'Then,' said Glaucon, laughing, 'in case you should murder us we will acquit you beforehand, and you shall be held free from the guilt of deceiving us.' Socrates proceeds:--The guardians of our state are to be watch-dogs, as we have already said.

Now dogs are not divided into hes and shes--we do not take the masculine gender out to hunt and leave the females at home to look after their puppies.

They have the same employments--the only difference between them is that the one sex is stronger and the other weaker.

But if women are to have the same employments as men, they must have the same education--they must be taught music and gymnastics, and the art of war.

I know that a great joke will be made of their riding on horseback and carrying weapons; the sight of the naked old wrinkled women showing their agility in the palaestra will certainly not be a vision of beauty, and may be expected to become a famous jest.