Who authorizes the nurse's stories?
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.
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