BOOK IV.

Republic IV. ADEIMANTUS, SOCRATES. An objection that Socrates has made his citizens poor and miserable: HERE Adeimantus interposed a question: How would you answer, Socrates, said he, if a person were to say that you are making¹ these people miserable, and that they are the cause of their own unhappiness; the city in fact belongs to them, but they are none the better for it; whereas other men acquire lands, and build large and handsome houses, and have everything handsome about them, offering sacrifices to the gods on their own account, and practising hospitality; moreover, as you were saying just now, they have gold and silver, and all that is usual among the favourites of fortune; but our poor citizens are no better than mercenaries who are quartered in the city and are