Plato's final dialogue examines how an ideal society should be governed through detailed laws and institutions, building on themes from The Republic. This ancient Greek philosophical work, translated by Benjamin Jowett, explores justice, education, and civic virtue through conversations between an Athenian stranger and two companions as they design a constitution for a new city.
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: An Athenian Stranger, Cleinias (a Cretan), Megillus (a Lacedaemonian). ATHENIAN: Tell me, Strangers, is a God or some man supposed to be the author of your laws? CLEINIAS: A God, Stranger; in very truth a God: among us Cretans he is said to have been Zeus, but in Lacedaemon, whence our friend here comes, I believe they would say that Apollo is their lawgiver: would they not, Megillus?Continue reading →
This is the Benjamin Jowett translation, a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
Ancient Greece's most influential philosopher, this student of Socrates founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BCE and taught Aristotle. Through dialogues like "The Republic," he explored justice, truth, and ideal government, introducing concepts like the Theory of Forms that shaped Western thought for over two millennia. All works by Plato →
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