Laws

The last book of Plato indicates the progression of the writing style and the age of the author. The element of dialogue is limited in this book, and any dialogue that takes place, is non-vivid and without any contemplating effort. Most of the book is thus occupied by long monologues and law statements. Some of these statements are quite boring and only concern the age of Plato. Unfortunately, as this is his last work, Plato is old and his mind has become rigid and narrow-minded and conservative. All the dreams and overoptimistic goals for achieving the perfect state of the Republic, here in the Laws are gone. Plato presents us arguments that are more realistic and down-to-earth, having probably seen through his life that his previous ideas are too good to be realized. Nonetheless, there's always some Plato wisdom to be found even in this monotonous book. In this edition, before the original text, there's a summary for each chapter and an analysis from the translator, which seemed very energetic and passionate and made the following text more understandable. However, I would want it to be after the original text, because that seemed like a bit of spoiler to the whole thing.

The last book of Plato indicates the progression of the writing style and the age of the author. The element of dialogue is limited in this book, and any dialogue that takes place, is non-vivid and without any contemplating effort. Most of the book is thus occupied by long monologues and law statements. Some of these statements are quite boring and only concern the age of Plato. Unfortunately, as this is his last work, Plato is old and his mind has become rigid and narrow-minded and conservative. All the dreams and overoptimistic goals for achieving the perfect state of the Republic, here in the Laws are gone. Plato presents us arguments that are more realistic and down-to-earth, having probably seen through his life that his previous ideas are too good to be realized. Nonetheless, there's always some Plato wisdom to be found even in this monotonous book. In this edition, before the original text, there's a summary for each chapter and an analysis from the translator, which seemed very energetic and passionate and made the following text more understandable. However, I would want it to be after the original text, because that seemed like a bit of spoiler to the whole thing.