To complement the page listing Plato's works and some of its editions in English, this page suggests a number of works, studies on Plato, commentaries on dialogues and noteworthy works by classical authors whose reading may help better understand the dialogues.

Biographies of Plato

• The oldest extant biography of Plato was written by a latin author of the IInd century A. D. named Apuleius, and is found in its work "De Platone et dogmate eius" (Plato and its doctrine). No English translation of this work is readily available. A Latin edition of it with translation in French by J. Beaujeu is available in the Budé collection, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1973.
•  One of the oldest biographies of Plato still extant is that of Diogenes Laertius, in his "Lives of Eminent Philosophers", probably written during the IIIrd century A. D. The Greek text of this work with a translation into English is available in two volumes in the Loeb Classical Library:
  •  Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol. I: Books I-V, translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, Loeb n°184 (Book I: the Wisemen of Greece; book II: Ionian philosophers, Socrates and the Socratic schools; book III: Plato; book IV: the Academy; book V: Aristotle and the Lyceum)
  •  Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol. II: Books VI-X, translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, Loeb n°185 (Book VI: Antisthenes and the Cynics; book VII: the Stoics; book VIII: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans; book IX: Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Parmenides and the Eleatic philosophers, Leucippus and Democritus, Protagoras, the Sceptic philosophers; book X: Epicurus)
•  Another life of Plato can be found at the beginning of the Commentary on Alcibiades by Olympiodorus, a Neoplatonic philosopher from Alexandria who lived in the VIth century A. D. No English translation, or even Greek edition, of this work is readily available.
•  Another ancient biography of Plato, followed by an introduction to the reading of his dialogues, is found in the work called Prolegomena to Plato's Philosophy, whose author is not identified with certainty, and could be this same Olympiodorus, or one of his disciples. The Greek text of this work, edited by L. G. Westerink, along with a translation into French, by J. Trouillard and A. Ph. Segonds, is available in the Budé collection, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1990
•  More recent biographies of Plato (most of which include commentaries of his works and thoughts) include, aside from the section on Plato found in most histories of philosophy:
  •  Plato the Man and His Work, by A. E. Taylor, 1926, Dover Books, 2001
  •  Volumes IV and V of W. K. C. Guthrie's A History of Greek Philosophy, Cambridge University Press: vol. IV: Plato, the man and his dialogues, earlier period, CUP, 1975; vol. V: The Later Plato and the Academy, CUP, 1978, to which may be added vol. III.2: Socrates, CUP, 1971

Around Plato : Greek Classics

In order to put Plato in context and better understand him, it is important to have an idea of the authors and thinkers he could read and meet, and to know a little about the history of the Greek World in his time.The following list includes a number of works whose reading may help provide such light. The Greek text of most of them in available onnline at the perseus site, along with an English translation, usually taken from the Loeb Classical Library (site at the perseus site the list of available texts).

Homer

All educated Greeks of the time of Socrate and Plato learn to read in Homer's works, and knew by heart large sections of his works. Besides, raphsodes, such as the one Plato stages in the Ion, would give public performances where they would declaim, and probably mime, entire sections of the Iliad and Odyssey. Hence the importance of knowing these texts to better understand Plato. Homer is by far the most quoted author inthe dialoges: of the 296 quotations listed by L Brandwood in his "Word Index to Plato" for the 28 dialogues I include in my tetralogies, 131 come from Homer, 93 of which come from the Iliad, and 38 come from the Odyssey (explicit quotations as well as obviously homeric expressions); far behind, we find, aside from Protagoras whose statement on "man-measure" is quoted or alluded to 19 times, Hesiod and Euripides, with 16 quotations each, then Pindar, with 13 quotations and Aeschylus with 12 quotations; the remaining quotations come from a multitude of known and unknown authors, only a few of whom are quoted more than once. Aside from explicit quotations and use of homeric expressions, the name of Homer appears 164 times in the dialogues. A comprehensive list of quotations from Homer and references to his name by dailogue is available on another page of this site accessible by clicking here.

•  The Iliad, Greek text and English translation by A. T. Murray, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, London, 1924-1925: vol. I: Books I-XII (#170); Vol. II: Books XIII-XXIV (#171)
•  The Odyssey, Greek text and English translation by A. T. Murray, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, London, 1919, revised by Georges E. Dimock, 1995: vol. I: Books I-XII (#104); Vol. II: Books XIII-XXIV (#105)
•  Paperback editions of an English translation of The Iliad include:
  •  The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Anchor, 1975
  •  The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles, introduction by Bernard Knox, Penguin Classics, 1991
•  Paperback editions of an English translation of The Odyssey include:
  •  The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, introduction by D. S. Carne-Ross, Noonday Press, 1998
  •  The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles, introduction by Bernard Knox, Penguin Classics, 1996

Hesiod

Less popular than Homer, Hesiod, a Boeotian poet who lived toward the end of the VIIIth and the beginning of the VIIth century B. C., was nonetheless another cornerstone of Greek education in classical times. His Theogony is a genealogy of the gods of Greek mythology from primeval chaos onward.

