has given to mankind those two branches of education. The purpose is to bring the two elements into tune with one another by adjusting the tension of each to the right pitch. So one who can apply to the soul both kinds of education blended in perfect proportion will be master of a nobler sort of musical harmony than was ever made by tuning the strings of the lyre.
We may well say that, Socrates.
And our commonwealth will need the constant vigilance of such a master, to preserve its constitution.
Certainly, he will be indispensable.
So much, then, for the outlines of education and nurture. We need not go into all the details of their musical performances or of their hunting and athletic contests and races. Obviously these will follow from our principles and can easily be worked out.
Yes, easily.
SELECTION OF RULERS: THE GUARDIANS' MANNER OF LIVING
The education above described will be given to all the Guardians up to the age of twenty (537 B, p. 259). Plato next indicates the tests (recalling ordeals to which candidates for initiation are subjected) whereby a few will be selected to undergo the higher training of Chapters XXVI-XXVII and to become Rulers whom the lower order of Guardians, now called Auxiliaries,1 will obey.
There will thus be three orders in the state: Rulers (legislative and deliberative), Auxiliaries (executive), and Craftsmen (productive). This institution is based, not on birth or wealth, but on natural capacities and attainments; children born in any class are
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Republic of Plato.
Contributors: Francis MacDonald Cornford - Translator, Plato - Author.
Publisher: Oxford University Press.
Place of publication: London.
Publication year: 1945.
Page number: 102.
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