Socrates, the belligerent street-corner philosopher of the city of Athens, refus

ed to write anything down, so that it was left to his pupil Plato to record his
many discussions, of which The Republic is one. While its conclusions may seem,
with two-and-a-half thousand years of hindsight, either silly or dangerous, the
step-by-step ('dialectic') process of searching for answers which are thought to
be waiting for us 'out there' is considered to be the foundation of the Western
way of thinking, in contrast to the harmonious certainties of the East.
Plato's Republic
[327] YESTERDAY I went down with my friends to the harbour at Piraeus to see the
festival of the Goddess. It was the first time it has been held here in Athens,
the processions really were wonderful, especially the new type of race where ru
nners passed batons to each other.
Afterwards we went to Polemarchus' house and found his old father Cephalus, garl
anded as if for a glorification, who said to me, "You don't visit us as often as
you should, Socrates. I may be too old for physical pleasures, but I enjoy inte
lligent conversation all the more." "Actually," I said, "I enjoy talking to old
men, for you have already trod the long road. Tell me, is old age a difficult ti
me of life, or not?"
"You know, Socrates, when we old men get together, most of them just grumble. Th
ey complain that they don't make love or go to parties, and that their families
don't respect them. But I remember someone asking the old poet Sophocles whether
he still enjoyed sex, he replied that he was glad to have left that frenzy behi
nd him. A good reply I thought, for it is not age that matters but character. Fo
r a sensible, good-tempered man, old age is easy- otherwise youth as well as age
is a burden."
[330] "I am afraid," I said, "that people will say you are content because you a
re rich."
"Riches won't make a bad man happy, though wealth has its uses. It makes it easi
er to avoid cheating and lying, or the fear that one has left some sacrifice to
God or debt to man unpaid.
"But surely, goodness is more than just..."
"You can continue this discussion with Polemarchus, I must go to the sacrifice."
"Well then Polemarchus," said I, "what do you think it is to do right."
"Simonides the poet says 'to give every man his due', so I think goodness, or ju
stice, is helping your friends and harming your enemies."
"Tell me, if we harm a horse or a dog, do we make the creature better or worse?"
"Worse, certainly."
"So that cannot be justice?"
[337] Eventually Thrasymachus exploded at us; "Childish nonsense Socrates! Justi
ce, or 'right', is nothing more nor less than what is in the interest of those i
n power. What our rulers call 'justice' is simply making a profit from the peopl
e. Who comes off best in business? Always the unjust man, and he'll pay less tax
too."
"But don't we agree," I said, "that justice is an excellence of the mind, and in

justice a defect?"
"I admit that."
"Then, my blessed Thrasymachus, injustice can never be more profitable than just
ice."
Glaucon did not seem satisfied. "Men make laws to protect themselves from each o
ther, and they call these laws 'right'. Imagine how a man would behave with no l
aws to restrain him. You know the story of the Lydian shepherd who found a magic
ring which made him invisible?"
"Yes."
[361] "Could anyone have the iron will to resist using the ring to take whatever
he wanted? I think not, no man is just of his own will, but only from fear of t
he law. The unjust man, if he is skilled, will always appear to be in the right,
while what will happen to the just man? He'll end up being blamed for others cr
imes, and like as not end up being scourged and crucified. What we need from you
, Socrates, is a proof that justice is better than injustice, irrespective of wh
at Gods or men may think.
I was delighted, "How can I refuse? But we are short-sighted creatures, perhaps
we might easier see the answer in a bigger thing, like a whole community."
"I dare say."
"So, let us invent a community. Society originates because individuals can't sup
ply all their own needs. We need food and clothing and shelter, so, at least, we
need a farmer, a weaver and a builder. And should each work at just one job, or
should they split the work between them?
"Stick to one specialised skill, they'll be better at it."
"We'll need more citizens then, and we'll need imports, so ships and sailors and
merchants. And retailers, labourers, a market and a currency. Will that do? The
y'll produce wheat and barley, wine, clothes, shoes and houses. They will serve
fine cakes on leaves and relax on beds of myrtle."
"No luxuries?"
"I forgot; they'll have cheese and figs, and nuts to roast by the fire."
[373] "Really!" said Glaucon, "that might do for pigs; we need things like furni
ture, sweets and prostitutes."
"That'll need more people; painters, musicians, seamstresses and such. And that'
ll mean more land, and trying to get it from our neighbours will mean war, so we
'll need an army."
"Can't the citizens fight for themselves?"
"Haven't we already agreed that people work best if they stick to one trade? The
Guardians of our city must be professionals."
"They'll need to be like well-bred dogs; strong, courageous and high-spirited."
"But Glaucon," I said "Won't that make them aggressive? Don't you think that the
y also need the spirit of a philosopher?"

