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According to Plato who clarifies rhetoric as an art of persuasion through speeches to implant convictions into people about the just and unjust matters in a short time in civic (public) meetings, a fine and good city is constructed not only on the condition that philosophers rule, but also on the conditions that soldiers should have the correct and law-inculcated conviction (or belief) of courage regarding what is to be feared and what is not and that producers must possess the conviction of moderation about being self-controlled and about who shall rule and be ruled (Rep. 430a-431e). Equipped with these convictions are the soldiers and producers guided into justice, which is, doing their own work and not meddling with what is not their own (Rep. 433a-b). Only when all these three conditions are satisfied does a city as a whole become fully fine, good, and just, where its all members enjoy the truest and best pleasures, i.e. happiness. Yet, according to Plato’s epistemological hierarchy (Rep. VI-VII), by their nature, only the rulers (philosophers) are capable of knowledge, while the ruled (soldiers and producers) is not. Each individual should receive and do, thus argues Plato, an education and a work appropriate to their natural epistemological capacities. As the epistemological capacities of the ruled are not sufficient for the acquisition of knowledge, the rulers, on the basis of their knowledge of truth, must implant with the agreement of the ruled correct convictions into the minds of the ruled. Such implantation of convictions is accomplished when the ruled is suitably persuaded by proper stories chosen by the rulers (Phdr. 259e-260a, 271b, and Pol. 304c-d), for instance, about what is just and what is not, namely by rhetoric (Grg. 455a) of the rulers. This rhetoric enables the ruled to willingly have the conviction of the just and unjust matters implanted into their minds, by which they in dealing with the political matters courageously, moderately, and justly, become law-abiding and orderly under the name of lawful and law (Grg. 504b-e) in a fine and good city where its all members, of course including the rulers as well, enjoy happiness. As the technique of persuasion, rhetoric is thus necessary for Plato as a political maneuver in composing and running the fine and good city (Pol. 303e-d, Leg. 663b-c and passim), to accomplish happiness for all.
