[521d]
the power to effect this?” “Of
course.” “What, then, Glaucon, would be the study that would
draw the soul away from the world of becoming to the world of being? A thought
strikes me while I speak1: Did we not say that these men in youth must be athletes of war2” “We did.” “Then
the study for which we are seeking must have this additional3 qualification.”
“What one?” “That it be not useless to
soldiers.4” “Why, yes, it
must,” he said, “if that is possible.”
1 A frequent pretence in Plato. Cf. 370 A, 525 C, Euthyphro 9 C, Laws 686 C, 702 B, Phaedr. 262 C with Friedländer, Platon, ii. p. 498, Laws 888 D with Tayler Lewis, Plato against the Atheists, pp. 118-119. Cf. also Vol. I. on 394 D-E, and Isoc.Antid. 159ἐνθυμοῦμαι δὲ μεταξὺ λέγων, Panath. 127.
2 Cf. 416 D, 422 B, 404 A, and Vol. I. p. 266, note a, on 403 E.
3 προσέχειν is here used in its etymological sense. Cf. pp. 66-67 on 500 A.
4 This further prerequisite of the higher education follows naturally from the plan of the Republic; but it does not interest Plato much and is, after one or two repetitions, dropped.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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