Description
Book SynopsisWith a masterful sense of the place of rhetoric in both thought and practice and an ear attuned to the clarity, natural simplicity, and charm of Plato''s Greek prose, James H. Nichols, Jr., offers a precise yet unusually readable translation of one of the great Platonic dialogues on rhetoric.
The Gorgias presents an intransigent argument that justice is superior to injustice—to the extent that suffering an injustice is preferable to committing an unjust act. The dialogue contains some of Plato''s most significant and famous discussions of major political themes, and focuses dramatically and with unrivaled intensity on Socrates as a political thinker and actor.
Nichols''s attention to dramatic detail brings this dialogue to life. Plato''s striking variety in conversational address (names and various terms of relative warmth and coolness) is carefully reproduced, as is alteration in tone and implication even in the short responses. The translatio
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Politics
GORGIAS
The Rhetoric of Justice in Plato's Gorgias
