republic (books 1 - 5)   

Certainly.

Then it will be our duty to select, if we can, natures which
are fitted for the task of guarding the city?

It will.

And the selection will be no easy matter, I said; but we must
be brave and do our best.

We must.

Is not the noble youth very like a well-bred dog in respect
of guarding and watching?

What do you mean?

I mean that both of them ought to be quick to see, and swift
to overtake the enemy when they see him; and strong too if,
when they have caught him, they have to fight with him.

All these qualities, he replied, will certainly be required by
them.

Well, and your guardian must be brave if he is to fight well?

Certainly.

And is he likely to be brave who has no spirit, whether horse
or dog or any other animal? Have you never observed how
invincible and unconquerable is spirit and how the presence of
it makes the soul of any creature to be absolutely fearless and
indomitable?

I have.

Then now we have a clear notion of the bodily qualities
which are required in the guardian.

True.

And also of the mental ones; his soul is to be full of spirit?

Yes.

But are not these spirited natures apt to be savage with one
another, and with everybody else?

A difficulty by no means easy to overcome, he replied.

Whereas, I said, they ought to be dangerous to their enemies,
and gentle to their friends; if not, they will destroy themselves
without waiting for their enemies to destroy them.

True, he said.

What is to be done, then? I said; how shall we find a gentle
nature which has also a great spirit, for the one is the contra-
diction of the other?

True.

He will not be a good guardian who is wanting in either of
these two qualities; and yet the combination of them appears