Publisher's Synopsis
The Supplement Edition: Apology of Socrates & The Crito is designed to aid teachers with a wealth of background information and opinions. The Supplement includes the text of the class book Apology of Socrates & The Crito (with the same page numbering), plus the supplement material, with bibliography, glossary, and the text of Xenophon's Apology of Socrates about the same trial from a different point of view.
Benjamin Jowett's early translation of Plato's Apology is remarkably free of Victorianisms, and brings to life the figure of Socrates with an easy colloquialism. Almost the entire dialogue is actually a monologue, battling the demons, real or imaginary, that had haunted him for decades.
The record we have is Plato's rendition of Socrates' words and the court proceedings. Our best assumption is that Plato himself was there-he places himself as a mute audience member in the dialogue. Are Plato's words direct from Socrates' mouth? Common Greek practice by Herodotus, Thucydides and others, was to recreate scenes or even entire speeches from the past as they might have happened; today we would describe taking those liberties with history as docudrama.
The later dialogues that Plato wrote featuring Socrates have led critics to wonder how much in these texts represent Plato, a systematic philosophizer, and how much could be attributed to actual statements made by Socrates, the perennial seeker.
Xenophon also wrote a work about the same trial; he was not present. The text of his account, with his interpretation of events, follows the Supplement section; however, the Supplement material in this volume does not deal directly with the Xenophon text. Here are the contents of the Supplementary material:
This Supplement is organized around a series of typical student questions; the answers are short paragraphs gleaned from many critical sources, often contradicting each other. Socrates has had perhaps as many critical detractors as proponents down through history, plus a Glossary for Greek names of people, gods, and events, a Bibliography, and the text of Xenophon's Apology of Socrates.
PLATO: Supplement Edition: The Apology of Socrates & The Crito.
Table of Contents
Preface for Teachers
What is important about the Apology?
What is an apology?
Who was Socrates?
Who was Plato?
Why did Plato write the Apology?
Who else wrote firsthand about Socrates?
Is Plato's text accurate?
What did Socrates' contemporaries say?
Why is this trial taking place now?
What was the larger political picture?
What were the charges against Socrates?
How did Socrates defend himself?
What is the "Socratic problem"?
Why did Socrates attack the early accusers first?
Did the Athenians sentence Socrates unjustly?
What was the public reaction after the trial?
Was Socrates singled out?
What do moderns say about Socrates?
Did Socrates have a gospel or teaching?
Was Socrates anti-democratic?
What is the publishing history of the Apology?
What is important about the Crito?
Bibiography
the text of Xenophon's Apology of Socrates
Glossary
