Seventh Letter by Plato
Seventh Letter

Plato Seventh Letter

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Seventh Letter by Plato.
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[1]        
[2]        Plato TO THE RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF DION. WELFARE.
[3]        
[4]        You write to me that I must consider your views the same as those
[5]        of Dion, and you urge me to aid your cause so far as I can in word
[6]        and deed. My answer is that, if you have the same opinion and desire
[7]        as he had, I consent to aid your cause; but if not, I shall think
[8]        more than once about it. Now what his purpose and desire was, I can
[9]        inform you from no mere conjecture but from positive knowledge. For
[10]       when I made my first visit to Sicily, being then about forty years
[11]       old, Dion was of the same age as Hipparinos is now, and the opinion
[12]       which he then formed was that which he always retained, I mean the
[13]       belief that the Syracusans ought to be free and governed by the best
[14]       laws. So it is no matter for surprise if some God should make Hipparinos
[15]       adopt the same opinion as Dion about forms of government. But it is
[16]       well worth while that you should all, old as well as young, hear the
[17]       way in which this opinion was formed, and I will attempt to give you
[18]       an account of it from the beginning. For the present is a suitable
[19]       opportunity.
[20]       
[21]       In my youth I went through the same experience as many other men.
[22]       I fancied that if, early in life, I became my own master, I should
[23]       at once embark on a political career. And I found myself confronted
[24]       with the following occurrences in the public affairs of my own city.
[25]       The existing constitution being generally condemned, a revolution
[26]       took place, and fifty-one men came to the front as rulers of the revolutionary
[27]       government, namely eleven in the city and ten in the Peiraeus-each
[28]       of these bodies being in charge of the market and municipal matters-while
[29]       thirty were appointed rulers with full powers over public affairs
[30]       as a whole. Some of these were relatives and acquaintances of mine,
[31]       and they at once invited me to share in their doings, as something
[32]       to which I had a claim. The effect on me was not surprising in the
[33]       case of a young man. I considered that they would, of course, so manage
[34]       the State as to bring men out of a bad way of life into a good one.
[35]       So I watched them very closely to see what they would do.
[36]       
[37]       And seeing, as I did, that in quite a short time they made the former
[38]       government seem by comparison something precious as gold-for among
[39]       other things they tried to send a friend of mine, the aged Socrates,
[40]       whom I should scarcely scruple to describe as the most upright man
[41]       of that day, with some other persons to carry off one of the citizens
[42]       by force to execution, in order that, whether he wished it, or not,
[43]       he might share the guilt of their conduct; but he would not obey them,
[44]       risking all consequences in preference to becoming a partner in their
[45]       iniquitous deeds-seeing all these things and others of the same kind
[46]       on a considerable scale, I disapproved of their proceedings, and withdrew
[47]       from any connection with the abuses of the time.
[48]       
[49]       Not long after that a revolution terminated the power of the thirty
[50]       and the form of government as it then was. And once more, though with
[51]       more hesitation, I began to be moved by the desire to take part in
[52]       public and political affairs. Well, even in the new government, unsettled
[53]       as it was, events occurred which one would naturally view with disapproval;
[54]       and it was not surprising that in a period of revolution excessive
[55]       penalties were inflicted by some persons on political opponents, though
[56]       those who had returned from exile at that time showed very considerable
[57]       forbearance. But once more it happened that some of those in power
[58]       brought my friend Socrates, whom I have mentioned, to trial before
[59]       a court of law, laying a most iniquitous charge against him and one
[60]       most inappropriate in his case: for it was on a charge of impiety
[61]       that some of them prosecuted and others condemned and executed the
[62]       very man who would not participate in the iniquitous arrest of one
[63]       of the friends of the party then in exile, at the time when they themselves
[64]       were in exile and misfortune.
[65]       
[66]       As I observed these incidents and the men engaged in public affairs,
[67]       the laws too and the customs, the more closely I examined them and
[68]       the farther I advanced in life, the more difficult it seemed to me
[69]       to handle public affairs aright. For it was not possible to be active
[70]       in politics without friends and trustworthy supporters; and to find
[71]       these ready to my hand was not an easy matter, since public affairs
[72]       at Athens were not carried on in accordance with the manners and practices
[73]       of our fathers; nor was there any ready method by which I could make
[74]       new friends. The laws too, written and unwritten, were being altered
[75]       for the worse, and the evil was growing with startling rapidity. The
[76]       result was that, though at first I had been full of a strong impulse
[77]       towards political life, as I looked at the course of affairs and saw
[78]       them being swept in all directions by contending currents, my head
[79]       finally began to swim; and, though I did not stop looking to see if
[80]       there was any likelihood of improvement in these symptoms and in the
[81]       general course of public life, I postponed action till a suitable
[82]       opportunity should arise. Finally, it became clear to me, with regard
[83]       to all existing cornmunities, that they were one and all misgoverned.
[84]       For their laws have got into a state that is almost incurable, except
[85]       by some extraordinary reform with good luck to support it. And I was
[86]       forced to say, when praising true philosophy that it is by this that
[87]       men are enabled to see what justice in public and private life really
[88]       is. Therefore, I said, there will be no cessation of evils for the
[89]       sons of men, till either those who are pursuing a right and true philosophy
[90]       receive sovereign power in the States, or those in power in the States
[91]       by some dispensation of providence become true philosophers.
[92]       
[93]       With these thoughts in my mind I came to Italy and Sicily on my first
[94]       visit. My first impressions on arrival were those of strong disapproval-disapproval
[95]       of the kind of life which was there called the life of happiness,
[96]       stuffed full as it was with the banquets of the Italian Greeks and
[97]       Syracusans, who ate to repletion twice every day, and were never without
[98]       a partner for the night; and disapproval of the habits which this
[99]       manner of life produces. For with these habits formed early in life,
[100]      no man under heaven could possibly attain to wisdom-human nature is
[101]      not capable of such an extraordinary combination. Temperance also
[102]      is out of the question for such a man; and the same applies to virtue
[103]      generally. No city could remain in a state of tranquillity under any
[104]      laws whatsoever, when men think it right to squander all their property
[105]      in extravagant, and consider it a duty to be idle in everything else
[106]      except eating and drinking and the laborious prosecution of debauchery.
[107]      It follows necessarily that the constitutions of such cities must
[108]      be constantly changing, tyrannies, oligarchies and democracies succeeding
[109]      one another, while those who hold the power cannot so much as endure
[110]      the name of any form of government which maintains justice and equality
[111]      of rights.
[112]      
[113]      With a mind full of these thoughts, on the top of my previous convictions,
[114]      I crossed over to Syracuse-led there perhaps by chance-but it really
[115]      looks as if some higher power was even then planning to lay a foundation
[116]      for all that has now come to pass with regard to Dion and Syracuse-and
[117]      for further troubles too, I fear, unless you listen to the advice
[118]      which is now for the second time offered by me. What do I mean by
[119]      saying that my arrival in Sicily at that movement proved to be the
[120]      foundation on which all the sequel rests? I was brought into close
[121]      intercourse with Dion who was then a young man, and explained to him
[122]      my views as to the ideals at which men should aim, advising him to
[123]      carry them out in practice. In doing this I seem to have been unaware
[124]      that I was, in a fashion, without knowing it, contriving the overthrow
[125]      of the tyranny which; subsequently took place. For Dion, who rapidly
[126]      assimilated my teaching as he did all forms of knowledge, listened
[127]      to me with an eagerness which I had never seen equalled in any young
[128]      man, and resolved to live for the future in a better way than the
[129]      majority of Italian and Sicilian Greeks, having set his affection
[130]      on virtue in preference to pleasure and self-indulgence. The result
[131]      was that until the death of Dionysios he lived in a way which rendered
[132]      him somewhat unpopular among those whose manner of life was that which
[133]      is usual in the courts of despots.
[134]      
[135]      After that event he came to the conclusion that this conviction, which
[136]      he himself had gained under the influence of good teaching, was not
[137]      likely to be confined to himself. Indeed, he saw it being actually
[138]      implanted in other minds-not many perhaps, but certainly in some;
[139]      and he thought that with the aid of the Gods, Dionysios might perhaps
[140]      become one of these, and that, if such a thing did come to pass, the
[141]      result would be a life of unspeakable happiness both for himself and
[142]      for the rest of the Syracusans. Further, he thought it essential that
[143]      I should come to Syracuse by all manner of means and with the utmost
[144]      possible speed to be his partner in these plans, remembering in his
[145]      own case how readily intercourse with me had produced in him a longing
[146]      for the noblest and best life. And if it should produce a similar
[147]      effect on Dionysios, as his aim was that it should, he had great hope
[148]      that, without bloodshed, loss of life, and those disastrous events
[149]      which have now taken place, he would be able to introduce the true
[150]      life of happiness throughout the whole territory.
