I guess your argument isn't convincing for me. A clerical inaccuracy is not evidence that whole account is false. And if Plato has some propagandish agenda abou

I guess your argument isn't convincing for me. A clerical inaccuracy is not evidence that whole account is false. And if Plato has some propagandish agenda about Athens (which I can totally believe), then that warns us the story may be exaggerated or one-sided---but altogether false? It sounds like you're saying it's clear from reading the text that the dialogue is manufactured, even through the ancient language / ancient culture barrier. But why does that imply the content is manufactured? If you told me a story about George Bush telling a remarkable story that was passed down to him orally through every president from George Washington, the only reason I'd suspect you were making it up is because it's inconsistent with the many other sources I was taught from, which don't mention such a thing, and I trust that they are relatively complete with respect to important events. Did Plato's readers have analogous sources? Do we still have them today?