Already, I find conflict in that neither wives nor children are actually owned. The true relationship existing here is an interreliance mineraturizing that of the whole society. Man is social and, as such, programmed to form structured units like the family. Plato went so far as to break up the family in order to disrupt inheritance of trade, position and title. This cure is worse than the disease.
Children have the greatest dependance.
Most of this reliance is on their mothers, but it transfers to their fathers since their fathers are responsible for making sure that their mothers can be there to meet these needs. Plato transferred this entirely to the state in a socialist design. This is more than a bit hasty because only a tyrany could be the strength of the whole state. Otherwise, the strength of the state starts at the bottom and the smallest complete social unit is the family. I feel that plato puts too much emphesis on his education ideal.