Socrates is adamant, though, that without such firm control over the class system and the reproductive arrangements that sustain it the city is bound to degenerate. He invents a mythic story which will be fed to the citizens of the city—the so-called “noble lie.” According to this noble lie, the citizens of the city all have an admixture of metal in their blood. The true guardians have gold in them, the auxiliaries silver, and the craftsmen bronze and iron (415a). This will persuade them to see the importance of staying within their own class, or “doing their own,” as Socrates puts it
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