Crito

What do you owe to your community when you believe it has wronged you? In Plato's Crito, Socrates, awaiting execution in an Athenian prison, is urged by his friend Crito to escape. What follows is a profound dialogue about justice, duty, and the relationship between the individual and the state.

Written in the fourth century BCE, the Crito is one of Plato's shortest and most accessible works. It presents Socrates' reasoned refusal to save his life by acting unjustly, and it introduces the idea of a social contract: the notion that by living in a society and accepting its benefits, we implicitly agree to obey its laws. The dialogue remains a cornerstone of political philosophy and a moving portrait of integrity.

This edition is meant for students, book clubs, and general readers encountering Plato for the first time. It includes the complete text of the Crito in Benjamin Jowett's translation, with Jowett's short introduction, a new introduction that sets the work in its historical and philosophical context, a guide to key ideas, a summary of the dialogue, a discussion of major themes, a glossary of terms, and questions for reflection and discussion.