Plato’s Apology of Socrates: A Commentary

240 Pages·2010·1.598 MB·English

by  Paul Allen Miller, Charles Platter

p l a t o ’ s
Apology of Socrates
a C oM M ENta RY
paul allen Miller and Charles platter
Plato’s Apology of Socrates
Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture
Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture
SERIES EDITOR
Ellen Greene, University of Oklahoma
ADVISORYBOARD
Susan Guettel Cole, State University of New York, Buffalo
Carolyn J. Dewald, Bard College
Thomas M. Falkner, The College of Wooster
Elaine Fantham, Princeton University
Nancy Felson, University of Georgia
Helene P.Foley,Barnard College
Sara Mack, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Thomas R. Martin, College of the Holy Cross
John F. Miller, University of Virginia
Jon Solomon, University of Arizona
RichardF.Thomas, Harvard University
Plato’s Apology of Socrates
A Commentary
Paul Allen Miller
Charles Platter
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Paul Allen, 1959–
Plato’s Apology of Socrates : a commentary / Paul Allen Miller, Charles
Platter.
p. cm. — (Oklahoma series in classical culture ; v. 36)
Includes Greek text of Plato’s Apology with introduction, notes, and
commentary in English.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8061-4025-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Plato. Apology. 2. Plato—
Criticism and interpretation. 3. Socrates—Trials, litigation, etc. I. Platter,
Charles, 1957– II. Plato. Apology. III. Title.
PA4279.A8M55 2010
184—dc22
2009010278
Plato’s Apology of Socrates: ACommentary is Volume 36 in the Oklahoma
Series in Classical Culture.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and dura-
bility of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of
theCouncil on Library Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2010 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Pub-
lishing Division of the University.Manufactured in the U.S.A.
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,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except as
permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—
without the prior permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
You see, I think that people today are so deeply asleep that
unless, you know, you’re putting on those sort of superficial
plays that just help your audience to sleep morecomfortably, it’s
hard to know what to do in the theater.
AndreGregory and Wallace Shawn, My Dinner with Andre

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Editorial Note xiii
Introduction 3
I. The Historical Background 4
II. Socrates and Plato 7
III. Bibliography 11
Apology of Socrates 17
Essays 149
Appendix: Changes to Burnet’s Oxford Classical text 195
Glossary 197
Index 223
vii

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following people, without whose
help this book would not have existed in it current form. Grati-
tude is first of all owed to Ellen Greene, editor of the Oklahoma
Series in Classical Culture at the University of Oklahoma Press,
to whom we first proposed this idea and who helped shepherd
it through the approval process from beginning to end. Next we
would like to thank our friends and colleagues, Mark Beck and
Stephen Fineberg, each of whom read the complete manuscript and
made numerous important suggestions and corrections. Invaluable
assistance was also provided by Virginia Lewis, Deana Zeigler, and
David Driscoll, graduate students at the University of Georgia who
helped proofread and correct the manuscript, as well as Casey
Moore, Leihua Weng, Travus Helmly, Janet Safford, Erik Heymann,
and Cagney McGonegal, who as students at the University of South
Carolina werethe first group to use the complete text and provided
important feedback and suggestions. All remaining errors are, of
course, our own. Special thanks are due to Louise Kinman Platter
for her work on the index.
Finally, we wish to thank the wonderful staff at the University of
Oklahoma Press: our copyeditor, Sarah Nestor; Special Projects
Editor Alice Stanton; Assistant to the Director and Publisher Astrud
Reed; and Senior Associate Director and Publisher John Drayton.
ix