[485a]
of the ideal would perhaps be the greatest of
superiorities.” “Then what we have to say is how it
would be possible for the same persons to have both qualifications, is it
not?” “ Quite so.” “Then, as we were
saying at the beginning of this discussion, the first thing to understand is
the nature that they must have from birth; and I think that if we
sufficiently agree on this we shall also agree that the combination of
qualities that we seek belongs to the same persons, and that we need no
others for guardians of states than these.” “How
so?”“We must accept
as agreed this trait of the philosophical nature,
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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