Plato, whose name in the ancient Greek is actually Platon (sometimes secondary works or library catalogues list his name this way), in contrast to almost all other major authors of ancient Greek and Roman literature, has had all his works preserved. The texts are extant of all works of Plato that are mentioned by ancient authors, in contrast to all other major ancient Greek and Roman authors (that is, references are made by ancient authors, for example, to plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, that have not survived). Ancient authorities attributed thirty-six writings to Plato, which were subdivided into nine tetralogies. The consensus of modern scholars and translators (including the great Victorian scholar Benjamin Jowett as "modern") reckon twenty-eight of these authentic, plus a few more in a group designated "Letters" or "Epistles," and disagreement about the authenticity of "Alcibiades" and Alcibiades II." (The works designated "Alcibiades" are bound to be intriguing to readers of Plato's Symposium, who remember the romantic overtures Alcibiades makes to Socrates during the drinking party.) Alphabetically, these works -- often named for one of the main participants (or adherents of the participant) in the dialogue -- are as follows, including labels for the three periods in Plato's writing, and indication of subject matter:

Apology [or Defence by Socrates] (early) (Socrates' mission and ethics; death and the afterlife) (Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo are interconnected by all revolving around the trial of Socrates for impiety and the aftermath)

Charmides (early) (temperance; work named after the young Charmides, whom Socrates examines for beauty not only in body but soul)

Cratylus (middle) (Cratylus and Socrates discuss the origin and nature of language)

Critias (late) (unfinished dialogue, sequel to Timaeus, in which Critias discusses ideals as represented by the ancient [and mythical (?) Atlantis)

Crito (early) (Crito visits Socrates in prison, attempting to dissuade the master from suicide; duty in action) (Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo are interconnected by all revolving around the trial of Socrates for impiety and the aftermath)

Epinomis (late) (appendix to Laws)

Euthydemus (middle) (the sophists, and the nature of rhetoric; Euthydemus is one of the leading Sophist teachers)

Euthyphro (early) (Socrates, waiting outside the courtroom to face trial for impiety, encounters Euthyphro, who defends his prosecution of his own father for a crime as a pious act, and a discussion ensues of the nature of piety and holiness) (Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo are interconnected by all revolving around the trial of Socrates for impiety and the aftermath)

Gorgias (middle) (a dialogue with a leading Sophist, Gorgias, and his followers, leads to an examination of rhetoric and the sophists)

Hippias, Greater [Major] (early) (Socrates' dialogue with Hippias, learned sophist of Elis, about the nature of beauty)

Hippias, Lesser [Minor] (early) (Socrates' dialogue with Hippias, learned sophist of Elis, about falsehood and the relationship between knowledge and virtue)

Ion (early) (Socrates' dialogue with Ion, a celebrity "rhapsode" [professional reciter of literature] leads to an examination of literature and its relation to reality, as well as creative writers and Homer's Iliad)

Laches (early) (two Athenian generals, Nicias and Laches, are consulted by two fathers about how the fathers' sons should be educated, which leads to an examination of the nature of courage)

Laws (late) (probably unfinished; unnamed Athenian speaks with a Spartan and Cretan about the laws of Lycurgus and minos, leading to a discussion of the organization of the state and its laws and legislation)

Lysis (early) (a dialogue between Socrates and the young Lysis leads to an examination of the nature of true friendship)

Menexenus (middle) (Socrates recites a funeral oration, supposedly written by Aspasia, Pericles' mistress, for casualties of the Corinthian war)

Meno (middle) (a dialogue between Socrates and Meno, young pupil of the celebrated sophist Gorgias, leads to a discussion of virtue and whether it can be learned)

Parmenides (middle) (a discussion among the philosopher Parmenides, Parmenides' disciple Zeno, Socrates and others, leads to an examination of the relation between the external world and reality, as well as to the nature of ideas)

Phaedo (middle) (a discussion in Socrates' cell in prison, of Socrates, Phaedo, and other followers of Socrates about death and the soul) (Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Phaedo are interconnected by all revolving around the trial of Socrates for impiety and the aftermath)

Phaedrus (middle) (a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus about rhetoric and the nature of love)

Philebus (late) (a dialogue between Socrates and Philebus about whether it is better for human beings to engage in a life of pleasure or life of thought, leading to an examination of the nature of pleasure)

Protagoras (middle) (a discussion of Socrates, and the famous sophists Protagoras, Hippias, and Prodicus, leads to an examination of the sophist movement, pleasure as a good or a final goal, and the importance of knowledge)

Republic[, The] (middle) (in ten books, Socrates and others discuss the ideal political state and justice)

Sophist [Sophistes] (late) (in a continuation of the discussion begun in Theaetetus, Socrates is a listener to a debate between a guest from Elis and Theaetetus about the meaning of the designations "sophist," "statesman," and "philosopher," whether the terms are synonymous, as well as the meaning of "not being" versus being and the nature of the existent)

Statesman [Politicus] (late) (a continuation of Sophist, with the same discussants and an active rather than passive Socrates, debating the nature of the good ruler and the art of governing)

