Plato (428/427bc-348/347bc): his life in short -- Now let's start talking -- The making of a philosopher -- Learning through dialogue -- The primacy of the good -- The price of wrongdoing -- Democracy and philosopher-kings -- Freedom and censorship -- On women's equality -- Platonic love -- Misadventure in Sicily -- Brilliant minds -- Platonism: the theory of forms -- Our way out of the cave -- Mathematics and the search for truth -- Platonism reconsidered? -- Refill: further reading and appreciation.