Laches
- Language:
- English
- Translation:
- Benjamin Jowett
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~10,700 words · 51 passages
Cite this work
- APAPlato. (n.d.). Laches. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/laches
- MLAPlato. "Laches." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/laches.
- ChicagoPlato. Laches. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/laches.
What it is about
Two fathers ask whether it is worth teaching their sons to fight in armour, and the conversation turns to what courage is. Two real generals take part, and both fail to define it.
Context and history
That the experts in bravery cannot say what it is, is precisely the point. Around 380 BC, with the generals Nicias and Laches as speakers: both had fought, and both died in war. Plato writes on courage using men who were already gone.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
LYSIMACHUS: You have seen the exhibition of the man fighting in armour, Nicias and Laches, but we did not tell you at the time the reason why my friend Melesias and I asked you to go with us and see him. I think that we may as well confess what this was, for we certainly ought not to have any reserve with you. The reason was, that we were intending to ask your advice. Some laugh at the very notion of advising others, and when they are asked will not say what they think. They guess at the wishes of the person who asks them, and answer according to his, and not according to their own, opinion. But as we know that you are good judges, and will say exactly what you think, we have taken you into our counsels. The matter about which I am making all this preface is as follows: Melesias and I have two sons; that is his son, and he is named Thucydides, after his grandfather; and this is mine, who is also called after his grandfather, Aristides. Now, we are resolved to take the greatest care of the youths, and not to let them run about as they like, which is too often the way with the young, when they are no longer children, but to begin at once and do the utmost that we can for them. And knowing you to have sons of your own, we thought that you were most likely to have attended to their training and improvement, and, if perchance you have not attended to them, we may remind you that you ought to have done so, and would invite you to assist us in the fulfilment of a common duty. I← Back to Plato