Plato's Republic, Books Three & Four

Socrates and Plato's brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, are discussing the best way to educate leaders for a just republic. In the course of their dialogue, the meaning of justice in individuals and in society shifts from external order imposed through rules and regulations to the harmony and balance internal to every person in the republic. Only then will an individual be ready to act-whether in acquiring wealth, in the care of the body, or in any public or private affairs.