The second virtue, courage, may best be found in that class which has specifically been inculcated with courage during the entire career of the members of that class: These are the auxiliaries, who in their capacity as soldiers have become, to reflect Socrates' comparison, "dyed in the wool" carriers of courage. The wisdom of the state is found in their counsels. It is they who judge their fellow citizens and themselves. They are the best of the Guardians, having all their lives been nurtured and educated to assume their place as rulers, and they are the most experienced and oldest of the citizens. Wisdom in the state must be said to reside in the class of rulers, for, by definition, they rule by counseling the other classes and themselves. (See Analysis, Book I, Section One) Socrates first seeks to identify wisdom in the state. Having now in theory founded the ideal state, Socrates proceeds to try to determine the essential virtues that may be said to characterize it (the Four Cardinal Virtues): wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.
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