Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
CLARENDON PLATO SERIES
Laws 1 and 2
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
CLARENDON PLATO SERIES
Volumespublished
Gorgias
Terence Irwin
Laws 10
Robert Mayhew
Phaedo
David Gallop
Philebus
J. C. B. Gosling
Protagoras
C. C. W. Taylor
Theaetetus
John McDowell
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
Plato
Laws 1 and 2
TranslatedwithanIntroductionandCommentary
by
SUSAN SAUVÉ MEYER
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
3
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
To Hannah
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
Preface
Why the present volume? Students of Plato’s Laws already have the
benefit of several excellent commentaries and translations produced
inthelastcentury. England’smagisterialcommentaryontheGreek
text(1921)continuestobeavaluableresourcetoreadersinEnglish,
as is the more limited set of notes on the text in Saunders (1972).
Neither, however, offers much guidance on points of philosophical,
asopposedtophilological,interpretation.Onmanyfrontsbothhave
been superseded by the excellent commentary in German, with
accompanying translation, recently completed by Schöpsdau
(1994–2011). The latter contains considerably more historical ma-
terial thanEngland, andis an indispensableresource for anyserious
scholarship on the Laws today. Readers of Spanish or French have
the benefit of up-to-date scholarly translations with accompanying
notes by Lisi (1999) and Brisson/Pradeau (2006), respectively.
While readers in English have in recent years had the benefit of a
number of pioneering studies (such as Bobonich 2002) and collec-
tions of essays (Lisi 2001; Scolnicov and Brisson 2003; Bobonich
2010;Horn2013;Peponi2013b;andSanday2013),theclosestwe
have to a philosophical commentary on the Laws in English are the
notes and long interpretive essay that accompany the translation by
Pangle (1980)andthe detailedanalysis by Strauss (1975);however,
the aggressively ‘Straussian’ orientation of these two works makes
them less helpful to readers of other philosophical persuasions. Of
course, no philosophical commentary can plausibly claim to be
without theoretical presuppositions, and the orientation of the pre-
sent work reflects presuppositions characteristic of scholarship on
Plato by so-called ‘analytic’ philosophers in the English-speaking
world over the last half-century. The translation aims to be more
idiomatic than Pangle’s, and is heavily indebted to the very elegant
and readable translation by Saunders (1970). The latter displays a
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
viii Preface
detailedandnuancedappreciationofPlato’sGreekthatitwouldbea
formidabletasktomatch,butonpointscrucialtotheinterpretation
of the philosophical and psychological doctrines, it is often less
precise than is optimal for the Greekless philosophical reader. It is
totheneedsofsuchareaderthatthepresenttranslationisaddressed,
while still striving to maintain a fluent and readable English style.
Themainconcernofthecommentaryistounderstandhowthework
isstructuredasacomplexpieceofargumentation,andtoappreciate
the theories (legal, ethical, and psychological) expounded and criti-
cized within it. For the most part, it pays attention to textual or
philological issues only when these have implications for philosoph-
icalissues.(Thepresentvolumewentintoproductionsimultaneously
withtheappearanceof Prauscello 2014,andthus toolateto benefit
fromthiswelcomeadditiontothescholarshiponBook2.)
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,5/9/2015,SPi
Acknowledgements
While preparing the translation and commentary I have benefited
from the generosity and advice of many colleagues, friends, and
correspondents:ElizabethAsmis,ChrisBobonich,CarlosCortissoz,
Anna Cremaldi, Radcliffe Edmonds III, Paula Gottlieb, Margaret
Graver,BradInwood,CharlesKahn,GraceLedbetter,JessicaMoss,
Henry Newell, Harold Parker, Ralph Rosen, Marcel Rose, Saul
Rosenthal, Krisanna Scheiter, Gregory Scott, Peter Struck, Franco
Trivigno, Christian Wildberg, Joshua Wilburn, and Emily Wilson.
IamgratefultothreeanonymousrefereesforOxfordUniversityPress
fortheirmeticulouscomments,andwishtoexpressspecialthanksto
HenryNewell,whoseuncompromisingeditorialeyeandkeenearfor
languagegreatly improved the styleofthe Englishtranslation.
AudiencesatCornellUniversity,TheUniversityofToronto,The
UniversityofPennsylvania,TheCatholicUniversityofLouvain,anda
meetingofTheAmericanPhilosophicalAssociationCentralDivision
provided helpful discussion of preliminary versions of the commen-
tary. Errors and infelicities that remain are entirely my own, and I
welcomehearingfromreaderswhofindthem.IthankNoraDonovan,
JesseDubois,HaroldParker,JanMaximilianRobitzsch,andVictoria
Koc for research assistance, Michael Vazquez for proofreading and
preparingtheindex, and forassistancewith SpanishIamgratefulto
HannahMeyer.MiltonWachsbergMeyerhasbeensupportiveonall
fronts, as always. Grants from the University Research Foundation
andtheSchoolofArtsandScienceattheUniversityofPennsylvania
supported the preparation of the manuscript, and a sabbatical leave
from the university in 2011–12 gave me the intellectual leisure in
whichtocompletethepenultimatedraftoftheproject.
Susan Sauvé Meyer
November 2014
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
