Books by Plato

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Book SynopsisThe third edition of The Trial and Death of Socrates presents G. M.A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works. A number of new or expanded footnotes are also included along with a Select Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisA translation that offers an introduction presenting both basic information and a sense of scholarly opinion.Trade ReviewA fantastic book. Translation is graceful and elegant yet uncannily accurate. Footnotes very useful, especially for teaching purposes, and the price is surprisingly low. --Eve Browning Cole, University of Minnesota

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Book SynopsisThe revised edition of Grube's classic translation follows and furthers Grube's noted success in combining fidelity to Plato's text with natural readability, while reflecting the fruits of new scholarship and insights into Plato's thought since publication of the first edition in 1974.Trade ReviewC.D.C. Reeve has taken the excellent Grube translation and, without sacrificing accuracy, rendered it into a vivid and contemporary style. It is intensity that is often lost in translation, but not here. This is not just a matter of style. The Republic is full of brilliant thoughts, and one needs to preserve brilliance to capture them. In the cave of translations, Reeve’s revision of Grube's Republic is closest to the sun. --Jonathan Lear, University of ChicagoReeve has reworked the Grube translation thoroughly, raising the level of philosophical accuracy and updating the language, all the while retaining--and indeed enhancing--the celebrated readability of the Grube original. For a long time to come, Grube-Reeve will deservedly be the first choice of scholars and students alike. --John Cooper, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisA translation of Plato's dialogue. It features an introduction that explores the dialogue's center themes, its connection with related discussions in other dialogues, and its implication for the interpretation of Plato's metaphysics.Trade ReviewThis translation of one of Plato's most challenging dialogues is so unpretentiously honest that it risks undercutting its own significant merits. As far as I can judge, it will prove most helpful not only to students of classical studies and philosophy, but to anybody who is interested in the questions treated by the Sophist. Clarity seems to be the editor and translator's aim, and it is well achieved in: (a) an introduction which without philosophical arm-twisting brings in the views of some modern philosophers on negative and false statement (as inconclusive as Plato's), (b) a select bibliography and a summary of the arguments which students will find useful, and (c) a translation of the text in civilized modern English. Space forbids the adduction of parallel passages. However, I do not hesitate to claim that in terms of accuracy and credible conversational style, the translation will stand comparision with those of A.E. Taylor and F.M. Cornford. --David Rankin, in The Classical Review

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Book SynopsisRich in drama and humour, the Early Socratic Dialogues include the controversial Ion, a debate on poetic inspiration; Laches, in which Socrates seeks to define bravery; and Euthydemus, which considers the relationship between philosophy and politics. Together, these dialogues provide a definitive portrait of the real Socrates and raise issues still keenly debated by philosophers, forming an incisive overview of Plato's philosophy.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisIn 399 BC Socrates was prosecuted, convicted, sentenced to death and executed. These events were the culmination of a long philosophical career, a career in which, without writing a word, he established himself as the figure whom all philosophers of the next few generations wished to follow. The Apologies (or Defence Speeches) by Plato and Xenophon are rival accounts of how, at his trial, Socrates defended himself and his philosophy. This edition brings together both Apologies within a single volume. The commentary answers literary, linguistic and philosophical questions in a way that is suitable for readers of all levels, helping teachers and students engage more closely with the Greek texts. The introduction examines Socrates himself, the literature generated by his trial, Athenian legal procedures, his guilt or innocence of the crimes for which he was executed, and the rivalry between Xenophon and Plato.Trade Review'… a welcome addition to our tools for understanding Socrates, Plato, and Xenophon.' David M. Johnson, Exemplaria ClassicaTable of ContentsIntroduction; ΠΛΑΤΩΝΟΣ ΑΠΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΣΩΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ; ΞΕΝΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΑΠΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΣΩΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisPlato's Symposium is the most literary of all his works and one which all students of classics are likely to want to read. Sir Kenneth Dover provides here a sympathetic and modern edition of the kind that is long overdue.Trade Review'This commentary … does three things superbly. It explains Plato's Greek punctiliously, especially the less familiar constructions, particles, and words that are often loosely or wrongly translated. With a razor's sharpness it cuts through sloppy or faulty logic in Plato's Greek. And it provides the necessary background material, whether historical, literary, sexual, or social.' Greece & Rome' … few books can have given in three pages so informative and at the same time so provocative an account of Plato's philosophy.' The Times Educational Supplement'This is a tight-packed, authoritative, but readable edition.' J.A.C.T. BulletinTable of ContentsPreface; Abbreviations; Introduction: 1. Eros; 2. Homosexuality; 3. Philosophy; 4. Historical basis; 5. Date of composition; 6. Symposia; 7. Encomia; 8. Textual transmission; 9. Bibliography; The Symposium; Commentary; Indexes to the introduction and commentary; Appendix 1. Disagreements with Burnet's edition; Appendix 2. Proper names; Appendix 3. Greek words; Appendix 4. General.

