The State is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has given the State and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. You will not easily find another like me.

Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Plato's mother was Perictione whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon. Then at twenty-eight Hermodorus says [Plato] went to Euclides in Megara.

Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. In the words of A.