•  The complete works of Hediod, including the Theogony, Works and Days and The Shield of Heracles, plus other dubious works, along with Homeric Hymns, are available in Greek text and English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, in the Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, London, 1914, #57
•  A paperback edition of the Theogony and Works and Days, translated by M. L. West, is available in the Oxford World's Classics collection, Oxford University Press, 1998
•  Also The Works and Days, Theogony, The Shield of Heracles, tranlated by Richmond Lattimore, illustrated by Richard Wilt, Ann Harbor Paperbacks, The University of Michigan Press, 1991

Pindar

Pindar is a more recent poet who lived during the late VI century and early Vth century B. C., that is, about one century before Socrates and Plato. A Boeotian like Hesiod, he was regarded by the ancients as the master of lyrical poetry. Most of his poems were written for official circumstances, especially to celebrate winners at various panhellenic games, often at the request of the winners, who would pay him for the work. Most of the extant works of Pindar consists in four cycles of odes, each bearing the name of one of the four panhellenic games : Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, Isthmian.

•  Olympian Odes, Pythian Odes, Greek text and English translation by Willian H. Race, The Loeb Classical Library (#56), Harvard University Press, 1997
•  Nemean Odes, Isthmian Odes, Fragments, Greek text and English translation by Willian H. Race, The Loeb Classical Library (#485), Harvard University Press, 1997
•  Odes, translated by C. M. Bowra, Penguin Classics, 1982

Tragic Poets : Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

Æschylus, the first writer of tragedies, a member of an aristocratic family of Eleusis, lived from about 525 to 456 B. C.; Sophocles, a native from Colonus in Attica, lived from 495 till 406 B. C.; Euripides was born in the island of Salamis in 480 B. C. and died in 406, the same year as Sophocles. Extant works of these poets include, from Æschylus, 7 tragedies, including a complete trilogy (Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliant Maidens, the Orestia: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers and Eumenides, and Prometheus Bound); from Sophocles, also 7 tragedies (Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, OEdipus-Tyrranus, Electra, Philoctetes, OEdipus at Colonus), plus fragments of several other plays; from Euripides, 19 tragedies plus fragments of a few others (Alcestis, Medea, Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, Suppliants, Electra, The Daughters of Troy, Madness of Heracles, Iphigeneia, in Taurica, Ion, Helen, Phoenician Maidens, Orestes, Bacchanals, Iphigeneia at Aulis, Rhesus, Cyclops).

•  Greek Tragics in the Loeb edition
  •  Æschylus, Volume I: Suppliant Maidens, Persians, Prometheus Bound, Seven Against Thebes, Greek text and English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, The Loeb Classical Library (#145), Harvard University Press, 1922
  •  Æschylus, Volume II: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments, Greek text and English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, The Loeb Classical Library (#146), Harvard University Press, 1926
  •  Sophocles, Volume I: Ajax, Electra, Œdipus-Tyrranus, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#20), Harvard University Press, 1994
  •  Sophocles, Volume II: Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, OEdipus at Colonus, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#21), Harvard University Press, 1994
  •  Sophocles, Volume III: Fragments, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#483), Harvard University Press, 1996
  •  Euripides (old edition), Volume I: Iphigeneia at Aulis, Rhesus, Hecuba, The Daughters of Troy, Helen, Greek text and English translation by A. S. Way, The Loeb Classical Library (#9), Harvard University Press, 1912
  •  Euripides (old edition), Volume II: Electra, Orestes, Iphigeneia, in Taurica, Andromache, Cyclops, Greek text and English translation by A. S. Way, The Loeb Classical Library (#10), Harvard University Press, 1912
  •  Euripides (old edition), Volume III: Bacchanals, Madness of Heracles, Children of Heracles, Phoenician Maidens, Suppliants, Greek text and English translation by A. S. Way, The Loeb Classical Library (#11), Harvard University Press, 1912
  •  Euripides (new edition), Volume I: Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea, Greek text and English translation by David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library (#12), Harvard University Press, 1994
  •  Euripides (new edition), Volume II: Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, Greek text and English translation by David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library (#484), Harvard University Press, 1995
  •  Euripides (new edition), Volume III: Suppliant Women, Electra Heracles, Greek text and English translation by David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1998
  •  Euripides (new edition), Volume IV: Trojan Women, Iphigenia among the Taurians, Ion, Greek text and English translation by David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 2000
  •  Euripides (new edition), Volume V: Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes, Greek text and English translation by David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, available spring 2002

