Search

Plato does not provide a unified cosmological doctrine in the 'Timaeus,' 'Laws' x and 'Statesman.' The myth in the 'Statesman' is best interpreted as a way of showing that evil must be permitted for humans to have free will. In the 'Statesman,' the Age of Cronus is a time in which the gods have complete control over the world, whereas in the Age of Zeus the gods have withdrawn and the world deteriorates. Both worlds contrast with the real world, in which humans have free will but the gods are still involved. The 'Statesman' myth develops the concept suggested in the 'Timaeus' that the gods are responsible for evil and foreshadows the theodicy of 'Laws' x.

The seriousness of tragedies are brought into question by Socrates's claim that comic and tragic elements exist in tragedies. In support of this stand, Plato's 'Gorgias' is noted to allude repeatedly to Euripides's tragedy Antiope. The deliberate appropriation of the theme and structure of 'Antiope' is an attempt of Plato to provide material that transforms a tragic drama into a different genre. This transformation of genres of discourse into a hybrid genre is believed to be the precursor to novelization.