Complete Works of Plato

by Plato

But is not virtue something different from saving and being saved?

If he were certain that there were no life to come, he would not have wished to speak or act otherwise than he did in the cause of truth or of humanity.

Considered by many to be Plato’s masterpiece, this dialogue was written circa 380 BC, and concerns the definition of justice. The Republic is renowned for its study of civilisation and its own solution of an ideal city-state and the ‘just’ man that would live in it.

these tales must not be admitted into our State, whether they are supposed to have an allegorical meaning or not. For a young person cannot judge what is allegorical and what is literal; anything that he receives into his mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts.

Yes, my friend, I said, and I then shrank from hazarding the bold word; but now let me dare to say — that the perfect guardian must be a philosopher.

Yes, he said, let that be affirmed.

And thus, Glaucon, the tale has been saved and has not perished, and will save us if we are obedient to the word spoken; and we shall pass safely over the river of Forgetfulness and our soul will not be defiled. Wherefore my counsel is that we hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue always, considering that the soul is immortal and able to endure every sort of good and every sort of evil. Thus shall we live dear to one another and to the gods, both while remaining here and when, like conquerors in the games who go round to gather gifts, we receive our reward. And it shall be well with us both in this life and in the pilgrimage of a thousand years which we have been describing.

Parmenides

The first was the image or expression of the mind in speech; the second, which has just been mentioned, is a way of reaching the whole by an enumeration of the elements. But what is the third definition?

There is, further, the popular notion of telling the mark or sign of difference which distinguishes the thing in question from all others.