•  The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, The University of Chicago Press, hardcover edition in four volumes
•  Volume I: Æschylus, The Orestia, translated by Richmond Lattimore, The Suppliant Maiden, The Persian, translated by Seth Benardete, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, translated by David Grene, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
•  Volume II: Sophocles, Œdipus the King, Œdipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra, Philoctetes, translated by David Grene, Ajax, translated by John Moore, The Women of Trachis, translated by Michael Jameson, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
•  Volume III: Euripides, Alcestis, Helen, The Trojan Women, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Medea, translated by Rex Warner, The Heracleidae, translated by Ralph Gladstone, Hippolytus, translated by David Grene, The Cyclops, Heracles, Hecuba, translated by William Arrowsmith, Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Witter Bynner, Andromache, translated by John Frederick Nims, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
•  Volume IV: Euripides, Rhesus, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Ion, translated by R. F. Willetts, The Suppliant Women, translated by Frank William Jones, Orestes, The Bacchae, translated by William Arrowsmith, Iphigenia in Aulis, translated by Charles R. Walker, Electra, translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, The Phoenician Women, translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
•  also available in paperback in 9 volumes
  •  Æschylus I, The Orestia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides), translated by Richmond Lattimore, The University of Chicago Press, 1983
  •  Æschylus II, The Suppliant Maiden, The Persian, translated by Seth Benardete, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, translated by David Grene, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
  •  Sophocles I, Œdipus the King, Œdipus at Colonus, Antigone, translated by David Grene, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
  •  Sophocles II, Electra, Philoctetes, translated by David Grene, Ajax, translated by John Moore, The Women of Trachis, translated by Michael Jameson, The University of Chicago Press, 1992 (out of print)
  •  Euripides I, Alcestis, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Medea, translated by Rex Warner, The Heracleidae, translated by Ralph Gladstone, Hippolytus, translated by David Grene, The University of Chicago Press, 1983
  •  Euripides II, Helen, translated by Richmond Lattimore, The Cyclops, Heracles translated by William Arrowsmith, Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Witter Bynner, The University of Chicago Press, 1983
  •  Euripides III, Hecuba, translated by William Arrowsmith, Andromache, translated by John Frederick Nims, The Trojan Women, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Ion, translated by R. F. Willetts, The University of Chicago Press, 1958
  •  Euripides IV, Rhesus, translated by Richmond Lattimore, The Suppliant Women, translated by Frank William Jones, Orestes, translated by William Arrowsmith, Iphigenia in Aulis, translated by Charles R. Walker, The University of Chicago Press, 1968
  •  Euripides V, Electra, translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, The Phoenician Women, translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff, The Bacchae, translated by William Arrowsmith, The University of Chicago Press, 1969

•  The Greek tragics in Penguin Classics
  •  Æschylus, The Orestia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides), translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics, 1984
  •  Æschylus, Prometheus Bound, The Suppliant Maiden, The Persian, Seven Against Thebes, translated by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1961
  •  Sophocles, Ajax, Electra, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, translated by E. F. Watling, Penguin Classics, 1953
  •  Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, Œdipus the King, Œdipus at Colonus, Antigone, translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics, 1984
  •  Euripides, Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, translated by John Davie, Penguin Classics, 1996
  •  Euripides, Electra and other plays, translated by John Davie, Penguin Classics, 1999
  •  Euripides, Alcestis, Hippolytus, Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1953
  •  Euripides, Ion, Helen, The Bacchae, The Women of Troy, translated by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1954
  •  Euripides, Medea, Hecuba, Electra, Mad Heracles, translated by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1963
  •  Euripides, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, The Suppliant Women, The Phoenician Women, Orestes, Iphigenia in Aulis, translated by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1972

Comedy : Aristophanes

Aristophanes, the greatest Greek comic poet, was born in Athens in 445 B. C. and died in 380. He was a contemporary of Socrates, and Plato mentions him in the Apology, and stages him in the Symposium. Aristophanes, on the other hand, stages Socrates in his comedy The Clouds, in which he gives a picture of him quite different from the one drawn by Plato in his dialogues, to say the least. He also offers, in The Wasps, a caricature of the judicial system of his time which help imagin what the judges who sat at Socrates' trial could have looked like. His 11 extant comedies (Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Peace, Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmosphoriazusae, Frogs, Ecclesiazusae, Plutus) give us a vivid picture of what daily life could look like in Socrates' time.

•  Aristophanes in the Loeb Edition (old edition)
  •  Volume I: Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Greek text and English translation by Benjamin B. Rogers, The Loeb Classical Library (#178), Harvard University Press, 1924
  •  Volume II: Peace, Birds, Frogs, Greek text and English translation by Benjamin B. Rogers, The Loeb Classical Library (#179), Harvard University Press, 1924
  •  Volume III: Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae, Ecclesiazusae, Plutus, Greek text and English translation by Benjamin B. Rogers, The Loeb Classical Library (#180), Harvard University Press, 1924

•  Aristophanes in the Loeb Edition (new edition, not yet complete)
  •  Volume I: Acharnians, Knights, Greek text and English translation by Jeffrey Henderson, The Loeb Classical Library (#178), Harvard University Press, 1978
  •  Volume II: Clouds, Wasps, Peace, Greek text and English translation by Jeffrey Henderson, The Loeb Classical Library (#488), Harvard University Press, 1998
  •  Volume III: Birds, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria, Greek text and English translation by Jeffrey Henderson, The Loeb Classical Library (#179), Harvard University Press, 2000
  •  Volume IV: Frogs, Assemblywomen, Wealth, Greek text and English translation by Jeffrey Henderson, The Loeb Classical Library (#180), Harvard University Press, available summer 2002

