The appraisal of the musical structure in Plato's dialogues proceeds through two distinct stages. The first, the stage of verification, aims at coni rming the bare fact that the dialogues have a stichometric and musical structure. The evidence for this stage is strong, clear and objective. It consists, for example, of the measurements of the lengths of set speeches clearly demarcated from the surrounding text, or of charts of the distribution of musical terminology in the Republic. The evidence for this verification stage is collected in Chapters 2, 3 and the introductory sections of Chapter 6, especially in the pair of sections entitled “Guide to the strongest evidence”.

The is evidence does not essentially depend on measurements with an especially high accuracy. There is sufficient qualitative or approximate evidence to make the case. The accuracy of various measurements is surprisingly impressive, but these constitute only one of several, independent lines of evidence.

The second, the stage of explication, aims at interpreting Plato's musical symbols in detail and assessing their implications for understanding the particular passages in which they occur. Chapters 4, 5 and 6, which are mainly close readings of the symbolism in the Symposium and Euthyphro, are occupied with this task.

It is normal for Dante scholars or Joyce scholars to agree that a composition is allegorical, and conceals a structure beneath its surface narrative, and yet to debate the interpetations of particular passages.