Since Socrates, in the fifth book of the Republic, wishes to show that political virtue does not belong to men alone, but is also common to women, he says that the education (paideia)32 that is prior to virtue must necessarily be the same for men and women33 – an education through mousikê and through physical training whose extent and character he has defined. Furthermore, even prior to the education, he shows the nature of both kinds (genos) [i.e. men and women] to be the same in form, for unless this point is firmly established, neither the arguments concerning education, nor those concerning virtue would have plausibility. It is, after all, necessary for education to be consequent upon nature, and for virtue to be consequent upon education, since the one perfects nature, while the other is the goal of education.