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In Plato's Republic democracy was second to the last, just below tyranny, in the breakdown of just or good regimes and all that was needed to slip into tyranny was a strong demagogue to persuade men to believe that he could give to the masses what them want. In the Germany's Wiemar Republic we see how the fledgling democracy fell to the dictator Adolf Hitler and this could possibly happen again... perhaps in Iraq. Plato hated democracy for a number of reasons, least of all was Athens putting his friend Socrates to death. However, Socrates challenged the Athenian democracy by questioning the existence of their gods (he was supposedly an atheist), corrupting their youth to do the same in challenging traditional authority, and being a general pain in the ass. Socrates had opportunities to escape a number of times but chose not to.

Interesting that Hegel thought that the state was justified for condemning Socrates and putting him to death, but Hegel always believed in the supremacy of the state as the absolute over the individual. And Hegel was also the inspiration for Marx and his idea of the collective. The individual always gets subsumed as part of the collective will.

The idea of the purity of the soul implies nature and a natural law that governs man. Today, there is no belief in nature, rather just a belief in the conventions of society and the relativism of all culture. We are more sophisticated and perhaps more the sophists as well.

Actually, if you read more of the Apology, Socrates makes it clear that he does believe in the gods (he said his whole life of philosophy was a divine mission). What he doesn’t like is the dogmatic approach that many in Athens took, instead of resorting to their reason and rationality to determine the existence of higher deities (which is something I happen to somewhat agree with; I look around at such a complex world and see a great intelligence involved in its creation).

As for Plato, the highest up the list of his “good regime” list was an aristocracy, then a timocracy, then an oligarchy, then a democracy, and at dead last was a tyranny.