Work
Laches
Two fathers consult Nicias and Laches about military education for their sons; Socrates returns the decision to a definition of courage. Endurance, knowledge of dangers, and battlefield conduct are tested without a final answer.
- Composition
- c. 399-380 BCE
Sources and precision
The internal chronology remains disputed. This range is a qualified reference point, not a certain year.
Confidence D · disputed range
- Tradition
- Socratic and Platonic thought
- Period
- Antiquity
- Languages
- Ancient Greek · English · French
- Extent
- 24 passages · 11,014 words
Before reading
What you will learn
Compare endurance with knowledge of danger, understand why military expertise alone does not define courage, and follow aporia’s educational function.
Short summary
Two fathers consult Nicias and Laches about military education for their sons; Socrates returns the decision to a definition of courage. Endurance, knowledge of dangers, and battlefield conduct are tested without a final answer.
Long summary
The generals’ military experience first seems to grant authority, but disagreement shows that professional example is insufficient. Laches identifies courage with endurance, while Nicias calls it knowledge of what should be feared or hoped.
Each definition expands or breaks under cases beyond battle. Aporia does not cancel the educational project: the adults acknowledge their need to learn. The dialogue joins intellectual courage, collective examination, and responsibility toward the next generation.
Inside this work
The table of contents follows the divisions actually carried by the corpus.
Work › Stephanus page
Concepts covered
Historical context
The world around the text
The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.
These are modern reconstructions. They situate a documented place, practice, or transmission and are not period documents.
What the world looked like
Classical Greek world, 5th century BCE
- State of technology
- Bronze, iron, pottery, simple cranes, and shipbuilding sustain cities. Power still comes mainly from people, animals, wind, and water.
- Science and knowledge
- Geometry, astronomy, inquiry into nature, and rational argument advance without modern measuring instruments or standardized experiments.
- Medicine and care
- Practitioners observe symptoms, diet, and seasons; healing sanctuaries and ritual treatment also remain common.
- Transport
- Walking and animals dominate on land. Sailing ships and triremes connect islands, ports, and colonies.
- Agriculture and food
- Small farms, grain, vines, olives, goats, and sheep shape the diet; harvests remain vulnerable to weather and war.
- Communication
- Public speech, messengers, and handwritten letters carry news. Theatre, the civic square, and the banquet are major social media.
- Clothing and fashion
- Women and men drape wool or linen as chitons, peploi, and cloaks. Garments are pinned, belted, and shaped by status rather than tailored like modern clothes.
Editions, translations, and provenance
The following carriers represent the text. They do not create new passage identities.
- Ancient Greekoriginal
- Englishhistorical_translation
- Frenchhistorical_translation
Source manifests: plato.laches
Reader
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LachesPlato