[151]      
[152]      Holding these sound views, Dion persuaded Dionysios to send for me;
[153]      he also wrote himself entreating me to come by all manner of means
[154]      and with the utmost possible speed, before certain other persons coming
[155]      in contact with Dionysios should turn him aside into some way of life
[156]      other than the best. What he said, though perhaps it is rather long
[157]      to repeat, was as follows: "What opportunities," he said, "shall we
[158]      wait for, greater than those now offered to us by Providence?" And
[159]      he described the Syracusan empire in Italy and Sicily, his own influential
[160]      position in it, and the youth of Dionysios and how strongly his desire
[161]      was directed towards philosophy and education. His own nephews and
[162]      relatives, he said, would be readily attracted towards the principles
[163]      and manner of life described by me, and would be most influential
[164]      in attracting Dionysios in the same direction, so that, now if ever,
[165]      we should see the accomplishment of every hope that the same persons
[166]      might actually become both philosophers and the rulers of great States.
[167]      These were the appeals addressed to me and much more to the same effect.
[168]      
[169]      My own opinion, so far as the young men were concerned, and the probable
[170]      line which their conduct would take, was full of apprehension-for
[171]      young men are quick in forming desires, which often take directions
[172]      conflicting with one another. But I knew that the character of Dion's
[173]      mind was naturally a stable one and had also the advantage of somewhat
[174]      advanced years.
[175]      
[176]      Therefore, I pondered the matter and was in two minds as to whether
[177]      I ought to listen to entreaties and go, or how I ought to act; and
[178]      finally the scale turned in favour of the view that, if ever anyone
[179]      was to try to carry out in practice my ideas about laws and constitutions,
[180]      now was the time for making the attempt; for if only I could fully
[181]      convince one man, I should have secured thereby the accomplishment
[182]      of all good things.
[183]      
[184]      With these views and thus nerved to the task, I sailed from home,
[185]      in the spirit which some imagined, but principally through a feeling
[186]      of shame with regard to myself, lest I might some day appear to myself
[187]      wholly and solely a mere man of words, one who would never of his
[188]      own will lay his hand to any act. Also there was reason to think that
[189]      I should be betraying first and foremost my friendship and comradeship
[190]      with Dion, who in very truth was in a position of considerable danger.
[191]      If therefore anything should happen to him, or if he were banished
[192]      by Dionysios and his other enemies and coming to us as exile addressed
[193]      this question to me: "Plato, I have come to you as a fugitive, not
[194]      for want of hoplites, nor because I had no cavalry for defence against
[195]      my enemies, but for want of words and power of persuasion, which I
[196]      knew to be a special gift of yours, enabling you to lead young men
[197]      into the path of goodness and justice, and to establish in every case
[198]      relations of friendship and comradeship among them. It is for the
[199]      want of this assistance on your part that I have left Syracuse and
[200]      am here now. And the disgrace attaching to your treatment of me is
[201]      a small matter. But philosophy-whose praises you are always singing,
[202]      while you say she is held in dishonour by the rest of mankind-must
[203]      we not say that philosophy along with me has now been betrayed, so
[204]      far as your action was concerned? Had I been living at Megara, you
[205]      would certainly have come to give me your aid towards the objects
[206]      for which I asked it; or you would have thought yourself the most
[207]      contemptible of mankind. But as it is, do you think that you will
[208]      escape the reputation of cowardice by making excuses about the distance
[209]      of the journey, the length of the sea voyage, and the amount of labour
[210]      involved? Far from it." To reproaches of this kind what creditable
[211]      reply could I have made? Surely none.
[212]      
[213]      I took my departure, therefore, acting, so far as a man can act, in
[214]      obedience to reason and justice, and for these reasons leaving my
[215]      own occupations, which were certainly not discreditable ones, to put
[216]      myself under a tyranny which did not seem likely to harmonise with
[217]      my teaching or with myself. By my departure I secured my own freedom
[218]      from the displeasure of Zeus Xenios, and made myself clear of any
[219]      charge on the part of philosophy, which would have been exposed to
[220]      detraction, if any disgrace had come upon me for faint-heartedness
[221]      and cowardice.
[222]      
[223]      On my arrival, to cut a long story short, I found the court of Dionysios
[224]      full of intrigues and of attempts to create in the sovereign ill-feeling
[225]      against Dion. I combated these as far as I could, but with very little
[226]      success; and in the fourth month or thereabouts, charging Dion with
[227]      conspiracy to seize the throne, Dionysios put him on board a small
[228]      boat and expelled him from Syracuse with ignominy. All of us who were
[229]      Dion's friends were afraid that he might take vengeance on one or
[230]      other of us as an accomplice in Dion's conspiracy. With regard to
[231]      me, there was even a rumour current in Syracuse that I had been put
[232]      to death by Dionysios as the cause of all that had occurred. Perceiving
[233]      that we were all in this state of mind and apprehending that our fears
[234]      might lead to some serious consequence, he now tried to win all of
[235]      us over by kindness: me in particular he encouraged, bidding me be
[236]      of good cheer and entreating me on all grounds to remain. For my flight
[237]      from him was not likely to redound to his credit, but my staying might
[238]      do so. Therefore, he made a great pretence of entreating me. And we
[239]      know that the entreaties of sovereigns are mixed with compulsion.
[240]      So to secure his object he proceeded to render my departure impossible,
[241]      bringing me into the acropolis, and establishing me in quarters from
[242]      which not a single ship's captain would have taken me away against
[243]      the will of Dionysios, nor indeed without a special messenger sent
[244]      by him to order my removal. Nor was there a single merchant, or a
[245]      single official in charge of points of departure from the country,
[246]      who would have allowed me to depart unaccompanied, and would not have
[247]      promptly seized me and taken me back to Dionysios, especially since
[248]      a statement had now been circulated contradicting the previous rumours
[249]      and giving out that Dionysios was becoming extraordinarily attached
[250]      to Plato. What were the facts about this attachment? I must tell the
[251]      truth. As time went on, and as intercourse made him acquainted with
[252]      my disposition and character, he did become more and more attached
[253]      to me, and wished me to praise him more than I praised Dion, and to
[254]      look upon him as more specially my friend than Dion, and he was extraordinarily
[255]      eager about this sort of thing. But when confronted with the one way
[256]      in which this might have been done, if it was to be done at all, he
[257]      shrank from coming into close and intimate relations with me as a
[258]      pupil and listener to my discourses on philosophy, fearing the danger
[259]      suggested by mischief-makers, that he might be ensnared, and so Dion
[260]      would prove to have accomplished all his object. I endured all this
[261]      patiently, retaining the purpose with which I had come and the hope
[262]      that he might come to desire the philosophic life. But his resistance
[263]      prevailed against me.
[264]      
[265]      The time of my first visit to Sicily and my stay there was taken up
[266]      with all these incidents. On a later occasion I left home and again
[267]      came on an urgent summons from Dionysios. But before giving the motives
[268]      and particulars of my conduct then and showing how suitable and right
[269]      it was, I must first, in order that I may not treat as the main point
[270]      what is only a side issue, give you my advice as to what your acts
[271]      should be in the present position of affairs; afterwards, to satisfy
[272]      those who put the question why I came a second time, I will deal fully
[273]      with the facts about my second visit; what I have now to say is this.
[274]      
[275]      He who advises a sick man, whose manner of life is prejudicial to
[276]      health, is clearly bound first of all to change his patient's manner
[277]      of life, and if the patient is willing to obey him, he may go on to
[278]      give him other advice. But if he is not willing, I shall consider
[279]      one who declines to advise such a patient to be a man and a physician,
[280]      and one who gives in to him to be unmanly and unprofessional. In the
[281]      same way with regard to a State, whether it be under a single ruler
[282]      or more than one, if, while the government is being carried on methodically
[283]      and in a right course, it asks advice about any details of policy,
[284]      it is the part of a wise man to advise such people. But when men are
[285]      travelling altogether outside the path of right government and flatly
[286]      refuse to move in the right path, and start by giving notice to their
[287]      adviser that he must leave the government alone and make no change
[288]      in it under penalty of death-if such men should order their counsellors
[289]      to pander to their wishes and desires and to advise them in what way
[290]      their object may most readily and easily be once for all accomplished,
[291]      I should consider as unmanly one who accepts the duty of giving such
[292]      forms of advice, and one who refuses it to be a true man.
