Photo citation:
Dpikros. “Plato the Greek Philosopher Statue on Blue Sky Background.” Dreamstime , 2020, www.dreamstime.com/athens-greece-plato-greek-philosopher-statue-blue-sk….
Within this book, Plato gives his in-depth opinion of democracy. He says, “Possibly, said I, this is the most beautiful of polities; as a garment of many colors, embroidered with all kinds of hues, so this, decked and diversified with every type of character, would appear the most beautiful. And perhaps many would judge it to be the most beautiful, like boys and women when they see bright-colored things” which describes that Plato did believe democracy would be a beautiful thing, however, he goes on to say, “And the tolerance of democracy, its superiority to all our meticulous requirements, its disdain for our solemn pronouncements made when we were founding our city, that except in the case of transcendent natural gifts no one could ever become a good man unless from childhood his play and all his pursuits were concerned with things fair and good--how superbly it tramples underfoot all such ideals, caring nothing from what practices and way of life a man turns to politics, but honoring him if only he says that he loves the people!” (Plato, 375 B.C.) This description shows Plato’s hesitance with democracy as it displays the freedoms that could be taken advantage of as well as how easily a society could be manipulated by its leaders in a democratic society. With these metaphors, Plato is painting the picture that democracy is unsustainable and may not be the best thing for a society.
Plato. “PLATO ON DEMOCRACY, PART I, AND HOW DEMOCRACY RESULTS FROM OLIGARCHY (REPUBLIC VIII).” Plato on Democracy, Part I, and How Democracy Results from Oligarchy (Republic VIII), www.mc.maricopa.edu/~davpy35701/text/plato-democ1.html.