Gorgias / Edition 1

by Plato, James A. Arieti, Roger M. Barrus

Overview

This is an English translation of Plato’s dialogue of Socrates seeking the true definition of rhetoric, with an attempt to show the flaws of the sophistic orators. Includes speeches from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian Wars that reflect Plato’s themes.

Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato’s immediate audience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585102433
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2006
Series:	Focus Philosophical Library
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

James A. Arieti (Ph.D. from Stanford University) is the Graves H. Thompson Professor of Classics at Hampden-Sydney College. He is the author of numerous books, on subjects that include Empedocles, Greek athletics, ancient medicine, Herodotus, Homer, Horace, Livy, Dante, Machiavelli, Philo, Plato, and the Septuagint.

Roger M. Barrus (Ph.D. from Harvard) is Elliott Professor of Political Science at Hamden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he has taught since 1982. He is the author of articles and reviews and has delivered lectures on political philosophy, international relations, and American government and politics.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Reference System Used in this Edition	ix
	Chronology	xi
	Introduction	xiii
	Further Reading	xxxviii
	A Note on the Text	xliii
A	Dialogue With Gorgias	3
B	Dialogue With Polus	27
C	Dialogue With Callicles	64
	Notes	139
	Glossary of Greek Terms	151
	Index	153

Editorial Reviews

Arieti and Barrus have provided us with a fine contribution to the literature on Plato’s Gorgias. This text includes a literal translation of the Gorgias with a helpful introductory essay, and copious notes. It includes a priceless appendix of the only literal translations available today of several key speeches from Thucydides, as well as a valuable glossary and appendices on the rules of dialectic that may be derived from the arguments of the Gorgias, and on Plato’s use of the terms mythos and logos, with which not all scholars may agree, but which I think all should find of interest.

- Michael Palmer, University of Maine

From the Publisher