Most of Socrates' criticisms of democracy in the Republic concern how he ideally thinks a society should be structured. However, if the individuals witnessing this dialogue in fifth-century Athens viewed this topic simply in terms of how a government should function, they would miss Socrates' main point. Because Socrates is actually discussing something much more personal with his audience through the means of the republic, their soul. He states this when he introduces the republic: “Therefore, I suggest that we first consider the nature of justice and injustice as they appear in the republic, and then examine the individual, moving from the largest to the smallest and then comparing them” (Anderson 56). For thoughtful citizens of late fifth-century Athens, Plato's Republic would provide a very useful tool for critiquing not just simply democracy, but more importantly how the way they form their government affects the balance of their souls. Socrates criticizes democracy for failing to sufficiently balance the souls of its citizens, and he does so in two ways. First, Socrates criticizes democracy for its lack of cultivating rationality among its citizens, meaning that the people of democracy do not reason with truth but rather with erroneous opinions due to their governmental structure. Second, Socrates criticizes democracy for encouraging a lack of self-control over one's pleasures, meaning that a democratic society arises and promotes the mistaken belief that all there is in life is freedom. Socrates creates a republic to criticize democracy, and in doing so compares the healthy soul to the unbalanced one. Socrates indirectly attacks democracy in ancient Athens when he discusses the differences between opinion and ... middle of paper ....he tears up the defects of the souls of the men of the time, and gives them the republic as a guide on how to improve the their soul. His vision for these balanced souls is one that moderates desires with self-control and rationality. La Repubblica is ultimately an investigation into the meaning and use of the form justice. Socrates says he pursues absolute meanings like justice not through sense perception, but by discovering how and why that form works in relation to other things, and this is what he continues to do throughout the dialogue. However, for an ordinary attentive citizen of Athens, the event might persuade him to practice self-control and rationality. Whether or not this would lead to the republic is another question, but it would lead to happiness, and perhaps even above absolute truth, this is what Socrates is really looking for..