§3.414καὶ τὸν ἀεὶ ἔν τε παισὶ καὶ νεανίσκοις καὶ ἐν ἀνδράσι βασανιζόμενον καὶ ἀκήρατον ἐκβαίνοντα καταστατέον ἄρχοντα τῆς πόλεως καὶ φύλακα, καὶ τιμὰς δοτέον καὶ ζῶντι καὶ τελευτήσαντι, τάφων τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μνημείων μέγιστα γέρα λαγχάνοντα· τὸν δὲ μὴ τοιοῦτον ἀποκριτέον.
"And the one who is always tested among children, youths, and men, and emerges pure, must be appointed ruler of the city and guardian, and honors must be given to him both while living and when deceased, obtaining the greatest prizes of tombs and other memorials; but the one who is not such must be rejected.
τοιαύτη τις, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, δοκεῖ μοι, ὦ Γλαύκων, ἡ ἐκλογὴ εἶναι καὶ κατάστασις τῶν ἀρχόντων τε καὶ φυλάκων, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ, μὴ διʼ ἀκριβείας, εἰρῆσθαι. καὶ ἐμοί, ἦ δʼ ὅς, οὕτως πῃ φαίνεται. ἆρʼ οὖν ὡς ἀληθῶς ὀρθότατον καλεῖν τούτους μὲν φύλακας παντελεῖς τῶν τε ἔξωθεν πολεμίων τῶν τε ἐντὸς φιλίων, ὅπως οἱ μὲν μὴ βουλήσονται, οἱ δὲ μὴ δυνήσονται κακουργεῖν, τοὺς δὲ νέους, οὓς δὴ νῦν φύλακας ἐκαλοῦμεν, ἐπικούρους τε καὶ βοηθοὺς τοῖς τῶν ἀρχόντων δόγμασιν; ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἔφη.
Such a kind of selection and appointment of rulers and guardians, Glaucon, seems to me, I said, to have been described, as in an outline, not with precision." "And to me too," he said, "it appears somewhat so." "Is it then indeed most correct to call these 'complete guardians' against enemies from without and friends from within, so that the former will not wish to, and the latter will not be able to do harm, and the young, whom we just now called 'guardians', 'auxiliaries' and helpers of the rulers' decrees?" "It seems so to me," he said.
τίς ἂν οὖν ἡμῖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, μηχανὴ γένοιτο τῶν ψευδῶν τῶν ἐν δέοντι γιγνομένων, ὧν δὴ νῦν ἐλέγομεν, γενναῖόν τι ἓν ψευδομένους πεῖσαι μάλιστα μὲν καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἄρχοντας, εἰ δὲ μή, τὴν ἄλλην πόλιν; ποῖόν τι; ἔφη.
"What device then, I said, might we have for those useful falsehoods, of which we were just now speaking, so that by lying in some one noble way, we might persuade especially even the rulers themselves, or if not, the rest of the city?" "What kind of thing?" he said.
μηδὲν καινόν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἀλλὰ Φοινικικόν τι, πρότερον μὲν ἤδη πολλαχοῦ γεγονός, ὥς φασιν οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ πεπείκασιν, ἐφʼ ἡμῶν δὲ οὐ γεγονὸς οὐδʼ οἶδα εἰ γενόμενον ἄν, πεῖσαι δὲ συχνῆς πειθοῦς. ὡς ἔοικας, ἔφη, ὀκνοῦντι λέγειν. δόξω δέ σοι, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καὶ μάλʼ εἰκότως ὀκνεῖν, ἐπειδὰν εἴπω. λέγʼ, ἔφη, καὶ μὴ φοβοῦ. λέγω δή—καίτοι οὐκ οἶδα ὁποίᾳ τόλμῃ ἢ ποίοις λόγοις χρώμενος ἐρῶ—καὶ ἐπιχειρήσω πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἄρχοντας πείθειν καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην πόλιν, ὡς ἄρʼ ἃ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐτρέφομέν τε καὶ ἐπαιδεύομεν, ὥσπερ ὀνείρατα ἐδόκουν ταῦτα πάντα πάσχειν τε καὶ γίγνεσθαι περὶ αὐτούς, ἦσαν δὲ τότε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὑπὸ γῆς ἐντὸς πλαττόμενοι καὶ τρεφόμενοι καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ ὅπλα αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ ἄλλη σκευὴ δημιουργουμένη, ἐπειδὴ δὲ παντελῶς ἐξειργασμένοι ἦσαν, καὶ ἡ γῆ αὐτοὺς μήτηρ οὖσα ἀνῆκεν, καὶ νῦν δεῖ ὡς περὶ μητρὸς καὶ τροφοῦ τῆς χώρας ἐν ᾗ εἰσι βουλεύεσθαί τε καὶ ἀμύνειν αὐτούς, ἐάν τις ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἴῃ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν ὡς ἀδελφῶν ὄντων καὶ γηγενῶν διανοεῖσθαι. οὐκ ἐτός, ἔφη, πάλαι ᾐσχύνου τὸ ψεῦδος λέγειν. §3.415πάνυ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, εἰκότως· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἄκουε καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ μύθου.
