Page:Works of Plato his first fifty-five dialogues (Taylor 1804) (Vol 2 of 5) (IA Vol2worksofplato00plat).pdf/471

Rh what kind of republic appeared to me to be the beſt, and from what ſort of men ſuch a republic ought to be compoſed. And by us, indeed, Socrates, all that you ſaid was approved in the higheſt degree.

Did we not, in the firſt place, ſeparate huſbandmen and other artificers from thoſe whom we conſidered as the defenders of the city?

Certainly.

And when we had aſſigned to every one that which was accommodated to his nature, and had preſcribed only one particular employment to every particular art, we likewiſe aſſigned to the military tribe one province only, I mean that of protecting the city; and this as well from the hoſtile incurſions of internal as of external enemies; but yet in ſuch a manner as to adminiſter juſtice mildly to the ſubjects of their government, as being naturally friends, and to behave with warlike fierceneſs againſt their enemies in battle.

Entirely ſo.

For we aſſerted, I think, that the ſouls of the guardians ſhould be of ſuch a nature, as at the ſame time to be both iraſcible and philoſophic in a remarkable degree; ſo that they might be gentle to their friends, and bold and ferocious to their enemies.

You did ſo.

But what did we aſſert concerning their education? Was it not that they ſhould be inſtructed in gymnaſtic exerciſes, in muſic, and other becoming diſciplines?

Entirely ſo.

We likewiſe eſtabliſhed, that thoſe who were ſo educated ſhould neither conſider gold, or ſilver, or any goods of a ſimilar kind, as their own private property ; but that rather, after the manner of adjutants, they ſhould receive the wages of guardianſhip from thoſe whom they defend and preſerve ; and that their recompenſe ſhould be no more than is ſufficient to a moderate ſubſiſtence. That, beſides this, they ſhould uſe their public ſtipend in common, and for the purpoſe of procuring a common ſubſiſtence with each other; ſo that, neglecting every other concern, they may employ their attention ſolely on virtue, and the diſcharge of their peculiar employment.

Theſe things alſo were related by you.