صفحة 514 من 1391

First, we may observe that the relations of the sexes supposed by

him are the reverse of licentious: he seems rather to aim at an

impossible strictness. Secondly, he conceives the family to be

the natural enemy of the state; and he entertains the serious

hope that an universal brotherhood may take the place of private

interests-an aspiration which, although not justified by

experience, has possessed many noble minds. On the other hand,

there is no sentiment or imagination in the connections which men

and women are supposed by him to form; human beings return to the

level of the animals, neither exalting to heaven, nor yet abusing

the natural instincts. All that world of poetry and fancy which

the passion of love has called forth in modern literature and

romance would have been banished by Plato. The arrangements of

marriage in the Republic are directed to one object-the

improvement of the race.