ibed, we stoutly maintain
that there has been, is, and will be such a state whenever the Muse of
philosophy rules. Will you say that the world is of another mind? O, my
friend, do not revile the world! They will soon change their opinion
if they are gently entreated, and are taught the true nature of the
philosopher. Who can hate a man who loves him? Or be jealous of one who
has no jealousy? Consider, again, that the many hate not the true but
the false philosophers--the pretenders who force their way in without
invitation, and are always speaking of persons and not of principles,
which is unlike the spirit of philosophy. For the true philosopher
despises earthly strife; his eye is fixed on the eternal order in
accordance with which he moulds himself into the Divine image (and not
himself only, but other men), and is the creator of the virtues private
as well as public. When mankind see that the happiness of states is only
to be found in that image, will they be angry with us for attempting
to delineate it? 'Certainly not. But what will be the process of
delineation?' The artist will do nothing until he has made a tabula
rasa; on this he will inscribe the constitution of a state, glancing
often at the divine truth of nature, and from that deriving the godlike
among men, mingling the two elements, rubbing out and painting in,
until there is a perfect harmony or fusion of the divine and human. But
perhaps the world will doubt the existence of such an artist. What will
they doubt? That the philosopher is a lover of truth, having a nature
akin to the best?--and if they admit this will they still quarrel with
us for making philosophers our kings? 'They will be less disposed to
quarrel.' Let us assume then that they are pacified. Still, a person may
hesitate about the probability of the son of a king being a philosopher.
And we do not deny that they are very liable to be corrupted; but yet
surely in the course of ages there might be one exception--and one
is enough. If one son of a king were a philosopher, and had obedient
citizens, he might bring the ideal polity into being. Hence we conclude
that our laws are not only the best, but that they are also possible,
though not free from difficulty.

I gained nothing by evading the troublesome questions which arose
concerning women and children. I will be wiser now and acknowledge
that we must go to the bottom of another question: What is to be the
education of our guardians? It w