Gorgias [Paperback]

Based on a fresh survey of the work, this revised edition of the late E.R. Dodds's standard edition of Plato'sGorgiasincludes two major manuscripts, collated here for the first time, and examines new papyri. A full introduction by E.R. Dodds, who was for many years Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, supplements the text, explaining the subject and structure of the dialogue, its characters and historical setting, the real date of composition, and background to Plato and Athens at the time of composition.

The admired qualities of Dodds's works, a scholarship both exact and deep, an economy and lucidity in exposition (Dodds has few rivals in saying much in the fewest words with absolute clarity), and an immense level-headedness and sobriety which combined with the sharpest acumen and independence of judgment in the handling of evidence is never seduced by the charm of fantasy, all these once more characterize his edition of theGorgias. --Philosophical Quarterly

Professor Dodds's fine edition (which both overhauls the manuscript tradition and supplies a commentary as wide ranging as it is perspicacious) fills a gap untouched in this country since 1890....TheGorgiasshould have a special appeal to contemporary students, and to historians no less than philosophers. --Times Literary Supplement