Up to a certain age, the young are to see no ugliness or vice. But at a suitable moment, they
must be exposed to "enchantments," both in the shape of terrors that must not terrify, and of bad
pleasures that must not seduce the will. Only after they have withstood these tests will they be
judged fit to be guardians.
Young boys, before they are grown up, should see war, though they should not themselves
fight.
As for economics: Plato proposes a thoroughgoing communism for the guardians, and (I think)
also for the soldiers, though this is not very clear. The guardians are to have small houses and
simple food; they are to live as in a camp, dining together in companies; they are to have no
private property beyond what is absolutely necessary. Gold and silver are to be forbidden.
Though not rich, there is no reason why they should not be happy; but the purpose of the city is
the good of the whole, not the happiness of one class. Both wealth and poverty are harmful, and
in Plato's city neither will exist. There is a curious argument about war, that it will be easy to
purchase allies, since our city will not want any share in the spoils of victory.
With feigned unwillingness, the Platonic Socrates proceeds to apply his communism to the
family. Friends, he says, should have all things in common, including women and children. He
admits that this presents difficulties, but thinks them not insuperable. First of all, girls are to
have exactly the same education as boys, learning music, gymnastics, and the art of war along
with the boys. Women are to have complete equality with men in all respects. "The same
education which makes a man a good guardian will make a woman a good guardian; for their
original nature is the same." No doubt there are differences between men and women, but they
have nothing to do with politics. Some women are philosophic, and suitable as guardians; some
are warlike, and could make good soldiers.
The legislator, having selected the guardians, some men and some women, will ordain that they
shall all share common houses and common meals. Marriage, as we know it, will be radically
transformed. * At certain festivals, brides and bridegrooms, in such numbers as are required to
keep the population constant, will be brought together, by lot, as they will be taught to believe;
but in fact the
* "These women shall be, without exception, the common wives of these men, and no one
shall have a wife of his own."