ure. But they are to be pitied or laughed at, not to be
quarrelled with; they mean well with their nostrums, if they could only
learn that they are cutting off a Hydra's head. This moderation towards
those who are in error is one of the most characteristic features
of Socrates in the Republic. In all the different representations of
Socrates, whether of Xenophon or Plato, and amid the differences of
the earlier or later Dialogues, he always retains the character of the
unwearied and disinterested seeker after truth, without which he would
have ceased to be Socrates.

Leaving the characters we may now analyse the contents of the Republic,
and then proceed to consider (1) The general aspects of this Hellenic
ideal of the State, (2) The modern lights in which the thoughts of Plato
may be read.

BOOK I. The Republic opens with a truly Greek scene--a festival in
honour of the goddess Bendis which is held in the Piraeus; to this is
added the promise of an equestrian torch-race in the evening. The whole
work is supposed to be recited by Socrates on the day after the festival
to a small party, consisting of Critias, Timaeus, Hermocrates, and
another; this we learn from the first words of the Timaeus.

When the rhetorical advantage of reciting the Dialogue has been gained,
the attention is not distracted by any reference to the audience; nor
is the reader further reminded of the extraordinary length of the
narrative. Of the numerous company, three only take any serious part in
the discussion; nor are we informed whether in the evening they went to
the torch-race, or talked, as in the Symposium, through the night.
The manner in which the conversation has arisen is described as
follows:--Socrates and his companion Glaucon are about to leave the
festival when they are detained by a message from Polemarchus, who
speedily appears accompanied by Adeimantus, the brother of Glaucon, and
with playful violence compels them to remain, promising them not only
the torch-race, but the pleasure of conversation with the young, which
to Socrates is a far greater attraction. They return to the house of
Cephalus, Polemarchus' father, now in extreme old age, who is found
sitting upon a cushioned seat crowned for a sacrifice. 'You should come
to me oftener, Socrates, for I am too old to go to you; and at my time
of life, having lost other pleasures, I care the more for conversation.'
Socrates asks him what he thinks of age, to which the old man re