Quiz: The Republic

15 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. In the “royal lie”, which metal is mingled in the auxiliaries? Brass Gold Silver Iron
2. 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
3. On what condition may poetry return from exile? 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 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
4. What power did the ring found by Gyges give him? It protected him from wounds in battle It let him understand the speech of birds and animals It made him invisible when he turned its collet inward It turned base metal into gold whenever he touched it
5. Which two evils must the guardians keep out because they corrupt workmen and their work? Democracy and tyranny Foreign trade and usury Wealth and poverty Luxury and war
6. How does Thrasymachus first define justice? As giving each man what is owed to him As the interest of the stronger As obedience to the gods and the laws of one’s fathers As doing good to friends and harm to enemies
7. What counterexample does Socrates use against defining justice as telling the truth and paying debts? 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 Returning weapons to a friend who has gone out of his mind Paying a debt with money borrowed from a third person in the city
8. According to Socrates, how are magistrates usually chosen in a democracy? By a property qualification By the votes of the army By lot By birth into noble families
9. In which class of goods does Socrates place justice? Goods desired only for their results, like money-making A class of its own, above all other goods Goods desired only for their own sake, like harmless pleasures Goods desired both for their own sake and for their results
10. Which faculty corresponds to the lowest section of the divided line? Reason Faith or conviction Understanding Perception of shadows
11. What objection does Adeimantus raise at the start of Book IV? That the farmers and craftsmen have no voice in government That the guardians, owning nothing, are made miserable That the guardians will grow rich and in time become tyrants over the city That the city is too small to defend itself
12. Why are the guardians forbidden to touch or own silver and gold? They have divine gold within them, and earthly money would corrupt them Money would make them too weak and soft to fight The city has no mines and must import all its gold Gold is reserved for offerings to the gods and the adornment of temples
13. From what does Socrates say a State arises? From human needs, since no one is self-sufficing 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
14. What will the city do with a poet who can imitate anything? Make him the teacher of the guardians in music and poetry Put him to death as a corrupter of the young and an impious man Allow him to perform only at religious festivals Anoint him with myrrh, crown him with wool and send him away
15. What name does Socrates give to the government of honour, modelled on Crete and Sparta? Gerontocracy Monarchy Timocracy Plutocracy

0 of 15 answered