Plato’s Crito, on Justice, Law, and Political Obligation (Live Reading)

Plato’s Crito is the account of a private conversation taking place between Socrates and Crito, one of his disciples, as Socrates is being held in custody awaiting his execution. Crito is an epitome of some of the principal Socratic doctrines: the superiority of knowledge over opinion, the value of obedience to the laws of one’s country, the primacy of the opinion of those who possess true knowledge as well as an aversion to the opinion of the many as a rule of moral conduct. The prosopopoeia (meaning a rhetorical device in which a non-human element speaks or is spoken to as a human) of the laws elevates its literary style and lends immediacy and vividness.

What makes Crito all the more fascinating is that a theory of the soul is almost completely missing.

Crito, along with the Euthyphro, the Apology, and Phaedo comprise the quartet of Plato’s works that are sometimes collectively called "The Trial and Death of Socrates". It is part of the first tetralogy of Platonic works and was composed in the late 390s or the early 380s BC.

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This is a live reading of Crito. No previous knowledge of the Platonic corpus is required but a general understanding of the question of philosophy in general and of ancient philosophy in particular is to some extent desirable but not presupposed. This Plato group meets on Saturdays and has previously read the Apology, Philebus, Gorgias, Critias, Laches, Timaeus, Euthyphro and other works, including texts for contextualisation such as Gorgias’ Praise of Helen. The reading is intended for well-informed generalists even though specialists are obviously welcome. It is our aspiration to read the Platonic corpus over a long period of time.

The host is Constantine Lerounis, a distinguished Greek philologist and poet, author of Four Access Points to Shakespeare’s Works (in Greek) and Former Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Republic. March 15 is the introductory session for Crito and hence an ideal opportunity to join the group without having to do any catching up.

The translation we are using is by R.E. Allen and can be found here (starts on page 117).

Alternate texts are available here (translated by Benjamin Jowett) and here (translated by C.D.C. Reeve)