Phaedrus
By Plato
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1892
First written c. 370 BCE
In the public domain
About this text
Jowett’s translation of the Phaedrus, on love and speech: the divine madness of the lover, the soul as a charioteer with two horses, its vision of the Forms beyond the heavens, and the limits of writing.
How to cite
Plato. Phaedrus: In The Dialogues of Plato, third edition. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1892.
Cite this entry
“Phaedrus.” Source. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/sources/phaedrus-jowett.
“Phaedrus,” source, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/sources/phaedrus-jowett.
“Phaedrus.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/sources/phaedrus-jowett.
@misc{sources-phaedrus-jowett, title = {{Phaedrus}}, howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society}, note = {Source. Last modified November 7, 2026}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/sources/phaedrus-jowett} }
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Traditions
Concepts
- ErosLove as longing for the beautiful and the good, which in Plato draws the soul upward to the divine.
- FormsPlato’s eternal, unchanging realities, such as Beauty itself and the Good, of which the things of the senses are images.
- SoulThe life and inner self of a person, in Greek philosophy and Christian thought.