Publisher's Synopsis
"Phaedrus" is a philosophic dialogue by Plato which dwells chiefly upon the definition of love, but also on rhetoric and the art of speaking well.
Significant for its composition between Plato's foremost works The Republic and Symposeum, this text is more expansive and embracing in its themes - interesting and diverse topics such as metempsychosis, which was Ancient Greece's equivalent of reincarnation, and the principles of erotic love, also appear.
As with most of the Platonic dialogues, this text sees Socrates encounter the titular character. In this case, Phaedrus is walking outside Athens' city walls - proposing they rest and talk, the pair relax under trees alongside a stream, and thereafter begins the dialogue. In starting their discussion, they amply quote Lysias, who is one of the sons of Cephalus; the elderly man's whose home is famous as the setting of Plato's dialogue The Republic.
Varying between monologues of speeches, and intense dialogues on matters of writing, love, beauty and speech, Phaedrus is considered by modern scholars as being among the best and most insightful of Plato's dialogues.