"Nothing new, I said, but a Phoenician thing, which has already happened in many places before, as the poets say and have persuaded people, but has not happened in our time, nor do I know if it could happen, and persuading people of it requires a great deal of persuasion." "You seem," he said, "like one who hesitates to speak." "And I will seem to you, I said, to hesitate with very good reason when I have spoken." "Speak," he said, "and do not fear." "I speak then—and yet I do not know with what boldness or what words I shall speak—and I will attempt first to persuade the rulers themselves and the soldiers, and then also the rest of the city, that indeed all those things with which we nurtured and educated them, all these seemed to happen to them and be experienced by them like dreams, but in truth they were at that time being molded and nurtured underground, both themselves and their weapons and their other equipment being manufactured, and when they were completely finished, the earth, being their mother, sent them up; and now they must deliberate about and defend the land in which they are, as about a mother and nurse, if anyone goes against her, and think of the other citizens as brothers and born of the earth." "Not without reason," he said, "were you for a long time ashamed to tell the lie." "Quite reasonably," I said; "but nevertheless, hear the rest of the myth.
ἐστὲ μὲν γὰρ δὴ πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ πόλει ἀδελφοί, ὡς φήσομεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς μυθολογοῦντες, ἀλλʼ ὁ θεὸς πλάττων, ὅσοι μὲν ὑμῶν ἱκανοὶ ἄρχειν, χρυσὸν ἐν τῇ γενέσει συνέμειξεν αὐτοῖς, διὸ τιμιώτατοί εἰσιν· ὅσοι δʼ ἐπίκουροι, ἄργυρον· σίδηρον δὲ καὶ χαλκὸν τοῖς τε γεωργοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις δημιουργοῖς. ἅτε οὖν συγγενεῖς ὄντες πάντες τὸ μὲν πολὺ ὁμοίους ἂν ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς γεννῷτε, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε ἐκ χρυσοῦ γεννηθείη ἂν ἀργυροῦν καὶ ἐξ ἀργύρου χρυσοῦν ἔκγονον καὶ τἆλλα πάντα οὕτως ἐξ ἀλλήλων.
'For you are indeed all brothers in the city,' as we shall say to them in telling the myth, 'but the god, in molding you, mixed gold in the generation of those of you who are capable of ruling, which is why they are most precious; and silver in those who are auxiliaries; and iron and bronze in the farmers and the other craftsmen.' Since you are then all related, for the most part you would breed offspring like yourselves, but sometimes from gold a silver offspring might be born, and from silver a golden one, and all the others in this way from one another.
