  Some readers find a silver lining in this critique. They note that  the democracy’s tolerance extends to philosophers (cf. 561c–d),  allowing such things as the conversation that Socrates, Glaucon, and  the others are having (557d). But the Republic also records considerable  skepticism about democratic tolerance of philosophers (487a–499a, cf. 517a), and does not say that only a democracy could tolerate philosophers.