  Even at the end of his three “proofs,” Socrates knows that he cannot  yet have fully persuaded Glaucon and Adeimantus that it is always  better to be just than unjust. Their beliefs and desires have been  stained too deeply by a world filled with mistakes, especially by the misleading tales of the poets. To turn Glaucon and Adeimantus more  fully toward virtue, Socrates needs to undercut their respect for the poets, and he needs to begin to stain their souls anew. But Socrates’ theoretical arguments on behalf of justice are finished. The work  that remains to be done—especially the sketch of a soul at the  end of Book Nine and the myth of an afterlife in Book  Ten—should deepen without transforming our appreciation for the psychological ethics of the Republic.