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Book SynopsisThis 1996 book provides a commentary on selected texts of Plato concerned with poetry: the Ion and relevant sections of the Republic. It was the first commentary to present these texts together in one volume, and the first in English on Republic 2 and 3 and Ion for nearly 100 years.Trade Review'a valuable resource … a model of clarity, concision, careful research, and judicious presentation of difficult and controversial issues. It will be a useful took for both students and more advanced scholars for years to come.' The Classical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. Mimesis; 2. Poetry and inspiration; 3. Plato as poet; 4. The battle between poetry and philosophy; 5. Plato and Homer; 6. The Platonic legacy; 7. The text; Ion; Republic 376e–398b9; Republic 595–608b10; Commentary; Appendix: Poetic inspiration in Plato; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn this rendition, first published in 2000, Ferrari and Griffith have produced a vivid, dignified and accurate textbook of one of the great works of Western political thought. It contains an expanded introduction assessing the cultural and political background and general argument; text notes; summary of content; full glossary; chronology of events; and guide to further reading.Trade Review"[Griffith's] aim was to traslate the Greek text as if it were a conversation, and he has succeeded admirably." Library Journal"In addition to a vivid, dignified and accurate rendition of Plato's text, the student and general reader will find many aids to comprehension in this volume: an introduction that assesses the cultural background to the Republic, its place within political philosophy, and its general argument; succinct notes in the body of the text; an analytical summary of the work's content; a full glossary of proper names; a chronology of important events; and a guide to further reading. The result is an accomplished and accessible edition of this seminal work, suitable for philosophers and classicists as well as historians of political thought at all levels." African Sun Times Review of BooksTable of ContentsIntroduction: the thirty; Faction; A Spartan utopia?; The philosopher and the king; A political work?; City and soul; Mathematics and metaphysics; A guide to further reading; Principal dates; Abbreviations and conventions; Editor's synopsis of The Republic; The Republic: Book 1; Book 2; Book 3; Book 4; Book 5; Book 6; Book 7; Book 8; Book 9; Book 10.

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Book SynopsisAlthough present-day (like ancient Greek) opinion on "the real Socrates" diverges widely, six classic texts that any informed judgment of him must take into account appear together, for the first time, in this volume.Trade ReviewAs good an introduction to the basic texts and to the historical and philosophical issues surrounding [Socrates] as can be provided today. --John Bulwer, The Joint Association of Classical Teachers ReviewAn excellent production; good, readable translations; helpful and reliable, but not intrusive supplementary material; and a very useful selection of texts. --Margaret Graver, Dartmouth CollegeIn virtue of their exceptional accuracy, neutrality, and readability, Reeve's translations of the Platonic texts in The Trials of Socrates are recommended (especially for the Greekless undergraduate) as a significant improvement over their predecessors. --Vernon Provencal, MouseionTable of ContentsContents: Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo (death scene); Aristophanes, Clouds; Xenophon, Apology of Socrates.

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Book SynopsisFeatures an appendix that contains the fragments of early Greek love poetry which helps the reader appreciate the rich, and perhaps elusive, meaning of eros.Trade ReviewA superb translation that captures the rhetorical brilliance of the Greek. . . . The translation is faithful in the very best sense: it reflects both the meaning and the beauty of the Greek text. . . . The footnotes are always helpful, never obtrusive. A one-page outline is useful since there are no editorial additions to mark major divisions in the dialogue. An appendix containing fragments of early Greek love poetry helps the reader appreciate the rich, and perhaps elusive, meaning of eros. . . . The entire Introduction is crisply written, and the authors' erudition shines throughout, without a trace of pedantry. . . . this is an excellent book that deservedly should find wide circulation for many years to come. --Tim Mahoney, University of Texas at Arlington

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMyles Burnyeat, the Lawrence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge, has revised Levett's translation to catch the charm and wit of the original in modern English, and has written a magnificent introduction and commentary of 250 pages that is lucid, rigorous, fair and un-put-downable. --Philip Howard, The Times (London)A masterly contribution to the understanding of the subject in a work of altogether exceptional intelligence. --Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Christ Church, OxfordBurnyeat's introduction to the Theaetetus is easily the best available treatment of the dialogue; it is clear, stimulating, sympathetic but not uncritical, full of novel insights. Students at all levels, including professional philosophers, cannot fail to learn from it, to enjoy it. A real gem. --Gail Fine, Cornell University

