would-be purchaser, is that which was attributed to him—probably quite without foundation—by his enemies. The customer next asks, where he lives?]
Socrates. I live in a certain city of mine own building, a new model Republic, and I make laws for myself.[1]
Cust. I should like to hear one of them.
Soc. Listen to my grand law of all, then, about wives—that no man should have a wife of his own, but that all should have wives in common.
Cust. What! do you mean to say you have abrogated all the laws of marriage?
Soc. It puts an end, you see, to so many difficult questions, and so much litigation in the divorce courts.
Cust. Grand idea that! But what is the main feature of your philosophy?
Soc. The existence of ideals and patterns of all things in nature. Everything you see—the earth, and all that is on it, the heavens, the sea—of all these there exist invisible ideals, external to this visible universe.
Cust. And pray where are they?
Soc. Nowhere. If they were confined to any place, you see, they could not be at all.
Cust. I never see any of these ideals of yours.
Soc. Of course not: the eyes of your soul are blind. But I can see the ideals of all things. I see
- ↑ It must be remembered that Plato, in his 'Republic,' makes Socrates the expositor of his new polity throughout; he had probably derived at least the leading ideas from him.
