Review by Choice Review
It is good to have a sound commentary, suitable for student study (whether in Greek or in English) of this important dialogue. The Phaedrus has often been excerpted for passages illustrative of Plato's views on art and aesthetics, but this dialogue has seldom been edited for consideration on its own. Principal predecessors are: R. Hackforth, Plato's Phaedrus (1952), which lacks a Greek text, and G.J. deVries, A Commentary on the Phaedrus of Plato (1969), which is on the technical side linguistically and does not seem to have had widespread circulation in the US. The dialogue's curiously matched themes of love and rhetoric have made it one of the more intriguing of Plato's works. Rowe's commentary is well directed toward the substance of the argument and discovery of the unity within the piece. There is much assistance with the Greek, but the niceties of Greek syntax are not a focal point. The book presents Greek and English on facing pages in the fashion of the Loeb series, but unlike the Loeb, the translation is into current English and very well done. Particularly useful is the parenthetical insertion of key Greek words in the English version. There are a very brief, but most helpful, introduction, a select bibliography, and a general index. Recommended for college libraries at all levels.-R.B. Lloyd, Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
