“‘Then shall we not experience the need of medical men also to a much greater extent under this than under the former _régime_?’ “‘Yes, indeed.’ “‘The country, too, I presume, which was formerly adequate to the support of its then inhabitants, will be now too small, and adequate no longer. Shall we say so?’ “‘Certainly.’ “‘Then must we not cut ourselves a slice of our neighbours’ territory, if we are to have land enough both for pasture and tillage? While they will do the same to ours if they, like us, permit themselves to overstep the limit of necessaries, and plunge into the unbounded acquisition of wealth.’ “‘It must inevitably be so, Sokrates.’ “‘Will our next step be to go to war, Glaukon, or how will it be?’ “‘As you say.’ “At this stage of our inquiry let us avoid asserting either that war does good or that it does harm, confining ourselves to this statement--that we have further traced the origin of war to causes which are the most fruitful sources of whatever evils befall a State, either in its corporate capacity or in its individual members.” (Book II.)[17] Justly holding that the best laws will be of little avail unless the administrators of them shall be just and virtuous, Sokrates, in the Third Book, proceeds to lay down rules for the education and diet of the magistrates or executive, whom he calls--in conformity with the Communistic system--_guardians_:-- “‘We have already said,’ proceeds Sokrates, ‘that the persons in question must refrain from drunkenness; for a guardian is the last person in the world, I should think, to be allowed to get drunk, and not know where he is.’ “‘Truly it would be ridiculous for a guardian to require a guard.’ “‘But about eating: our men are combatants in a most important arena, are they not?’ “‘They are.’ “‘Then will the habit of body which is cultivated by the trained fighters of the Palæstra be suitable to such persons?’ “‘Perhaps it will.’ “‘Well, but this is a sleepy kind of regimen, and produces a precarious state of health; for do you not observe that men in the regular training sleep their life away, and, if they depart only slightly from the prescribed diet, are attacked by serious maladies in their worst form?’ “‘I do.’ * * * * * “‘In fact, it would not be amiss, I imagine, to compare this whole system of feeding and living to that kind of music and singing which is adapted to the panharmonicum, and composed in every variety of rhythm.’ “‘Undoubtedly it would be a just comparison.’ “‘Is it not true, then, that as in music variety begat dissoluteness in the soul, so here it begets disease in the body, while simplicity in gymnastic [diet] is as productive of health as in music it was productive of temperance?’ “‘Most true.’