How The Republic drew on Theogony/Works and Days

A documented line of influence: Plato demonstrably engaged Hesiod’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.

Hesiod · c. 700 BCE

Plato · c. 375 BCE

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On The Republic’s page

The Republic's Myth of Metals is Hesiod rewritten — the gold, silver, and bronze souls of the Noble Lie come straight from his myth of the golden, silver, and bronze races
Plato names and censors Hesiod in Book 2, then mines him in Book 3; reading the Theogony/Works and Days first lets you watch the theft and the twist
Hesiod's tale of decline becomes Plato's instrument of order — the same ladder of metals, repurposed to keep a city in its ranks

Hesiod is both target and quarry in The Republic — Plato censors his war-tales of Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus in Book 2, then quietly raids him in Book 3
The Noble Lie's gold, silver, and bronze souls are Hesiod's golden, silver, and bronze races reforged — Plato lifts the metallic ladder and bends it to a new use
Where Hesiod told a story of mankind's decline, Plato turns the same metals into a myth that holds a city together