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Two fathers ask the famous generals Laches and Nicias whether their sons should learn to fight in armour, and the generals call in Socrates. The question…
Two fathers ask the famous generals Laches and Nicias whether their sons should learn to fight in armour, and the generals call in Socrates. The question soon becomes: what is courage? Laches, a blunt soldier, suggests standing firm in battle and then endurance of the soul; Nicias, more educated, suggests knowledge of what is to be feared and what is not. Each definition fails under Socrates' questions, and the two generals, who have shown courage on the battlefield, find that they cannot say what it is.
Context and significance
Written in the early fourth century BC, the Laches is a lively, sometimes comic dialogue, and in it Laches recalls Socrates' bravery beside him at the battle of Delium. This English version is Benjamin Jowett's. Read Charmides and the Apology.
About the author
Plato (c. 428–348 BC) was born into an aristocratic family in Athens and became the devoted student of Socrates. After his teacher's trial and execution in 399 BC, he travelled, returned to Athens and founded the Academy, a school that lasted for centuries and counted Aristotle among its students.
Almost all his writings are dialogues in which Socrates questions his fellow citizens about justice, love, knowledge and the soul, from the Apology to the Symposium and the Republic. Known to Arab philosophers as Aflatun, he was read closely by al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd, and Western philosophy has been called a series of footnotes to him.