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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is an aristocracy?
(a) Rule by the millitary.
(b) Rule by a family.
(c) Rule by poor.
(d) Rule by the elite.

2. Meletus claims that Socrates said which of the following?
(a) "Everything is unified and there is no such thing as particulars."
(b) "There is no good reason to follow Athenian law."
(c) "That the gods do not exist."
(d) "That the sun's a stone and the moon is earth."

3. What is an oligarchy?
(a) Rule by the poor.
(b) Rule by the military.
(c) Rule by the rich.
(d) Rule by the elite.

4. According to Socrates' radical math, the tyrant's life is 729 times________.
(a) More worthy than an elected leader's life.
(b) More laudable than the common man's life.
(c) Less pleasant than the philosopher's life.
(d) Less exciting than the soldier's life.

5. According to Socrates, to what does a true philosopher owe his life?
(a) The state.
(b) The people.
(c) His God.
(d) His parents.

Short Answer Questions

1. Philosophers, according to Socrates' analogy, are which of the following?

2. Wise souls, Socrates asserts, will always choose paths of_________.

3. According to Socrates' points in Book IV, the soul of a philosopher_____________________.

4. Adeimantus interrupts Socrates in the beginning of Book VI to ask him ____________.

5. Socrates firmly believes that poets ______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Socrates defend against Meletus' chargers of impiety?

2. Why does Socrates think it acceptable for the state to make philosophers rule if they are unwilling?

3. Why does Socrates think that the forms of government are like forms in the human soul?

4. What are the five tell-tale traits of an aspiring philosopher, according to Socrates?

5. If one cannot live like a philosopher, what does Socrates think he should do?

6. How does Socrates argue that it is unlawful to break out of prison?

7. Why is democracy dangerous, according to Socrates?

8. Characterize the nature of Socrates' speech in his own defense.

9. Which trumps the other, according to Socrates, the laws of Athens or the gods?

10. What should be done about the poets, according to Socrates in Book X?

(see the answer keys)

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