Phaedrus (Penguin Classics)

One of Plato’s most profound and beautiful works, Phaedrus takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus, an amateur rhetorical enthusiast, on the topic of passionate or romantic love. Concerned with establishing principles of rhetoric, it argues that rhetoric is only acceptable as an art when it is firmly based on the truth inspired by love, the common experience of true philosophic activity. It is in this dialogue that Plato employs the famous image of love as the driver of the chariot of souls.

• New edition with a new translation
• Includes an introduction, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and notes on the text and translation that discuss the structure of the dialogue