Editor's Preface

Improved Resources in Spring 2025

In looking at things more closely this semester (Spring 2025), I have found some improved resources. 

The Scaife Viewer project of the Perseus Digital Library of Tufts University has recently improved the accessibility, and readability of their Plato texts. They have the translations by Harold North Fowler and Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb nicely formatted in electronic form (with textual critical precision). 

The DeepSeek large language model has also just recently become available with its "R1" capabilities. I have used this to prepare the translations. 

Editing and Refinement

Section Headings

I have edited the texts from the Perseus Digital Library to include section headings. Those section headings appear in the table of contents at the top of each webpage. In this way, the table of contents provides my outline for each work. 

The section headings are aimed primarily at assisting the student in following the narrative flow of the works. Over rationalization is generally avoided. However, when any dialogue becomes more technical, I tend to give more logical structure to the headings. 

Previously I had my outlines as stand-alone documents under Selected Works of Plato in Outline, where Benjamin Jowett's translations were used as the base texts. The section headings originally reflected the language of Jowett's translations, but are being brought in line with the refinement of Fowler's translations. 

Using DeepSeek, I have been able to efficiently stitch together my outlines with the Fowler and Lamb translations. 

Refining the Fowler and Lamb Translations

I also will be editing and refining the Fowler and Lamb translations on a periodic basis. The content here on this website is fluid. I will incorporate changes as I see fit to generally assist in teaching, and perhaps to bring out particular nuances of the original Greek that I want to emphasize.  

I am not an expert in ancient Greek, but using DeepSeek, I am able to confidently make sure my own translation choices are relatively accurate and reasonable. 

In general, I will refine the translations to be more literal, or more faithful to the argumentation of the original Greek. The goal is to emphasize philosophical rigor over rhetorical elegance. 

One key feature of my translations is a style that may seem overly repetitive in English. Ancient Greek is highly repetitive, and I try to preserve some of that repetiveness for literalness. I also lean into the repetition of key terms so that at least within a single passage a key Greek term is rendered consistently with the same English equivalent. This helps to emphasize the logical structure of arguments. As I retranslate each work, I'm also trying to harmonize key terms across each work. And finally, I'm additionally trying to harmonize key terms across all of the translations. This larger-scale harmonization is very much a work in progress. 

Notes

Notes found in the text may be from the Fowler and Lamb edition published by the Perseus Digital Library, or from me. I will document means of distinguishing between the two elsewhere at some point, once I have established some standard conventions. 

Stephanus References

The translations include Stephanus references in brackets. For example, in embedded in the first paragraph of the Apology you will find: "[17b]." This is a page and section reference—page 17, section b. These come from Platonis opera quae extant omnia (in three volumes listed below), a complete Greek edition of Plato's works (with Latin translations) published in 1578 by a printer/publisher named Stephanus. The "Stephanus" references come from this edition, using the page numbers at the top of each page, and the sections letters printed in the margins of each page. For more details, see Suzanne Bernard's explanation of "Stephanus References." 

When quoting or paraphrasing Plato, it is scholarly convention to cite the Stephanus references (as opposed to any other page numbers). That way, regardless of translation, everyone can find the relevant passage quite conveniently. 

Works Compared

In making refinements, I frequently compare the following works.

Burnet, Platonis opera, Volume 1, Greek, 1900

Fowler, Lamb, et al. Plato: In Twelve Volumes, Greek with English translations, 1982, first printed 1914

David Horan, The Dialogues of Plato: A New Translation, English translations from the twenty-first century, first digital edition March 2021

Perseus Digital Library, publisher, Plato, webpage incorporating the Greek from Burnet and the English translations from Fowler

Stephanus, publisher, Platonis opera quae extant omnia, Volume 1, Greek with Latin translations, 1578

Stephanus, publisher, Platonis opera quae extant omnia, Volume 2, Greek with Latin translations, 1578

Stephanus, publisher, Platonis opera quae extant omnia, Volume 3,  Greek with Latin translations, 1578

Note to Students: Compare Multiple Translations

When reading Plato, it is a good idea to get in the habit of comparing multiple translations. If you find any passage particularly difficult or intriguing, look it up in another translation, using the Stephanus references. The side-by-side comparison of multiple translations can be quite enlightening. 

When incorporating quotes from Plato into your own academic writing, it is good practice to choose the translation that best fits your purpose in each instance. Just make sure that you properly cite each quotation. Also be careful of putting too much weight on any particular translation. If two translations differ substantially, any extra content is likely an interpolation of the translator, not something in the original Greek. 

SELECTED WORKS OF PLATO

Apology

Phaedo

Symposium