"What?"
"A dog knows friend from foe by using knowledge, and is not philosophy the love
of knowledge?"
"So we must give our Guardians a philosophical spirit."
"Quite so, and that means we must educate them, beginning when they are very you
ng and every impression makes its mark."
"How?"
[380] "We'll persuade their mothers and nurses to tell them stories. But none of
those traditional tales that portray Gods and heroes as dishonest. God must alw
ays be represented as perfect in goodness and beauty, so that our Guardians can
grow up pious and honest. And we absolutely can't permit them to take part in an
y plays and readings other than those which present good and noble people. We'll
only allow brave and noble music: Lydian music is too miserable, even for women
. Then, with simple arts we will get honest, natural, beauty and goodness in cha
racter.
[403] "Certainly. But such keen understanding of beauty, Socrates, leads to sexu
al desire, with all its madness."
"So it does. We will make a law that a man may embrace and kiss his boyfriend, b
ut no more."
"I agree."
"Physical education is next, which begins with diet. No drunkenness, of course,
and every athlete knows to abstain from spices, so no rich Syracusan cooking. An
d definitely no Corinthian girlfriends. Elaborate food causes disease, just as e
laborate music causes indiscipline. And indiscipline and disease lead to law-cou
rts and surgeries."
"It is bound to happen."
"And when people start to need lawyers and doctors, we have conclusive proof tha
t the education system is worthless. Men in the courts before snoozing juries, t
rying to get remedies by legal trickery, is a proof positive that they don't hav
e enough education to arrange their own lives properly. Just as disgraceful is g
oing to the doctor, not with any real malady, but because they've filled their b
odies with garbage, which the pompous medical profession manages to name as some
new-fangled disease."
"I agree."
[411] "So? What next?" I said, "We must decide who among the Guardians is to gov
ern our State. They'll need to be intelligent, capable and willing to devote the
ir lives to the interests of the community. And we'll have to make sure that the
ir high principles can't be spirited away."
"What do you mean by that?"
[414] "If we want to see if a colt is nervous, we expose him to alarming noises.
We must do the same with our young Guardians; expose them to pleasure and fear,
testing them like gold is tested in the furnace. That is how we will choose whi
ch is to be a ruler and which ruled. We'd have to convince the whole community t
hat it was in their interests to be ruled of course. I wonder if we could contri
ve some sort of 'glorious myth'?"

"What sort of myth."