[293]      
[294]      Holding these views, whenever anyone consults me about any of the
[295]      weightiest matters affecting his own life, as, for instance, the acquisition
[296]      of property or the proper treatment of body or mind, if it seems to
[297]      me that his daily life rests on any system, or if he seems likely
[298]      to listen to advice about the things on which he consults me, I advise
[299]      him with readiness, and do not content myself with giving him a merely
[300]      perfunctory answer. But if a man does not consult me at all, or evidently
[301]      does not intend to follow my advice, I do not take the initiative
[302]      in advising such a man, and will not use compulsion to him, even if
[303]      he be my own son. I would advise a slave under such circumstances,
[304]      and would use compulsion to him if he were unwilling. To a father
[305]      or mother I do not think that piety allows one to offer compulsion,
[306]      unless they are suffering from an attack of insanity; and if they
[307]      are following any regular habits of life which please them but do
[308]      not please me, I would not offend them by offering useless, advice,
[309]      nor would I flatter them or truckle to them, providing them with the
[310]      means of satisfying desires which I myself would sooner die than cherish.
[311]      The wise man should go through life with the same attitude of mind
[312]      towards his country. If she should appear to him to be following a
[313]      policy which is not a good one, he should say so, provided that his
[314]      words are not likely either to fall on deaf ears or to lead to the
[315]      loss of his own life. But force against his native land he should
[316]      not use in order to bring about a change of constitution, when it
[317]      is not possible for the best constitution to be introduced without
[318]      driving men into exile or putting them to death; he should keep quiet
[319]      and offer up prayers for his own welfare and for that of his country.
[320]      
[321]      These are the principles in accordance with which I should advise
[322]      you, as also, jointly with Dion, I advised Dionysios, bidding him
[323]      in the first place to live his daily life in a way that would make
[324]      him as far as possible master of himself and able to gain faithful
[325]      friends and supporters, in order that he might not have the same experience
[326]      as his father. For his father, having taken under his rule many great
[327]      cities of Sicily which had been utterly destroyed by the barbarians,
[328]      was not able to found them afresh and to establish in them trustworthy
[329]      governments carried on by his own supporters, either by men who had
[330]      no ties of blood with him, or by his brothers whom he had brought
[331]      up when they were younger, and had raised from humble station to high
[332]      office and from poverty to immense wealth. Not one of these was he
[333]      able to work upon by persuasion, instruction, services and ties of
[334]      kindred, so as to make him a partner in his rule; and he showed himself
[335]      inferior to Darius with a sevenfold inferiority. For Darius did not
[336]      put his trust in brothers or in men whom he had brought up, but only
[337]      in his confederates in the overthrow of the Mede and Eunuch; and to
[338]      these he assigned portions of his empire, seven in number, each of
[339]      them greater than all Sicily; and they were faithful to him and did
[340]      not attack either him or one another. Thus he showed a pattern of
[341]      what the good lawgiver and king ought to be; for he drew up laws by
[342]      which he has secured the Persian empire in safety down to the present
[343]      time.
[344]      
[345]      Again, to give another instance, the Athenians took under their rule
[346]      very many cities not founded by themselves, which had been hard hit
[347]      by the barbarians but were still in existence, and maintained their
[348]      rule over these for seventy years, because they had in each them men
[349]      whom they could trust. But Dionysios, who had gathered the whole of
[350]      Sicily into a single city, and was so clever that he trusted no one,
[351]      only secured his own safety with great difficulty. For he was badly
[352]      off for trustworthy friends; and there is no surer criterion of virtue
[353]      and vice than this, whether a man is or is not destitute of such friends.
[354]      
[355]      This, then, was the advice which Dion and I gave to Dionysios, since,
[356]      owing to bringing up which he had received from his father, he had
[357]      had no advantages in the way of education or of suitable lessons,
[358]      in the first place...; and, in the second place, that, after starting
[359]      in this way, he should make friends of others among his connections
[360]      who were of the same age and were in sympathy with his pursuit of
[361]      virtue, but above all that he should be in harmony with himself; for
[362]      this it was of which he was remarkably in need. This we did not say
[363]      in plain words, for that would not have been safe; but in covert language
[364]      we maintained that every man in this way would save both himself and
[365]      those whom he was leading, and if he did not follow this path, he
[366]      would do just the opposite of this. And after proceeding on the course
[367]      which we described, and making himself a wise and temperate man, if
[368]      he were then to found again the cities of Sicily which had been laid
[369]      waste, and bind them together by laws and constitutions, so as to
[370]      be loyal to him and to one another in their resistance to the attacks
[371]      of the barbarians, he would, we told him, make his father's empire
[372]      not merely double what it was but many times greater. For, if these
[373]      things were done, his way would be clear to a more complete subjugation
[374]      of the Carthaginians than that which befell them in Gelon's time,
[375]      whereas in our own day his father had followed the opposite course
[376]      of levying attribute for the barbarians. This was the language and
[377]      these the exhortations given by us, the conspirators against Dionysios
[378]      according to the charges circulated from various sources-charges which,
[379]      prevailing as they did with Dionysios, caused the expulsion of Dion
[380]      and reduced me to a state of apprehension. But when-to summarise great
[381]      events which happened in no great time-Dion returned from the Peloponnese
[382]      and Athens, his advice to Dionysios took the form of action.
[383]      
[384]      To proceed-when Dion had twice over delivered the city and restored
[385]      it to the citizens, the Syracusans went through the same changes of
[386]      feeling towards him as Dionysios had gone through, when Dion attempted
[387]      first to educate him and train him to be a sovereign worthy of supreme
[388]      power and, when that was done, to be his coadjutor in all the details
[389]      of his career. Dionysios listened to those who circulated slanders
[390]      to the effect that Dion was aiming at the tyranny in all the steps
[391]      which he took at that time his intention being that Dionysios, when
[392]      his mind had fallen under the spell of culture, should neglect the
[393]      government and leave it in his hands, and that he should then appropriate
[394]      it for himself and treacherously depose Dionysios. These slanders
[395]      were victorious on that occasion; they were so once more when circulated
[396]      among the Syracusans, winning a victory which took an extraordinary
[397]      course and proved disgraceful to its authors. The story of what then
[398]      took place is one which deserves careful attention on the part of
[399]      those who are inviting me to deal with the present situation.
[400]      
[401]      I, an Athenian and friend of Dion, came as his ally to the court of
[402]      Dionysios, in order that I might create good will in place of a state
[403]      war; in my conflict with the authors of these slanders I was worsted.
[404]      When Dionysios tried to persuade me by offers of honours and wealth
[405]      to attach myself to him, and with a view to giving a decent colour
[406]      to Dion's expulsion a witness and friend on his side, he failed completely
[407]      in his attempt. Later on, when Dion returned from exile, he took with
[408]      him from Athens two brothers, who had been his friends, not from community
[409]      in philosophic study, but with the ordinary companionship common among
[410]      most friends, which they form as the result of relations of hospitality
[411]      and the intercourse which occurs when one man initiates the other
[412]      in the mysteries. It was from this kind of intercourse and from services
[413]      connected with his return that these two helpers in his restoration
[414]      became his companions. Having come to Sicily, when they perceived
[415]      that Dion had been misrepresented to the Sicilian Greeks, whom he
[416]      had liberated, as one that plotted to become monarch, they not only
[417]      betrayed their companion and friend, but shared personally in the
[418]      guilt of his murder, standing by his murderers as supporters with
[419]      weapons in their hands. The guilt and impiety of their conduct I neither
[420]      excuse nor do I dwell upon it. For many others make it their business
[421]      to harp upon it, and will make it their business in the future. But
[422]      I do take exception to the statement that, because they were Athenians,
[423]      they have brought shame upon this city. For I say that he too is an
[424]      Athenian who refused to betray this same Dion, when he had the offer
[425]      of riches and many other honours. For his was no common or vulgar
[426]      friendship, but rested on community in liberal education, and this
[427]      is the one thing in which a wise man will put his trust, far more
[428]      than in ties of personal and bodily kinship. So the two murderers
[429]      of Dion were not of sufficient importance to be causes of disgrace
[430]      to this city, as though they had been men of any note.
[431]      
[432]      All this has been said with a view to counselling the friends and
[433]      family of Dion. And in addition to this I give for the third time
[434]      to you the same advice and counsel which I have given twice before
[435]      to others-not to enslave Sicily or any other State to despots-this
[436]      my counsel but-to put it under the rule of laws-for the other course
[437]      is better neither for the enslavers nor for the enslaved, for themselves,
[438]      their children's children and descendants; the attempt is in every
[439]      way fraught with disaster. It is only small and mean natures that
[440]      are bent upon seizing such gains for themselves, natures that know
[441]      nothing of goodness and justice, divine as well as human, in this
[442]      life and in the next.
