his life,[1] upon a different task. He was resolved to leave behind him, if he could so far overcome the infirmities of age,[2] a code of laws, conceived in a spirit of concession, and such as he still hoped that some Hellenic state might sanction. The motive for this great work may be gathered from the Politicus. The physician in departing is to give a written prescription, adapted as far as possible to the condition of those from whom he goes away. This is the second-best course, in the absence of the philosopher-king. And, as the Hellenic world will not listen to Plato's heroic remedy, he accommodates his counsel to their preconceptions.Laws. He returns once more from abstract discussions to study the application of ideas to life, and though, by the conditions of the problem, his course is “nearer earth and less in light,” this long writing, which is said to have been posthumous,[3] has a peculiar interest. The ripeness of accumulated experience and the mellowness of wise contemplation make up for the loss of prophetic insight and poetic charm.
The form of dialogue is still retained, and an aged Athenian is imagined as discoursing of legislation with the Lacedaemonian Megillus and the Cretan Cleinias, who has in view the foundation of a new colony, and is on his way with his two companions from Cnossus to the temple and oracle of Zeus.
Plato now aims at moderating between Dorian and Ionian law, freely criticizing both, and refining on them from a higher point of view. “The praise of obedience, the authority assigned to elders, the prohibition of dowries, the enforcement of marriage, the common meals, the distribution and inalienability of land, the institution of the Crypteia, the freedom of bequest to a favourite son, the dislike of city walls - all reflect the custom of Sparta.” . . . “The use of the lot, the scrutiny of magistrates, the monthly courses of the council, the pardon of the forgiven homicide, most of the regulations about testaments and the guardianship of orphans, the degrees of consanguinity recognized by law, correspond to Athenian laws and customs” (Jowett).
The philosopher's own thoughts come out most strongly in the “preludes” to the laws,[4] and in the regulations concerning education, marriage and the punishment of impiety (i.e. 1st, atheism; 2nd, denial of providence; 3rd and worst, immoral superstition). The difficulty which is met in the Politicus by the abandonment of the world for a time, and in the Timaeus by the lieutenancy of lower gods, here leads to the hypothesis of an evil soul. The priority of mind (often before asserted) and the increased importance attached to numbers are the chief indications of Plato's latest thoughts about the intelligible world. But it must be remembered that the higher education (answering to Rep. vi., vii.) is expressly reserved.[5] Had Plato written his own Epinomis, the proportions of the whole work (not then “acephalous”) might have been vastly changed.
The severity of the penalties attached to the three forms of heresy, especially to the third and worst of them, has led to the remark that Plato, after asserting “liberty of prophesying,” had become intolerant and bigoted in his old age (Grote). But the idea of toleration in the modern sense was never distinctly present to the mind of any ancient philosopher. And, if in the Laws the lines of thought have in one way hardened, there are other ways in which experience has softened them. Plato's “second-best” constitution contains a provision, which was not admissible in the “perfect state,” for possible changes and readaptations in the future. The power of self-reformation is hedged round indeed with extreme precautions; and no young or middle-aged citizen is ever to hear a word said in depreciation of any jot or tittle of the existing law. But that it should be provided, however guardedly, that select commissioners, after travelling far and wide, should bring back of the fruit of their observations for the consideration of the nocturnal council, and that a power of constitutionally amending the laws should thus be admitted into the state, is sufficiently remarkable, when the would-be finality of ancient legislation is considered. Plato even comes near to the reflexion that “constitutions are not made, but grow” (iv. 709 A).
Plato in the Laws desists finally from impersonating Socrates. But he is in some ways nearer to his master in spirit than when he composed the Phaedrus. The sympathy with common life, the acceptance of Greek religion, the deepening humanity, are no less essentially Socratic than the love of truth which breathes in every page. And some particular aspects of Socratism reappear, such as the question about courage[6] and that concerning the unity of virtue.[7]
Doubtful and Spurious Works.—Of the dialogues forming part of the “Platonic canon,” and not included in the preceding survey, the Lesser Hippias, First Alcibiades and Menexenus are the most Platonic, though probably not Plato's. The Greater Hippias and the Clitophon are also admitted to have some plausibility. The Second-Alcibiades (on Prayer), the Hipparchus (touching on Peisistratus and Homer), Minos (“de lege”), Epinomis, Erastae, Theages, are generally condemned, though most of them are very early forgeries or academic exercises.[8] And the Axiochus (though sometimes prized for its subject, “the contempt of death”), the De justo, De virtute, Demodocus, Sisyphus, Eryxias (a not-uninteresting treatise on the use of money), together with the so-called Definitions, were rejected in ancient times, and are marked as spurious in the MSS.
