| In 1513, the first edition of Plato’s Collected Works was printed by Aldus Manutius in Venice. Preceding the main text is a poem by Markos Mousouros to Plato, who is called upon to take receipt of the book, deliver it to Pope Leo X and seek reimbursement in the form of assistance in liberating Greece and cultivating Greek learning. The poem’s archaic language bears influences from Homer, Euripides, Hesychius and Aristophanes, whose works Mousouros first published. It is elegiac and lyrical in tone. The Renaissance spirit that permeates the work combines the ancient and Christian worlds. It was reprinted and translated numerous times, and influenced later writers; it is published here with an introduction and commentary. |