[520a]
which they
are severally able to bestow upon the community, and that it itself creates such
men in the state, not that it may allow each to take what course pleases him,
but with a view to using them for the binding together of the
commonwealth.” “True,” he said, “I did
forget it.” “Observe, then, Glaucon,” said I,
“that we shall not be wronging, either, the philosophers who arise
among us, but that we can justify our action when we constrain them to take
charge of the other citizens and be their guardians.1
1 Noblesse oblige. This idea is now a commonplace of communist orations.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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