[415] "We shall tell our citizens this tale; Ye citizens are brothers all, but G
od fashioned gold to some, silver to others, iron, and bronze to the rest. The R
ulers have gold; the Auxiliaries silver, farmers and artisans have iron and bron
ze. This is as nature has ordered, for prophecy tells that when men of iron or b
ronze guard the State, it will be destroyed. That is the story. Do you think the
y will believe it?"
"Not in the first generation," he said, "but the next may."
"That will do, even a rumour can inspire people. But, let us return to earth. Ou
r Guardians will have no private property. They will eat together, and their hou
ses will be open to all. We'll tell them that they have no need of earthly gold
or silver because they have gold in their hearts."
"I think not, Socrates." Said Adeimantus; "They're hardly going to be happy, liv
ing like that."
[421] "Yes." I replied. "They won't be able to afford holidays abroad or fancy w
omen. But I am trying to promote the happiness of the whole community. You know,
wealth makes men careless; poverty makes them slovenly."
"I agree," he replied, "but how will a community with no wealth fight a war if t
hey need to?"
"Adeimantus," I said, "don't you think our well-trained soldiers will be a match
for any number of podgy conscripts?" But there is one further matter."
"What is that?"
"How we should order our places of worship, our rites for the dead and our praye
rs to the powers of the otherworld, that is something we can leave to tradition.
So, with that, Adeimantus, I think we have a city founded for you, and I think
you will see that it surely must contain the four virtues of wisdom, courage, se
lf-discipline and justice. The Guardians will have wisdom, so even if they are t
he smallest class, their rule will make the whole State wise. Courage will come
because they will have knowledge of what is worth fearing. Self-discipline, or '
mastering yourself', as people say, is a bit of a puzzle as if you are master of
yourself, then, presumably, you must also be subject to yourself, which is ridi
culous. I think what is meant is that there is good and bad in everyone and the
good part should control of the bad, so in our State the mean desires of childre
n, slaves, women and the lower classes will be controlled by the wisdom of the s
uperior rulers."
"So where is justice hiding?"
[432] "Oh, our quarry is right in front of us. Justice is keeping what is proper
ly one's own, and didn't we agree that in our State each person was to stick to
their own job?"
"True."
[435] "And just as our State had populace, auxiliaries and rulers working in har
mony, doesn't it begin to look as if the mind has three similar elements; desire
, reason, and spirit."
"I think so."

"Good." I said. "And can we agree that injustice is like war between the parts o
f the mind, a sort of disease?"
"So our citizens must all work together."
"Absolutely. And that means something I dare hardly mention."
Glaucon laughed. "We absolve you, do go on."
[452] "I am going to suggest that we educate and train women the same as men, ev
en as soldiers. Does that seem ridiculous?
"People would think it absurd."
"This is not a joke. Women bear children, of course, and are generally better at
cooking and weaving, but don't some men cook and weave? The sort of skills need
ed for administering a State are found as often in women as in men. Just as the
Guardians will be the best citizens, the women Guardians will be the best women.
Even if we might have to give women lighter duties, they can still play a full
part."
"A singular idea!"
"Wait until you hear the next one! As the Guardians, men and women, are allowed
them to mix freely, what will happen?"
"Sex- it is a bigger inspiration than any logic."
[459] "Now, Glaucon, I know that you keep pet dogs and birds. How do you breed f
rom them?"
"Are you going to suggest that we breed people just as I breed dogs, by selectin
g the finest to mate?"
"Indeed. We need a real pedigree herd of Guardians, so we will have an annual fe
stival to bring our brides and grooms together. There will be ceremonies and son
gs and a cunning lottery, fixed by the Rulers, to decide who is fit to mate. In
this way, the inferior Guardians will blame the lottery instead of the Rulers. T
he children can be taken away to be educated, and any inferior, or deformed, one
s can be quietly disposed of. They'll have to be in the prime of life to breed,
say from twenty-five to fifty-five for men and twenty to forty for woman. Past t
hose ages they can have sex with whoever they want, unless they're closely relat
ed, but they had better take precautions to avoid children."
"But they won't know who they are related to."
"They should be able to work it out from their ages, or something. Our State wil
l have no 'yours' and 'mine'. It will have rulers and subjects, not as master an
d slave, but like brothers. There will be no reason for anyone to think of their
own success or failure, only that of the State. And, most of all, everyone will
feel they are one family because they have wives and children in common. Any li
ttle arguments can be settled with fists, there and then."
"Good. It will help our men keep fit."
"Children will go, carefully protected, to watch battles, so that they'll learn
about warfare, and their parents will fight all the harder."
[468] "What about the actual fighting?"

