men by themselves, the
women with their children; and they are both to serve in the army; the
citizens, if not actually communists, are in spirit communistic;
they are to be lovers of equality; only a certain amount of wealth is
permitted to them, and their burdens and also their privileges are to
be proportioned to this. The constitution in the Laws is a timocracy
of wealth, modified by an aristocracy of merit. Yet the political
philosopher will observe that the first of these two principles is
fixed and permanent, while the latter is uncertain and dependent on the
opinion of the multitude. Wealth, after all, plays a great part in
the Second Republic of Plato. Like other politicians, he deems that a
property qualification will contribute stability to the state. The four
classes are derived from the constitution of Athens, just as the form
of the city, which is clustered around a citadel set on a hill, is
suggested by the Acropolis at Athens. Plato, writing under Pythagorean
influences, seems really to have supposed that the well-being of the
city depended almost as much on the number 5040 as on justice and
moderation. But he is not prevented by Pythagoreanism from observing the
effects which climate and soil exercise on the characters of nations.

He was doubtful in the Republic whether the ideal or communistic state
could be realized, but was at the same time prepared to maintain that
whether it existed or not made no difference to the philosopher, who
will in any case regulate his life by it (Republic). He has now lost
faith in the practicability of his scheme--he is speaking to 'men, and
not to Gods or sons of Gods' (Laws). Yet he still maintains it to be the
true pattern of the state, which we must approach as nearly as possible:
as Aristotle says, 'After having created a more general form of state,
he gradually brings it round to the other' (Pol.). He does not observe,
either here or in the Republic, that in such a commonwealth there would
be little room for the development of individual character. In several
respects the second state is an improvement on the first, especially in
being based more distinctly on the dignity of the soul. The standard
of truth, justice, temperance, is as high as in the Republic;--in one
respect higher, for temperance is now regarded, not as a virtue, but as
the condition of all virtue. It is finally acknowledged that the virtues
are all one and connected, and that if they are separate