The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro; The Apology; Crito; Phaedo (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Plato (Author), Harold Tarrant (Editor, Introduction), Hugh Tredennick (Translator) "Discussing the type of dialogue of the Euthyphro, and the other works with which it is allied, may be more productive than trying to fix..." (more)
Key Phrases: Laws of Athens, Acherusian Lake, Hippias Major (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Socrates spent a lifetime analyzing ethical issues, and the "Euthyphro" finds him outside the court-house, still debating the nature of piety with an arrogant acquaintance. "The Apology" is both a robust rebuttal to the charges of impiety and corrupting young minds and a definitive defence of the philosopher's life. Later, condemned and imprisoned in the "Crito", Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to escape. And finally, in the "Phaedo", Plato shows him calmly confident in the face of death, skilfully arguing the case for the immortality of the soul. Such works, as Harold Tarrant explains in his introduction to this revised edition, are no longer regarded by scholars as direct transcriptions of real events.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014044582X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140445824
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #206,201 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #51 in

  Books > Nonfiction > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Greek

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those desert isle books, December 3, 2001

By	C. Sellers "oncogenic" (belton, tx United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I will not presume to analyze this, and leave that to the experts deep into the facets of philosophy. I will say that this book is excellently written by Plato, using many technically interesting devices, conversations, soliloquys and conversations inside conversations each one expertly serving its purpose. In this thin tome you can find the roots of the scientific method, modern philosophy, method of inquiry, arguements of law, political thought, fundamentals of christian thought and belief, basis of thought that will guide the inquiry into the nature of the universe itself, from physical position of the planets in the heavens to the theory of relativity. It is impossible to estimate the importance of this work on the history of human thought. Plato succeeds expertly in providing Socrates scorn of the shifting state of human reasons, his Socratic method, his personal life, his public life and his rare and enduring example of bravery. A truly amazing book, that really requires studying over simply reading.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading., April 3, 1997

By A Customer

This is a book that makes you self-examine and re-evaluate your life. Ancient Greek philosophy has a way of keeping one "grounded" and not taking things too seriously - helps you put things in perspective. A great way to calm down when one is immersed in the stress and toil of everyday life

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There are better translations, March 11, 2007

By	Matt (USA) - See all my reviews

This is a descent translation of Plato, but not the best. It is an easy to understand translation, and there is nothing wrong with that. Tredennick and Tarrant (the translators of this book) have given us a nice translation that is definitely readable and, at times, enjoyable. There's a guy called W.H.D. Rouse that has some nice translations of Plato. They feel like literal translations, although I don't know Greek. I'm not sure if he translated "Euthyphro", but I know that he did the other 3 that are collected in this book (Apology, Crito, and Phaedo). Here is a link to the Rouse translation: Great Dialogues of Plato (Signet Classics)


I would suggest the Jowett translation for its elegance and beauty, but not for its accuracy. (You can actually read the Jowett translation online if you want to; it was done in the 19th century, so it is now a public domain text.) Here are some links to the Jowett translation: The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues (Dover Thrift Editions) and Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo (Great Books in Philosophy) and Selected Dialogues of Plato: The Benjamin Jowett Translation (Modern Library Classics).

If I were you I would get this book for the endnotes (it is an awfully cheap book after all). And I would get the Grube or Rouse translation as well, if for no other reason than to have a second source that you can go to if a particular passage in the Tredennick and Tarrant version confuses you. I have found that this is an invaluable tool to understand translated texts. However, the Tredennick/Tarrant translation uses such simple language that it might not be needed. If you are a philosophy student, or just someone who wants to fully understand and digest the text, I would keep an alternative translation in the holster when reading. (There are, of course, other translations that I haven't mentioned. I am no authority on Plato.)

Here's what is in the book (Tredennick/Tarrant):

- 21 page general introduction.

- 3 or 4 page introduction for "Euthyphro","Apology", and "Crito". There is a 14 page intro. for "Phaedo" (it is the longer and more complicated dialogue).

- 39 pages of endnotes

- 3 page bibliography on works about Socrates--his philosophy, his life, Plato's presentation of him, critical books on Socrates, etc.

- Index of principle names. (It's strange that they decided to do this type of index; it would have been much better if they would have put together a regular index in which the reader could look up certain words like "evil" or "justice" or "truth".

***Since I made this review, it's come to my attention that it is generally agreed upon that the Grube translations of Plato are the best. Here is a link to a Grube translation that contains all the dialogues that this Penguin book contains: Plato Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo

And here is the complete works of Plato, edited by John Cooper, which contains the generally agreed upon best translations of Plato, including Grube of course. Plato Complete Works

The bottom line is get the Grube translation, and then get another one to use as a backup when you can't fully understand something in the Grube.