"War should be conducted decently; no stripping of corpses, no burning of houses

, our enemies should be treated with respect and no Greek should ever be taken i
nto slavery. Any soldier who deserts should be demoted, but the brave should be
honoured with feasts and crowns, and, you may not agree with this, given somethi
ng extra."
"What?"
"Be allowed to kiss whichever boy or girl they fancy- that would encourage brave
ry! Those who die in battle will, we will say, become holy spirits to guard the
earth, but we won't dirty our temples by dedicating weapons in them."
"This is all fine, Socrates," said Glaucon, "but you still haven't shown that su
ch a State would be possible in practice."
[472] "We've been painting a word-picture of an ideal state. Is our portrait any
the worse if that state can't be found? Until philosophers are kings, or the ki
ngs and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and polit
ical greatness and wisdom meet in one, cities will never have rest from their ev
ils, nor humanity itself I believe. Only then will this our State have a possibi
lity of life and behold the light of day."
"Explain."
"Some people are naturally fitted for philosophy and leadership. Let me explain.
If a man loves something, he must feel affection for all of it, not love one pa
rt to the exclusion of the rest."
"I'm not quite with you."
"Really Glaucon!" I said, "Whenever you fancy a pretty boy you call a small nose
charming and a big one noble, a dark complexion manly and a fair one divine. Yo
u always manage to find beauty in the whole."
"Its true."
"So, the Philosopher's passion is for wisdom of every kind- he's ready to learn
and never satisfied. If philosophers understand the eternal and immutable, while
non-philosophers are lost in multiplicity and change, which of the two should b
e Guardians of the State, able to guard its laws and customs?"
[485] "It would be absurd not to choose the philosophers. But what other charact
eristics should he have?"
"Truthfulness. And hatred of untruth. Is there anything closer to wisdom than tr
uth? And if a man has greatness of mind and breadth of vision to contemplate all
reality, can he regard human life as anything of any great consequence?"
"No."
"So he won't think death anything to be afraid of."
"No."
Adeimantus interrupted, "Socrates! Your arguments are like a game of draughts wh
ere the expert hems in the ordinary player. You know that people who study philo
sophy too long become both weird and useless to society."
[488] "There is some truth in that, but let me give you an illustration. Imagine
the master of a ship- larger and stronger than his crewmen, but a bit deaf and

short-sighted and no great seaman. The crew quarrel as to who is to control the
ship, the factions attack each other and even attack the master. They don't know
that there is an art of navigation, they've never learned it and don't even con
sider it something that can be taught. They don't know that a true navigator mus
t study the seasons, the sky and the winds. So they fight for who should take co
ntrol, and call the true navigator a useless star gazer. I'm trying to show the
attitude of society towards the true philosopher, and you won't be wrong if you
compare our politicians with the sailors."
"Yes, I understand."
[492] "There are many influences which destroy the best of natures. Some people
say our youngsters are corrupted by learning speech-making from the Sophist lawy
ers, but isn't it really public opinion which ruins them?
[493] "How."
"Like the person who feeds a wild beast every day and becomes familiar with its
noises and actions, those Sophist talkers teach nothing but popular opinion, the
y learn how to recognise what the crowd like, and they pander to it. They call w
hat annoys the beast 'bad', and what pleases it 'good', but they've no knowledge
of the beast's real nature. [496] Abused as it is, philosophy still has a high
reputation- so that stunted minds crave it. Like the bald tinker who has got out
of prison and come into money. True philosophers survive only if circumstances
keep them away from politics and public, like our disabled friend Theages. Perha
ps I shouldn't mention it, because it is so odd, but my own saviour is an inner
voice1 that tells me what not to do. And, nowadays philosophy is taught too youn
g. The better way is to learn a little philosophy in youth, then in later life,
when they've done with politics and war, they can devote their energies to it. T
he philosophers eyes should be turned away from the petty quarrels of men, to th
e realm of fixed realities, where all is order and justice. Like an artist, our
philosopher must begin by wiping the slate of human habits and society clean."
"That sounds impossible."
[502] "Difficult, I admit, but if just one individual achieved it in the whole o
f time, might that not be good enough?"
"So, what is 'good'?"
"Do you really want a blind, halting display from me when you can have nice clea
r accounts from other people?"
"Now, don't give up Socrates!"
"I shall try, but I fear it is beyond me. But I will tell you, if you like, abou
t something which seems to me to be like a child of the Good."
[507] "Go on..."
"Have you noticed that sight and visible objects need something?"
"What is that?"
"It is light. And which of the heavenly bodies is responsible for that?"
"You mean the sun."
[509] "Yes. The sun is not itself sight, it is the cause of sight. And the sun,
you will agree, also causes the process of generation, growth and nourishment, w

