 Plato’s shorter ethical works show Socrates at work on topics related to virtue, which he believes we should seek for the sake of the soul as we should seek health for the body. Works in this group shows stylistic as well as philosophic affinities and are generally considered to have been written early in Plato’s career. The dialogues in this group are our main source for the philosophical style and teaching of the Platonic Socrates, who is thought by some scholars to be to a reasonable approximation of the historical figure. In this article, “Socrates” always refers to the Platonic figure in the works under discussion here. He is distinct from the Socrates of Plato’s middle works in that he treats the soul as a unity, whereas the Socrates of Republic 2–10 and other middle dialogues treats it as divided into two or three parts. 