1. No firm date of composition can be established, and there is no consensus on its philosophical relationship to other dialogues. There is, however, general agreement that it is among Plato’s earlier works. The dramatic date is c. 420. It must fall between 424, the battle of Delium (181b), and 418, the death of Laches at Mantinea. There is no immediate reference to a state of war, hence it is probable that the Laches is set in the uneasy peace of 421–418, which Nicias had negotiated on the Athenian side, and which formed an armistice in the Peloponnesian War (431–404). A useful summary of scholarly opinion on the dramatic date will be found in Hoerber, pp. 95–6.

2. According to Meno 94a, c, both Lysimachus and Melesias received an excellent education: perhaps what was missing was the active support and interest of their parents; cf. 179c.