ithout itself being such a process. Let me sketch out this diagram.
The vertical line divides what we know of from how we know it. In the Visible Re
alm are the things we can observe, the lowest of which are mere shadows or refle
ctions which we know to be illusions. Physical things we comprehend through beli
ef or opinion. In the higher Realm of the Intelligible, we have knowledge of the
true essences, the 'Forms' of reality, which are not built on opinion, but are
necessary."
"I see."
[515] "I want to go on to picture the enlightenment or ignorance of the human co
ndition as follows: Imagine an underground chamber in which are prisoners who ha
ve been chained since childhood with their legs and necks fastened so that they
can only look straight ahead. Behind them is a road along which all sorts of men
pass, and behind that a fire so that the prisoners see in front of them the sha
dows cast by the passers-by and the things they carry. "
"An odd sort of prisoners."
"They are like us. Wouldn't they assume that the shadows were the real thing and
that any voices they hear belonged to the shadows?"
"Inevitably."
[516] "Suppose one of them were let loose and was dragged up, probably unwilling
ly, into the sunlight. He would be so dazzled by the glare that he wouldn't be a
ble to see a thing. But he would grow accustomed to the light and come to see sh
adows, then reflections, and at last objects themselves and finally the sun. And
if he then went back to the cave, wouldn't he be blinded by the darkness? And i
f he told of what he had seen, wouldn't the other prisoners think him mad?
"They certainly would."
"Now, my dear Glaucon, you won't go wrong if you connect the upper world of sigh
t with the upward progress of the mind into the reason.
"I agree, so far as I can understand you."
"You see, people can be blinded by light as much as by darkness. We must dismiss
the idea of some teachers that they can put into the mind knowledge that wasn't
already there- as if they could put sight into blind eyes. There could be a bet
ter skill- to make the mind turn away from the world of change and look straight
at reality, at the brightest of all realities which we call the Good. Isn't tha
t so?"
"Yes."
"Most societies today are shadow battles and struggles for power, as if it were
some great prize. The better is quite different; the State is best ruled and mos
t tranquil when leaders come to their duties with least enthusiasm. We ought now
to consider how such men should be trained, how they can be led up to the light
. And it's not something we can toss an oyster-shell to decide."
[522] "Haven't we already decided on physical training, music and such?"
"Yes, but they'll need the ability to count and calculate. Few people see how it
can draw men towards reality."
"By measuring distances?"

"No, you don't understand. Look at my three fingers here. Each one is just a fin
ger. But as soon as we ask 'is it fat or thin' or 'pale or dark' we are confront
ed by opposites, like soft or hard, light or heavy, and we have to decide betwee
n them, and arithmetic is useful there. Not that our students will be concerned
with accountancy or commerce, they are above that, but arithmetic will fit them
for war.
"That's true."
"The next subject is geometry."
"That is certainly useful in war, for pitching camp and organising manoeuvres."
"True, but that is the mere geometry of everyday life. We are concerned with the
squares and other shapes which pure geometry contemplates as perfect and eterna
l."
"I see."
"The third subject should be astronomy, do you agree?"
"Certainly, knowledge of the seasons is valuable to the farmer, sailor and soldi
er alike."
[528] "Really, Glaucon! You want to seem practical. How amusing!"
"Even I can see that astronomy makes the mind look upwards."
"You haven't understood. Do you think that staring at the ceiling develops the m
ind? The beautiful stars are the finest visible things. But they are far inferio
r to the true reality of the heavens which is found in the mathematics of their
motion."
"Explain."
"I'm afraid, Glaucon, that you won't be able to follow. All I can talk about is
an image of the truth, not the reality, only dialectic can reveal that- and only
to someone already experienced. Dialectic begins by grinding down assumptions t
o the first basic principles they are founded on. Dialectic is the very coping-s
tone that tops-off our education system."
"I agree, as far as I can understand you."
[535] "Good. Do you remember the kind of people we picked to rule? We want the b
ravest, toughest, most honest and, if possible, the best-looking."
"Undoubtedly."
"Arithmetic and other studies can begin in childhood, but we mustn't use compuls
ion."
"Why not?"
"Compulsory learning never sticks in the mind. Instead, we'll let children learn
through play. We'll have compulsory schooling for, say, five years. After that
they can be sent down to the Cave to hold some minor public office until they ar
e fifty. Then they will be ready to become full-time philosophers, and, when the
ir turn comes, act, reluctantly, as Rulers."

