This is an English translation of one of the most intellectually important works in Western philosophy and political theory. It includes an extensive introduction, an extensive afterword "Imitation" by John White, a chapter-by-chapter outline of principal speakers and summary of the content, Stephanus numbers, boldface type to indicate the entrance of a new speaker into the discussion, footnotes, and glossary of key terms with cross-references for the text. This dialogue includes Socrates and others discussing the definition of justice, the theory of forms and the immortality of the soul. Plato uses numerous dialogues between Socrates and various characters in Athens to discuss the nature of government, including the nature of justice, the happiness of the just and the unjust man, the nature of rule in the ideal city-state, and other matters essential to understanding classical philosophy such as the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, poetry and the role of the philosopher in society. Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato's immediate audience.

Joe Sachs taught for thirty years at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. He has translated Aristotle's Physics, Metaphysics and On the Soul and, for the Focus Philosophical Library, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Poetics as well as Plato's Theaetetus.

Introduction, p. 1 The Republic, p. 17 Book I (327A-354C), p. 17 Book II (357A-383C), p. 49 Book III (386A-417B), p. 77 Book IV (419A-445E), p. 112 Book V (449A-480A), p. 142 Book VI (484A-511E), p. 179 Book VII (514A-541B), p. 210 Book VIII (543A-569C), p. 240 Book IX (571A-592B), p. 269 Book X (595A-621D), p. 294 Afterword (Imitation, by John White), p. 323 Glossary, p. 347 Index, p. 353