Table of Contents

CONTENTS Preface by Clement Salaman vii The Historical Context by Michael Shepherd viii Translator's Introduction xi Acknowledgements xii Socrates xiii Plato xiv Welcome xv PART ONE: Summaries of Twenty-five Dialogues of Plato 1 Translator's Notes to Part One 2 Ficino's Preface to his Commentaries on Plato 3 Hipparchus: the Desire for Gain 9 Philosophy or The Lover 10 Theages: Wisdom 12 Meno: Virtue 14 Alcibiades I: Nature of Man 17 Alcibiades II: Prayer 19 Minos: Law 21 Euthyphro: Holiness 23 Hippias: the Beautiful and Noble 25 Lysis: Friendship 30 Theaetetus: Knowledge 35 Ion: Poetic Inspiration 53 Statesman: Kingship 59 Protagoras: Virtue 65 Euthydemus: the Views of the Sophists 74 Lesser Hippias: Truthfulness 81 Charmides: Temperance 83 Laches: Courage 90 Cratylus: Names 95 Gorgias: Rhetoric 109 Apology: Socrates' defence 122 Crito: Socrates' way of life 129 Phaedo: Nature of the soul 130 Menexenus: Love for one's country 140 Critias: Story of Atlantis 143 PART TWO: Discussions of the Twelve 'Letters of Plato' 149 Translator's Notes to Part Two 150 First Letter: from Dion to Dionysius 151 Second Letter: from Plato to Dionysius 152 Third Letter: from Plato to Dionysius 160 Fourth Letter: from Plato to Dion 161 Fifth Letter: from Dion to Perdiccas 162 Sixth Letter: from Plato to Hermias, Erastus, and Coriscus 163 Seventh Letter: from Plato to Dion's relatives and friends 166 Eighth Letter: from Plato to Dion's relatives and friends 171 Ninth Letter: from Plato to Archytas 172 Tenth Letter: from Plato to Aristodemus 173 Eleventh Letter: from Plato to Laodoman 174 Twelfth Letter: from Plato to Archytas 175 PART THREE: Appendices 177 Translator's Notes to Part Three 178 Ficino's Introduction to ten of Plato's dialogues 179 Ficino's Preface to his commentaries on Plato 182 Index 184

About the Author

Arthur David Farndell is a translator and the author of A Mahabharata Companion.

Reviews

"This long awaited translation of a key Renaissance work will prove invaluable to scholars and fascinating to the general reader."  —Michael Shepherd, editor, Friend to Mankind: Marsilio Ficino 1433–1499 "This is philosophy with a mystical dimension—one that is crucial to the original Socratic and Platonic teaching."  —Faith and Freedom "These prefaces [to Ficino's dialogues and letters] will interest intellectual and cultural historians and students of philosophy, religion and literature."  —Renaissance Quarterly "The distilled conciseness of these writings gives us, more vividly perhaps than any other source, a sense of what Plato's wisdom meant to [Ficino] who became his apostle to the Renaissance."  —Temenos Academy Review