Plato: Crito (BCP Greek Texts) - Softcover

Plato, .

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853994693 ISBN 13: 9781853994692

Publisher: Bristol Classical Press, 1999

Synopsis

This book provides a detailed commentary on the shortest, but also one of the most dramatic of the dialogues of Plato. Socrates' old friend, Crito, enters the Athenian prison, where Socrates is awaiting execution and tries to persuade him to escape. Socrates counters Crito's arguments drawn from Athenian popular citizen values with his own particular philosophical arguments about justice and obligations which, perhaps surprisingly lead him to conclude that he must obey the decision of the court and face death by the drinking of hemlock.

While this new edition of Crito is the first English commentary of the Greek text for seventy-five years, the dialogue has long been prominent in philosophical and political debate on Ancient Greek social and political ideas. At the same time, Plato's reasonably straightforward language makes Crito a popular text for comparatively inexperienced readers of Greek at school and university level. This edition combines detailed linguistic help with a full explanation of the contextual issues – dramatic structure, literary style and philosophical ideas. It provides an up-to-date literary and philosophical analysis suitable for a wide range of readers, including those with post-beginners Greek. It represents an ideal introduction to the personality of one of its greatest thinkers.

About this title

Book Description:

Plato's Crito is an investigation of morality and justice. It presents a dialogue which takes place in Socrates' prison cell, where he awaits execution. He is visited by his friend Crito who has made arrangements to smuggle him out of prison. Socrates, however, reasons that this would be the wrong moral choice, and that he should act justly rather than selfishly. This edition of the Crito was first published in 1888, with a second edition published in 1891. It is now on its sixteenth printing. The text is given in full, in the original Greek with an introduction and notes.

Synopsis:

Plato's Socrates, in prison and being urged to flee execution, raises in acute form, and for the first time in European thought, a central question: is it right to disobey the state? Socrates' controversial answer in "Crito" has generated much contemporary literature, but no English commentary of the Greek text for seventy-five years. This new edition aims to provide an up-to-date literary and philosophical analysis suitable for a wide range of readers, including those with post-beginners Greek. It represents an ideal introduction, not only to the social and philosophical world of Classical Greece, but also to the personality of one of its greatest thinkers.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1853994693
• ISBN 13: 9781853994692
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 118