The concept of the virtuous city is central to both Plato's and Alfarabi's treatment of political science. Plato's and Alfarabi's respective analyzes bear many similarities, but their ultimate goals differ radically. Plato's description of the republic is both an ideal towards which cities should strive and a metaphor for the balance in the soul of a virtuous person. Alfarabi often references Plato in his political science texts, and was certainly influenced by the Republic and Plato's other writings, but his virtuous city has no allegorical component. Instead, it establishes the guidelines for the creation of a true political entity. Whether the change is a distortion or an improvement is entirely a matter of perspective. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To understand Plato's teaching on the virtuous city, it is first necessary to understand the allegory of the cave introduced in The Republic. It tells of the arduous journey the philosopher must undertake to escape the “cave” of reality he constructs for himself through sensory input and instead understand the ideals that lie outside the cave beyond what he can perceive (514-519). Only those who possess the noblest nature can complete this "journey" and return to enlighten those who remained in the cave (520); those who complete the journey are the very people Plato places in charge of the city (535). The existence of the virtuous city depends on the guidance of the philosopher-king (540), and it is up to him to impart the wisdom he acquires through his philosophizing (his journey out of the cave) to the citizens of the virtuous republic. Plato calls the republic virtuous, where justice is configured in everyone who exercises in the community the only function for which he is suited and deals only with what belongs to him (443). It divides the citizens of the republic into sovereign guardians, auxiliary guardians, farmers, and artisans, each filling the role for which they are naturally suited, and each group needs the other group to function as a whole. His discussion of the virtuous city is not limited to a rigorous political treatise. Plato (or rather Socrates) sees no distinction between the just man and the just city, because a just city is composed of just men (434), and is so explicit that the division of the city's citizens into governors-guardians, auxiliary guardians and farmers and artisans represents the division of man's soul into rational, "spiritual" and appetitive parts (441), distinct but representing a unified whole. Since the justice of the city-state lies in each man doing his own work, justice for the individual represents the fact that he allows each part to fulfill its function, bringing harmony to the whole (443). Plato closes his analysis of his virtuous republic with the admission that it exists nowhere on earth, but perhaps only in some higher reality, in some divine order (591), and here an understanding of the metaphor of the cave becomes useful. The incredibly perfect city is an ideal towards which all cities should strive, an ideal that exists outside the cave into which the philosopher-king must try to bring his people. Alfarabi's description of the virtuous city closely resembles La Repubblica, at least superficially. Both he and Plato believe that the ruler of the city must receive intense theoretical training, that "the legislator must be a philosopher", and in The Achievement of Happiness Alfarabi even recommends Plato's curriculum by name. Alfarabi states in Il Regime Politico that the.