Which two figures are cited as helping shape literature and justice through preserved texts?

• A. Aristotle and Euclid
• B. Sophocles and Plato
• C. Socrates and Archimedes
• D. Homer and Pythagoras

Answer: (B)

Enduring texts that shape both literature and ideas of justice come from figures whose works were preserved and studied for centuries. Sophocles wrote tragedies that defined classical drama and pushed audiences to confront questions about fate, power, responsibility, and the rules that govern society. His plays offer powerful literary models—character, structure, and moral dilemma—that have influenced how we read literature and understand human action within social orders. Plato, through his dialogues, preserved a systematic examination of justice, leadership, virtue, and the ideal city, laying the philosophical groundwork for Western political thought and ethics. Because these works were copied, taught, and circulated widely over time, they became foundational to both literary tradition and concepts of justice, shaping how later civilizations think about law, governance, and moral reasoning. The other pairs mix figures associated with mathematics, science, or mythic literature, but they do not jointly embody the sustained, cross-cutting influence on both literature and justice that Sophocles and Plato provided through their preserved writings.