[443]      
[444]      These are the lessons which I tried to teach, first to Dion, secondly
[445]      to Dionysios, and now for the third time to you. Do you obey me thinking
[446]      of Zeus the Preserver, the patron of third ventures, and looking at
[447]      the lot of Dionysios and Dion, of whom the one who disobeyed me is
[448]      living in dishonour, while he who obeyed me has died honourably. For
[449]      the one thing which is wholly right and noble is to strive for that
[450]      which is most honourable for a man's self and for his country, and
[451]      to face the consequences whatever they may be. For none of us can
[452]      escape death, nor, if a man could do so, would it, as the vulgar suppose,
[453]      make him happy. For nothing evil or good, which is worth mentioning
[454]      at all, belongs to things soulless; but good or evil will be the portion
[455]      of every soul, either while attached to the body or when separated
[456]      from it.
[457]      
[458]      And we should in very truth always believe those ancient and sacred
[459]      teachings, which declare that the soul is immortal, that it has judges,
[460]      and suffers the greatest penalties when it has been separated from
[461]      the body. Therefore also we should consider it a lesser evil to suffer
[462]      great wrongs and outrages than to do them. The covetous man, impoverished
[463]      as he is in the soul, turns a deaf ear to this teaching; or if he
[464]      hears it, he laughs it to scorn with fancied superiority, and shamelessly
[465]      snatches for himself from every source whatever his bestial fancy
[466]      supposes will provide for him the means of eating or drinking or glutting
[467]      himself with that slavish and gross pleasure which is falsely called
[468]      after the goddess of love. He is blind and cannot see in those acts
[469]      of plunder which are accompanied by impiety what heinous guilt is
[470]      attached to each wrongful deed, and that the offender must drag with
[471]      him the burden of this impiety while he moves about on earth, and
[472]      when he has travelled beneath the earth on a journey which has every
[473]      circumstance of shame and misery.
[474]      
[475]      It was by urging these and other like truths that I convinced Dion,
[476]      and it is I who have the best right to be angered with his murderers
[477]      in much the same way as I have with Dionysios. For both they and he
[478]      have done the greatest injury to me, and I might almost say to all
[479]      mankind, they by slaying the man that was willing to act righteously,
[480]      and he by refusing to act righteously during the whole of his rule,
[481]      when he held supreme power, in which rule if philosophy and power
[482]      had really met together, it would have sent forth a light to all men,
[483]      Greeks and barbarians, establishing fully for all the true belief
[484]      that there can be no happiness either for the community or for the
[485]      individual man, unless he passes his life under the rule of righteousness
[486]      with the guidance of wisdom, either possessing these virtues in himself,
[487]      or living under the rule of godly men and having received a right
[488]      training and education in morals. These were the aims which Dionysios
[489]      injured, and for me everything else is a trifling injury compared
[490]      with this.
[491]      
[492]      The murderer of Dion has, without knowing it, done the same as Dionysios.
[493]      For as regards Dion, I know right well, so far as it is possible for
[494]      a man to say anything positively about other men, that, if he had
[495]      got the supreme power, he would never have turned his mind to any
[496]      other form of rule, but that, dealing first with Syracuse, his own
[497]      native land, when he had made an end of her slavery, clothed her in
[498]      bright apparel, and given her the garb of freedom, he would then by
[499]      every means in his power have ordered aright the lives of his fellow-citizens
[500]      by suitable and excellent laws; and the thing next in order, which
[501]      he would have set his heart to accomplish, was to found again all
[502]      the States of Sicily and make them free from the barbarians, driving
[503]      out some and subduing others, an easier task for him than it was for
[504]      Hiero. If these things had been accomplished by a man who was just
[505]      and brave and temperate and a philosopher, the same belief with regard
[506]      to virtue would have been established among the majority which, if
[507]      Dionysios had been won over, would have been established, I might
[508]      almost say, among all mankind and would have given them salvation.
[509]      But now some higher power or avenging fiend has fallen upon them,
[510]      inspiring them with lawlessness, godlessness and acts of recklessness
[511]      issuing from ignorance, the seed from which all evils for all mankind
[512]      take root and grow and will in future bear the bitterest harvest for
[513]      those who brought them into being. This ignorance it was which in
[514]      that second venture wrecked and ruined everything.
[515]      
[516]      And now, for good luck's sake, let us on this third venture abstain
[517]      from words of ill omen. But, nevertheless, I advise you, his friends,
[518]      to imitate in Dion his love for his country and his temperate habits
[519]      of daily life, and to try with better auspices to carry out his wishes-what
[520]      these were, you have heard from me in plain words. And whoever among
[521]      you cannot live the simple Dorian life according to the customs of
[522]      your forefathers, but follows the manner of life of Dion's murderers
[523]      and of the Sicilians, do not invite this man to join you, or expect
[524]      him to do any loyal or salutary act; but invite all others to the
[525]      work of resettling all the States of Sicily and establishing equality
[526]      under the laws, summoning them from Sicily itself and from the whole
[527]      Peloponnese-and have no fear even of Athens; for there, also, are
[528]      men who excel all mankind in their devotion to virtue and in hatred
[529]      of the reckless acts of those who shed the blood of friends.
[530]      
[531]      But if, after all, this is work for a future time, whereas immediate
[532]      action is called for by the disorders of all sorts and kinds which
[533]      arise every day from your state of civil strife, every man to whom
[534]      Providence has given even a moderate share of right intelligence ought
[535]      to know that in times of civil strife there is no respite from trouble
[536]      till the victors make an end of feeding their grudge by combats and
[537]      banishments and executions, and of wreaking their vengeance on their
[538]      enemies. They should master themselves and, enacting impartial laws,
[539]      framed not to gratify themselves more than the conquered party, should
[540]      compel men to obey these by two restraining forces, respect and fear;
[541]      fear, because they are the masters and can display superior force;
[542]      respect, because they rise superior to pleasures and are willing and
[543]      able to be servants to the laws. There is no other way save this for
[544]      terminating the troubles of a city that is in a state of civil strife;
[545]      but a constant continuance of internal disorders, struggles, hatred
[546]      and mutual distrust is the common lot of cities which are in that
[547]      plight.
[548]      
[549]      Therefore, those who have for the time being gained the upper hand,
[550]      when they desire to secure their position, must by their own act and
[551]      choice select from all Hellas men whom they have ascertained to be
[552]      the best for the purpose. These must in the first place be men of
[553]      mature years, who have children and wives at home, and, as far as
[554]      possible, a long line of ancestors of good repute, and all must be
[555]      possessed of sufficient property. For a city of ten thousand householders
[556]      their numbers should be fifty; that is enough. These they must induce
[557]      to come from their own homes by entreaties and the promise of the
[558]      highest honours; and having induced them to come they must entreat
[559]      and command them to draw up laws after binding themselves by oath
[560]      to show no partiality either to conquerors or to conquered, but to
[561]      give equal and common rights to the whole State.
[562]      
[563]      When laws have been enacted, what everything then hinges on is this.
[564]      If the conquerors show more obedience to the laws than the conquered,
[565]      the whole State will be full of security and happiness, and there
[566]      will be an escape from all your troubles. But if they do not, then
[567]      do not summon me or any other helper to aid you against those who
[568]      do not obey the counsel I now give you. For this course is akin to
[569]      that which Dion and I attempted to carry out with our hearts set on
[570]      the welfare of Syracuse. It is indeed a second best course. The first
[571]      and best was that scheme of welfare to all mankind which we attempted
[572]      to carry out with the co-operation of Dionysios; but some chance,
[573]      mightier than men, brought it to nothing. Do you now, with good fortune
[574]      attending you and with Heaven's help, try to bring your efforts to
[575]      a happier issue.
[576]      
[577]      Let this be the end of my advice and injunction and of the narrative
[578]      of my first visit to Dionysios. Whoever wishes may next hear of my
[579]      second journey and voyage, and learn that it was a reasonable and
[580]      suitable proceeding. My first period of residence in Sicily was occupied
[581]      in the way which I related before giving my advice to the relatives
[582]      and friends of Dion. After those events I persuaded Dionysios by such
[583]      arguments as I could to let me go; and we made an agreement as to
[584]      what should be done when peace was made; for at that time there was
[585]      a state of war in Sicily. Dionysios said that, when he had put the
[586]      affairs of his empire in a position of greater safety for himself,
[587]      he would send for Dion and me again; and he desired that Dion should
[588]      regard what had befallen him not as an exile, but as a change of residence.
[589]      I agreed to come again on these conditions.
