This book provides a detailed commentary on the shortest, but also one of the most dramatic of the dialogues of Plato. Socrates' old friend, Crito, enters the Athenian prison, where Socrates is awaiting execution and tries to persuade him to escape. Socrates counters Crito's arguments drawn from Athenian popular citizen values with his own particular philosophical arguments about justice and obligations which, perhaps surprisingly lead him to conclude that he must obey the decision of the court and face death by the drinking of hemlock.

While this new edition of Crito is the first English commentary of the Greek text for seventy-five years, the dialogue has long been prominent in philosophical and political debate on Ancient Greek social and political ideas. At the same time, Plato's reasonably straightforward language makes Crito a popular text for comparatively inexperienced readers of Greek at school and university level. This edition combines detailed linguistic help with a full explanation of the contextual issues – dramatic structure, literary style and philosophical ideas. It provides an up-to-date literary and philosophical analysis suitable for a wide range of readers, including those with post-beginners Greek. It represents an ideal introduction to the personality of one of its greatest thinkers.