The works of Plato (Vol. 1 of 6) A new and literal version chiefly from the text
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~200,000 words · 940 passages
Cite this work
- APAPlato. (n.d.). The works of Plato (Vol. 1 of 6) A new and literal version chiefly from the text. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/the-works-of-plato-vol-1-of-6-a-new-and-literal-version-chiefly-from-the-text
- MLAPlato. The works of Plato (Vol. 1 of 6) A new and literal version chiefly from the text. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/the-works-of-plato-vol-1-of-6-a-new-and-literal-version-chiefly-from-the-text.
- ChicagoPlato. The works of Plato (Vol. 1 of 6) A new and literal version chiefly from the text. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/the-works-of-plato-vol-1-of-6-a-new-and-literal-version-chiefly-from-the-text.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The first volume of a Victorian six-volume edition of Plato's works, translated into English in a deliberately literal manner.
Context and history
It is worth knowing how Plato is cited, because none of these volumes will do it. The universal reference is Stephanus pagination — the '327a' at the opening of the Republic — which comes from the Greek edition of 1578 and which every serious edition prints in the margin in any language. With that number a citation can be checked in Greek, in English or in Catalan; with a volume and a page it cannot. The division into six volumes is the nineteenth-century editor's.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
them better. Do you see, Melitus, that you are silent, and have nothing to say? But does it not appear to you to be disgraceful and a sufficient proof of what I say, that you never took any concern about the matter? But tell me, friend, who makes them better? _Mel._ The laws. _Socr._ I do not ask this, most excellent sir, but what man, who surely must first know this very thing, the laws? _Mel._ These, Socrates, the judges. _Socr._ How say you, Melitus? Are these able to instruct the youth, and make them better? _Mel._ Certainly. _Socr._ Whether all, or some of them, and others not? _Mel._ All. _Socr._ You say well, by Juno, and have found a great abundance of those that confer benefit. But what further? Can these hearers make them better, or not? _Mel._ They too can. _Socr._ And what of the senators? _Mel._ The senators also. _Socr._ But, Melitus, do those who attend the public assemblies corrupt the younger men? or do they all make them better? _Mel._ They too. _Socr._ All the Athenians therefore, as it seems, make them honourable and good, except me, but I alone corrupt them. Do you say so? _Mel._ I do assert this very thing. _Socr._ You charge me with great ill-fortune. But answer me: does it appear to you to be the same with respect to horses? do all men make them better, and is there only some one that spoils them? or does quite the contrary of this take place? is there some one person who can make them better, or very few, that is the trainers? but if the generality of men should meddle with and make use of horses, do they spoil them? Is not this the case, Melitus, both with respect to horses and all other animals? It certainly is so, whether you and Anytus deny it or not. For it would be a great good-fortune for the youth if only one person corrupted, and the rest benefited them.…