Plato's Republic is about justice and what it means to be a just person. During a conversation with Glaucon about justice, the Ring of Gyges is mentioned to demonstrate a theory about people and the social contracts that make up our society. The legend of the Ring of Gyges tells the story of a man who was a shepherd but when an earthquake revealed the body of a skeleton of a past giant it gave him the opportunity to change his status. He stole the ring and discovered that by turning it a certain way he could become invisible. The thief would then sneak into the castle and convince the queen to help kill her husband, and the thief would take the throne. With the common knowledge of the thief and the ring Glaucon asks a question of what a seemingly good and respectable individual who found the ring would do with the power of invisibility. Socrates believes that a righteous person would not even wear the ring, directly contradicting Glaucon. There would be no reason to be moral because the impulses would be too overwhelming. Glaucon argues that if someone had a ring that made them invisible, then that person would be foolish not to use it for personal gain. Thus, Glaucon advocates ethical egoism. He recognizes that "all those who practice it [justice] do so against their will, as something necessary, not as something good." (358c) Explain that the only reason people behave in a certain way is because they are afraid of the consequences they might face if they were found out. The common conception of justice in Plato's time was social, and implied respect for laws and conventions. Glaucon states that, for most people, "what the law commands they call lawful and right." (359) The laws of the time were…half of the paper…and we are still trying to find that knowledge. One of the most famous doctrines associated with Socrates is that virtue is knowledge. It shows up again and again in Plato's books The Apology and The Republic as an aspiration to lead a more just life. In the case of the ring of Gyges internal harmony must be achieved such that the right person does not even want to touch the ring because wearing the ring means that the appetite part of the soul is overpowering knowledge and spirit in the internal soul. The kind of intellectuality that the sophists applied to the practical affairs of life, according to Socrates, should be applied to the moral life. You cannot be virtuous without first knowing what virtue is. Once one has achieved the knowledge of virtue, then, according to Socrates, one cannot help but be virtuous since no one does evil voluntarily.