SPOILER ALERT: This conversation contains book spoilers. Listener beware.

Here’s Part I of a conversation with author Allen Levi that took place on Saturday, September 6th in Franklin, Tennessee, at the historic Franklin Theatre. Part I releases this week and is the discussion from the 3pm event. Part II releases next week and will be the discussion from the 7pm event. Each event was sold out and questions were different for each event.

Please Note: Static interference is present at various points throughout the interview. I've worked to minimize it, but it is still audible at points.

Allen Levi is the author of Theo of Golden. In this conversation, I asked him about this book, his inspirations, his life, and potential movie adaptations. Enjoy!

Last week, Socrates was on his way to his trial in the Euthyphro dialogue. In Apology, Socrates is giving his defense against three charges:

* Not recognizing the gods recognized by the State

* Manufacturing new gods

* Corrupting the youth

If you are expecting any contrition on the part of Socrates, you’ve come to the wrong place. Here, apology means a defense speech in a legal proceeding, and Socrates is anything but apologetic in the sorrowful sense. Here we see a defiant man unconcerned with death but rather in continuing on in a life of justice and piety despite the threat to his life.

It’s quite startling actually. The defiance of Socrates in the face of 501 of his peers. But it’s also quite disturbing that a society that produced such great works of art around this exact time (399BC) could also kill one of its best citizens. Can civilization handle this level of truth telling?

In this episode, I consider Socrates’ defense to the three charges, look at Aristophanes’ Clouds and another account of the trial, Xenophon’s Apology.

Show Notes:

Book Versions:

* Plato Complete Works - edited by John M. Cooper - translated by G.M.A. Grube

* The Last Days of Socrates - translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant (intro) - Penguin Classics

* Xenophon Apology - translated by Martin Hammond - Oxford World’s Classics

* Xenophon Socrates’ Defense - translated by Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield, with an excellent intro by Waterfield - Penguin Classics

I have decided to read through the complete works of Plato. Euthyphro is my first dialogue in this Plato Project. I ended up reading it 4 times within 4 different translations. In this episode, I give a brief overview of the dialogue, talk about piety and if/when this word shows up in Homer, the Greek Tragedies, and elsewhere, and cover each of the answers and responses between Euthyphro and Socrates.

Socrates has asked Euthyphro if piety and impiety take on an essential form. Poor Euthyphro thinks he is wise by giving particular example after particular example, but Socrates is after something deeper. Will we get to a form of piety and impiety that can be referenced in all circumstances? The stakes are high. Socrates has just been charged with impiety in corrupting the youth, creating new gods, and forsaking the old gods. If he can’t answer this charge, he’s in trouble. He’s hoping Euthyphro can give him a piety form. Or is Socrates just prodding Euthyphro to see if he knows what he is taking about?

Here are the four versions I read:

* Complete Works - edited by John M. Cooper - translated by G.M.A. Grube

* Penguin Classics The Last Days of Socrates - translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant (intro)

* Loeb Classical Library - translated by Harold North Fowler

* Collected Dialogues - edited by Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns - translated by Lane Cooper