The Republic — Plato

who had passed his whulc life in philosophy, to give his own opinion and not to be always repeating the notions of other men. There is no evidence that either the idea of good or the conception of a perfect state were comprehended in the Socratic teaching, though he certainly dwelt on the nature of the universal and of final causes (cp. Xen. " Mem." i.

4 ; " Phaedo " 97;) ; and a deep thinker like him, in his thirty or forty years of public teaching, could hardly have failed to touch on the nature of family relations, for which there is also some positive evidence in the " Memorabilia " (" Mem." i. 2, 51 foil.). The Socratic method is nominally retained; and every inference is either put into the mouth of the respondent or represented as the common discovery of him and Socrates.

But anyone can see that this is a mere form, of which the affectation grows wearisome as the work advances. The method of inquiry has passed into a method of teaching in which by the help of interlocutors the same thesis is looked at from various points of view. The nature of the process is truly characterized by Glaucon, when he describes himself as a companion who is not good for much in an investigation, but can see what he is shown (iv.

432 C), and may, perhaps, give the answer to a question more fluently than another (v. 474 A; cp. 389 A). Neither can we be absolutely certain that Socrates himself taught the immortality of the soul, which is unknown to the disciple Glaucon in the "Republic" (x. 608 D; cp. vi. 498 D, E; " Apol.

40, 41) ; nor is there any reason to suppose that he used myths or revelations of another world as a vehicle of instruction, or that he would have banished poetry or have denounced the Greek mythology. His favorite oath is retained, and a slight mention is made of the dcemoniiim, or internal sign, which is alluded to by Socrates as a phenomenon peculiar to himself (vi. 496 C).

A real element of Socratic teaching, which is more prominent in the " Republic " than in any of the other dialogues of Plato, is the use of example and illustration (t^ (popTiKcL avTw 7rpoa-(f)epovTe<;, iv. 442 E) : " Let us apply the test of common instances. " You," says Adeimantus, ironically, in the sixth book, " are so unaccustomed to speak in images. And this use of examples, or images, though truly Socratic in origin, is enlarged by the genius of

Plato into the form of an allegory or parable, which embodies in the concrete what has been already described, or is about to be described, in the abstract. Thus the figure of the cave in Book VII is a recapitulation of the divisions of knowledge in Book VI. The composite animal in Book IX is an allegory of the parts of the soul.

The noble captain and the ship and the true pilot in Book VI are a figure of the relation of the people to the philosophers in the State which has been described. Other figures, such as the dog (ii. 375 A, D; iii. 404 A, 416 A; V. 451 D), or the marriage of the portionless maiden (vi. 495, 496), or the drones and wasps in the eighth and ninth books, also form links of connection in long passages, or are used to recall previous discussions.

Plato is most true to the character of his master when he describes him as " not of this world. And with this representation of him the ideal State and the other paradoxes of the " Republic " are quite in accordance, though they cannot be shown to have been speculations of Socrates. To him, as to other great teachers both philosophical and religious, when they looked upward, the world seemed to be the embodiment of error and evil.

The common-sense of mankind has revolted against this view, or has only partially admitted it. And even in Socrates himself the sterner judgment of the multitude at times passes into a sort of ironical pity or love. Men in general are incapable of philosophy, and are therefore at enmity with the philosopher; but their misunderstanding of him is unavoidable (vi.

494 foil.; ix, 589 D) : for they have never seen him as he truly is in his own image ; they are only acquainted with artificial systems possessing no native force of truth — words which admit of many applications. Their leaders have nothing to measure with, and are therefore ignorant of their own stature.

But they are to be pitied or laughed at, not to be quarrelled with; they mean well with their nostrums, if they could only learn that they are cutting off a hydra's head (iv. 426 D, E). This moderation toward those who are in error is one of the most characteristic features of Socrates in the "Republic" (vi. 499-502).

In all the different representations of Socrates, whether of Xenophon or Plato, and amid the differences of the earlier or later dialogues, he always retains the character of the unwearied and disinter-

There still remain to be considered some points which have been intentionally reserved to the end: (I) The Janus-like character of the " Republic," which presents two faces — one a Hellenic State, the other a kingdom of philosophers.

Connected with the latter of the two aspects are (II) the paradoxes of the " Republic," as they have been termed by Morgenstern: (a) the community of property; (/3) of families; (7) the rule of philosophers; (8) the analogy of the individual and the State, which, like some other analogies in the " Republic," is carried too far.

We may then proceed to consider (III) the subject of education as conceived by Plato, bringing together in a general view the education of youth and the education of after-life; (IV) we may note further some essential differences between ancient and modem politics which are suggested by the "Republic"; (V) we may compare the " Politicus " and the "Laws"; (VI) we may observe the influence exercised by Plato on his imitators; and (VII) take occasion to consider the nature and value of political, and (VIII) of religious ideals.

I. Plato expressly says that he is intending to found a Hellenic State (Book v. 470 E). Many of his regulations are characteristically Spartan ; such as the prohibition of gold and silver, the common meals of the men, the military training of the youth, the gymnastic exercises of the women. The life of Sparta was the life of a camp ("Laws" ii.

666 E), enforced even more rigidly in time of peace than in war; the citizens of Sparta, like Plato's, were forbidden to trade — they were to be soldiers and not shopkeepers. Nowhere else in Greece was the individual so completely subjected to the State ; the time when he was to marry, the education of his children, the clothes which he was to wear, the food which he was to eat, were all prescribed by law.

Some of the best enactments in the " Republic," such as the reverence to be paid to parents and elders, and some of the worst, such as the exposure of deformed children, are borrowed from the practice of Sparta. The encouragement of friendships between men and youth, or