[590]      
[591]      When peace had been made, he began sending for me; he requested that
[592]      Dion should wait for another year, but begged that I should by all
[593]      means come. Dion now kept urging and entreating me to go. For persistent
[594]      rumours came from Sicily that Dionysios was now once more possessed
[595]      by an extraordinary desire for philosophy. For this reason Dion pressed
[596]      me urgently not to decline his invitation. But though I was well aware
[597]      that as regards philosophy such symptoms were not uncommon in young
[598]      men, still it seemed to me safer at that time to part company altogether
[599]      with Dion and Dionysios; and I offended both of them by replying that
[600]      I was an old man, and that the steps now being taken were quite at
[601]      variance with the previous agreement.
[602]      
[603]      After this, it seems, Archytes came to the court of Dionysios. Before
[604]      my departure I had brought him and his Tarentine circle into friendly
[605]      relations with Dionysios. There were some others in Syracuse who had
[606]      received some instruction from Dion, and others had learnt from these,
[607]      getting their heads full of erroneous teaching on philosophical questions.
[608]      These, it seems, were attempting to hold discussions with Dionysios
[609]      on questions connected with such subjects, in the idea that he had
[610]      been fully instructed in my views. Now is not at all devoid of natural
[611]      gifts for learning, and he has a great craving for honour and glory.
[612]      What was said probably pleased him, and he felt some shame when it
[613]      became clear that he had not taken advantage of my teaching during
[614]      my visit. For these reasons he conceived a desire for more definite
[615]      instruction, and his love of glory was an additional incentive to
[616]      him. The real reasons why he had learnt nothing during my previous
[617]      visit have just been set forth in the preceding narrative. Accordingly,
[618]      now that I was safe at home and had refused his second invitation,
[619]      as I just now related, Dionysios seems to have felt all manner of
[620]      anxiety lest certain people should suppose that I was unwilling to
[621]      visit him again because I had formed a poor opinion of his natural
[622]      gifts and character, and because, knowing as I did his manner of life,
[623]      I disapproved of it.
[624]      
[625]      It is right for me to speak the truth, and make no complaint if anyone,
[626]      after hearing the facts, forms a poor opinion of my philosophy, and
[627]      thinks that the tyrant was in the right. Dionysios now invited me
[628]      for the third time, sending a trireme to ensure me comfort on the
[629]      voyage; he sent also Archedemos-one of those who had spent some time
[630]      with Archytes, and of whom he supposed that I had a higher opinion
[631]      than of any of the Sicilian Greeks-and, with him, other men of repute
[632]      in Sicily. These all brought the same report, that Dionysios had made
[633]      progress in philosophy. He also sent a very long letter, knowing as
[634]      he did my relations with Dion and Dion's eagerness also that I should
[635]      take ship and go to Syracuse. The letter was framed in its opening
[636]      sentences to meet all these conditions, and the tenor of it was as
[637]      follows: "Dionysios to Plato," here followed the customary greeting
[638]      and immediately after it he said, "If in compliance with our request
[639]      you come now, in the first place, Dion's affairs will be dealt with
[640]      in whatever way you yourself desire; I know that you will desire what
[641]      is reasonable, and I shall consent to it. But if not, none of Dion's
[642]      affairs will have results in accordance with your wishes, with regard
[643]      either to Dion himself or to other matters." This he said in these
[644]      words; the rest it would be tedious and inopportune to quote. Other
[645]      letters arrived from Archytes and the Tarentines, praising the philosophical
[646]      studies of Dionysios and saying that, if I did not now come, I should
[647]      cause a complete rupture in their friendship with Dionysios, which
[648]      had been brought about by me and was of no small importance to their
[649]      political interests.
[650]      
[651]      When this invitation came to me at that time in such terms, and those
[652]      who had come from Sicily and Italy were trying to drag me thither,
[653]      while my friends at Athens were literally pushing me out with their
[654]      urgent entreaties, it was the same old tale-that I must not betray
[655]      Dion and my Tarentine friends and supporters. Also I myself had a
[656]      lurking feeling that there was nothing surprising in the fact that
[657]      a young man, quick to learn, hearing talk of the great truths of philosophy,
[658]      should feel a craving for the higher life. I thought therefore that
[659]      I must put the matter definitely to the test to see whether his desire
[660]      was genuine or the reverse, and on no account leave such an impulse
[661]      unaided nor make myself responsible for such a deep and real disgrace,
[662]      if the reports brought by anyone were really true. So blindfolding
[663]      myself with this reflection, I set out, with many fears and with no
[664]      very favourable anticipations, as was natural enough. However, I went,
[665]      and my action on this occasion at any rate was really a case of "the
[666]      third to the Preserver," for I had the good fortune to return safely;
[667]      and for this I must, next to the God, thank Dionysios, because, though
[668]      many wished to make an end of me, he prevented them and paid some
[669]      proper respect to my situation.
[670]      
[671]      On my arrival, I thought that first I must put to the test the question
[672]      whether Dionysios had really been kindled with the fire of philosophy,
[673]      or whether all the reports which had come to Athens were empty rumours.
[674]      Now there is a way of putting such things to the test which is not
[675]      to be despised and is well suited to monarchs, especially to those
[676]      who have got their heads full of erroneous teaching, which immediately
[677]      my arrival I found to be very much the case with Dionysios. One should
[678]      show such men what philosophy is in all its extent; what their range
[679]      of studies is by which it is approached, and how much labour it involves.
[680]      For the man who has heard this, if he has the true philosophic spirit
[681]      and that godlike temperament which makes him a kin to philosophy and
[682]      worthy of it, thinks that he has been told of a marvellous road lying
[683]      before him, that he must forthwith press on with all his strength,
[684]      and that life is not worth living if he does anything else. After
[685]      this he uses to the full his own powers and those of his guide in
[686]      the path, and relaxes not his efforts, till he has either reached
[687]      the end of the whole course of study or gained such power that he
[688]      is not incapable of directing his steps without the aid of a guide.
[689]      This is the spirit and these are the thoughts by which such a man
[690]      guides his life, carrying out his work, whatever his occupation may
[691]      be, but throughout it all ever cleaving to philosophy and to such
[692]      rules of diet in his daily life as will give him inward sobriety and
[693]      therewith quickness in learning, a good memory, and reasoning power;
[694]      the kind of life which is opposed to this he consistently hates. Those
[695]      who have not the true philosophic temper, but a mere surface colouring
[696]      of opinions penetrating, like sunburn, only skin deep, when they see
[697]      how great the range of studies is, how much labour is involved in
[698]      it, and how necessary to the pursuit it is to have an orderly regulation
[699]      of the daily life, come to the conclusion that the thing is difficult
[700]      and impossible for them, and are actually incapable of carrying out
[701]      the course of study; while some of them persuade themselves that they
[702]      have sufficiently studied the whole matter and have no need of any
[703]      further effort. This is the sure test and is the safest one to apply
[704]      to those who live in luxury and are incapable of continuous effort;
[705]      it ensures that such a man shall not throw the blame upon his teacher
[706]      but on himself, because he cannot bring to the pursuit all the qualities
[707]      necessary to it. Thus it came about that I said to Dionysios what
[708]      I did say on that occasion.
[709]      
[710]      I did not, however, give a complete exposition, nor did Dionysios
[711]      ask for one. For he professed to know many, and those the most important,
[712]      points, and to have a sufficient hold of them through instruction
[713]      given by others. I hear also that he has since written about what
[714]      he heard from me, composing what professes to be his own handbook,
[715]      very different, so he says, from the doctrines which he heard from
[716]      me; but of its contents I know nothing; I know indeed that others
[717]      have written on the same subjects; but who they are, is more than
[718]      they know themselves. Thus much at least, I can say about all writers,
[719]      past or future, who say they know the things to which I devote myself,
[720]      whether by hearing the teaching of me or of others, or by their own
[721]      discoveries-that according to my view it is not possible for them
[722]      to have any real skill in the matter. There neither is nor ever will
[723]      be a treatise of mine on the subject. For it does not admit of exposition
[724]      like other branches of knowledge; but after much converse about the
[725]      matter itself and a life lived together, suddenly a light, as it were,
[726]      is kindled in one soul by a flame that leaps to it from another, and
[727]      thereafter sustains itself. Yet this much I know-that if the things
[728]      were written or put into words, it would be done best by me, and that,
[729]      if they were written badly, I should be the person most pained. Again,
[730]      if they had appeared to me to admit adequately of writing and exposition,
[731]      what task in life could I have performed nobler than this, to write
[732]      what is of great service to mankind and to bring the nature of things
[733]      into the light for all to see? But I do not think it a good thing
[734]      for men that there should be a disquisition, as it is called, on this
[735]      topic-except for some few, who are able with a little teaching to
[736]      find it out for themselves. As for the rest, it would fill some of
[737]      them quite illogically with a mistaken feeling of contempt, and others
[738]      with lofty and vain-glorious expectations, as though they had learnt
[739]      something high and mighty.