"They will be fine men indeed."

"And women. Don't forget the women."
"Of course."
"Well, that is our society, with political power in the hands of philosophers."
[544] "That may be our perfect society, but what about the real societies we hav
e now. What of them?"
"There are four types: timarchy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. There are her
editary monarchies and other types, but they are all really crosses between thes
e. But, you know, societies aren't made of timber and stone, but out of men whos
e characters determine the direction of the whole, so we need to look at men as
well."
"That would be logical."
"Our ideal state turns into timarchy when the ruling class become disunited, usu
ally when the lower classes begin to crave profit and land and while upper class
es urge traditional values. Society becomes envious, greedy, competitive and fri
ghtened of having intelligent people in office. The Timarchic man will be harsh
to his slaves and crave power, not through intelligent discussion, but by showin
g might."
"What's next?"
"Oligarchy, where power belongs to those with wealth. And when men get richer, t
hey get less honourable and they keep the populace down by force. Let me ask you
, what would happen if we chose the richest man as captain of a ship?"
"We would be shipwrecked."
"Exactly. Worse, the wealthy live on investments, without trade or skill, worthl
ess to their city."
"True."
"Next, I suppose, we have democracy. It rises when oligarchy reduces to poverty
men born for better things; they grow angry and crave a revolution. The money ma
kers themselves fuel such desire with poisoned loans and exorbitant interest rat
es. I suppose many people would think democracy the best of societies, there's n
o compulsion, so there's a profusion of opinions. But its diversity of ideas is
only like a decorated cloak, the sort of thing that women and children crave. Bu
t that means that the best aren't forced to rule, so democracies get worthless p
oliticians who just pretend to be the people's friends. The excessive desire for
liberty is the downfall of democracies into the most powerful society and man;
tyranny and the tyrant."
"How?"
[566] "A leader arises with the mob at his disposal, he brings false accusations
and is not afraid of murder, he hints at debts cancelled and land redistributed
. He begins a class-war against property owners. If he is exiled, he returns all
the stronger. Then he demands bodyguards and uses then to grasp the reigns of s
tate. At first he smiles and makes grand promises. He stirs up war to show that
people need a leader, and taxes them to pay for it. He seeks out men of courage
and purges his state of them."

"An odd kind of purge."

"True, a doctor gives a purgative to remove poison while the tyrant does the opp
osite."
"And yet supporters will flock to him."
[569] "Certainly. Then, when the people discover what a beast they've created, h
e'll be too strong to depose."
"Exactly."
[572] "You know, I think that inside even the best of us have a terrible bestial
and lawless side."
"I agree."
"Would you say that the people of a tyrannical state are miserable slaves?"
"Certainly. Only the tyrant himself has any happiness."
"You think so? Consider this; does a wealthy slave-owner live in fear of his sla
ves?"
"No, because society protects his way of life."
[579] "Now, imagine he was surrounded by neighbours who considered slave-owning
a crime."
"He would be in constant fear."
"Exactly the predicament of the tyrant. His life is haunted by fear, he's a sour
ce of misery to himself as well as others."
"I see."
[582] "So we can't compare these lives on the amount of pleasure each one gives,
for each takes its own pleasure in knowledge, success or gain. We must look to
the goodness or badness in them. True pleasure is only known to the true philoso
pher, who, through reason, knows the highest, but can also see the lowest. Do yo
u know how many times happier a philosopher is?"
"No, tell me."
"There are three types of pleasure, and there are five types of man, from the ty
rant to the democrat, to the oligarch, to the timarch to the philosopher-king. S
o that's 3x3x3x3x3x3, which is 729. The philosopher is 729 times happier than th
e tyrant. It is quite obvious."
[588] "Obvious to you perhaps."
"The human personality is like a creature in the old stories. A beast with dozen
s of heads, some wild, some tame, which it can change at will, all wrapped up in
side a human's skin."
"So I doubt if our perfect society could ever exist on this earth."
"Perhaps you are right. But perhaps it already exists in some supposed otherworl
d of the mind. Maybe it is already now there, so that any man with a heart fit f
or justice can become one of its citizens."

