t Plato's own ideas were put into the mouth of Socrates, for
the one intent of Plato's life was to redeem Socrates from the charges
that had been made against him. The characters Shakespeare loved are the
ones that represent the master, not the hated and handmade rogues.

Plato's position in life was that of a spectator rather than that of an
actor. He stood and saw the procession pass by, and as it passed,
commented on it. He charged his pupils no tuition and accepted no fees,
claiming that to sell one's influence or ideas was immoral.

It will be remembered that Byron held a similar position at the
beginning of his literary career, and declared i' faith, he "would not
prostitute his genius for hire." He gave his poems to the world. Later,
when his income was pinched, he began to make bargains with Barabbas and
became an artist in per centum, collecting close, refusing to rhyme
without collateral.

Byron's humanity is not seriously disputed. Plato also was human. He had
a fixed income and so knew the worthlessness of riches. He issued no
tariff, but the goodly honorarium left mysteriously on a marble bench by
a rich pupil he accepted, and for it gave thanks to the gods. He said
many great things, but he never said this: "I would have every man poor
that he might know the value of money."

"The Republic" is the best known and best read of any of Plato's
dialogues. It outlines an ideal form of government where everybody would
be healthy, happy and prosperous. It has served as inspiration to Sir
Thomas More, Erasmus, Jean Jacques Rousseau, William Morris, Edward
Bellamy, Brigham Young, John Humphrey Noyes and Eugene Debs. The
sub-division of labor, by setting apart certain persons to do certain
things--for instance, to care for the children--has made its appeal to
Upton Sinclair, who jumped from his Utopian woodshed into a rubber-plant
and bounced off into oblivion.

Plato's plan was intended to relieve marriage from the danger of
becoming a form of slavery. The rulers, teachers and artists especially
were to be free, and the State was to assume all responsibilities. The
reason is plain: he wanted them to reproduce themselves. But whether
genius is an acquirement or a natural endowment he touches on but
lightly. Also, he seemingly did not realize "that no hovel is safe from
it."

If all marriage-laws were done away with, Plato thought that the men and
women who were mated would still be true to each other, and that