•  Aristophanes in Penguin Classics
  •  The Frogs and Other Plays (The Wasps, The Poet and the Women (Thesmophoriazusae), The Frogs), translated by David Barrett, Penguin Classics, 1964
  •  Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds, translated by Allan H. Sommerstein, Penguin Classics, 1987
  •  The Knights, Peace, The Birds, The Assemblywomen (Ecclesiazusae), Wealth (Plutus), translated by David Barrett, Penguin Classics, 1978

Historians : Herodotus and Thucydides

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, around 480 B. C. and died in 425. He is considered the father of History. His Histories, in 9 books named after the 9 Muses, tells the story of the Persian Wars, using them as a starting point to deal with many other topics of the past in trying to explain their causes and put them in perspective. Thucydides, the son of an aristocratic family of Athens, lived in the Vth century B. C. and took part in the Peloponnesian War, between Athens and Sparta, which raged from 431 to 404 B. C., and whose story he tells in his History of the Peloponnesian War (till about 411).

•  Herodotus in the Loeb Edition, Greek text and English translation by A. D. Godley
  •  Volume I: books I-II, Loeb #117, 1920
  •  Volume II: books III-IV, Loeb #118, 1921
  •  Volume III: books V-VII, Loeb #119, 1922
  •  Volume IV: books VIII-IX, Loeb #120, 1924

•  Thucydides in the Loeb Edition, Greek text and English translation by C. F. Smith
  •  Volume I: books I-II, Loeb #108, 1919
  •  Volume II: books III-IV, Loeb #109, 1920
  •  Volume III: books V-VI, Loeb #110, 1921
  •  Volume IV: books VII-VIII, Loeb #169, 1923

•  Herodotus and Thucydides in Penguin Classics
  •  Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, revised with an introduction and notes by John M. Marincola, Penguin Classics, 1996
  •  Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, translated by Rex Warner, introduction and notes by M. Finley, Penguin Classics, 1954

• Also
•  Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield, Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 1999
•  Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Georges Rawlinson, introduction by Rosalind Thomas, Everyman's Library, Random house, 1997
•  The Landmark Thucydides, A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War, a new revised edition of the Richard Crawley translation, with maps, annotations, appendices and an encyclopedic index, by Robert Strassler, introduction by Victor Davis Handson, Touchstone Books, 1998

Presocratic philosophers and sophists

It is customary to call "presocratic" the philosophers prior to Socrates and their pupils, including those who lived in Socrates' time, and possibly later: the Seven Wisemen, among whom was Thales, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides and the Elean philosophers, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus and a few others. The sophists, on the other hand, such as Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, were contemporaries of Socrates whom Plato staged in several dialogues, some of which bear the name of one or another of them. Only fragments of works of these thinkers are extant. Those fragments have been edited by Herman Diels in Germany in a work called Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, in 1903, later improved in a new edition by W. Kranz. A complete translation of Diels fragments is available in:

•  Ancilla to Pre-Socratic Philosophers, by Kathleen Freeman, Harvard University Press, 1983

Other English translations of all or part of these fragments include:

•  The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists, translated with an introduction and notes by Robin Waterfield, Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 2000
•  Early Greek Philosophy, by Jonathan Barnes, Penguin Classics, 1987

Editions of fragments for individual philosophers include:

•  Art and Thought of Heraclitus : An Edition of the Fragments With Translation and Commentary by Charles H. Kahn, Cambridge University Press, 1981
•  Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus, translated by Brooks Haxton, foreword by James Hillman, Penguin, 2001
•  Heraclitus: Fragments: A Text and Translation With a Commentary, by T. M. Robinson, Phoenix Supplementary, Vol. 22, University of Toronto Press, 1991
•  Parmenides of Elea: Fragments: A Text and Translation With a Commentary, by David Gallop, Phoenix Supplementary, Vol. 23, University of Toronto Press, 1991

Some of these fragments are available online at the Philoctetes site, in Greek along with French and English translations (English translation by John Burnet) :

•  Thalès
•  Anaximandre
•  Héraclite
•  Parménide
•  Zénon d'Élée

Orators : Lysias, Isocrates, etc.

The distinction between sophists and orators is not always obvious, as most sophists asked their pupils huge amounts of money to teach them how to successfully speak in the assembly and defend themselves in courts. The authors here considered are some of those whose political and court speeches have come down to us. Though some of those speeches were written for the writer's own defense in court, many of them were written in order to be delivered in court by somebody else who would pay for the speech. Indeed, in Athens at that time, the defendant in a trial, as well as the accuser, had to make his own case in person in front of the court, but he was allowed to request the services of what was called a "logographer" (etymologically, a "speech writer") to write the speech he would deliver.

