Minos

Recommended translations:

  • "Minos," trans. T. Pangle in The Roots of Political Philosophy, ed. Thomas L. Pangle (Cornell, 1987).
  • "Minos," trans. M. Schofield in Plato: Complete Works, ed. J. M. Cooper (Hackett, 1997).

Excerpt:

Socrates
Tell me, what is law?

Companion
To what kind of law does your question refer?

Socrates
What! Is there any difference between law and law, in this particular point of being law? For just consider what is the actual question I am putting to you. It is as though I had asked, what is gold: if you had asked me in the same manner, to what kind of gold I refer, I think your question would have been incorrect. For I presume there is no difference between gold and gold, or between stone and stone, in point of being gold or stone; and so neither does law differ at all from law, I suppose, but they are all the same thing. For each of them is law alike, not one more so, and another less. That is the particular point of my question—what is law as a whole? So if you are ready, tell me.

Online:
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Pangle)
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Schofield)
Project Perseus (English, Free Access)
Project Perseus (Greek, Free Access)