Editions.—(1) Complete: Aldine, Ven., 1513; H. Stephanus, 3 vols. (1578), with Latin version by Serranus (i.e. De Serre, the real editor), (the paging of this edition is preserved for convenience of reference on the margins of most subsequent editions); G. Stallbaum, (12 vols., 1821-1825); G. Stallbaum, the text in 1 vol. (1850); C. F. Hermann (6 vols., 1851-1853); Immanuel Bekker (1816-1823); the Zurich edition by Baiter, Orelli and Winkelmann (1839-1842); Hirschig and Schneider, in Didot's series (1856-1873); M. von Schanz, with critical notes (1875-1887); J. Burnet (Oxford, 1902). (2) Partial: L. F. Heindorf, Lysis, Charmides, Hippias Major, Phaedrus, Gorgias, Theaetetus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Euthydemus, Phaedo, Sophist, Protagoras; Philebus, C. Badham, E. Poste (1861), R. G. Bury; Apologia, J. Riddell (with Digest of Platonic Idioms) (1861); Protagoras, Wayte (1854) 1871; Theaetetus, L. Campbell (1861) 1883, B. Kennedy; Sophist and Politicus, L. Campbell (1867); Phaedo, W. Geddes, Archer Hind; Timaeus, Archer Hind (1888); Parmenides, Waddell (1894); Meno, J. Adam, Seymer Thompson; Apologia, Crito, Meno, St G. Stock; Euthydemus, Gifford; Phaedrus, Gorgias, W. H. Thompson; Symposium, Euthydemus, Laches, C. Badham; Parmenides, Stallbaum, Maguire, Waddell, Leges, F. Ast (1814), C. Ritter (Commentary) (1896); Republic, Jowett and Campbell (1894), J. Adam (1902).
Translations.—Latin: A Latin version of the Timaeus by Chalcidius existed in the middle ages and was known to Dante. It was printed at Paris in 1520 (Teubner, 1876). The complete rendering by Marsiglio Ficino (1496) formed the basis of other Latin translations, such as that of Serranus (supra), which accompanied the edition of Stephanus. It was printed in the Basel edition of 1534. English: (1) Complete: Sydenham and Taylor (1804); Jowett (1871-1892). (2) Partial: Republic, Davies and Vaughan, Jowett (in a separate volume; 3rd ed., 2 vols., 1908); Philebus, E. Poste; Georgias, Cope; Timaeus, Archer Hind (in his edition); Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Church, Jowett (reprinted from the complete translation with preface by E. Caird); Theaetetus, Paley, Kennedy; German: Schleiermacher (1817-1828), J. H. Müller (1850-1866); French: V. Cousin (13 vols., 1822-1840). Italian: Bonghi.
Dissertations.—English: F. Schleiermacher's Introductions, translated by W. Dobson (1836); Ed. Zeller's Plato and the Older Academy, translated by F. Alleyne, &c. (1876); B. Jowett's Introductions, in his complete translation, final edition (1892); G. Grote, Plato and the other Companions of Socrates (1865); F. C. Conybeare on an Armenian version (1891); W. Pater, Plato and Platonism (1893); R. L. Nettleship, Lectures on the Republic, &c. (1898) (cf. also his essay in Hellenica, 1880); Th. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, vols. ii. and iii. in Eng. trans. (1905); W. Lutoslawski, Plato's Logic, &c.; L. Campbell on Plato's Republic in Murray's “Home and School Series” (1902); L. Campbell, Religion in Greek Literature (London, 1898); J. A. Stewart, The Myths of Plato (1905); A. E. Taylor, Plato (1908); J. A. Stewart, Plato's Doctrine of Ideas (1909). German:
- ↑ ἡμεῖς δ’ ἐν δυσμαῖς τοῦ βίου, Legg. vi. 770 A.
- ↑ ἄν . . γήρως ἐπικρατῶμεν γε τοσοῦτον, Legg. vi. 752 A.
- ↑ Published by Philippus the Opuntian.
- ↑ See especially iv. 716 seq.; v. 727 seq.; 735 seq.; vi. 766; vii. 773 seq., 777, 794, 803 seq., 811, 817; viii. 835 seq.; ix. 875; x. 887 seq.; 897 seq., 904 seq.
- ↑ Legg. xii. 968 E. (Ath.) “I am willing to share with you the danger of stating to you my views about education and nurture, which is the question coming to the surface again.”
- ↑ Cf. Laches.
- ↑ Cf. Protagoras.
- ↑ According to Schaarschmidt, only nine dialogues are genuine—Protag., Phaedr., Symp., Apol., Crito, Phaedo, Rep., Tim., Leges.
