The poets, Socrates complains early
on in the Republic, thoughtlessly arouse emotions that cloud the citizen's judgment; they present pictures of the gods»
behavior that young persons should be shielded from, lest they copy the
shameful actions of the immortals.
And of course he's not content to stop there, evolving the conversation
on the long - term effects of that infuriating reality into a discussion about how it takes a much darker and potentially more harmful turn when applied to adults engaging in such
shameful behavior.