of the government, just as giving medicine is of physicians. The government, as we have already
seen, is to deceive people in pretending to arrange marriages by lot, but this is not a religious
matter.
There is to be "one royal lie," which, Plato hopes, may deceive the rulers, but will at any rate
deceive the rest of the city. This "lie" is set forth in considerable detail. The most important part of
it is the dogma that God has created men of three kinds, the best made of gold, the second best of
silver, and the common herd of brass and iron. Those made of gold are fit to be guardians; those
made of silver should be soldiers; the others should do the manual work. Usually, but by no means
always, children will belong to the same grade as their parents; when they do not, they must be
promoted or degraded accordingly. It is thought hardly possible to make the present generation
believe this myth, but the next, and all subsequent generations, can be so educated as not to doubt
it.
Plato is fight in thinking that belief in this myth could be generated in two generations. The
Japanese have been taught that the Mikado is descended from the sun-goddess, and that Japan was
created earlier than the rest of the world. Any university professor, who, even in a learned work,
throws doubt on these dogmas, is dismissed for unJapanese activities. What Plato does not seem
to realize is that the compulsory acceptance of such myths is incompatible with philosophy, and
involves a kind of education which stunts intelligence.
The definition of "justice," which is the nominal goal of the whole discussion, is reached in Book
IV. It consists, we are told, in everybody doing his own work and not being a busybody: the city is
just when trader, auxiliary, and guardian, each does his own job without interfering with that of
other classes.
That everybody should mind his own business is no doubt an admirable precept, but it hardly
corresponds to what a modern would naturally call "justice." The Greek word so translated
corresponded to a concept which was very important in Greek thought, but for which we have no
exact equivalent. It is worth while to recall what Anaximander said:
Into that from which things take their rise they pass away once more, as is ordained; for they make
reparation and satisfaction to, one another for their injustice according to the appointed time.