[540b]
throughout the remainder of their lives, each in his turn,1 devoting the greater part of their time to the
study of philosophy, but when the turn comes for each, toiling in the service of
the state and holding office for the city's sake, regarding the task not as a
fine thing but a necessity2; and so, when each generation has educated others3 like themselves to take their place as
guardians of the state, they shall depart to the Islands of the Blest4
and there dwell. And the state shall establish public memorials5
1 Cf. 520 D.
2 Cf. 347 C-D, 520 E.
3 Plato's guardians, unlike Athenian statesmen, could train their successors. Cf. Protag. 319 E-320 B, Meno 99 B. Also ἄλλους ποιεῖνMeno 100 A, Gorg. 449 B, 455 C, Euthyph. 3 C, Phaedr. 266 C, 268 B, Symp. 196 E, Protag. 348 E, Isoc.Demon. 3, Panath. 28, Soph. 13, Antid. 204, Xen.Oecon. 15. 10, and παιδεύειν ἀνθρώπους, generally used of the sophists, Gorg. 519 E, Protag. 317 B, Euthyd. 306 E, Laches 186 D, Rep. 600 C.
4 Cf. p. 139, note d. Plato checks himself in mid-flight and wistfully smiles at his own idealism. Cf. on 536 B-C, also 540 C and 509 C. Frutiger, Mythes de Platon, p. 170.
5 Cf. Symp. 209 E.
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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