Lysias, one of the sons of Cephalus, a Syracusan arm dealer who had settled in Piraeus at the request of Pericles, was active in the democratic movement, and barely escaped the death penalty that killed his brother Polemarchus during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, saving his life only by running away from Athens, as he himself tells us in his speech Against Eratosthenes (#12). Plato stages him as a mute spectator in the Republic, which takes place in his father Cephalus' home with the active participation of his brother Polemarchus, and mimics him in the Phaedrus, which begins with Phaedrus reading a speech suppoded to have been written by him. The speeches that have come down to us as his range from a Funeral Oration (#2, interesting to compare with Plato's Menexenus, which is a parody of such speeches) to speeches for trials dealing with problems of everyday's life, which afford us a lively glimpse of daily life in Athens in the time of Socrates and Plato. For instance, the speech On the murder of Eratosthenes (#1) is a speech in defense of a husband who killed his wife's lover caught in the act of adultery, and it is worth all the novels written since then on such a topic, showing that, in matters of love, things have not much changed since those remote times.

Isocrates, who is mentioned at the end of the Phaedrus, is almost contemporary of Plato, and headed in Athens a school competing with Plato's Academy, and whose teachings was centered more on rhetorics. Some of his speeches show that he more or less equated the kind of "philosophy" taught by Plato (whom he never mentions by name) and sophistry. Toward the end of his life, he wrote speeches that were sort of "open letters" in which he would take side on the main political issues of the time, especially regarding the stance he thought Athens should take in the face of the rising power of Philip of Macedonia, a matter of concern for the Greeks by then.

The speeches of Andocides are interesting because they are one of the few sources still extant, along with mentions in Thucydides' Histories, for our knowledge of the affairs of the Herms and of the parody of the Mysteries, in which Alcibiades was implicated at the very time he was taking, with Nicias, the lead of the Sicilian expedition he had convinced Athens to undertake. And Alcibiades is the character who, after Socrates, is most often staged in the dialogues.

•  The 34 extant speeches of Lysias are published in the Loeb edition:
  •  Lysias: Speeches, Greek text and English translation by W. R. M. Lamb, The Loeb Classical Library (#244), Harvard University Press, 1930
•  They are also available in English translation in a paperback edition:
  •  The Oratory of Classical Greece Series, Vol. 2: Lysias, translated by Stephen C. Todd, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2000 (also available in hardcover)

•  The speeches of Isocrates are published in 3 volumes in the Loeb edition:
  •  Isocrates, vol. I: To Demonicus, To Nicocles, Nicocles orThe Cyprians, Panegyricus, To Philip, Archidamus, Greek text and English translation by Geroge Norlin, The Loeb Classical Library (#209), Harvard University Press, 1928
  •  Isocrates, vol. II: On the Peace, Areopagiticus, Against the Sophists, Antidosis, Panathenaicus , Greek text and English translation by Geroge Norlin, The Loeb Classical Library (#229), Harvard University Press, 1929
  •  Isocrates, vol. III: Evagoras, Helen, Busiris, Plataicus, Concerning the Team of Horses, Trapeziticus, Against Callimachus, Aegeniticus, Against Lochites, Against Euthynus, Letters I-IX, Greek text and English translation by La Rue Van Hook, The Loeb Classical Library (#373), Harvard University Press, 1945
•  They are also available in English translation in a paperback edition:
  •  The Oratory of Classical Greece Series, Vol. 4: Isocrates I (To Demonicus, Encomium of Helen, Busiris, Against the Sophists, On the Team of Horses, Trapeziticus, Special Plea against Callimachus, Aegineticus, Against Lochites, Evagoras, To Nicocles, Nicocles, Areaopagiticus, Antidosis), translated by David C. Mirhady and Yun Lee Too, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2000 (also available in hardcover)
  •  Volume 2 is forthcoming

•  The speeches of Andocides are published in the Loeb edition:
  •  Minor Attic Orators, vol. I, Antiphon and Andocides, Greek text and English translation by K. J. Maidment, The Loeb Classical Library (#308), Harvard University Press, 1941
•  They are also available in English translation in a paperback edition:
  •  The Oratory of Classical Greece Series, Vol. 1: Antiphon and Andocides, translated by Michael Gagarin and Douglas M. MacDowell, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1998 (also available in hardcover)

Medicine : the Hippocratic school

The "scientific" (for the time) approach to medicine that developed most prominently among the Asclepiades, the most famous representative of whom is Hippocrates of Cos (460-around 370 B. C.), a contemporary of Socrates, influenced Plato, who often takes the example of medicine in his dialogues, and mentions several times the name of Hippocrates himself (Protagoras, Phaedrus). A huge body of works ascribed to Hippocrates has come down to us, but it is likely that not all of these works are from him. Reading some of these works helps get a feel for what was that medicine Plato so often talks about.

