Plato, Book IV of The Republic

In Book IV of The Republic, Socrates has gone on a bit of a digression. He has done this for the sake of proving his argument as to what constitutes the ideal city. In order to do this, Socrates feels that he and Glaucon must evaluate the individual citizen, specifically the mind and soul of the individual citizen. A city in itself is nothing more than a city, it is the individuals within it who make it just or unjust. If it can be proven that the individual is a just person and has a "well-ordered soul," than the same can be said for the city as a whole. …