[740]      
[741]      On this point I intend to speak a little more at length; for perhaps,
[742]      when I have done so, things will be clearer with regard to my present
[743]      subject. There is an argument which holds good against the man ventures
[744]      to put anything whatever into writing on questions of this nature;
[745]      it has often before been stated by me, and it seems suitable to the
[746]      present occasion.
[747]      
[748]      For everything that exists there are three instruments by which the
[749]      knowledge of it is necessarily imparted; fourth, there is the knowledge
[750]      itself, and, as fifth, we must count the thing itself which is known
[751]      and truly exists. The first is the name, the, second the definition,
[752]      the third. the image, and the fourth the knowledge. If you wish to
[753]      learn what I mean, take these in the case of one instance, and so
[754]      understand them in the case of all. A circle is a thing spoken of,
[755]      and its name is that very word which we have just uttered. The second
[756]      thing belonging to it is its definition, made up names and verbal
[757]      forms. For that which has the name "round," "annular," or, "circle,"
[758]      might be defined as that which has the distance from its circumference
[759]      to its centre everywhere equal. Third, comes that which is drawn and
[760]      rubbed out again, or turned on a lathe and broken up-none of which
[761]      things can happen to the circle itself-to which the other things,
[762]      mentioned have reference; for it is something of a different order
[763]      from them. Fourth, comes knowledge, intelligence and right opinion
[764]      about these things. Under this one head we must group everything which
[765]      has its existence, not in words nor in bodily shapes, but in souls-from
[766]      which it is dear that it is something different from the nature of
[767]      the circle itself and from the three things mentioned before. Of these
[768]      things intelligence comes closest in kinship and likeness to the fifth,
[769]      and the others are farther distant.
[770]      
[771]      The same applies to straight as well as to circular form, to colours,
[772]      to the good, the, beautiful, the just, to all bodies whether manufactured
[773]      or coming into being in the course of nature, to fire, water, and
[774]      all such things, to every living being, to character in souls, and
[775]      to all things done and suffered. For in the case of all these, no
[776]      one, if he has not some how or other got hold of the four things first
[777]      mentioned, can ever be completely a partaker of knowledge of the fifth.
[778]      Further, on account of the weakness of language, these (i.e., the
[779]      four) attempt to show what each thing is like, not less than what
[780]      each thing is. For this reason no man of intelligence will venture
[781]      to express his philosophical views in language, especially not in
[782]      language that is unchangeable, which is true of that which is set
[783]      down in written characters.
[784]      
[785]      Again you must learn the point which comes next. Every circle, of
[786]      those which are by the act of man drawn or even turned on a lathe,
[787]      is full of that which is opposite to the fifth thing. For everywhere
[788]      it has contact with the straight. But the circle itself, we say, has
[789]      nothing in either smaller or greater, of that which is its opposite.
[790]      We say also that the name is not a thing of permanence for any of
[791]      them, and that nothing prevents the things now called round from being
[792]      called straight, and the straight things round; for those who make
[793]      changes and call things by opposite names, nothing will be less permanent
[794]      (than a name). Again with regard to the definition, if it is made
[795]      up of names and verbal forms, the same remark holds that there is
[796]      no sufficiently durable permanence in it. And there is no end to the
[797]      instances of the ambiguity from which each of the four suffers; but
[798]      the greatest of them is that which we mentioned a little earlier,
[799]      that, whereas there are two things, that which has real being, and
[800]      that which is only a quality, when the soul is seeking to know, not
[801]      the quality, but the essence, each of the four, presenting to the
[802]      soul by word and in act that which it is not seeking (i.e., the quality),
[803]      a thing open to refutation by the senses, being merely the thing presented
[804]      to the soul in each particular case whether by statement or the act
[805]      of showing, fills, one may say, every man with puzzlement and perplexity.
[806]      
[807]      Now in subjects in which, by reason of our defective education, we
[808]      have not been accustomed even to search for the truth, but are satisfied
[809]      with whatever images are presented to us, we are not held up to ridicule
[810]      by one another, the questioned by questioners, who can pull to pieces
[811]      and criticise the four things. But in subjects where we try to compel
[812]      a man to give a clear answer about the fifth, any one of those who
[813]      are capable of overthrowing an antagonist gets the better of us, and
[814]      makes the man, who gives an exposition in speech or writing or in
[815]      replies to questions, appear to most of his hearers to know nothing
[816]      of the things on which he is attempting to write or speak; for they
[817]      are sometimes not aware that it is not the mind of the writer or speaker
[818]      which is proved to be at fault, but the defective nature of each of
[819]      the four instruments. The process however of dealing with all of these,
[820]      as the mind moves up and down to each in turn, does after much effort
[821]      give birth in a well-constituted mind to knowledge of that which is
[822]      well constituted. But if a man is ill-constituted by nature (as the
[823]      state of the soul is naturally in the majority both in its capacity
[824]      for learning and in what is called moral character)-or it may have
[825]      become so by deterioration-not even Lynceus could endow such men with
[826]      the power of sight.
[827]      
[828]      In one word, the man who has no natural kinship with this matter cannot
[829]      be made akin to it by quickness of learning or memory; for it cannot
[830]      be engendered at all in natures which are foreign to it. Therefore,
[831]      if men are not by nature kinship allied to justice and all other things
[832]      that are honourable, though they may be good at learning and remembering
[833]      other knowledge of various kinds-or if they have the kinship but are
[834]      slow learners and have no memory-none of all these will ever learn
[835]      to the full the truth about virtue and vice. For both must be learnt
[836]      together; and together also must be learnt, by complete and long continued
[837]      study, as I said at the beginning, the true and the false about all
[838]      that has real being. After much effort, as names, definitions, sights,
[839]      and other data of sense, are brought into contact and friction one
[840]      with another, in the course of scrutiny and kindly testing by men
[841]      who proceed by question and answer without ill will, with a sudden
[842]      flash there shines forth understanding about every problem, and an
[843]      intelligence whose efforts reach the furthest limits of human powers.
[844]      Therefore every man of worth, when dealing with matters of worth,
[845]      will be far from exposing them to ill feeling and misunderstanding
[846]      among men by committing them to writing. In one word, then, it may
[847]      be known from this that, if one sees written treatises composed by
[848]      anyone, either the laws of a lawgiver, or in any other form whatever,
[849]      these are not for that man the things of most worth, if he is a man
[850]      of worth, but that his treasures are laid up in the fairest spot that
[851]      he possesses. But if these things were worked at by him as things
[852]      of real worth, and committed to writing, then surely, not gods, but
[853]      men "have themselves bereft him of his wits."
[854]      
[855]      Anyone who has followed this discourse and digression will know well
[856]      that, if Dionysios or anyone else, great or small, has written a treatise
[857]      on the highest matters and the first principles of things, he has,
[858]      so I say, neither heard nor learnt any sound teaching about the subject
[859]      of his treatise; otherwise, he would have had the same reverence for
[860]      it, which I have, and would have shrunk from putting it forth into
[861]      a world of discord and uncomeliness. For he wrote it, not as an aid
[862]      to memory-since there is no risk of forgetting it, if a man's soul
[863]      has once laid hold of it; for it is expressed in the shortest of statements-but
[864]      if he wrote it at all, it was from a mean craving for honour, either
[865]      putting it forth as his own invention, or to figure as a man possessed
[866]      of culture, of which he was not worthy, if his heart was set on the
[867]      credit of possessing it. If then Dionysios gained this culture from
[868]      the one lesson which he had from me, we may perhaps grant him the
[869]      possession of it, though how he acquired it-God wot, as the Theban
[870]      says; for I gave him the teaching, which I have described, on that
[871]      one occasion and never again.
[872]      
[873]      The next point which requires to be made clear to anyone who wishes
[874]      to discover how things really happened, is the reason why it came
[875]      about that I did not continue my teaching in a second and third lesson
[876]      and yet oftener. Does Dionysios, after a single lesson, believe himself
[877]      to know the matter, and has he an adequate knowledge of it, either
[878]      as having discovered it for himself or learnt it before from others,
[879]      or does he believe my teaching to be worthless, or, thirdly, to be
[880]      beyond his range and too great for him, and himself to be really unable
[881]      to live as one who gives his mind to wisdom and virtue? For if he
[882]      thinks it worthless, he will have to contend with many who say the
[883]      opposite, and who would be held in far higher repute as judges than
[884]      Dionysios, if on the other hand, he thinks he has discovered or learnt
[885]      the things and that they are worth having as part of a liberal education,
[886]      how could he, unless he is an extraordinary person, have so recklessly
[887]      dishonoured the master who has led the way in these subjects? How
[888]      he dishonoured him, I will now state.
