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07 - The Republic - Plato · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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  Book two, Part three. Where then is justice, and where is injustice?
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  And in what part of the state did they spring up? Probably in
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  the dealings of these citizens with one another. I cannot imagine that they are
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  more likely to be found anywhere else. I dare say that you are right
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  in your suggestion. I said we had better think the matter out and not
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  shrink from the enquiry. Let us consider, first of all, what will
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  be their way of life, now that we have thus established them. Will
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  they not produce corn and wine, and clothes and shoes, and build houses
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  for themselves? And when they are housed, will they work in summer commonly
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  stripped and barefoot, but in winter substantially clothed and shod. They will feed
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  on barley meal and flour of wheat, baking and kneading them, making noble
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  cakes and loaves. These they will serve up on a mat of reeds or
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  clean leaves, themselves reclining the while upon beds strewn with the ewe or myrtle.
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  And they and their children will feast, drinking of the wine which they
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  have made, wearing garlic on their heads, and hymning the praise of the
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  gods in happy converse with one another, and they will take care that their
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  families do not exceed their means, having an eye to poverty or war.
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  But said Laucan, interposing, you have not given them a relish to their
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  meal. True, I replied, I had forgotten. Of course, they
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  must have a relish salt and olives and cheese, and they will boil roots
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  and herbs, such as country people prepare for a dessert. We shall give
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  them figs and peas and beans, and they will roast myrtle berries and acorns
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  at the fire, drinking in moderation. And with such a diet, they
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  may be expected to live in peace and health, to a good old age,
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  and bequeath a similar life to their children after them. Yes, Socrates,
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  he said, And if you were providing for a city of pigs,
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  how else would you feed the beasts? But what would you have, glaucon
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  I replied, Why? He said, you should give them the ordinary conveniences
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  of life. People who are to be comfortable are accustomed to lie on sofas
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  and dine off tape, and they should have sauces and sweets in the modern
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  style. Yes, I said, now I understand the question which you would
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  have me consider is not only how a state, but how a luxurious state
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  is created. And possibly there is no harm in this, for in such
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  a state we shall be more likely to see how justice and injustice originate.
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  In my opinion, the true and healthy constitution of the state is the one
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  which I have described. But if you wish to also see a state at
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  fever heat, I have no objection, for I suspect that many will not
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  be satisfied with the simpler way of life. They will be for adding soface
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  and tables and other furniture, also dainties and perfumes, and incense, and
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  courtesans and cakes, all these not of one sort only, but in every
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  variety. We must go beyond the necessities of which I was first speaking,
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  such as houses and clothes and shoes. The arts of the painter and the
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  embroider will have to be set in motion, and gold and ivory, and
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  all sorts of material must be procured. True, he said, then we
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  must enlarge our borders, for the original healthy state is no longer sufficient.
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  Now will the city have to fill and swell with the multitude of callings which
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  are not required by any natural want, such as the whole tribe of hunters
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  and actors, of whom one large class have to do with forms and colors.
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  Another will be the votaries of music poets and their attendant train of rhapsodist
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  players, dancers, contractors, also makers of diverse kinds of articles, including
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  women's dresses, and we shall want more servants, will not Tutors also be
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  in request, and nurses, wet and dry tire women, and barbers,
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  as well as confectioners and cooks, and swineherds too, who are not needed,
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  and therefore had no place in the former edition of our state, but
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  are needed now. They must not be forgotten. And there will be animals
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  of many other kinds if people eat them certainly, and living in this way,
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  we shall have much greater need of physicians than before, much greater,
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  and the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small
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  now and not enough. Quite true, then a slice of our neighbor's land
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  will be wanted by us for pastor and tillage, and they will want a
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  slice of ours, If like ourselves, they exceed the limit of necessity and
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  give themselves up to the unlimited accumulation of wealth, that Socrates will be inevitable,
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  and so we shall go to war, glaucan shall we not? Most
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  certainly, he replied. Then, without determining as yet whether war does good
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  or harm thus much, we may affirm that now we have discovered war to
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  be derived from causes, which are also the causes of almost all evil instates,
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  private as well as public, undoubtedly, and our state must once more
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  enlarge, And this time the enlightenment will be nothing short of a whole army
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  which will have to go out and fight with the invaders for all that we
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  have, as well of as things and persons whom we were describing above.
