Plato in the Italian Renaissance (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition)

This text provides a study of the dramatic revival of interest in the Platonic dialogues in Italy in the 15th century. Through a contextual study of the translations and commentaries on Plato, this book seeks to show how the interpretation of Plato was moulded by the expectations of 15th-century readers, by the need to protect Plato against his critics, and by the broader hermeneutical assumptions and practices of the period. The second part of the volume includes 20 appendices which cover the dates, character and sources of the translations and commentaries discussed in the first part. It also contains a "catalogue raisonee" of texts illustrative of Plato in the Quattrocento, comprising new critical editions of 59 texts, 38 of them previously unpublished. This text was awarded the fourth annual Morris D. Forkosch Prize (1990) for the best work of the year on intellectual history.