Quiz: The Republic

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. From what does Socrates say a State arises?

   From a compact among the weak to restrain the strong From the authority of a father over his household and kin From conquest of the farmers by a warlike people From human needs, since no one is self-sufficing
2. 2. Why does Socrates go down to the Piraeus at the start of the dialogue?

   To watch the fleet sail for Sicily To pray to the goddess and see how a new festival is celebrated To visit Cephalus, who has sent a slave to fetch him from Athens To hear Thrasymachus lecture on rhetoric at the house of Polemarchus
3. 3. What example shows that not every difference of nature justifies different pursuits?

   Bald and hairy men as cobblers Tall and short men as soldiers Young and old physicians Left- and right-handed potters
4. 4. What does Socrates conclude about a band of robbers?

   It is the purest example of perfect injustice in action It proves that only fear of the law keeps men just It could not act if its members wronged one another It shows that the unjust are wiser and abler than the just
5. 5. Which three figures make up the image of the soul at the end of Book IX?

   A many-headed beast, a lion and a man A wolf, a sheepdog and a shepherd A serpent, a horse and a child An eagle, an ox and a man together
6. 6. What is the “famous request” made by the people’s protector on his way to tyranny?

   A share of the sacred treasures The abolition of the assembly A bodyguard The command of the fleet
7. 7. What did Leontius see as he came up from the Piraeus?

   A ship returning from war A procession in honour of the Thracian goddess Dead bodies at the place of execution Soldiers drilling outside the northern wall
8. 8. Who dismisses Socrates’ first, simple city as “a city of pigs”?

   Glaucon Adeimantus Thrasymachus Polemarchus
9. 9. By Socrates’ calculation, how many times more pleasantly does the king live than the tyrant?

   27 81 729 9
10. 10. In the myth of Er, what life does the soul of Odysseus choose?

    The life of a private man who had no cares The life of a swan The life of a great tyrant over many cities The life of a famous athlete crowned at Olympia
11. 11. How does Thrasymachus first define justice?

    As the interest of the stronger As obedience to the gods and the laws of one’s fathers As giving each man what is owed to him As doing good to friends and harm to enemies
12. 12. How does Socrates say the ideal city could most quickly be established?

    By waiting for the son of a king to become a philosopher By sending everyone over ten into the country and raising the children afresh By persuading the assembly to vote for the new constitution By conquering a neighbouring city and resettling its people on the conquered land
13. 13. What does Socrates call fighting between Hellenes?

    Just war A sacred war Discord, not war A rebellion of subjects
14. 14. How does Socrates finally define justice in the State?

    Obedience to the established laws and customs of the city Giving each man what is owed to him, as Simonides said Each doing his own business and not being a busybody The interest of the stronger party, as Thrasymachus held
15. 15. What does Socrates call the “inevitable division” of an oligarchy?

    It is divided between soldiers and farmers who never meet or marry It is divided between the old, who rule, and the young It is split between citizens and the foreigners who do its trade It is two cities, of rich and of poor, always conspiring against each other
16. 16. Between what ages may a woman bear children for the State?

    Eighteen and forty-five Twenty and forty Fifteen and thirty-five Twenty-five and fifty
17. 17. What kept Theages away from politics and so in philosophy?

    Poverty An internal sign Exile Ill-health
18. 18. At what age are the selected students first tested in dialectic?

    Thirty Fifty Twenty Eighteen
19. 19. In the “royal lie”, which metal is mingled in the auxiliaries?

    Brass Iron Gold Silver
20. 20. What does Cephalus consider the greatest blessing of wealth?

    It spares a good man any need to deceive or defraud others It lets him leave his sons rather more than he himself inherited It frees him at last from the pleasures and passions of youth It wins him the respect of the young men of Athens
21. 21. Why should the future rulers study arithmetic?

    To predict the seasons for farmers and sailors For its military use and to lead the soul from becoming to being To calculate the taxes owed by each class of citizens To keep the city’s accounts and fix fair prices in the market and the harbour
22. 22. In the allegory of the cave, what do the chained prisoners see?

    The real objects carried past in front of them Shadows cast on the wall by a fire behind them Paintings made on the cave wall by their ancestors Reflections of the sun in a pool of water
23. 23. When, according to Socrates, does the lawless wild-beast nature present even in good men show itself?

    In battle At religious festivals In old age In sleep
24. 24. Why does Socrates call the well-bred dog “a true philosopher”?

    It obeys its master without question or complaint It is gentle to everyone it meets, even strangers It tells friend from enemy only by whether it knows them It lives contentedly without possessions
25. 25. What does Socrates call the sun?

    The image of justice The eye of the soul The parent of the good The child of the good
26. 26. Which musical harmonies are kept in the guardians’ education?

    The Dorian and the Phrygian The Ionian and the Dorian The Lydian and the softer Ionian The mixed Lydian and the Phrygian
27. 27. What image does Socrates use for the way education fixes courage in the soldiers?