"That may be right."

[595] "You know, I've been brought up to respect writers, especially Homer, but
of all the things in our State, I do think the most important might be to reject
imitative art."
"Explain."
"You agree that there are many beds and tables, but only one idea, one absolute
form, of a bed, or a table. The craftsman follows the form to make a bed, but he
can't make the idea itself. Yet an artist can make the mere appearance of a bed
, or of anything he wants, and artists and poets listen to advice from no one."
"Apparently not."
"The decent man always hides his emotions, but poets and artists are always repr
esenting these unreasonable shows. They appeal to the ignorant multitude, and wo
rse, the poet indulges our lowest desires. They don't realise how these infect o
ur reasoning. Theatre is full of dirty jokes, anger, erotic passion, pleasure an
d pain, when such things should be allowed to perish."
"I can't deny it."
[607] "So, Glaucon, all the poetry we can allow in our State is hymns of praise
to good men. Anyway, we haven't mentioned the greatest prize that awaits a good
man."
"It must be something very big."
"Don't you realise, " I asked, "that the soul is immortal and imperishable?"
"Can you really believe that?"
"It is easy to demonstrate. You agree that each thing has its own specific evil
which can destroy it, like ophthalmia to the eyes, mildew to grain, rust to iron
?"
"True."
"So what is the specific evil of the soul?"
"What we've discussed; injustice, indiscipline, cowardice, ignorance and so on."
"But do they actually destroy the soul?"
"Far from it, wickedness tends to destroy other people and protect the soul that
has it."
"So if even its own evil cannot destroy the soul, surely it cannot die, and if s
ouls exist forever, there must always be the same number of them."
"I suppose so."
[613] "You will grant that the Gods see a man's true character."
"Yes."
"So we may assume that a man receives just rewards from the Gods?"

"But what are they?"

[614] "Let me tell you the story of Er of Pamphylia. He was killed in battle, an
d on the tenth day, on his funeral pyre, he came to life again and told this sto
ry of what he'd seen in the other world.
He travelled a strange journey and arrived with many others in great lawn, where
two great chasms lead towards the inner earth and the sky, and another two lead
back. In the centre sat stern judges who fixed a sign to each arriving soul tel
ling of what it had done in its time on earth before sending it off to the heave
ns or the inner earth as was its merit.[618] Those who have caused deaths or sla
very gain the same treatment themselves, just as those who have been good and ju
st and god-fearing are treated in that way. He did explain what happened to thos
e who died in infancy, but it was not very interesting. After seven days in the
meadow, he set out with souls who had served their times below, by the great Spi
ndle of Necessity, where Lachesis of the Fates scattered lots upon the ground, s
aying "Souls, it is time to choose your life for tomorrow". And the lots were of
every kind of life; poverty, riches, exile, tyranny of both men and animals.
This is the moment, my dear Glaucon, when knowledge of good and ill is all. An i
ron will is needed to choose the honest course.
The first soul chose the life of a tyrant. He had come from a life in a peaceful
state, and did not understand the horrors that awaited him. Er was filled with
pity and laughter and wonder to see so many choose evil when they thought it goo
d. Thamyris the singer chose to be a nightingale, Ajax the warrior picked a lion
's life. The jester Thersites put on the form of a monkey. Odysseus, remembering
his trials, searched for the uneventful life of an ordinary man, and found it l
ying neglected, and chose it with great joy as the greatest prize of all.[621] L
achesis allotted to each a guardian spirit, and the souls walked to rest by the
river of Lethe-the-ever-forgetting. They drank the waters and slept, and as they
slept, a great storm arose and each soul, like a shooting star, was swept away
to their birth. Er awoke at dawn lying upon his funeral pyre.
So, Glaucon, this tale is preserved, and if we remember it well it will preserve
us. If we keep peace with ourselves and the Gods and seek forever wisdom and ju
stice, then, like victors at the Olympiad, we will receive our prize in this lif
e and in our next journey of a thousand years all will be well."