τοῖς οὖν ἄρχουσι καὶ πρῶτον καὶ μάλιστα παραγγέλλει ὁ θεός, ὅπως μηδενὸς οὕτω φύλακες ἀγαθοὶ ἔσονται μηδʼ οὕτω σφόδρα φυλάξουσι μηδὲν ὡς τοὺς ἐκγόνους, ὅτι αὐτοῖς τούτων ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς παραμέμεικται, καὶ ἐάν τε σφέτερος ἔκγονος ὑπόχαλκος ἢ ὑποσίδηρος γένηται, μηδενὶ τρόπῳ κατελεήσουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῇ φύσει προσήκουσαν τιμὴν ἀποδόντες ὤσουσιν εἰς δημιουργοὺς ἢ εἰς γεωργούς, καὶ ἂν αὖ ἐκ τούτων τις ὑπόχρυσος ἢ ὑπάργυρος φυῇ, τιμήσαντες ἀνάξουσι τοὺς μὲν εἰς φυλακήν, τοὺς δὲ εἰς ἐπικουρίαν, ὡς χρησμοῦ ὄντος τότε τὴν πόλιν διαφθαρῆναι, ὅταν αὐτὴν ὁ σιδηροῦς φύλαξ ἢ ὁ χαλκοῦς φυλάξῃ. τοῦτον οὖν τὸν μῦθον ὅπως ἂν πεισθεῖεν, ἔχεις τινὰ μηχανήν; οὐδαμῶς, ἔφη, ὅπως γʼ ἂν αὐτοὶ οὗτοι· ὅπως μεντἂν οἱ τούτων ὑεῖς καὶ οἱ ἔπειτα οἵ τʼ ἄλλοι ἄνθρωποι οἱ ὕστερον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι πρὸς τὸ μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς τῆς πόλεώς τε καὶ ἀλλήλων κήδεσθαι· σχεδὸν γάρ τι μανθάνω ὃ λέγεις.
Therefore, to the rulers first and foremost the god commands that they should be good guardians of nothing else so much, nor guard anything so intently, as the offspring, to see what of these metals has been mixed in their souls; and if their own offspring is born with an alloy of bronze or iron, they must in no way have pity, but, giving him the value that belongs to his nature, they must push him out among the craftsmen or the farmers; and if, on the other hand, from these someone is born with an alloy of gold or silver, honoring them, they shall promote them, some to guardianship, others to assistance, because there is an oracle that the city will then be destroyed when the iron or the bronze guardian guards it.' Do you then have any device so that they might believe this myth?" "In no way," he said, "as far as these themselves are concerned; but indeed, so that their sons might, and those who come after, and the other people later." "But even this," I said, "would turn out well for making them care more for the city and for one another; for I understand pretty well what you mean.
καὶ τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἕξει ὅπῃ ἂν αὐτὸ ἡ φήμη ἀγάγῃ· ἡμεῖς δὲ τούτους τοὺς γηγενεῖς ὁπλίσαντες προάγωμεν ἡγουμένων τῶν ἀρχόντων.
And indeed, this will go wherever the rumor leads it; but let us, having armed these earth-born ones, lead them forward under the guidance of the rulers.
ἐλθόντες δὲ θεασάσθων τῆς πόλεως ὅπου κάλλιστον στρατοπεδεύσασθαι, ὅθεν τούς τε ἔνδον μάλιστʼ ἂν κατέχοιεν, εἴ τις μὴ ἐθέλοι τοῖς νόμοις πείθεσθαι, τούς τε ἔξωθεν ἀπαμύνοιεν, εἰ πολέμιος ὥσπερ λύκος ἐπὶ ποίμνην τις ἴοι· στρατοπεδευσάμενοι δέ, θύσαντες οἷς χρή, εὐνὰς ποιησάσθων.
And when they have gone, let them observe where in the city is the best place to camp, from which they might best keep those within in check, if anyone should not wish to obey the laws, and ward off those from without, if any enemy should come like a wolf upon a flock; and having camped, and sacrificed to whom they must, let them make their shelters.
ἢ πῶς; οὕτως, ἔφη.
Or how?" "So," he said.
οὐκοῦν τοιαύτας, οἵας χειμῶνός τε στέγειν καὶ θέρους ἱκανὰς εἶναι; πῶς γὰρ οὐχί;
"Must these not then be such as to be sufficient to shelter them both in winter and in summer?" "Of course, why not?
οἰκήσεις γάρ, ἔφη, δοκεῖς μοι λέγειν. ναί, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, στρατιωτικάς γε, ἀλλʼ οὐ χρηματιστικάς.
For you seem to me," he said, "to be speaking of houses." "Yes," I said, "military ones at least, but not for moneymaking."