• The Hippocratic Corpus, Greek text and English translation, is available in 8 volumes in the Loeb Edition:
  •  Hippocrates, vol. I: Ancient Medicine. Airs, Waters, Places. Epidemics I & III. The Oath. Precepts. Nutriment, Greek text and English translation by W. H. S Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#147), Harvard University Press, 1923
  •  Hippocrates, vol. II: Prognostic. Regimen in Accute Diseases. The Sacred Disease. The Art. Breaths. Law. Decorum. Physician (Ch. 1). Definition, Greek text and English translation by W. H. S Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#148), Harvard University Press, 1923
  •  Hippocrates, vol. III: On Wounds in the Head. In the Surgery. On Fractures. On Joints. Mochlicon, Greek text and English translation by E. T. Withington, The Loeb Classical Library (#149), Harvard University Press, 1928
  •  Hippocrates, vol. IV: Nature of Man. Regimen in Health. Humours. Aphorisms. Regimen I-III. Dreams. Heracleitus. On the Universe, Greek text and English translation by W. H. S Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (#150), Harvard University Press, 1931
  •  Hippocrates, vol. V: Affections. Diseases I. Diseases II, Greek text and English translation by Paul Potter, The Loeb Classical Library (#472), Harvard University Press, 1988
  •  Hippocrates, vol. VI: Diseases III. Internal Affections. Regimen in Accute Diseases, Greek text and English translation by Paul Potter, The Loeb Classical Library (#473), Harvard University Press, 1988
  •  Hippocrates, vol. VII: Epidemics II, IV-VII, Greek text and English translation by Wesley D. Smith, The Loeb Classical Library (#477), Harvard University Press, 1994
  •  Hippocrates, vol. VIII: Glands. Fleshes. Prorrhetic I-II. Physician. Use of Liquids. Ulcers. Haemorrhoids and Fistulas, Greek text and English translation by Paul Potter, The Loeb Classical Library (#482), Harvard University Press, 1995

Mathematics

Mathematics, and especially geometry, made important advances in the time of Socrates and Plato, in part due to the work of Plato's colleagues at the Academy, such as Eudoxus of Cnidus, whose works, now lost, may have been at the root of several books of Euclid's Elements. Most of the works of the mathematicians of the time are now lost and known only through references in later works. Some of these are collected in:

•  Greek Mathematical Works, vol. I: Thales to Euclid, Greek text and English translation by Ivor Thomas, The Loeb Classical Library (#335), Harvard University Press, 1939, rev. 1980, 1991

Xenophon

Xenophon is a contemporary of Plato who also associated with Socrates in his youth, before leaving Athens for Asia Minor with the expedition of the Ten-Thousands, whose story he tells us in his Anabasis (an expedition during which he met with Meno, staged by Plato in the dialogue named after him). Xenophon wrote several works in which he stages Socrates: the Memorabilia, along with the Economics, which complement them, and, as Plato, a Symposium and an Apology of Socrates. He also wrote a follow-up to Thucydides' Histories, named Hellenica.

•  An edition in 7 volumes of the works of Xenophon is available in the Loeb Edition:
  •  Xenophon, vol. I: Hellenica, books I-IV, Greek text and English translation by C. L. Brownson, The Loeb Classical Library (#88), Harvard University Press, 1918
  •  Xenophon, vol. II: Hellenica, books V-VII, Greek text and English translation by C. L. Brownson, The Loeb Classical Library (#89), Harvard University Press, 1921
  •  Xenophon, vol. III: Anabasis, Greek text and English translation by C. L. Brownson, The Loeb Classical Library (#90), Harvard University Press, 1922
  •  Xenophon, vol. IV: Memorabilia and Œconomicus, Greek text and English translation by E. C. Marchant, Symposium and Apologia, Greek text and English translation by O. J. Todd, The Loeb Classical Library (#168), Harvard University Press, 1923
  •  Xenophon, vol. V: Cyropaedia, books I-IV, Greek text and English translation by Walter Miller, The Loeb Classical Library (#51), Harvard University Press, 1914
  •  Xenophon, vol. VI: Cyropaedia, books V-VIII, Greek text and English translation by Walter Miller, The Loeb Classical Library (#52), Harvard University Press, 1914
  •  Xenophon, vol. VII: Scripta Minora, Greek text and English translation by E. C. Marchant, Constitutions of the Athenians, Greek text and English translation by Glen W. Bowersock, The Loeb Classical Library (#183), Harvard University Press, 1925, rev. and suppl. 1968
•  Other translations of Xenophon include:
  •  A History of my Times (Hellenica), translated by Rex Warner and introduced by Gorge Cawkwell, Penguin Classics, 1979
  •  Conversations of Socrates (Apology of Socrates, Memorabilia, Symposium, Economics), translated by Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield, Penguin Classics, 1990
  •  The Persian Expedition (Anabasis), translated by Rex Warner and introduced by Gorge Cawkwell, Penguin Classics, 1999
  •  Hiero the Tyrant and other Treatises (Apology of Socrates, Memorabilia, Symposium, Economics), translated by Robin Waterfield and introduced by Paul Cartledge, Penguin Classics, 1998

