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Julia Annas PLATO A Very Short Introduction OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Julia Annas 2003 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a Very Short Introduction 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19-280216-X 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall Contents List of illustrations ix 1 Arguing with Plato 1 2 Plato's name, and other matters 12 3 Drama, fiction, and the elusive author 25 4 Love, sex, gender, and philosophy 43 5 Virtue, in me and in my society 53 6 My soul and myself 65 7 The nature of things 77 References 93 Further reading 97 Index 99 viii List of illustrations 1. Bust of Plato 7 7. Jean Delville, The School of 51 Plato Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Musée d'Orsay, Paris/Bridgeman Art Glyptothek, Munich. Photograph by Library, London Koppermann 2. Illustration of Egyptian art 16 8. Lottery mechanism from the 63 Athenian Agora British Museum, London American School of Classical 3. Illustration of Greek art 17 Studies, Athens. Photograph Craig Kerameikos Museum, Athens. Mauzy Photograph Hirmer Verlag 9. Detail from Bust of a Young 4.Bust of Socrates 22 69 Man, Donatello Museo Archivio Nazionale, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Naples/Bridgeman Art Library, London Florence. Photograph AKG Berlin/S. 5.Atlantis, pictured in Jules Domingie Verne's Twenty Thousand 41 10. God the Father creating the Leagues Under the Sea world, from a medieval Mary Evans Picture Library 80 manuscript 6.Attic black-figure cup with 44 Austrian National Library, Vienna. scene of man courting boy Photograph AKG London Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ix