# Who authorizes the nurse's stories?

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH04.P007](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P007/#char=154,228): "the solemn and star-appointed priestess at once of democracy and tradition"

Plato supplies a revealing comparison for this elevation of the nurse. In *Republic* II, 377a–378e, Socrates likewise treats childhood storytelling as a lasting formation of character. But he requires approved tales and puts mothers and nurses under the supervision of those directing education; many inherited stories must be rejected. Chesterton makes the traditional storyteller herself a bearer of philosophical authority. Both accounts take nursery stories seriously; they locate the authority to judge them differently. This is a comparison, not evidence that Chesterton is answering Plato here. The inspected text is Benjamin Jowett's English translation in Project Gutenberg ebook 1497, not a Greek textual witness; the ancient dialogue should not be dated by this digital edition. [*Republic*, Book II](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm).

## Sources

- [Plato, The Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm), Book II, Stephanus 377a–378e; dialogue beginning 'You know ... that we begin by telling children stories'

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