part I will take care to think of them like that. For as Ariadne had a

thread whereby her lover might find his way out of the Labyrinth, so have the Americans card-indexes to prevent themselves from getting wholly lost in the modern world.’

At this Phaelon exclaimed: ‘I should dearly love to see what was inside a card-index.’

‘That would not be easy,’ I answered. ‘For they are compiled with great solemnity and reverence and are the nearest things in America to sacred objects. The ritual of compilation is the chief way of practising efficiency and so of worshipping Progress.’

‘But what is on the cards?’ insisted Lysis.

‘The most sacred things of all――entrancing statistics and The Facts, and all the things that Modern Science teaches.’

‘Tell us, Socrates, who is this Modern Science?’

‘A divine priestess,’ I answered, ‘who is invoked in all difficulties, whose words are received with great reverence, and that though her oracles are more than usually incomprehensible and fickle and her words long and horrible. But she is dear to the Americans because she speaks principally about machines, and tells them there shall be more and more of them, and an increasing number of parts in each.’

‘And does she speak true things?’ demanded Lysis.

‘She knows about machines and the substances of the earth, and so the Americans find her “practical,” a word of supreme praise, and in consequence are forever seeking to make her speak on other matters where she has no gift of utterance. They seek encouragement in their beliefs about themselves and insist upon an answer about their race till in self-defence she takes refuge in gibberish.’

‘That is a disappointment to them,’ said Lysis.

‘In no wise,’ I answered, ‘for each can twist her answer to his desires. And she is surrounded by people crying that they have heard her voice and they alone, and using her authority for their own views. It is from this babble of tongues that the facts for the card-indexes are derived. But we will train our guardians never to use such things and to consider them only fit for slaves.’

‘We will,’ they said.

‘For their studies will not be the acquisition of information, which is a training in acquisitiveness and due to the hunger of their souls for quantity. They acquire information as a second best until they can acquire wealth. But our guardians will study those matters which satisfy the reason and those which elevate the soul. Now these studies are many.’

‘You have described such studies many times, Socrates,’ said they all.

‘And do you not agree?’

‘We agree,’ said they all again.

‘And shall we,’ I asked them next, ‘permit our guardians to live in sisterhoods and sororities as they like to do to-day?’

‘Do the young American women live much in sisterhoods?’ asked Phaelon, ‘for I have read of sisterhoods and of convents, and the great principle of the life is to have nothing whatever to do with men.’

I reassured Phaelon. ‘An American sorority is not at all like that. But I think we shall have to say that no men may go near these sororities where we are training our guardians, at least till our guardians have reached thirty-five. For the men are a great distraction.’

‘Yes,’ said Agathon, ‘we don’t want any young American men, for they are excellent to carry out what they are told but they will never make philosophers. They will correspond indeed to that warrior class which you provided for in your ideal state, but there will be this difference that they will not often be called upon to fight and that their chief duties will be in the ordinary administration, arranging for food and other necessities, and holding the various positions in commerce.’

‘Is commerce still to continue?’ said Phaelon.

‘We must allow it,’ I said, ‘the Americans being what they are, but we will take care that it receives no particular honour.’

‘Very well,’ he said, ‘but how are we to keep the women from the men?’

‘We must bring them all to Athens,’ I said.

At this Agathon leaned forward eagerly and exclaimed: ‘And it is agreed that I am to select the guardians, and I will bring them to Athens and will myself superintend their training. And when we get a new generation I will superintend the later stages of their training, from fifteen to thirty-five, while you, Socrates, who are so patient and good with the young shall take charge of them till they are fifteen.’

‘Indeed,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I consider that as settled.’

‘But I am troubled with a difficulty,’ said Lysis, ‘and one which may put out all Agathon’s fine plans, for I do not see how we can educate them in Athens.’

‘How not?’ said Agathon angrily.

‘Why,’ said Lysis, ‘if they come here they will meet the Greek men and will see that there are beings much superior to themselves and lose their belief in themselves, and fall into despair and pine away.’

‘We will unbend,’ said Agathon.

‘Even so, my excellent friend,’ I said, ‘I think Lysis speaks truly: it will not be good for guardians to grow up among people so much superior to themselves. For they will have to rule a race of untravelled and completely self-confident people, and they will never do it if they are doubtful of themselves.’