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Book SynopsisMeno Charmides Laches Lysis''Do please try to tell us what courage is...''In these four dialogues Plato considers virtue and its definition. Charmides, Laches, and Lysis investigate the specific virtues of self-control, courage, and friendship; the later Meno discusses the concept of virtue as a whole, and whether it is something that can be taught. In the conversations between Socrates and his interlocutors, moral concepts are debated and shown to be more complex than at first appears, until all the participants in the conversations are reduced to bafflement.The artistry as well as the philosophy of these dialogues has always been widely admired. The introduction to this edition explains the course of the four dialogues and examines the importance of Socrates'' questions and arguments, and the notes cover major and minor points in more detail. This is an essential volume for understanding the brilliance of the first Western philosopher. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford WTable of ContentsMENO; CHARMIDES; LACHES; LYSIS

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Book SynopsisPresented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this classic text is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation, other questions are raised: what is goodness? What is reality? And what is knowledge? The Republic also addresses the purpose of education and the role of both women and men as guardians of the people. With remarkable lucidity and deft use of allegory, Plato arrives at a depiction of a state bound by harmony and ruled by philosopher kings. 

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Book SynopsisTaking full extent of S.R. Slings'new Greek text of the Republic, Reeve has given us a translation at once both accurate and limpid. Loving attention to detail and deep familiarity with Plato's thought are evident on every page.Trade Review"Taking full advantage of S. R. Slings' new Greek text of the Republic, Reeve has given us a translation both accurate and limpid. Loving attention to detail and deep familiarity with Plato's thought are evident on every page. Reeve's brilliant decision to cast the dialogue into direct speech produces a compelling impression of immediacy unmatched by other English translations currently available." —Lloyd P. Gerson, University of Toronto"Reeve's new translation can be highly recommended for its accurate and readable rendering of the original. . . . Those who read the Republic for the first time or for pleasure are sure to find this the most attractive and accessible translation currently available." —Naoko Yamagata, in Journal of Classics Teaching"David Reeve's long and devoted engagement with Plato's Republic, evidenced in his highly-regarded revision of George Grube's translation, issues now in a completely new translation of his own. In this version, Socrates' narration of his conversation with Glaucon and Adeimantus et al. is converted so far as possible into dramatically gripping and effective direct speech. Its increased accessibility promises to make it the number-one choice for undergraduate courses." —John Cooper, Princeton University "Reeve's new translation of Plato's Republic will be of value both to students approaching the work for the first time and, and a handy version for the more advanced reader. The translation is solid, the format and scholarly apparatus make it very accessible." —Thomas Cooksey, in The Classical OutlookTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgements; Maps. Genealogical Charts. Time Line; SELECTIONS: Acusilaus; Aelian; Aeschylus; Andron; Antoninus Liberalis; Apollodorus; Archilochus; Arrian; Babrius; Bacchylides; Bion; Callimachus; Cleanthes; Conon; Cornutus; Critias; Diodorus of Sicily; Eratosthenes; Euripides; Fulgentius; Hellanicus; Heraclitus; Herodorus; Herodotus; Hesiod; The Homeric Hymns; Horace; Hyginus; Longus; Lucian; Lucretius; Ovid; Palaephatus; Parthenius; Pausanias; Pherecydes; Pindar; Plato; Plutarch; Proclus; Sallustius; Sappho; Semonides; Simonides; Sophocles; Statius; Theocritus; Theophrastus; Thucydides; Vergil; Xenophanes; Xenophon; Appendix One: Linear B Sources (by Thomas G. Palaima); Appendix Two: Inscriptions; Appendix Three: Papyri; Note on Texts and Translations. Names and Transliterations. Index/Glossary.

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Book SynopsisWorks in this volume explore the relationship between two people known as love (erōs) or friendship (philia). In Lysis, Socrates meets two young men at a wrestling school; in Symposium, he joins a company of accomplished men at a drinking party; and in Phaedrus, experimental speeches about love lead to a discussion of rhetoric.

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Book SynopsisIn Plato's "Letters", Ariel Helfer provides to readers, for the first time, a highly literal translation of the Letters, complete with extensive notes on historical context and issues of manuscript transmission. His analysis presents a necessary perspective for readers who wish to study Plato's Letters as a work of Platonic philosophy. Centuries of debate over the provenance and significance of Plato's Letters have led to the common view that the Letters is a motley collection of jewels and scraps from within and without Plato's literary estate. In a series of original essays, Helfer describes how the Letters was written as a single work, composed with a unity of purpose and a coherent teaching, marked throughout by Plato's artfulness and insight and intended to occupy an important place in the Platonic corpus. Viewed in this light, the Letters is like an unusual epistolary novel, a manner of semifictional and semiautobiographical literary-philosophic experiment, in which Plato sought to provide his most demanding readers with guidance in thinking more deeply about the meaning of his own career as a philosopher, writer, and political advisor. Plato's "Letters" not only defends what Helfer calls the "literary unity thesis" by reviewing the scholarly history pertaining to the Platonic letters but also brings out the political philosophic lessons revealed in the Letters. As a result, Plato's "Letters" recovers and rehabilitates what has been until now a minority view concerning the Letters, according to which this misunderstood Platonic text will be of tremendous new importance for the study of Platonic political philosophy.

