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Contemporary interest in free speech and in Plato's relationship with Athenian democracy has led scholars to explore Plato's thought on frank speech in relation to political contexts as well as philosophical ones. In the form ofparrhesia has been elevated to a central concept, not least through Michel Foucault's focus on it, along with the depiction of Plato's character Socrates as a prototypical free speech martyr. The ambiguity of Plato's various references to frank speech is amplified in Foucault's complex account, and this paper argues that Socrates, if a parrhesiast, acts as one from a position of power rather than weakness. The publication of a final 'official' set of Foucault's papers on the topic provides an opportunity to revisit both Plato's thought and Foucault's analysis.
