=3. Plato’s Theory of Political Society.= The virtue, Justice, has little meaning in individual ethics, and as an ethical perfection can only be attained in society. There is no English word that is quite the equivalent for the Greek term, but Justice is the usual translation. Justice, however, does not contain the moral spirit of the Greek word. Consistent with his conception of the Ideas in his metaphysics, Plato’s ideal of moral perfection is to be found, not in the individual, but in the species. Plato pictures less the perfect man than the perfect society. Perfect happiness is rather that of the social whole than of the individual, and this ideal of happiness can be reached only in the ideal State. That is why the dialogue, the _Republic_, occupies so important a place in Plato’s writings. It is an attempt to show how the fourth and last virtue, Justice, can be attained. The first book was written in Plato’s early period, and was perhaps called a “dialogue concerning Justice.” Justice is distinctly the social virtue found only in a perfect society, and it will make possible the fulfillment of Wisdom, Courage, and Temperance. The individual man is a vital being whose heart is the central organ, whose characteristic virtue is courage. His courage is indeed a combination of wisdom and temperance. The picture is of the individual man, not amenable to society, but in “a state of warfare.” In such isolation Justice would not exist as a virtue. The political state is necessary if the Idea of the Good is to be manifested in human life. The state is the true educator in Justice, and at the same time the ideal state will be the realization of Justice. The task of the state everywhere is the same, to wit, to direct the common life of man so that every one may be happy through virtue. The result may be attained only by so ordering the relations of society that Justice may prevail. Plato’s _Republic_ is a carefully worked-out plan of such an ideal society. The author made several attempts at Syracuse with the aid of Dion to get first the elder and then the younger Dionysius to transform the tyranny into an ideal state. These attempts resulted disastrously. In the disappointment of his old age that his ideal scheme had never succeeded, he wrote the _Laws_, which is a revised version of the _Republic_ with the Pythagorean number theory as a basis.