Pappas, N. - Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Plato and the Republic

When describing his ideal city in the Republic, Plato permits himself a wistful tone, almost a nostalgia for the future he envisions. Without reducing that nostalgia to a purely biographical fact about Plato, we may still recognize in his hope for a perfect city something of his sense of loss for the Athens that had flourished until his early childhood.