ABSTRACT
Plato's theory of the right kind of education for the "guards" of his ideal state is presented in the metaphor of harmony and proportion which he has developed to express his notion of justice. Plato held that early education should be based on "music" and gymnastics. Both these aspects are intended to mold the "soul" rather than the body, although the importance of the body is not entirely overlooked. The two types of education are in a sense to be regarded as complementary: the literary education is intended to make the "soul" sensitive; the education in gymnastics is intended to make the "soul" high-spirited and brave. Underlying this account of the values of a liberal, or literary, or humanistic education, there is the thoroughly Pythagorean assumption that beauty was based on harmony and certain simple mathematical proportions.