Symposium[, The] [The Banquet] (middle) (at a lively drinking party, Socrates and others, including the comic dramatist Aristophanes discuss love, as well as the interrelation of beauty, true goodness, and love)

Theaetetus (middle) (a dialogue between Socrates and Theatetus, a young student of mathematics, leads to an examination of the nature of knowledge)

Timaeus (late) (the subjects include cosmology, creation of the universe and the laws governing it, nature, and the natural world; in the first part, Socrates recapitulates Books 1-5 of The Republic; in the second part, Critias narrates the heroic exploit of Athens in resisting and defeating the kings of Atlantis; in the third part, Timaeus discourses, with only an occasional assenting word from Socrates, on cosmology)
 

    Most scholars and translators also agree on dividing Plato's works into the three periods of "early," "middle" or "mature," and "late." (For a convenient discussion of this and all of ancient Greek and Roman literature, see Lilian Feder's Crowell's Handbook of Classical Literature.) In the first group, Socrates is the most important person, dramatically and convincingly exposing the errors of his opponents, though often a final answer to the question or problem is not reached. This group is comprised by (alphabetically by title) Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Hippias Major, Hippias Minor, Ion, Laches, and Lysis. In the second group, Socrates is also the major speaker, and in these works he is the exponent for some of his own or Plato's basic doctrines. This group is comprised by (alphabetically by title) Cratylus, Euthydemus, Gorgias, Menexenus, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Republic, Symposium, and Theaetetus. In the third group, the products of Plato's later life, Socrates has a position of lesser importance or does not appear at all. This group is comprised by (alphabetically by title) Critias, Epinomis, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, Statesman, and Timaeus.
 

    Paul Shorey, in his What Plato Said (one of the two earliest and still most authoritative general surveys of Plato's life and works, the other one being A.E. Taylor's Plato: The Man and His Work), also notes several other ways of categorizing Plato's works, most of them (but not all) in the dialogue form.
 

Classified by Purpose

Dialogues of Investigation or Search vs. Dialogues of Exposition or Guidance

I. Dialogues of Investigation

    A. Gymnastic [i.e., much verbal or mental maneuvering]

        1. Obstetric (Bringing Out of the Interrogated's Knowledge) (Laches, Lysis)

        2. Peirastic (Mental Tests) (Charmides, Euthyphro, Ion, Meno)

    B. Agonistic (Combative)

        1. Endeictic (Probative) (e.g., Protagoras)

        2. Refutative (Anatreptic, Upsetting) (e.g., Euthydemus, Gorgias, Hippias)

II. Dialogues of Exposition

    A. Theoretical

        1. Physical (Timaeus)

        2. Logical (Cratylus, Parmenides, Sophist, Statesman, Theaetetus)

    B. Practical

        1. Ethical (Apology, Critias, Crito, Menexenus, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Philebus, Symposium)

        2. Political (Epinomos, Republic, Laws)
 

Classified by Form

Dialogue vs. Monologue (Including Whether the Literary Form "The Frame Structure" Is Used)

I. Dialogues Directly Dramatic in Form

II. Dialogues with the Conversation Narrated by Others

III. Monologues
 

Whether the Question Posed by Socrates Is Answered

I. Dialogues in which no conclusion is reached, and end in an avowal of ignorance

II. Usually longer and more elaborate dialogues professing to prove some point or establish some principle

Plato and Socrates in Art and Music

    Plato and Socrates are recurrent subjects, major and minor (perhaps a Platonic echo of the subdivisions of the dialogues), in the visual arts. Besides ancient sculptures of them, one of them is, or both are, portrayed in Raphael's famous fresco School of Athens (1510 or 1511 CE) (reproduced in Marilyn Stokstad's Art History as well as Gardner's Art Through the Ages) and Jacques Louis David's The Death of Socrates (1787) (reproduced in Roger Kamien's Music: An Appreciation, Fourth Brief Edition, p. 148;  Kamien's Music: An Appreciation, Fifth Brief Edition, p. 154; and in H.W. Janson's History of Art), the subject of this latter painting connected to the dialogues dealing with the death of Socrates. (See the listing of the subject matter of each dialogue, above.)

    In addition, Erik Satie composed Socrate: Drame Symphonique en 3 Parties avec Voix [Socrates: Dramatic Symphony in Three Parts, with Voice] (1918), the third movement or part of which is Mort de Socrate (Phedon) [The Death of Socrates (Phaedo)], which is, like David's painting, relevant to the dialogues dealing with the death of Socrates. (Lyrics in French and English translation, p.1; lyrics in French and English translation, p.2; lyrics in French and English translation, p.3.) In Donald Grout's and Claude Palisca's A History of Western Music, 4th ed. (Norton, 1988), Satie is categorized as part of "an anti-impressionist (not altogether anti-Debussy) movement in France . . . spearheaded on the literary and theatrical side by Jean Cocteau and on the musical side by the eccentric genius Erik Satie. Some of Satie's early piano pieces . . . anticipated the unresolved chords and quasi-modal harmonies of impressionism in an ostentatiously plain texture. . . . The Death of Socrates attains a poignancy that is intensified by the very monotony of the style and the studied avoidance of direct emotional appeal" (pp. 798-99). (Other comment about Satie may be found in Jean Ferris's Music: The Art of Listening.)

