There is no more inconsistency in this than was inevitable in his age and country; there is no use in turning upon him the cross lights of modern philosophy, which, from some other point of view, would appear equally inconsistent.

Plato does not give the final solution of philosophical questions for us; nor can he be judged of by our standard.
The remainder of the Republic is developed out of the question of the sons of Ariston.

Three points are deserving of remark in what immediately follows:--First, that the answer of Socrates is altogether indirect.

He does not say that happiness consists in the contemplation of the idea of justice, and still less will he be tempted to affirm the Stoical paradox that the just man can be happy on the rack.

But first he dwells on the difficulty of the problem and insists on restoring man to his natural condition, before he will answer the question at all.