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Soc. Is it probable that noble races should produce better natures, or not?
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Alc. Clearly, noble races would.
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Soc. And will not the well-born, provided they are well brought up, probably be perfected in virtue?
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Alc. That must be so.
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Soc. Then let us consider, by comparing our lot with theirs, whether the Spartan and Persian kings appear to be of inferior birth. Do we not know that the former are descendants of Hercules and the latter of Achaemenes, and that the line of Hercules and the line of Achaemenes go back to Perseus, son of Zeus?
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Alc. Yes, and mine, Socrates, to Eurysaces, and that of Eurysaces to Zeus!