republic (books 1 - 5)   

And if we imagine the State in process of creation, we shall
see the justice and injustice of the State in process of creation
also.

I dare say.

When the State is completed there may be a hope that the
object of our search will be more easily discovered.

Yes, far more easily.

But ought we to attempt to construct one? I said; for to do
so, as I am inclined to think, will be a very serious task. Re-
flect therefore.

I have reflected, said Adeimantus, and am anxious that you
should proceed.

A State, I said, arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of man-
kind; no one is self-sufficing, but all of us have many wants.
Can any other origin of a State be imagined?

There can be no other.

Then, as we have many wants, and many persons are needed
to supply them, one takes a helper for one purpose and another
for another; and when these partners and helpers are gathered
together in one habitation the body of inhabitants is termed a
State.

True, he said.

And they exchange with one another, and one gives, and an-
other receives, under the idea that the exchange will be for
their good.

Very true.

Then, I said, let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet
the true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.

Of course, he replied.

Now the first and greatest of necessities is food, which is
the condition of life and existence.

Certainly.

The second is a dwelling, and the third clothing and the like.

True.

And now let us see how our city will be able to supply this
great demand: We may suppose that one man is a husband-
man, another a builder, someone else a weaver--shall we add
to them a shoemaker, or perhaps some other purveyor to our
bodily wants?

Quite right.

The barest notion of a State must include four or five men.

Clearly.