Project Gutenberg's Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates, by Plato

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Title: Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates

Author: Plato

Release Date: October 12, 2004 [EBook #13726]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PLATO'S

APOLOGY, CRITO AND PHAEDO
OF
SOCRATES.

Literally Translated By

HENRY CARY, M.A.,
_Worcester College, Oxford_

With An Introduction By

EDWARD BROOKS, JR.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION

THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES

INTRODUCTION TO THE CRITO

CRITO; OR, THE DUTY OF A CITIZEN

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHAEDO

PHAEDO; OR, THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

INTRODUCTION.

Of all writers of speculative philosophy, both ancient and modern, there
is probably no one who has attained so eminent a position as Plato. What
Homer was to Epic poetry, what Cicero and Demosthenes were to oratory,
and what Shakespeare was to the drama of England, Plato was to ancient
philosophy, not unapproachable nor unapproached, but possessing an
inexplicable but unquestioned supremacy.

The authentic records of his life are meagre, and much that has been
written concerning him is of a speculative nature. He was born at Athens
in the year 427 B.C. His father's name was Ariston, and his mother's
family, which claimed its descent from Solon, included among its members
many Athenian notables, among whom was Oritias, one of the thirty
tyrants.

In his early youth Plato applied himself to poetry and painting, both of
which pursuits he relinquished to become the disciple and follower of
Socrates. It is said that his name was originally Aristocles, but that
it was changed to Plato on account of the breadth of his shoulders and
forehead. He is also said to have been an expert wrestler and to have
taken part in several important battles.

He was the devoted friend and pupil of Socrates, and during the
imprisonment of his master he attended him constantly, and committed to
writing his last discourses on the immortality of the soul.

After the death of