Fascinating and enjoyable are not how I would have described reading Plato’s Republic. I’ve had this on my tbr since 2016, I’ve always imagined this would be impossible to understand, turgid and really, really hard work but instead it was the complete opposite, and what a read!!! I didn’t grasp everything but I was okay with this as I intend to read this several more times more whilst trying to get more familiar with global ancient history. ( )

“It is better either to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.” —Pythagoras (570–496 BC)

Plato did not apply the rule above. Did not finish. ( )

A classic text that students usually find readable and thought-provoking. ( )

Que Platão tenha escrito com A República uma obra que, para além de seu tempo histórico, estará não mais na ágora, mas nas mesas, nas tribunas e nos foros de discussão em todos os tempos, algo comprovado pela sorte que lhe foi reservada até agora, é fora de dúvida. Reafirmá-lo é um truísmo, mas com ele também ressurge sempre a pergunta: qual a sua atualidade? Pergunta que cada é...

Required reading in Graduate Sshool. This classic has remained with me throughout my life. Highly recommended. Includes books 1-10.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: The Republic (Greek: Πολιτεία, translit. Politeia; Latin: De Republica[1]) is a Socratic dialogue, authored by Plato around 375 BCE, concerning justice (δικαιοσύνη), the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man.[2] It is Plato's best-known work, and one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically.[3][4]

In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the meaning of justice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man with various Athenians and foreigners.[5] He considers the natures of existing regimes and then proposes a series of hypothetical cities in comparison, culminating in Kallipolis (Καλλίπολις), a utopian city-state ruled by a philosopher-king. They also discuss ageing, love, theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the role of the philosopher and of poetry in society.[6] The dialogue's setting seems to be the time of the Peloponnesian War.[7] ( )