"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates's ancient words are still true, and the ideas
sounded in Plato's Dialogues still form the foundation of a thinking person's education. This superb collection
contains excellent contemporary translations selected for their clarity and accessibility to today's reader, as
well as an incisive introduction by Erich Segal, which reveals Plato's life and clarifies the philosophical issues
examined in each dialogue. The first four dialogues recount the trial execution of Socrates--the extraordinary
tragedy that changed Plato's life and so altered the course of Western thought. Other dialogues create a rich tableau
of intellectual life in Athens in the fourth century B.C., and examine the nature of virtue and love, knowledge
and truth, society and the individual. Resounding with the humor and astounding brilliance of Socrates, the immortal
iconoclast, these great works remain powerful, probing, and essential.