The Four Classes: Gold, Silver, Brass, Iron

The young men we called ‘guardians’ may more properly be designated as the rulers’ auxiliaries and supporters.

An old Phoenician tale told of a useful lie. It said that the earth is our mother where we were manufactured in, and we were sent up from it. We should tell this useful lie gradually, first to the rulers, then to the soldiers, and lastly to the people. We will tell them that:

• their youth was a dream
• the education and training which they received from us, an appearance only
• their land is their mother and nurse which they should defend
• her citizens are the children of the land and their own brothers

The tale also said that God created each citizen differently:

• The golden citizens have the power of command and consequently have the greatest honour.
• The silver ones are the auxiliaries.
• The brass and iron citizens are the husbandmen and craftsmen.

A golden parent will sometimes have a silver son, or a silver parent a golden son. God proclaims as a first principle to the rulers, that he should guard most the purity of the race. They should observe what elements mingle in their offspring.

If the son of a golden or silver parent has an admixture of brass and iron, then nature orders a transposition of ranks. The ruler must not pity the child that descends to become a husbandman or artisan just as there may be sons of artisans who are raised to honour by having an admixture of gold or silver to become guardians or auxiliaries.

An oracle says that when a man of brass or iron guards the State, it will be destroyed.

But their sons and their descendants may be made to believe in the tale. Such a belief will make them care more for the city and for one another. We can let this fiction fly abroad as a rumour.

In the meantime, let us arm our earth-born heroes and lead them under their rulers. Let them select a spot from where they can best suppress insurrection. There let them encamp, sacrifice to the proper Gods, and prepare their dwellings. Their houses must shield them against the cold of winter and the heat of summer. They must be the houses of soldiers, and not of shop-keepers.

A shepherd is monstrous if he keeps watch-dogs which act like wolves and turn on the sheep because of hunger, evil habit, or lack of discipline. Therefore, every care must be taken that our auxiliaries, being stronger than our citizens, will not grow to be too much for them and become savage tyrants. A really good education will furnish the best safeguard.

Not yet, but I think that they should be. True education will civilize and humanize them. Their education, habitations, and all that belongs to them:

• should not impair their virtue as guardians, nor
• tempt them to prey on the other citizens.

First, none of them should have any property of his own beyond what is absolutely necessary. They should not have a private house or store closed to the public. Their provisions should be only such as are required by trained warriors, who are men of temperance and courage. They should agree to receive from the citizens a fixed rate of pay, enough to meet the expenses of the year and no more. They will go to mess and live together like soldiers in a camp.

We will tell them that they have gold and silver from God and that the diviner metal is within them. They have therefore no need of the dross which is current among men. They should not pollute the divine by any such earthly admixture.

Of the citizens, they alone cannot touch or handle silver or gold, be under the same roof with them, wear them, or drink from them. This will be their salvation, and they will be the saviours of the State.

But if they ever acquire homes, lands, or money of their own:

• They will become housekeepers and husbandmen instead of guardians, enemies and tyrants instead of allies of the other citizens
• They will hate and be hated, plot and be plotted against.

These shall be the regulations appointed by us for guardians on their houses and all other matters.