[889]      
[890]      Up to this time he had allowed Dion to remain in possession of his
[891]      property and to receive the income from it. But not long after the
[892]      foregoing events, as if he had entirely forgotten his letter to that
[893]      effect, he no longer allowed Dion's trustees to send him remittances
[894]      to the Peloponnese, on the pretence that the owner of the property
[895]      was not Dion but Dion's son, his own nephew, of whom he himself was
[896]      legally the trustee. These were the actual facts which occurred up
[897]      to the point which we have reached. They had opened my eyes as to
[898]      the value of Dionysios' desire for philosophy, and I had every right
[899]      to complain, whether I wished to do so or not. Now by this time it
[900]      was summer and the season for sea voyages; therefore I decided that
[901]      I must not be vexed with Dionysios rather than with myself and those
[902]      who had forced me to come for the third time into the strait of Scylla,
[903]      that once again I might to fell Charybdis measure back my course,
[904]      but must tell Dionysios that it was impossible for me to remain after
[905]      this outrage had been put upon Dion. He tried to soothe me and begged
[906]      me to remain, not thinking it desirable for himself that I should
[907]      arrive post haste in person as the bearer of such tidings. When his
[908]      entreaties produced no effect, he promised that he himself would provide
[909]      me with transport. For my intention was to embark on one of the trading
[910]      ships and sail away, being indignant and thinking it my duty to face
[911]      all dangers, in case I was prevented from going-since plainly and
[912]      obviously I was doing no wrong, but was the party wronged.
[913]      
[914]      Seeing me not at all inclined to stay, he devised the following scheme
[915]      to make me stay during that sading season. On the next day he came
[916]      to me and made a plausible proposal: "Let us put an end," he said,
[917]      "to these constant quarrels between you and me about Dion and his
[918]      affairs. For your sake I will do this for Dion. I require him to take
[919]      his own property and reside in the Peloponnese, not as an exile, but
[920]      on the understanding that it is open for him to migrate here, when
[921]      this step has the joint approval of himself, me, and you his friends;
[922]      and this shall be open to him on the understanding that he does not
[923]      plot against me. You and your friends and Dion's friends here must
[924]      be sureties for him in this, and he must give you security. Let the
[925]      funds which he receives be deposited in the Peloponnese and at Athens,
[926]      with persons approved by you, and let Dion enjoy the income from them
[927]      but have no power to take them out of deposit without the approval
[928]      of you and your friends. For I have no great confidence in him, that,
[929]      if he has this property at his disposal, he will act justly towards
[930]      me, for it will be no small amount; but I have more confidence in
[931]      you and your friends. See if this satisfies you; and on these conditions
[932]      remain for the present year, and at the next season you shall depart
[933]      taking the property with you. I am quite sure that Dion will be grateful
[934]      to you, if you accomplish so much on his behalf."
[935]      
[936]      When I heard this proposal I was vexed, but after reflection said
[937]      I would let him know my view of it on the following day. We agreed
[938]      to that effect for the moment, and afterwards when I was by myself
[939]      I pondered the matter in much distress. The first reflection that
[940]      came up, leading the way in my self-communing, was this: "Come suppose
[941]      that Dionysios intends to do none of the things which he has mentioned,
[942]      but that, after my departure, he writes a plausible letter to Dion,
[943]      and orders several of his creatures to write to the same effect, telling
[944]      him of the proposal which he has now made to me, making out that he
[945]      was willing to do what he proposed, but that I refused and completely
[946]      neglected Dion's interests. Further, suppose that he is not willing
[947]      to allow my departure, and without giving personal orders to any of
[948]      the merchants, makes it clear, as he easily can, to all that he not
[949]      wish me to sail, will anyone consent to take me as a passenger, when
[950]      I leave the house: of Dionysios?"
[951]      
[952]      For in addition to my other troubles, I was lodging at that time in
[953]      the garden which surround his house, from which even the gatekeeper
[954]      would have refused to let me go, unless an order had been sent to
[955]      him from Dionysios. "Suppose however that I wait for the year, I shall
[956]      be able to write word of these things to Dion, stating the position
[957]      in which I am, and the steps which I am trying to take. And if Dionysios
[958]      does any of the things which he says, I shall have accomplished something
[959]      that is not altogether to be sneered at; for Dion's property is, at
[960]      a fair estimate, perhaps not less than a hundred talents. If however
[961]      the prospect which I see looming in the future takes the course which
[962]      may reasonably be expected, I know not what I shall do with myself.
[963]      Still it is perhaps necessary to go on working for a year, and to
[964]      attempt to prove by actual fact the machinations of Dionysios."
[965]      
[966]      Having come to this decision, on the following day I said to Dionysios,
[967]      "I have decided to remain. But," I continued, "I must ask that you
[968]      will not regard me as empowered to act for Dion, but will along with
[969]      me write a letter to him, stating what has now been decided, and enquire
[970]      whether this course satisfies him. If it does not, and if he has other
[971]      wishes and demands, he must write particulars of them as soon as possible,
[972]      and you must not as yet take any hasty step with regard to his interests."
[973]      
[974]      This was what was said and this was the agreement which was made,
[975]      almost in these words. Well, after this the trading-ships took their
[976]      departure, and it was no longer possible for me to take mine, when
[977]      Dionysios, if you please, addressed me with the remark that half the
[978]      property must be regarded as belonging to Dion and half to his son.
[979]      Therefore, he said, he would sell it, and when it was sold would give
[980]      half to me to take away, and would leave half on the spot for the
[981]      son. This course, he said, was the most just. This proposal was a
[982]      blow to me, and I thought it absurd to argue any longer with him;
[983]      however, I said that we must wait for Dion's letter, and then once
[984]      more write to tell him of this new proposal. His next step was the
[985]      brilliant one of selling the whole of Dion's property, using his own
[986]      discretion with regard to the manner and terms of the sale and of
[987]      the purchasers. He spoke not a word to me about the matter from beginning
[988]      to end, and I followed his example and never talked to him again about
[989]      Dion's affairs; for I did not think that I could do any good by doing
[990]      so. This is the history so far of my efforts to come to the rescue
[991]      of philosophy and of my friends.
[992]      
[993]      After this Dionysios and I went on with our daily life, I with my
[994]      eyes turned abroad like a bird yearning to fly from its perch, and
[995]      he always devising some new way of scaring me back and of keeping
[996]      a tight hold on Dion's property. However, we gave out to all Sicily
[997]      that we were friends. Dionysios, now deserting the policy of his father,
[998]      attempted to lower the pay of the older members of his body guard.
[999]      The soldiers were furious, and, assembling in great numbers, declared
[1000]     that they would not submit. He attempted to use force to them, shutting
[1001]     the gates of the acropolis; but they charged straight for the walls,
[1002]     yelling out an unintelligible and ferocious war cry. Dionysios took
[1003]     fright and conceded all their demands and more to the peltasts then
[1004]     assembled.
[1005]     
[1006]     A rumour soon spread that Heracleides had been the cause of all the
[1007]     trouble. Hearing this, Heracleides kept out of the way. Dionysios
[1008]     was trying to get hold of him, and being unable to do so, sent for
[1009]     Theodotes to come to him in his garden. It happened that I was walking
[1010]     in the garden at the same time. I neither know nor did I hear the
[1011]     rest of what passed between them, but what Theodotes said to Dionysios
[1012]     in my presence I know and remember. "Plato," he said, "I am trying
[1013]     to convince our friend Dionysios that, if I am able to bring Heracleides
[1014]     before us to defend himself on the charges which have been made against
[1015]     him, and if he decides that Heracleides must no longer live in Sicily,
[1016]     he should be allowed (this is my point) to take his son and wife and
[1017]     sail to the Peloponnese and reside there, taking no action there against
[1018]     Dionysios and enjoying the income of his property. I have already
[1019]     sent for him and will send for him again; and if he comes in obedience
[1020]     either to my former message or to this one-well and good. But I beg
[1021]     and entreat Dionysios that, if anyone finds Heracleides either in
[1022]     the country or here, no harm shall come to him, but that he may retire
[1023]     from the country till Dionysios comes to some other decision. Do you
[1024]     agree to this?" he added, addressing Dionysios. "I agree," he replied,
[1025]     "that even if he is found at your house, no harm shall be done to
[1026]     him beyond what has now been said."
