1 Cf. 468 E, 547 A, and “already”Cratylus 394 D, 398 A. Hesiod's four metals, Works and Days 109-201, symbolize four succcessive ages. Plato's myth cannot of course be interpreted literally or made to express the whole of his apparently undemocratic theory, of which the biologist Huxley in his essay on Administrative Nihilism says: “The lapse of more than 2000 years has not weakened the force of these wise words.”
2 The four classes are not castes, but are species which will generally breed true. Cf. Cratylus 393 B, 394 A.
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