Laws (dialogue)
Platonic dialogue / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the work by Cicero of the same title, see De Legibus.
The Laws (Greek: Νόμοι, Nómoi; Latin: De Legibus[1]) is Plato's last and longest dialogue. The conversation depicted in the work's twelve books begins with the question of who is given the credit for establishing a civilization's laws. Its musings on the ethics of government and law have established it as a classic of political philosophy[citation needed] alongside Plato's more widely read Republic.
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Scholars generally agree that Plato wrote this dialogue as an older man, having failed in his effort to guide the rule of the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse, instead having been thrown in prison. These events are alluded to in the Seventh Letter. The text is noteworthy as Plato's only undisputed dialogue not to feature Socrates.