Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Editorial Note 11
1 The Form of the Laws: An Overview 13
Late Style 13
From Encounter to Synthesis 14
The Walk 16
The First Focal Point: The Great Divide 17
The First Theologico-Political Treatise 17
Law between Form and Content 19
Two Critical Prologues (Books 1 to 3) 20
Slow Beginnings (Books 4 and 5) 24
The Second Focal Point: The Retreat 26
Specifying the Laws 26
The Centrality of the General Preamble 28
Constitution and Laws (Books 6 to 12) 28
A Meta-Constitutional Law 30
A Last Complication 30
The Bare Bones of the Laws 31
2 Paradigms and Utopias 32
From the Laws to the Republic 32
A Republic in Two Acts and an Epilogue 33
From Best to Possible 35
Approximating Approximation 38
From lexis to praxis 40
The Philosopher as Craftsman 41
Contradictory Signals 43
The Possibility of the Wise Ruler 45
The Moot Question of Utopia 50
3 Paradigm and Retreats 53
The Duplication of the Paradigm 53
Completion and Revision 55
A Parallel with the Timaeus 56
Types of Distancing 58
What Is the Second City Second To? 60
A Note on the Titles Republic and Laws 62
4 What Is Human? 64
A City for Human Beings 64
Plato's Anthropology 65
A Wonderful Puppet 67
The Fragility of Choral Dance 69
Aspects of the Human Wonder 71
5 The Multiplication of Goals 74
Aims and Targets 74
Freedom Comes In 77
Sparta, Ancient Persia, Ancient Athens 80
6 Mixtures, Blends, and Other Metamorphoses 86
Middle and Mean 86
Balance 88
Two Equalities 90
Kinds of Freedom 96
Voluntary Servitude to the Law 99
Statutory Freedom and Its Obligation 102
7 Construing the Preambles 107
The Violence of the Law 107
Correcting the Past 110
Poet and Lawgiver on 'Measure' 110
The Medical Analogy, First Version 113
An Example: Marriage 118
Preamble vs. Law 119
The Medical Analogy, Second Version 120
8 A Rhetoric in the Making 124
Three Scales 124
Two Typologies 125
Appealing to Reflection (On Marrying) 128
Praise and Blame (On Hunting) 130
From Argument to Incantation (On the Choice of a Spouse) 131
The Reintroduction of Threat 133
9 Two Exceptional Preambles 136
Socrates Implemented 136
The Theological Foundation of the Law 142
A Structural Paradox 145
10 Plato's Best Tragedy 149
In Retrospect 154
Appendix A On the Status of the Statesman 159
Appendix B On a Supposed Evolution of Plato's Psychology 169
Appendix C Aristotle and Posidonius on Plato's Preambles 177
Notes 181
Bibliography 235
Index Locorum 253
General Index 269