‘I can loosen the knot of difficulty,’ said Agathon: ‘I will build my college a little way out of Athens, and when you come to give them your instructions you shall be concealed by a partition and I will say you are the gods themselves. Nay, there is a machine called the broadcast in use in America itself which enables men to practise useful deceptions of that kind.’

‘I think not, my friends,’ I said. ‘They have suffered already from being told that too abundantly, and I think it will be best to tell them a myth while they are in their cradles, saying they are the children of the people of Atlantis, and the sisters in some sort of the Greeks.’

‘Better say cousins,’ corrected Agathon.

‘The cousins, then, of the Greeks. And then they shall learn with the pride of our own youth and maidens both gymnastic and music and all the other studies which we agreed to be necessary for our guardians.’

Here Lysis said: ‘There is still one small matter to be resolved: How are you going to get your guardians, and the first supply of young girls to train? For their men will not part with them.’

‘That is easy,’ I said, ‘as they are Americans, and the men do not control the women.’

Lysis looked puzzled: ‘But surely the mothers control the daughters, at any rate when they are very young.’

‘Why, no,’ I said, ‘that rarely happens either. We will invite such of the young girls as seem to us to be the best endowed by nature and to be likely to make good guardians and to be susceptible of education, no matter whether they be five or fifteen, and they will come if we convince them, whatever the parents may think. For I assure you that their parents have no power over them at all.’

‘Really, Socrates,’ said Lysis, ‘I cannot believe that some of these great women of the Middle West do not rule their children by terror as well as their husbands.’

‘If we find that to be so,’ I said, ‘and some of the presidents of these Women’s Clubs are indeed so overpowering that it may well prove to be the case, we can easily convince the parents by a few statistics. We will tell them that the liver corrodes and that metabolism is inhibited unless the years from fifteen to thirty-five are spent in Athens. And as that will be Science that we are telling them they will send their children to Athens. For they all honestly desire the well-being of their children, even those who are permanent presidents of their clubs.’

‘We may take it, then, O Socrates,’ said Agathon, eagerly, ‘that the young women will be here soon.’

‘And when they are here,’ I said, ‘they shall live in sororities as they do to-day. And I think their present sororities are a foreshadowing of their life here, and that now they do what they can, but live in a dark cave compared with the bright sunlight of their coming existence. To-day they know little Greek, three letters being the general standard, but soon they will speak and think in Greek all the time.’

‘And when we have educated them,’ asked Lysis, ‘will it be a difficult matter for them to obtain authority to rule in America?’

‘Well,’ said Agathon, ‘it will be easy if they have enough money.’

‘That will be easy,’ I said, ‘for they will be trained to consider it their duty that each of them marries a millionaire.’

‘They will find that easy,’ said Agathon, ‘for I will be careful to instruct them in the arts of courtship.’

Lysis then asked: ‘But when they have these funds at their command, what will be the quickest way for them to persuade the ordinary Americans to accept their rule?’

‘Why,’ I said, ‘they must proclaim a Philosophy Week, for these weeks are not expensive to buy and they give you the right to worry people for seven days.’

‘And what shall they say?’ asked Phaelon.

‘It will be simple enough,’ I said. ‘They must announce a new way to national and individual prosperity. For prosperous peoples are forever looking for ways to prosperity. And the adjective new recommends anything.’

‘And then, Socrates?’

‘And then they must proclaim that Philosophy is the key to Bigger and Better Business, and must tell the story of Thales, who was a philosopher and easily outwitted the men of commerce of his day, amassing a fortune in olive presses.’

‘But Thales lived long ago.’

‘That must be kept dark,’ I said; ‘but the story will throw a new light on philosophy and if the propaganda is well done every progressive business house will add to its staff a philosopher from Greece. And our guardians must go about persuading the women that there will be no real progress till Congressmen are philosophers or philosophers Congressmen.’

‘Why yes, Socrates,’ said Agathon, ‘you shall yourself question the aspirants for Congress and say which are truly philosophers and the guardians will persuade the populace not to vote for any of the others. And you shall select trusty Greeks who will hand over power to the guardians.’

‘It will take the fortunes of many husbands,’ I said, ‘but in the end the guardians will control the central government, and then they can do what they like with the country, and make brave changes and substitute a noble rule for an ignoble one.’

‘It is important to lose no time,’ said Agathon, ‘in bringing the maidens to Athens. For the sake of saving the Americans,’ he added.