Plato, Republic

Socrates

“Very good. We are agreed then, Glaucon, that the state which is to achieve the height of good government must have community¹ of wives and children and all education, and also that the pursuits of men and women must be the same in peace and war, and that the rulers or kings² over them³ are to be those who have approved themselves the best in both war and philosophy.” “We are agreed,” he said. “And we further granted this, [543b] that when the rulers are established in office they shall conduct these soldiers and settle them in habitations⁴ such as we described, that have nothing private for anybody but are common for all, and in addition to such habitations we agreed, if you remember, what should be the nature of their possessions.⁵” “Why, yes, I remember,” he said, “that we thought it right that none of them should have anything that ordinary men⁶ now possess, but that, being as it were athletes⁷ [543c] of war and guardians, they should receive from the others as pay⁸ for their guardianship each year their yearly sustenance, and devote their entire attention to the care of themselves and the state.” “That is right,” I said. “But now that we have finished this topic let us recall the point at which we entered on the digression⁹ that has brought us here, so that we may proceed on our way again by the same path.” “That is easy,” he said; “for at that time, almost exactly as now, on the supposition that you had finished the description of the city, you were going on to say¹⁰ that you assumed such a city [543d] as you then described and the corresponding type of man to be good, and that too though, as it appears, you had a still finer city and type of man to tell of;