Crito By Plato Greek Classics Translated By Benjamin Jowett Crito is a dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice, injustice, and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and refuses Crito's offer to finance his escape from prison. This dialogue contains an ancient statement of the social contract theory of government. The dialogue begins with Socrates waking up to the presence of Crito in his prison cell and inquires whether it is early...

The Ion is the shortest, or nearly the shortest, of all the writings which bear the name of Plato, and is not authenticated by any early external testimony. The grace and beauty of this little work supply the only, and perhaps a sufficient, proof of its genuineness. The plan is simple; the dramatic interest consists entirely in the contrast between the irony of Socrates and the transparent vanity and childlike enthusiasm of the rhapsode Ion. The theme of the Dialogue may possibly have been suggested by the passage of Xenophon's Memorabilia in which the rhapsodists are described by Euthydemus...

Cratylus By Plato Greek Classics Translated by Benjamin Jowett Cratylus is the name of a dialogue by Plato. Most modern scholars agree that it was written mostly during Plato's so-called middle period. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to tell them whether names are "conventional" or "natural," that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an intrinsic relation to the things they signify. When discussing how a word would relate to its subject, Socrates compares the original creation of a word to the work of an artist. An...

As with all of Plato's writings, Euthyphro is considered by many to be both a landmark in philosophy as well as a cornerstone of modern human knowledge and understanding.

Lysistrata is one of the great Greek plays that have stood the test of time; coming down through the ages, it is well worth taking the time to read and this translation breathes life into the words on the page, which oftentimes can be difficult to understand.

One of Plato's best and most important writings, Symposium won't leave you disappointed for taking the time to read it.

Phaedo by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett.

Meno, an early Platonic dialogue, centers on virtue and illustrates the classic Socratic Method. Meno begins the dialogue by asking, "Can you tell me, Socrates, can virtue be taught?" Socrates claims that to answer such a question, a person would have to know what virtue is. An incredulous Meno asks, "Socrates, do you really not know what virtue is?" Socrates responds, "Not only that, my friend, but as I believe, I have never yet met anyone else who did know." And so Socrates and Meno engage in a question-and-answer investigation of what virtue is and if it can be taught. They explore how to...

Phaedo by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett.

Parmenides By Plato Greek Classics Translated by Benjamin Jowett Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues.The Parmenides purports to be an account of a meeting between the two great philosophers of the Eleatic school, Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, and a young Socrates. The occasion of the meeting was the reading by Zeno of his treatise defending Parmenidean monism against those partisans of plurality who asserted that Parmenides' supposition that there is a one gives rise to...