Aristotle

Aristotle is Plato's most famous pupil. Reading his criticism of what he presents as Plato's opinions, or those of the ones he calls platonists, is interesting, provided one doesn' take at face value everything he attributes to other thinkers, Plato included. Indeed, contrary to Plato, who was a master at criticizing other thinkers' opinions from the inside and within their own (in)consistency, Aristotle has an unfortunate tendency to drag everything toward his own system, and to try and criticise other thinkers as if they were but precursors of his own truth, that they obviously had not mastered yet. I am convinced that several dialogues of Plato criticize without saying so opinions that Aristotle ascribes to Plato, starting with the Parmenides, where Plato's choice of a character also named Aristotle (a historical character that would end up as one of the Thirty Tyrants) to serve as a pale respondant to Parmenides in his "tedious game" is far from being pure coincidence!... Aristotle, born in a family of physicians, was unable to follow Plato all the way outside the cave and up to the top of the hill (see the allegory of the cave, Republic, VII, 514a, sq), but, above all, he never understood what Plato had himself understood and which led him to write dialogues rather than dogmatic treatises, namely that it is more important to help readers ask themselves the right questions and make them think by themselves so that they may come up with their own answers on topics on which it is impossible to "scientifically demonstrate" anything, than to serve them ready-made answers and "demonstrations" that demonstrate nothing... This being said, for a first encounter, it might be worthwhile to read the Metaphysics, to see what Aristotle has to say about "ideas", the Nicomachean Ethics, to get a feel for Aristotle,'s ethics, his Politics to learn what his thoughts were in political matters, and his De Anima, to be aware of the foundations of his psychology.

•  Aristotle's works are available in 23 volumes in the Loeb Edition:
  •  Volume I: Categories, On Interpretation, Greek text and English translation by H. P. Cook, Prior Analytics, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Tredennick, The Loeb Classical Library (#325), Harvard University Press, 1938
  •  Volume II: Posterior Analytics, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Tredennick, Topica, Greek text and English translation by E. S. Foster, The Loeb Classical Library (#391), Harvard University Press, 1960
  •  Volume III: On Sophistical Refutations, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away, Greek text and English translation by E. S. Foster, On the Cosmos, Greek text and English translation by D. J. Furley, The Loeb Classical Library (#400), Harvard University Press, 1955
  •  Volume IV: Physics, books I-IV, Greek text and English translation by P. H. Wicksteed and F. M. Cornford, The Loeb Classical Library (#228), Harvard University Press, 1929
  •  Volume V: Physics, books V-VIII, Greek text and English translation by P. H. Wicksteed and F. M. Cornford, The Loeb Classical Library (#255), Harvard University Press, 1934
  •  Volume VI: On the Heavens, Greek text and English translation by W. K. C. Guthrie, The Loeb Classical Library (#338), Harvard University Press, 1939
  •  Volume VII: Meteorologica, Greek text and English translation by H. D. P. Lee, The Loeb Classical Library (#397), Harvard University Press, 1952
  •  Volume VIII: On the Soul, Parva Naturalia, On Breath, Greek text and English translation by W. S. Hett, The Loeb Classical Library (#288), Harvard University Press, 1936, rev. 1957
  •  Volume IX: History of Animals, books I-III, Greek text and English translation by A. L. Peck, The Loeb Classical Library (#437), Harvard University Press, 1965
  •  Volume X: History of Animals, books IV-VI, Greek text and English translation by A. L. Peck, The Loeb Classical Library (#438), Harvard University Press, 1970
  •  Volume XI: History of Animals, books VII-X, Greek text and English translation by D. M. Balme, The Loeb Classical Library (#439), Harvard University Press, 1970
  •  Volume XII: Parts of Animals, Greek text and English translation by A. L. Peck, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals, Greek text and English translation by E. S. Forster, The Loeb Classical Library (#323), Harvard University Press, 1937
  •  Volume XIII: Generation of Animals, Greek text and English translation by A. L. Peck, The Loeb Classical Library (#366), Harvard University Press, 1942
  •  Volume XIV: Minor Works (On Colours. On Things Heard. Physiognomics. On Plants. On Marvellous Things Heard. Mechanical Problems. On Indivisible Lines. The Situations and Names of Winds. On Melissus, Xenophanes, Gorgias), Greek text and English translation by W. S. Hett, The Loeb Classical Library (#307), Harvard University Press, 1936
  •  Volume XV: Problems, books I-XXI, Greek text and English translation by W. S. Hett, The Loeb Classical Library (#316), Harvard University Press, 1936
  •  Volume XVI: Problems, books XXII-XXXVIII, Greek text and English translation by W. S. Hett, Rhetorica ad Alexandrum, Greek text and English translation by H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library (#317), Harvard University Press, 1937
  •  Volume XVII: Metaphysics, books I-IX, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Tredennick, The Loeb Classical Library (#271), Harvard University Press, 1933
  •  Volume XVIII: Metaphysics, books X-XIV, Greek text and English translation by Hugh Tredennick, Oeconomica, Magna Moralia, Greek text and English translation by G. Cyril Armstrong, The Loeb Classical Library (#287), Harvard University Press, 1935
  •  Volume XIX: Nicomachean Ethics, Greek text and English translation by H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library (#73), Harvard University Press, 1926
  •  Volume XX: Athenian Constitution, Eudemian Ethics, Virtues and Vices, Greek text and English translation by H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library (#285), Harvard University Press, 1935
  •  Volume XXI: Politics, Greek text and English translation by H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library (#264), Harvard University Press, 1932
  •  Volume XXII: The Art of Rhetoric, Greek text and English translation by J. H. Freese, The Loeb Classical Library (#193), Harvard University Press, 1926
  •  Volume XXIII: Poetics, Greek text and English translation by Stephen Halliwell + Longinus, On the Sublime, Greek text and English translation by W. Hamilton Fyfe, revised by Donald A. Russell + Demetrius, On Style, Greek text and English translation by Doreen C. Innes, based on translation by W. Rhys Roberts, The Loeb Classical Library (#199), Harvard University Press, 1927, 2nd edition 1995
•  Aristotle's works in the Penguin Classics collection includes:
  •  The Art of Rhetoric, translation, introduction and notes by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Penguin, 1992
  •  The Athenian Constitution, translation, introduction and notes by P. J. Rhodes, Penguin, 1984
  •  De Anima, translation, introduction and notes by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Penguin, 1987
  •  Nicomachean Ethics, translation by J. A. K. Thomson, introduction by Jonathan Barnes, revison, appendices and notes by Hugh Tredennick, Penguin, 1955
  •  The Metaphysics , translation, introduction and notes by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Penguin, 1999
  •  The Politics, introduction and translation by T. A. Sinclair, revised by Trevor Saunders, Penguin, 1981
  •  Poetics, translation, introduction and notes by Malcolm Heath, Penguin, 1997
  •  Classical Litterary Criticism: Aristotle's Poetics, Horace's Ars Poetica, Longinus' On the Sublime, translation, introduction and notes by T. S. Dorsch, Penguin, 1965