    Because Plato, like his student Aristotle, was a great systematizer, there are many comments in Plato's dialogues about the visual arts and music (as well as about literature).  (See the listing of the subject matter of each dialogue, above.)
 

Specific Notes and Questions on Plato's Apology

    As pointed out in the NAWM introduction and elsewhere, the literary term or genre of apology means something more like "defense and treatise." A much later example would be Sir Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry (alternatively titled Defense of Poesie) (1595). Plato's Apology, thus, is Socrates' defense, in court, against charges brought against him, in which Socrates justifies and explains many things. Naturally, this work has been translated by many different scholars, as have Plato's works in general. Listed alphabetically by translator, various editions of the Apology include the following (plus how the work is paragraphed in each translation):

Allen, R.E., trans. and ed. The Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 1. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1984. 93 paragraphs.

Fowler, Harold, trans. and ed. Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus. 1914; rpt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995. [Loeb Classical Library]. 41 paragraphs.

Gallop, David, trans. [Plato:] Defence of Socrates, Euthyphro, Crito. Oxford, Eng.: Oxford UP - World's Classics, 1997. 141 paragraphs.

Jowett, Benjamin, trans. and ed. The Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 1. 1892; rpt. New York: Random House, 1937. [The translation used in NAWM.] 75 paragraphs.

Rouse, W.H.D., trans. and ed. Great Dialogues of Plato. Eds. Eric Warmington, Philip G. Rouse, and W.H.D. Rouse. New York: Mentor Books - New American Library, 1956. 74 paragraphs.

Tredennick, Hugh, trans. and ed. [Plato:] Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. 1954; 1959; rpt. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books - Penguin Classics, 1961. 58 paragraphs.

Tredennick, Hugh, and Harold Tarrant, trans. and eds. [Plato:] The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. 1954, 1969, 1993; rpt. London: Penguin Books - Penguin Classics, 1993. 96 paragraphs.

West, Thomas, trans. and ed. Plato's Apology of Socrates: An Interpretation with a New Translation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1979. 120 paragraphs.
 

    The paragraphing in the Jowett translation (the translation used in the NAWME), Random House edition, on which these Notes and Questions are based, is as follows:

1. How may the Apology be seen to be divided up into the following six sections, primarily by content: pars. 1-3 (sec. 1), 4-11 (sec. 2), 12-53 (sec. 3), 54-64 (sec. 4), 65-68 (sec. 5), and 69-75 (sec. 6)?

2. How does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) explicitly help demarcate the various sections of this work or "speech"?

3. How does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) use clever persuasive devices -- even, for example, his apparently offhand oaths or other references to the gods? Where does Socrates use rhetorical questions, and why?

4. Where does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) use figurative language (including metaphor and analogy) and elements of drama or dramatizing? How do these help convey any of Socrates' or Plato's points, when used?

5. How does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) use what might be called the technique of "bifurcation" repeatedly throughout the Apology, starting with how he categorizes or classifies different kinds of eloquence (par. 1)?

6. How does the first sentence of this work exemplify, as do later passages, what has come to be known as "Socratic irony"?

7.  (a) How does Socrates make his reference to his age seem offhanded or casual in the opening of The Apology (par. 1)? (b) How is this apparently casual reference to his age an implicit part of Socrates' defense? (c) How does Socrates make his reference to his official service to the state (e.g., par. 63) seem offhanded or casual? (d) How is this apparently casual reference an implicit part of Socrates' defense?

8. How does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) bring up the issue of what today might be called "pre-trial publicity" in the opening section of The Apology (pars. 2-4)?

9. How does Socrates (with author Plato behind him) connect his way of conducting his daily life with the supernatural (e.g., pars. 6-10, 56, 58-59, 71)?

10.  (a) What four main groups or categories of persons does Socrates refer to having interrogated after hearing the puzzling oracle (pars. 7-10)? (b) Given what group or category of persons Socrates' young disciples interrogate, what various motivations or reasons might account for why Socrates' young disciples follow their master's example (par. 11)? What might group conflict have to do with the disciples' interrogations? (c) How is the main reaction of the various groups interrogated (pars. 6-11) implied to be selfish rather than genuinely concerned with the well-being of the state?

11. Socrates' and Plato's works were often, as exemplified by the interrogation of Meletus in The Apology (pars. 13-53), in dialog rather than lecture, treatise, or disquisition form.  (Plato's pupil Aristotle, in contrast, chose the lecture, treatise, or disquisition form for his works.)  For what reasons, both for the person interrogated, as well as for readers or auditors, might Socrates and Plato have believed that the dialog form was more useful or beneficial than the lecture or treatise form?

12. In what paragraph of this work does one of the most famous sayings in philosophy and the liberal arts -- "the unexamined life is not worth living" -- occur?