, and has never bestowed any attention upon them. How then will he who takes up a shield or other implement of war all in a day become a good fighter, whether with heavy-armed or any other kind of troops ? Yes, he said, the tools which would teach their own use would be of rare value.

And the greater the business of the guardian is, I said, the more time, and art, and skill will be needed by him ? That is what I should suppose, he replied. Will he not also require natural gifts ? Certainly. We shall have to select natures which are suited to their task of guarding the city ? That will be our duty. And anything but an easy duty, I said ; but still we must endeavor to do our best as far as we can ? We must.

The dog is a watcher, I said, and the guardian is also a watcher; and regarding them in this point of view only, is not the noble youth very like a well-bred dog ? ^'^ How do you mean ? I mean that both of them ought to be quick to observe, and swift to overtake the enemy; and strong too, if, when they have caught him, they have to fight with him. All these qualities, he replied, will certainly be required.

Well, and your guardian must be brave if he is to fight well? Certainly. And is he likely to be brave who has no spirit, whether 1* Draughts : a game similar to our checkers.