The people of Plato's dialogues

A useful book about the people in Plato's dialogues is The People of Plato, A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics, by Debra Nails, Hackett, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 2002, in which one can find almost all that is known about all the persons mentionned in the dialogues, with sources and critical analysis of them, plus various other data on Greece and Athens in Plato's time.

Commentaries on Plato's dialogues

A. N. Whitehead once wrote that "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato" (Process and Reality, 1929). If that's the case, one is never too far away from Plato when reading the work of any philosopher, whomever that is. If we also remember that, to me, Plato didn't write dialogues to tell us what he thought, but to induce us to think by ourselves, then we can safely say that it is more important to read his dialogues and to let ourselves be questioned by them than to read secondary litterature and comments on the dialogues from those who pretend to tell us what his answers were, when he carefully avoided to give us those answers of his!

This being said, one may wish to confront one's own understanding (or misunderstanding) of the dialogues to that of other thinkers. But, if that's the case, it is better not to limit oneself to recent commentaries. "Commentaries" on Plato begin with Aristotle and continue all through the occidental philosophic tradition. Only fragments are still extant from the works of the philosophers of the Old and New Academy, the successors of Plato as head of the school he created. But one may wish to read works from Cicero (such as his Republic, inspired from that of Plato, which he also translated in Latin along with several other dialogues), or from the Stoics, or Epicurus and his school, or from the Cynics or Sceptics, all of whom considered Socrates as the model of the "sophos", the wise man, each dragging him toward his own viewpoint from images of him given by his immediate "followers", and first among them, Plato. We are in a better situation with the Neoplatonists, beginning with Plotinus, whose Enneads are still extant in full. But the first Fathers of the Church were also deeply influenced by Plato, as can be seen by reading the extant works of Saint Justin (probably the first one to try and reconcile Greek philosophy, especially Plato's, with Christian theology in the making), Eusebius of Caesarea (in those works he wrote in order to try and convert to the Christian faith educated people starting from the secular culture of his time, nourished with Greek philosophy), Origen (who was condemend for having tried too hard to "rationalise" Christian theology in light of Plato), and many others. And it is through a detour via Plotinus' platonism that Saint Augustine came back from Manichaeism to Christianity (it is worth reading the pages he wrote on this in his Confessions). We should also mention the Arab philosophers of the Middle Ages, who wrote commentaries on Plato's dialogues along with commentaries on Aristotle's treatises in a time when most of those where lost to the Christian world, and the rediscovery of Plato in the Renaissance. Closer to us, one may think of Nietzsche and his "affair" with Socrates and Plato, or of Heidegger, who tranlated in German and commented several texts from Plato. And even with philosophers who don't mention him by name, it is interesting to see how they have been influenced by the problems he set.

In short, a bibliography of commentaries on Plato which withstood the test of time and would confront us to great thinkers would amount to a list of the philosophical works available in any serious library!... That is the reason why I leave each one make one's own choices according to one's taste.

Links toward other bibliographies

A complete bibliography of publications relating to Plato since 1992, by Luc Brisson, is available online on the CNRS site. It continues those published by Lustrum: #4-5 (Plato, 1950-1957), #20 (Plato, 1958-1975), #25 (Plato 1975-1980), #30 (Plato 1980-1985), et issue on Plato 1985-1990, and the one Luc Brisson published for years 1990-95 at Vrin Edition, Paris, 2000.

A French counterpart of this bibliography is available in the French section of this site.

Plato and his dialogues : Home - Biography - Works and links to them - History of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map of dialogues : table version or non tabular version. Tools : Index of persons and locations - Detailed and synoptic chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World. Site information : About the author.

First published December 14, 2001 - Last updated March 23rd, 2015
© 2001 Bernard SUZANNE (click on name to send your comments via e-mail)
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