Abstract

To his gratification, Jerome Eckstein admits, his previous book on Plato's Meno "was more warmly received by artists, novelists, and cooks" ; he has not abandoned that audience in this study of Plato's Phaedo, which is inspired, nevertheless, by a desire "to convince a few more professors." The Deathday of Socrates does not, however, in Platonic fashion, address a variety of readers on different levels through the same words; instead it is divided into parts, some of which are intended to be of interest to "scholars" only. Of the three main parts, the first is a general introduction, the last a reprint of Jowett's translation of the dialogue. The central part is divided into sections consisting in a paraphrase of the relevant portion of the dialogue followed by interpretative comments; a third segment in some sections carries on a polemic with traditional interpretations--almost exclusively those of Hackforth and Bluck--in which the author, he warns us, "always emerges as the victor."