# Plato — On the Art of Reading character guide

> Plato in On the Art of Reading by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0003-lecture-i-introductory

## Snapshot

The philosopher of the Academy whose Phaedrus frames the book's most seductive image of reading as leisurely, embodied, and alive.

## Who they are

Plato matters here less for the theory of forms than for a scene: Socrates and Phaedrus reclining by the Ilissus under a plane tree, the manuscript of Lysias hidden under a cloak. Jowett's reverent portrait of Plato walking the Academy with Socrates gives the lectures their elegiac note — a world 'which has passed away,' buried under the very books that admire it. Plato thus becomes the book's emblem of what reading was before it became a syllabus.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_psychological_

The narrator engages with Plato's dialogues and theories of forms to discuss the nature of reading and interpretation.

## In the story

### [On the Art of Reading](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/on-the-art-of-reading)

Mentioned in relation to the philosophical underpinnings of reading and understanding.

### [Lecture I: Introductory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-i-introductory)

Invoked for his idea that the best form of government is government by good men, contrasting with modern emphasis on business and efficiency.

### [Lecture III: Children's Reading (I)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-iii-children-s-reading-i)

Mentioned in the context of the Academy, where he walked and held discourse, contrasting with modern educational institutions.

### [Lecture XI: Of Selection](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-xi-of-selection)

Referenced for his portrayal of Athenian life without books, and for the dialogue 'Phaedrus' which illuminates the ancient view of reading.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters/plato
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters