Page:The Story of Philosophy.pdf/53

 lifted up by wealth, becomes ruler" (434); or when the general uses his army to establish a military dictatorship. The pro- ducer is at his best in the economic field, the warrior is at his best in battle; they are both at their worst in public office; and in their crude hands politics submerges statesmanship. For statesmanship is a science and an art; one must have lived for it and been long prepared. Only a philosopher-king is fit to guide a nation. "Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and wisdom and political leadership meet in the same man,…cities will never cease from ill, nor the human race" (473).

This is the key-stone of the arch of Plato's thought.

Well, then, what is to be done?

We must begin by "sending out into the country all the inhabitants of the city who are more than ten years old, and by taking possession of the children, who will thus be pro- tected from the habits of their parents" (540). We cannot build Utopia with young people corrupted at every turn by the example of their elders. We must start, so far as we can, with a clean slate. It is quite possible that some enlightened ruler will empower us to make such a beginning with some part or colony of his realm. (One ruler did, as we shall see.) In any case we must give to every child, and from the outset, full equality of educational opportunity; there is no telling where the light of talent or genius will break out; we must seek it impartially everywhere, in every rank and race. The first turn on our road is universal education.

For the first ten years of life, education shall be pre- dominantly physical; every school is to have a gymnasium and a playground; play and sport are to be the entire curriculum ; and in this first decade such health will be stored up as will make all medicine unnecessary. "To require the help of