Brandon Aguilar

Diego White

The Republic
Socrates is in defense of Justice, one of the cardinal virtues, in Platos most influential
pieces of literatures. Plato wrote The Republic in order to speak on the importance of justice
and who it could be applied to government in order to make a perfect society. Majority of the
book was an outline for how he would set us this utopia for justice. His Ideal society has three
classes, the providers, the warriors and the king philosopher. This is the society which Plato
advises will work the best for a just society.
The plot of The Republic takes place in Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece a direct
democracy was established. Not long before this book was written, in 390 BC Platos teacher
and best friend Socrates was democratically sentenced to death by Athenian officials. It is
because of this he resented democracy and his perfect city resembled more of a marxian city.
His stance on politics is disconnected from western thought.
Temperance is another theme of the book. When Plato describes the perfect warrior he
says, Variety in poetry breeds self-indulgence; in gymnastics, disease: simplicity there puts
temperance in the soul; here it puts health in the body (Plato). Plato wants the warriors not to
be too soft nor too brute or overly conscious of their health. This trend occurs varies other times
in the book because temperance is a cardinal virtue.