Well,
I said, “set it down as five. Footnote 1It is very naive of modern commentators to cavil at the precise time allotted to dialectic, and still more so to infer that there was not much to say about the ideas. Dialectic was not exclusively or mainly concerned with the metaphysics of the ideas. It was the development of the reasoning powers by rational discussion. For after that you will have to send them down into the cave Footnote 2Cf. 519 C ff., pp. 139-145. again, and compel them to hold commands in war and the other offices suitable to youth, so that they may not fall short of the other type in experience Footnote 3Xen. Cyrop. i. 2. 13 seems to copy this. Cf. on 484 D. Critics of Plato frequently overlook the fact that he insisted on practical experience in the training of his rulers. Newman, Aristot. Pol. i. p. 5 points out that this experience takes the place of special training in political science. either. And in these offices, too, they are to be tested to see whether they will remain steadfast under diverse solicitations
or whether they will flinch and swerve. Footnote 4Cf. ὑποκινήσαντ’
, Aristoph. Frogs 643. ” “How much time do you allow for that?” he said. “Fifteen years,” said I, “and at the age of fifty Footnote 5An eminent scholar quaintly infers that Plato could not have written this page before he himself was fifty years old. those who have survived the tests and approved themselves altogether the best in every task and form of knowledge must be brought at last to the goal. We shall require them to turn upwards the vision of their souls Footnote 6Plato having made his practical meaning quite clear feels that he can safely permit himself the short cut of rhetoric and symbolism in summing it up. He reckoned without Neoplatonists ancient and modern. Cf. also on 519 B, p. 138, note a. and fix their gaze on that which sheds light on all, and when they have thus beheld the good itself they shall use it as a pattern Footnote 7Cf. 500 D-E. For παράδειγμα cf. 592 B and What Plato Said, p. 458, on Euthyphro 6 E, and p. 599, on Polit. 277 D. for the right ordering of the state and the citizens and themselves throughout the remainder of their lives, each in his turn, Footnote 8Cf. 520 D. devoting the greater part of their time to the study of philosophy, but when the turn comes for each, toiling in the service of the state and holding office for the city’s sake, regarding the task not as a fine thing but a necessity Footnote 9Cf. 347 C-D, 520 E. ; and so, when each generation has educated others Footnote 10Plato’s guardians, unlike Athenian statesmen, could train their successors. Cf. Protag. 319 E-320 B, Meno 99 B. Also ἄλλους ποιεῖν
Meno 100 A, Gorg. 449 B, 455 C, Euthyph. 3 C, Phaedr. 266 C, 268 B, Symp. 196 E, Protag. 348 E, Isoc. Demon. 3, Panath. 28, Soph. 13, Antid. 204, Xen. Oecon. 15. 10, and παιδεύειν ἀνθρώπους, generally used of the sophists, Gorg. 519 E, Protag. 317 B, Euthyd. 306 E, Laches 186 D, Rep. 600 C. like themselves to take their place as guardians of the state, they shall depart to the Islands of the Blest Footnote 11Cf. p. 139, note d. Plato checks himself in mid-flight and wistfully smiles at his own idealism. Cf. on 536 B-C, also 540 C and 509 C. Frutiger, Mythes de Platon, p. 170. and there dwell. And the state shall establish public memorials Footnote 12Cf. Symp. 209 E. and sacrifices for them as to divinities if the Pythian oracle approves Footnote 13For this caution cf. 461 E and Vol. I. p. 344, note c, on 427 C. or, if not, as to divine and godlike men. Footnote 14Plato plays on the words δαίμων and εὐδαίμων. Cf. also Crat. 398 b-C. ” “A most beautiful finish, Socrates, you have put upon your rulers, as if you were a statuary. Footnote 15Cf. 361 D. ” “And on the women Footnote 16Lit. female rulers.
too, Glaucon,” said I; “for you must not suppose that my words apply to the men more than to all women who arise among them endowed with the requisite qualities.” “That is right,” he said, “if they are to share equally in all things with the men as we laid it down.” “Well, then,” said I, “do you admit that our notion of the state and its polity is not altogether a daydream, Footnote 17Cf. on 450 D and 499 C. but that though it is difficult, Footnote 18Cf. 499 D. it is in a way possible Footnote 19Cf. What Plato Said, p. 564 on Rep. 472 B-E, and p. 65, not h, on 499 D. and in no other way than that described—when genuine philosophers, Footnote 20Cf. 463 C-D, 499 B-C. many or one, becoming masters of the state scorn Footnote 21Cf. 521 B, 516 C-D. the present honors, regarding them as illiberal and worthless, but prize the right Footnote 22τὸ ὀρθόν: Cf. Theaet. 161 C, Meno 99 A. and the honors that come from that above all things, and regarding justice as the chief and the one indispensable thing, in the service and maintenance of that reorganize and administer their city?” “In what way?” he said.
Book 7