In This Selection Glaucon, Who Is Plato's Older Brother, Asks

In this selection Glaucon, who is Plato's older brother, asks Socrates whether justice is good in itself or only a necessary evil. Playing the devil's advocate, Glaucon puts forth the hypothesis that egotistic power-seeking in which we have complete freedom to indulge ourselves might be the ideal state of existence. However, the hypothesis continues, reason quickly shows us that others might seek to have the same power, which would interfere with our freedom and cause a state of chaos in which no one was likely to have any of one's desires fulfilled. So we compromise and limit our acquisitive instincts. Justice or a system of morality is simply the result of that compromise. It has no intrinsic value but is better than chaos and worse than undisturbed power. It is better to compromise and limit our acquisitive instincts. To illustrate his point, Glaucon tells the story of a shepherd named Gyges who comes upon a ring, which at his behest makes him invisible. He uses it to escape the external sanctions of society-its laws and censure-and to serve his greed to the fullest. Glaucon asks whether it is not plausible to suppose that we all would do likewise. Then he offers a thought experiment that compares the life of the seemingly just (but unjust) man who is incredibly successful with the life of the seemingly unjust (but just) man who is incredibly unsuccessful. Which would we choose? Socrates counters that to be just is indeed always better than to be unjust. Immorality corrupts the inner person, making one truly worse off psychologically and spiritually.
-Socrates believes that it pays for a man to be perfectly unjust if he appears to be just.