e men and women are only needed to carry on the necessary lines of work to keep the state running. Socrates states that "A money-minded person swears that his own way of life is the most enjoyable and wouldn’t think that respect or learning, and other pleasures, were anywhere near as important as making money, unless there was also a profit to be made out of them…" p328 By virtue a proper and just state’s moral goal is to better the lives of the citizens not through the accumulation of great wealth or power, and the foundation must be solid and void of any such appetites. Thus the most basic building blocks of the just state must be protected by what Socrates deems as Guardians. The Guardians are the professional soldiers who are bred away from the imperfect society that are immersed in ancient traditions and customs. The guardian children learn what is "best apted for their moral improvement" (73) so they can grow into a more perfect person. Socrates believes that they should only be exposed to an education that is controlled by the supreme government without the impurities of the normal education by commoners. "Founders ought to know the broad outlines within which their poets are to compose stories, so that they an exclude any compositions which do not conform to those outlines…" (73) According to this type of lifestyle, guardians then become keepers of a just and proper state since they are selfless and immune to private material rewards. On the contrary, Plato explains that "the guardian’s victory is more splendid, and their upkeep by the general populace is more thorough-going. The fruit of their victory is the preservation of the whole community, their prize the maintenance of themselves and their children with food and all of life’s essentials. During their lifetimes they are honored by their community, and when they die they are buried in high style." P181The third class known as the...