[1027]     
[1028]     On the following day Eurybios and Theodotes came to me in the evening,
[1029]     both greatly disturbed. Theodotes said, "Plato, you were present yesterday
[1030]     during the promises made by Dionysios to me and to you about Heracleides?"
[1031]     "Certainly," I replied. "Well," he continued, "at this moment peltasts
[1032]     are scouring the country seeking to arrest Heracleides; and he must
[1033]     be somewhere in this neighbourhood. For Heaven's sake come with us
[1034]     to Dionysios." So we went and stood in the presence of Dionysios;
[1035]     and those two stood shedding silent tears, while I said: "These men
[1036]     are afraid that you may take strong measures with regard to Heracleides
[1037]     contrary to what was agreed yesterday. For it seems that he has returned
[1038]     and has been seen somewhere about here." On hearing this he blazed
[1039]     up and turned all colours, as a man would in a rage. Theodotes, falling
[1040]     before him in tears, took his hand and entreated him to do nothing
[1041]     of the sort. But I broke in and tried to encourage him, saying: "Be
[1042]     of good cheer, Theodotes; Dionysios will not have the heart to take
[1043]     any fresh step contrary to his promises of yesterday." Fixing his
[1044]     eye on me, and assuming his most autocratic air he said, "To you I
[1045]     promised nothing small or great." "By the gods," I said, "you did
[1046]     promise that forbearance for which our friend here now appeals." With
[1047]     these words I turned away and went out. After this he continued the
[1048]     hunt for Heracleides, and Theodotes, sending messages, urged Heracleides
[1049]     to take flight. Dionysios sent out Teisias and some peltasts with
[1050]     orders to pursue him. But Heracleides, as it was said, was just in
[1051]     time, by a small fraction of a day, in making his escape into Carthaginian
[1052]     territory.
[1053]     
[1054]     After this Dionysios thought that his long cherished scheme not to
[1055]     restore Dion's property would give him a plausible excuse for hostility
[1056]     towards me; and first of all he sent me out of the acropolis, finding
[1057]     a pretext that the women were obliged to hold a sacrificial service
[1058]     for ten days in the garden in which I had my lodging. He therefore
[1059]     ordered me to stay outside in the house of Archedemos during this
[1060]     period. While I was there, Theodotes sent for me and made a great
[1061]     outpouring of indignation at these occurrences, throwing the blame
[1062]     on Dionysios. Hearing that I had been to see Theodotes he regarded
[1063]     this, as another excuse, sister to the previous one, for quarrelling
[1064]     with me. Sending a messenger he enquired if I had really been conferring
[1065]     with Theodotes on his invitation "Certainly," I replied, "Well," continued
[1066]     the messenger, "he ordered me to tell you that you are not acting
[1067]     at all well in preferring always Dion and Dion's friends to him."
[1068]     And he did not send for me to return to his house, as though it were
[1069]     now clear that Theodotes and Heracleides were my friends, and he my
[1070]     enemy. He also thought that I had no kind feelings towards him because
[1071]     the property of Dion was now entirely done for.
[1072]     
[1073]     After this I resided outside the acropolis among the mercenaries.
[1074]     Various people then came to me, among them those of the ships' crews
[1075]     who came from Athens, my own fellow citizens, and reported that I
[1076]     was evil spoken of among the peltasts, and that some of them were
[1077]     threatening to make an end of me, if they could ket hold of me Accordingly
[1078]     I devised the following plan for my safety.
[1079]     
[1080]     I sent to Archytes and my other friends in Taras, telling them the
[1081]     plight I was in. Finding some excuse for an embassy from their city,
[1082]     they sent a thirty-oared galley with Lamiscos, one of themselves,
[1083]     who came and entreated Dionysios about me, saying that I wanted to
[1084]     go, and that he should on no account stand in my way. He consented
[1085]     and allowed me to go, giving me money for the journey. But for Dion's
[1086]     property I made no further request, nor was any of it restored.
[1087]     
[1088]     I made my way to the Peloponnese to Olympia, where I found Dion a
[1089]     spectator at the Games, and told him what had occurred. Calling Zeus
[1090]     to be his witness, he at once urged me with my relatives and friends
[1091]     to make preparations for taking vengeance on Dionysios-our ground
[1092]     for action being the breach of faith to a guest-so he put it and regarded
[1093]     it, while his own was his unjust expulsion and banishment. Hearing
[1094]     this, I told him that he might call my friends to his aid, if they
[1095]     wished to go; "But for myself," I continued, "you and others in a
[1096]     way forced me to be the sharer of Dionysios' table and hearth and
[1097]     his associate in the acts of religion. He probably believed the current
[1098]     slanders, that I was plotting with you against him and his despotic
[1099]     rule; yet feelings of scruple prevailed with him, and he spared my
[1100]     life. Again, I am hardly of the age for being comrade in arms to anyone;
[1101]     also I stand as a neutral between you, if ever you desire friendship
[1102]     and wish to benefit one another; so long as you aim at injuring one
[1103]     another, call others to your aid." This I said, because I was disgusted
[1104]     with my misguided journeyings to Sicily and my ill-fortune there.
[1105]     But they disobeyed me and would not listen to my attempts at reconciliation,
[1106]     and so brought on their own heads all the evils which have since taken
[1107]     place. For if Dionysios had restored to Dion his property or been
[1108]     reconciled with him on any terms, none of these things would have
[1109]     happened, so far as human foresight can foretell. Dion would have
[1110]     easily been kept in check by my wishes and influence. But now, rushing
[1111]     upon one another, they have caused universal disaster.
[1112]     
[1113]     Dion's aspiration however was the same that I should say my own or
[1114]     that of any other right-minded man ought to be. With regard to his
[1115]     own power, his friends and his country the ideal of such a man would
[1116]     be to win the greatest power and honour by rendering the greatest
[1117]     services. And this end is not attained if a man gets riches for himself,
[1118]     his supporters and his country, by forming plots and getting together
[1119]     conspirators, being all the while a poor creature, not master of himself,
[1120]     overcome by the cowardice which fears to fight against pleasures;
[1121]     nor is it attained if he goes on to kill the men of substance, whom
[1122]     he speaks of as the enemy, and to plunder their possessions, and invites
[1123]     his confederates and supporters to do the same, with the object that
[1124]     no one shall say that it is his fault, if he complains of being poor.
[1125]     The same is true if anyone renders services of this kind to the State
[1126]     and receives honours from her for distributing by decrees the property
[1127]     of the few among the many-or if, being in charge the affairs of a
[1128]     great State which rules over many small ones, he unjustly appropriates
[1129]     to his own State the possessions of the small ones. For neither a
[1130]     Dion nor any other man will, with his eyes open, make his way by steps
[1131]     like these to a power which will be fraught with destruction to himself
[1132]     and his descendants for all time; but he will advance towards constitutional
[1133]     government and the framing of the justest and best laws, reaching
[1134]     these ends without executions and murders even on the smallest scale.
[1135]     
[1136]     This course Dion actually followed, thinking it preferable to suffer
[1137]     iniquitous deeds rather than to do them; but, while taking precautions
[1138]     against them, he nevertheless, when he had reached the climax of victory
[1139]     over his enemies, took a false step and fell, a catastrophe not at
[1140]     all surprising. For a man of piety, temperance and wisdom, when dealing
[1141]     with the impious, would not be entirely blind to the character of
[1142]     such men, but it would perhaps not be surprising if he suffered the
[1143]     catastrophe that might befall a good ship's captain, who would not
[1144]     be entirely unaware of the approach of a storm, but might be unaware
[1145]     of its extraordinary and startling violence, and might therefore be
[1146]     overwhelmed by its force. The same thing caused Dion's downfall. For
[1147]     he was not unaware that his assailants were thoroughly bad men, but
[1148]     he was unaware how high a pitch of infatuation and of general wickedness
[1149]     and greed they had reached. This was the cause of his downfall, which
[1150]     has involved Sicily in countless sorrows.
[1151]     
[1152]     As to the steps which should be taken after the events which I have
[1153]     now related, my advice has been given pretty fully and may be regarded
[1154]     as finished; and if you ask my reasons for recounting the story of
[1155]     my second journey to Sicily, it seemed to me essential that an account
[1156]     of it must be given because of the strange and paradoxical character
[1157]     of the incidents. If in this present account of them they appear to
[1158]     anyone more intelligible, and seem to anyone to show sufficient grounds
[1159]     in view of the circumstances, the present statement is adequate and
[1160]     not too lengthy.