ABSTRACT
It’s not widely known, but Plato’s idealised republic was influenced by hunting
dogs. A visit by Socrates to his friend Glaucon’s hunting lodge, and the sight of his
dogs, trained to run after the pheasants and retrieve them after they had been
shot, provided Plato with material for one of his most controversial ideas. Plato
records the occasion like this:
SOCRATES: I see in your house dogs for hunting, and of the nobler sort of birds not
a few. Now, I beseech you, do tell me, have you ever attended to their
pairing and breeding?
