Philosophy is a Greek word meaning "love of wisdom." Throughout Plato's Republic, wisdom plays an important role. According to Plato, education is wisdom. In the passage, 518d, Plato discusses the true meaning of education vicariously through Socrates. Some literary mechanisms can be found in the passage and I will show how they fit in the text and how they contribute to the main themes of Plato's Republic.

In Book VII Socrates has finished listening to other opinions and is now formulating a response. The oration is an excerpt from an intellectual conversation between Socrates and Glaucon. The goal of the dialogue is to reach a viable explanation of education. Simile is used in the passage when Socrates compares the "instrument to learn" with an eye. His use of personification in comparing the humanistic quality of sight to learning shows how education directs the sight of the soul. Socrates...