Plato's ideal city-state in the Republic more closely resembles Sparta
than Athens. All classes were expected to live austerely. Children were
to be raised communally; no child would know the identity of his parents
and vice versa. Men and women who possessed desirable characteristics
would be encouraged to breed. Rigid state control of education would be
essential. Children's exposure to literature would be limited--Homer in
particular was to be banned--so as not to expose them to tales that
featured poorly behaved gods or soldiers who showed doubt or remorse.
Stories, Plato knew, were much more than entertainment. Used properly,
they could be powerful tools.
-- Mark Adams. Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to
Find the Sunken City p172-173 (2015).