This template works with a script at Wikimedia Tool Labs located at [1] in order to simply generate links in wikitext to the texts of Plato hosted at the Perseus Project. Generated is a hyperlinked Stephanus page/section selection (e.g., 400b). Use Template:Citeplato for the same functionality while also generating an italicized title.

Usage

Code format:

({{citeplaton|TITLE|PAGE|LANGUAGE}})

Note parentheses: (See WP:EL). Inline external links (this template links offsite) must be separated from the article text by parentheses. (Parentheses are deliberately not included in this template to allow for flexible usage.) In footnote references there is no need to separate with parentheses.

Example 1

{{citeplaton|Protagoras|351a}} yields: 351a

Example 2

{{citeplaton|Sym.|192b–194c|gr}} yields: 192b–194c

See more examples below. The three parameters—TITLE, PAGE, and LANGUAGE—are not named and must be given in that order. TITLE and PAGE are required.

Language

LANGUAGE is optional. The default language is English; the only other option at this point is Greek. To specify Greek as the language, anything from Greek to grc to a single g will work. The language specification only determines which language has the focus on the Perseus Project page—both languages are visible side by side by selecting the appropriate option on the sidebar at the Perseus Project.

Page

PAGE is given in Stephanus pagination. Many combinations of pages(e.g., 352 or 452 & 453), ranges of pages (e.g., 150–156), and sections (e.g., 3a, 100a–d, or 210b–214a) can be inputted. However, only a single section or a page will be targeted with the link, as the Perseus Project will only display that much at once.

If the first page specified does not include a section (i.e., does not have a, b, c, d, or e), then that entire page will be targeted. If the first page specified does include a section then only that section will be targeted, even if a range is specified. The page numbers and sections may be specified with hyphens, dashes, tildes, ampersands, and any amount of whitespace, and are case-insensitive. Pages should be specified as one wants them to display on the page, but do not add formatting or any leading characters (i.e., the first character should be the leftmost digit of the first or only page number specified).

If the page specified is out of range for the title specified, the Perseus Project will return a "not found" message. Oxford Classical Texts line numbers may be specified if desired, but they will not affect the result on the Perseus Project as they are not used there.

Title

NOTE: Titles should not be specified with any formatting, i.e., italics or underline.

For TITLE, any common English versions of titles for the works of Plato should work, including common short-forms. Titles are case insensitive, but should be specified as one wants them to display on the page (except for formatting, as just noted). The Perseus Project does not include the Thrasyllian spuria: the Definitions, On Justice, On Virtue, Demodocus, Sisyphus, Halcyon, Eryxias, Axiochus, and the Epigrams. All 36 works of the nine tetralogies though may be cited with this template. If a title is specified which is not recognized, an ERROR1a will be produced informing as much. See Dialogues of Plato for a list of titles.

For the Letters or Epistles, the number of the letter must be specified in the TITLE. These can be either Hindu-Arabic or Roman numerals.

For the works that have book numbers (Republic, Laws), the number may be specified in the TITLE as well. These will not affect the target, which will only depend on the title and the specified Stephanus pagination, however.

Some short-forms cannot just be guessed if one is not familiar with the opera omnia. For example, one might think that Euth. would be a working short-form for the Euthyphro, but the lesser-known Euthydemus thwarts such a plan. Similarly, there is no short-form at all for the already-short Meno, due to the Menexenus. This is standard and not peculiar to this template or the Perseus Project, however.

The ability to input any common German, Italian, French, and Greek versions of the titles which do not yet work should be developed next.

Examples

Example 1

{{citeplaton|Protagoras|351a}} yields: 351a

Example 2

{{citeplaton|Sym.|192b–194c|gr}} yields: 192b–194c

Example 3

{{citeplaton|Euthyphro|2}} yields: 2

Example 4

{{citeplaton|Euthyph.|13a–15}} yields: 13a–15

Example 5

{{citeplaton|Apology|24a1–6|greek}} yields: 24a1–6

Example 6

{{citeplaton|Letter VII|325a}} yields: 325a

Example 7

{{citeplaton|Laws X|904e–905a}} yields: 904e–905a

See also

• Template:citeplato