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Book Synopsis"Meno (Second Edition)".Trade ReviewFine translation, good notes--inexpensive, too!--D.A. Rohatyn, University of San Diego

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Book SynopsisA translation that offers an introduction presenting both basic information and a sense of scholarly opinion.Trade ReviewA fantastic book. Translation is graceful and elegant yet uncannily accurate. Footnotes very useful, especially for teaching purposes, and the price is surprisingly low. --Eve Browning Cole, University of Minnesota

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Book Synopsis From the Introduction:"Neglected for ages by Plato scholars, the Euthydemus has in recent years attracted renewed attention. The dialogue, in which Socrates converses with two sophists whose techniques of verbal manipulation utterly disengage language from any grounding in stable meaning or reality, is in many ways a dialogue for our times. Contemporary questions of language and power permeate the speech and action of the dialogue. The two sophistsEuthydemus and his brother Dionysodorusexplicitly question whether speech has any connection to truth and specifically whether anything can be said about justice and nobility that cannot also be said about their opposites." Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato's immediate audience. FeaturesNotes, glossary, and an interpretive essay.

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Book SynopsisA literal translation, allowing the simplicity and vigor of the Greek diction to shine through.

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Book SynopsisPresents the translation of a dialogue on virtue, wisdom, and the nature of sophistic teaching. This title provides an introduction that illuminates the dialogue's perennial interest, its Athenian political background, and the particular difficulties and ironic nuances of its argument.Trade ReviewA very readable translation that conveys both the philosophical and the dramatic context better than any existing translation. It is extremely accurate in conveying the movement of the argument and in noting significant points of philosophical usage. . . . I am very impressed with the vividness and the easy flow of the prose. --John Cooper, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisThe third edition of The Trial and Death of Socrates presents G. M.A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works. A number of new or expanded footnotes are also included along with a Select Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Those interested in the Republic primarily as a work of philosophy can not do better than Grube. . . . [He] renders Plato's arguments in unfussy, idiomatic English . . . sensitive to nuances of argument and the connection of philosophical ideas." —John M. Cooper, Princeton University“Unmistakably superior: more lucid, more accurate, more readable. Above all, they’re lucidly adorned, unpretentious, and in translating Plato that counts a good deal. The prose is, as English prose, persuasive, cogent, and as eloquent as it can be without departing from the text.” —William Arrowsmith

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Book Synopsis"Phaedo (Second Edition)".Trade ReviewA first rate translation at a reasonable price. --Michael Rohr, Rutgers University

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe original publication of Rowe's translation in 1995 was a landmark event in the study of this fascinating but enigmatic dialogue. Based on a careful and convincing revised Greek text, the contemporary English of this unpretentious, clear, and--above all--accurate revised version make it by far the best available. In fact, Rowe’s translation is now and will surely remain the only acceptable choice. --John Cooper, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisA book that is suitable for courses at various levels in philosophy, from introductory courses on Plato, or problems in Philosophy, to graduate seminars.Trade ReviewZeyl’s introduction is the best brief discussion of the Gorgias I have read. . . . notes at the bottom of the page are well-chosen and helpful. Text is printed and bound in the highest professional standards and sold for the lowest possible price. --Franklin E. Robinson, Murray State University

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Book SynopsisBenjamin Jowett's translations of Plato have long been classics in their own right. In this volume, Professor Hayden Pelliccia has revised Jowett's renderings of five key dialogues, giving us a modern Plato faithful to both Jowett's best features and Plato's own masterly style.Gathered here are many of Plato's liveliest and richest texts. Ion takes up the question of poetry and introduces the Socratic method. Protagoras discusses poetic interpretation and shows why cross-examination is the best way to get at the truth. Phaedrus takes on the nature of rhetoric, psychology, and love, as does the famous Symposium. Finally, Apology gives us Socrates' art of persuasion put to the ultimate test--defending his own life.Pelliccia's new Introduction to this volume clarifies its contents and addresses the challenges of translating Plato freshly and accurately. In its combination of accessibility and depth, Selected Dialogues of Plato is the ideal introduction to one of the key th

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Book SynopsisA translation that allows the simplicity and vigor of the Greek diction to shine through.

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Book SynopsisPresents the translations of "The Laches and Charmides". This title includes notes and a bibliography.Trade Review"This excellent translation in current idiomatic English continues the superb quality set by Sprague in her previous version of Plato’s Euthydemus. . . . Its accuracy and reliability make the present volume suitable for use in various courses in the humanities." --The Classical Outlook". . . on the whole more readable than those of the Loeb Classical Library, and more accurate than those by Jowett. . . . Of particular interest are the many notes which give some information about the historical persons and places refer to . . ." --Journal of the History of Philosophy

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