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  Why he said, are they not capable of defending themselves? No, I
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  said not, if we were right at the principle which was acknowledged by all
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  of us when we were framing the state. The principle, as you will
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  remember, was that one man cannot practice many arts with success. Very true,
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  he said. But is not war an art, certainly, and an
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  art requiring as much attention as shoemaking. Quite true. And the shoemaker was
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  not allowed by us to be a husbandman, or a weaver or a builder
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  in order that we might have our shoes well made, but to him and
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  to every other worker was assigned one work for which he was by nature fitted,
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  and at that he was to continue working all his life long, and
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  at no other. He was not to let opportunity slip, And then he
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  would become a good workman. Now, nothing can be more important than that
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  the work of a soldier should be well done. But has war an art
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  so easily acquired that a man may be a warrior who is also a husbandman,
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  or shoemaker or other artisan. Although no one in the world would be
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  a good dice or draft player who merely took up the game as a recreation,
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  and had not, from his earliest years devoted himself to this and nothing
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  else. No tools will make a man a skilled workman or a master of
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  defense, or be of any use to him who has not learned how to
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  handle them, and has never bestowed any attention upon them. How then,
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  will he who takes up a shield or other implement of war become a good
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  fighter all in a day, whether with heavy armed or any other kind of
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  troops. Yes, he said, the tools which would teach men their own
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  use would be beyond price, And the higher the duties of the guardian,
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  I said the more time and skill and art and application will be needed by
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  him, no doubt, he replied, Will he not also require natural aptitude
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  for his calling? Certainly? Then it will be our duty to select,
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  if we can, natures which are fitted for the task of guarding the city.
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  It will, and the selection will be no easy matter, I said,
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  But we must be brave and do our best. We must. Is
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  not the noble youth very like a well bred dog in respect of guarding and
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  watching? What do you mean? I mean that both of them ought to
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  be cooked to see, and swift to overtake the enemy when they see him,
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  and strong too, if when they have caught him they have to fight
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  with him. All these qualities, he replied, will certainly be required by
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  them. Well, And your guardian must be brave if he is to fight
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  well, Yes, and is he likely to be brave who has no spirit,
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  whether horse or dog or any other animal. Have you never observed how
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  invincible and unconquerable is spirit, and how in the presence of it makes the
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  soul of any creature to be absolutely fearless and indomitable? I have, Then,
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  we now have a clear notion of the bodily qualities which are required in
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  the guardian, true, and also of the mental ones. His soul is
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  to be full of spirit. Yes, But are not these spirited natures apt
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  to be savage with one another and with everybody else? A difficulty by no
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  means easy to overcome, he replied, Whereas I said, they ought to
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  be dangerous to their enemies and gentle to their friends. If not, they
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  will destroy themselves without waiting for their enemies to destroy them. True, he
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  said, what is to be done? Then? I said, how shall
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  we find a gentle nature which has also a great spirit? For the one
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  is the contradiction of the other. True, he will not be a good
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  guardian who is wanting either of these two qualities. And yet the combination of
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  them appears to be impossible. And hence we must infer that to be a
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  good guardian is impossible. I am afraid that what you say is true,
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  he replied. Here, feeling perplexed, I begin to think over what had
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  preceded, my friend, I said, no, wonder that we are in
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  a perplexity, for we have lost sight of the image which we had before
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  us. What do you mean, he said, I mean to say that
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  there do exist natures gifted with these opposite qualities. And where do you find
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  them? Many animals, I replied, furnish examples of them. Our friend,
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  the dog is a very good one. You know that well bred dogs
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  are perfectly gentle to their familiars and acquaintances, and the reverse to strangers.
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  Yes, I know, then, there is nothing impossible or out of the
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  order of nature in are funding a guardian who has a similar combination of qualities?
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  Certainly not, would not he who is fitted to be a guardian?
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  Besides, the spirited nature need to have the qualities of a philosopher. I
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  do not apprehend your meaning. The trait of which I am speaking, I
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  replied, may be also seen in the dog, and is remarkable in the
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  animal. What trait? Why a dog whenever he sees a stranger is angry
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  when an acquaintance he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any
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  harm nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious?
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  The matter never struck me before. But it quite recognize the truth of your
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  remark. And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming. Your dog
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  is a true philosopher. Why Why? Because he distinguishes the face of a
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  friend and of an enemy only by the criterion of knowing and not knowing.
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  And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes
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  and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance, most assuredly, And is
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  not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy? They
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  are the same, he replied. And may we not say confidently of man
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  also that he who is likely to be gentle to his friends and acquaintances must,
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  by nature be a lover of wisdom and knowledge. That we may safely
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  affirm, then he is to be a really good and noble guardian of the
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  state, will required to unite in himself philosophy and spirit and swiftness and strength.
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  Undoubtedly, then we have found the desired natures. And now that we
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  have found them, how are they to be reared and educated? Is this
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  not an inquiry which may be expected to throw light on the greater inquiry which
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  is our final end? How do justice and injustice grow up in states?
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  For we do not want either to omit what is the point? Or to
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  draw out the argument to an inconvenient length. I Demendus thought that the inquiry
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  would be of great service to us. Then, I said, my dear
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  friend. The task must not be given up, even if somewhat long,
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  Certainly not. End of Book two, Part three,