    Iron tempered again and again in the fire A seal pressed into soft wax that keeps its shape A plant grafted onto good stock in spring Wool prepared to take a fast purple dye
28. 28. According to Socrates, how are magistrates usually chosen in a democracy?

    By lot By the votes of the army By a property qualification By birth into noble families
29. 29. What power did the ring found by Gyges give him?

    It turned base metal into gold whenever he touched it It let him understand the speech of birds and animals It protected him from wounds in battle It made him invisible when he turned its collet inward
30. 30. How does a carpenter respond when a physician prescribes a long course of dietetics?

    He has no time to be ill: he goes back to work and recovers or dies He asks the state to pay for his treatment and his family He gives up his trade for a year to follow the doctor’s regimen strictly He consults the priests of Asclepius instead
31. 31. According to Socrates, in what three ways must rulers be paid to make them willing to rule?

    Money, pleasure, or fame after death Honour, exemption from taxes, or the gratitude of the people Money, honour, or a penalty for refusing Land, slaves, or a share of booty
32. 32. Why are the guardians forbidden to touch or own silver and gold?

    The city has no mines and must import all its gold They have divine gold within them, and earthly money would corrupt them Gold is reserved for offerings to the gods and the adornment of temples Money would make them too weak and soft to fight
33. 33. On what condition may poetry return from exile?

    If she or her defenders show that she is useful as well as pleasant If she is recited only at religious festivals and in honour of the gods If she gives up metre and is written in prose like the dialogues of Socrates If the oracle at Delphi approves her and the priests license each new poem
34. 34. Which two evils must the guardians keep out because they corrupt workmen and their work?

    Wealth and poverty Democracy and tyranny Luxury and war Foreign trade and usury
35. 35. What name does Socrates give to the government of honour, modelled on Crete and Sparta?

    Gerontocracy Plutocracy Monarchy Timocracy
36. 36. In the parable of the ship, what do the mutinous sailors call the true pilot?

    A sophist who sells his skill to the highest bidder A tyrant who would seize the ship for himself A prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing A traitor in the pay of the ship’s enemies
37. 37. Who are the three makers of the three kinds of bed?

    God, the carpenter and the painter The forester, the carpenter and the user The carpenter, the merchant and the poet God, the king and the craftsman
38. 38. Which faculty corresponds to the lowest section of the divided line?

    Reason Faith or conviction Perception of shadows Understanding
39. 39. When, according to Socrates, will cities have rest from their evils?

    When all citizens share their property and their meals in common When the wisest men are chosen by lot from the whole people When philosophers are kings or kings become philosophers When the laws of Sparta are adopted everywhere
40. 40. According to Damon, as Socrates reports him, what follows when modes of music change?

    The fundamental laws of the State change with them The army becomes cowardly and undisciplined in the field The young lose all respect for their parents and elders The gods withdraw their favour from the city
41. 41. Who starts the whispering that stops Socrates from describing the four evil forms of State?

    Glaucon Thrasymachus Cephalus Polemarchus
42. 42. Which analogy does Socrates use to show the first defect of oligarchy?

    Choosing shepherds by their birth Choosing doctors by lot from among all the citizens Choosing ships’ pilots by their property Choosing generals by their age and length of service
43. 43. What counterexample does Socrates use against defining justice as telling the truth and paying debts?

    Returning weapons to a friend who has gone out of his mind Repaying a loan to a man known to be a thief and a perjurer Telling an enemy where the army is encamped for the coming night Paying a debt with money borrowed from a third person in the city
44. 44. What will the city do with a poet who can imitate anything?

    Make him the teacher of the guardians in music and poetry Anoint him with myrrh, crown him with wool and send him away Allow him to perform only at religious festivals Put him to death as a corrupter of the young and an impious man
45. 45. What do the rulers of Socrates’ city call the people?

    Their slaves and servants Their maintainers and foster-fathers Their subjects and tributaries Their fellow-guardians
46. 46. In which class of goods does Socrates place justice?

    Goods desired only for their own sake, like harmless pleasures Goods desired both for their own sake and for their results Goods desired only for their results, like money-making A class of its own, above all other goods
47. 47. What is the first rule Socrates lays down for stories about the gods?

    Only poets approved by the priests may tell of the gods The gods must be shown punishing the wicked in this life The gods must be shown taking many forms among men God is the author of good only, not of all things
48. 48. What does Socrates say the prisoners would do to someone who tried to free them and lead them up to the light?

    Follow him gladly up out of the cave into the light Make him their king and follow his commands Put him to death if they could catch him Ignore him and go on watching the shadows
49. 49. Who, according to Socrates, are the greatest of all Sophists?

    Protagoras and Gorgias The public who accuse the Sophists The poets The rulers of oligarchies
50. 50. What objection does Adeimantus raise at the start of Book IV?

    That the city is too small to defend itself That the guardians, owning nothing, are made miserable That the guardians will grow rich and in time become tyrants over the city That the farmers and craftsmen have no voice in government