Vitae philosophorum

Plato, it seems, was the first to bring to Athens the mimes of Sophron which had been neglected, and to draw characters in the style of that writer; a copy of the mimes, they say, was actually found under his pillow. He made three voyages to Sicily, the first time to see the island and the craters of Etna: on this occasion Dionysius, the son of Hermocrates, being on the throne, forced him to become intimate with him. But when Plato held forth on tyranny and maintained that the interest of the ruler alone was not the best end, unless he were also pre-eminent in virtue, he offended Dionysius, who in his anger exclaimed, You talk like an old dotard. And you like a tyrant, rejoined Plato.

At this the tyrant grew furious and at first was bent on putting him to death; then, when he had been dissuaded from this by Dion and Aristomenes, he did not indeed go so far but handed him over to Pollis the Lacedaemonian, who had just then arrived on an embassy, with orders to sell him into slavery.

Anniceris the Cyrenaic happened to be present and ransomed him for twenty minae—according to others the sum was thirty minae—and dispatched him to Athens to his friends, who immediately remitted the money. But Anniceris declined it, saying that the Athenians were not the only people worthy of the privilege of providing for Plato. Others assert that Dion sent the money and that Anniceris would not take it, but bought for Plato the little garden which is in the Academy. Pollis, however, is stated to have been defeated by Chabrias and afterwards to have been drowned at Helice,[*](In the tidal wave which swallowed up ten Lacedaemonian triremes in the great earthquake of 372 b.c.: Aelian, Hist. animal. xi. 19.) his treatment of the philosopher having provoked the wrath of heaven, as Favorinus says in the first book of his Memorabilia.

Dionysius, indeed, could not rest. On learning the facts he wrote and enjoined upon Plato not to speak evil of him. And Plato replied that he had not the leisure to keep Dionysius in his mind.

The second time he visited the younger Dionysius, requesting of him lands and settlers for the realization of his republic. Dionysius promised them but did not keep his word. Some say that Plato was also in great danger, being suspected of encouraging Dion and Theodotas in a scheme for liberating the whole island; on this occasion Archytas the Pythagorean wrote to Dionysius, procured his pardon, and got him conveyed safe to Athens. The letter runs as follows:

Archytas to Dionysius, wishing him good health.

We, being all of us the friends of Plato, have sent to you Lamiscus and Photidas in order to take the philosopher away by the terms of the agreement made with you. You will do well to remember the zeal with which you urged us all to secure Plato’s coming to Sicily, determined as you were to persuade him and to undertake, amongst other things, responsibility for his safety so long as he stayed with you and on his return. Remember this too, that you set great store by his coming, and from that time had more regard for him than for any of those at your court. If he has given you offence, it behoves you to behave with humanity and restore him to us unhurt. By so doing you will satisfy justice and at the same time put us under an obligation.

The third time he came to reconcile Dion and Dionysius, but, failing to do so, returned to his own country without achieving anything. And there he refrained from meddling with politics, although his writings show that he was a statesman. The reason was that the people had already been accustomed to measures and institutions quite different from his own. Pamphila in the twenty-fifth book of her

and that, on this occasion, as he was going up to the Acropolis along with Chabrias, Crobylus the informer met him and said, What, are you come to speak for the defence? Don’t you know that the hemlock of Socrates awaits you? To this Plato replied, As I faced dangers when serving in the cause of my country, so I will face them now in the cause of duty for a friend.

He was the first to introduce argument by means of question and answer, says Favorinus in the eighth book of his Miscellaneous History; he was the first to explain to Leodamas of Thasos the method of solving problems by analysis[*](The same statement that Plato made over to Leodamas the analytical method occurs in Proclus, On Eucl. i. p. 211, 19-23 ed. Friedlein. See T. L. Heath, Euclid, vol. i. p. 36, also p. 134 note 1, and p. 137; vol. iii. p. 246.); and the first who in philosophical discussion employed the terms antipodes, element, dialectic, quality, oblong number, and, among boundaries, the plane superficies; also divine providence.

He was also the first philosopher who controverted the speech of Lysias, the son of Cephalus, which he has set out word for word in the Phaedrus,[*](230 e sqq.) and the first to study the significance of grammar. And, as he was the first to attack the views of almost all his predecessors, the question is raised why he makes no mention of Democritus. Neanthes of Cyzicus says that, on his going to Olympia, the eyes of all

Heraclides declares that in his youth he was so modest and orderly that he was never seen to laugh outright. In spite of this he too was ridiculed by the Comic poets. At any rate Theopompus in his Hedychares says[*](Meineke, C.G.F. ii. 796.):

There is not anything that is truly one, even the number two is scarcely one, according to Plato.

He was eating olives exactly like Plato.

As Plato placed strange platitudes.

Alexis again in the Meropis[*](Ib. iii. 451.):

You have come in the nick of time. For I am at my wits’ end and walking up and down, like Plato, and yet have discovered no wise plan but only tired my legs.

You don’t know what you are talking about: run about with Plato, and you’ll know all about soap and onions.

1. A. And as for the good, whatever that be, that you are likely to get on her account, I know no more about it, master, than I do of the good of Plato.
2. B. Just attend.

And in the Dexidemides[*](Meineke, C.G.F. iii. 305.):

O Plato, all you know is how to frown with eyebrows lifted high like any snail.

1. A. Clearly you are a man and have a soul.
2. B. In Plato’s words, I am not sure but suspect that I have.

1. A. My mortal body withered up, my immortal part sped into the air.
2. B. Is not this a lecture of Plato’s?

Or, with Plato, to converse alone.

Aristippus in his fourth book On the Luxury of the Ancients says that he was attached to a youth named Aster, who joined him in the study of astronomy, as also to Dion who has been mentioned above, and, as some aver, to Phaedrus too. His passionate affection is revealed in the following epigrams which he is said to have written upon them[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 669, 670.):

Star-gazing Aster, would I were the skies,

To gaze upon thee with a thousand eyes.

Among the living once the Morning Star,
1. Thou shin’st, now dead, like Hesper from afar.

And he wrote thus upon Dion[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 99.):

1. Tears from their birth the lot had been
2. Of Ilium’s daughters and their queen.
3. By thee, O Dion, great deeds done
4. New hopes and larger promise won.
5. Now here thou liest gloriously,
6. How deeply loved, how mourned by me.

This, they say, was actually inscribed upon his tomb at Syracuse.

Again, it is said that being enamoured of Alexis and Phaedrus, as before mentioned, he composed the following lines[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 100.):

Now, when Alexis is of no account, I have said no more than this. He is fair to see, and everywhere all eyes are turned upon him. Why, my heart, do you show the dogs a bone? And then will you smart for this hereafter? Was it not thus that we lost Phaedrus?

I have a mistress, fair Archeanassa of Colophon, on whose very wrinkles sits hot love. O hapless ye who met such beauty on its first voyage, what a flame must have been kindled in you!

There is another upon Agathon[*](Anth. Pal. v. 78.):

While kissing Agathon, my soul leapt to my lips, as if fain, alas! to pass over to him.

I throw an apple to you and, if indeed you are willing to love me, then receive it and let me taste your virgin charms. But if you are otherwise minded, which heaven forbid, take this very apple and see how short-lived all beauty is.

An apple am I, thrown by one who loves you. Nay, Xanthippe, give consent, for you and I are both born to decay.

It is also said that the epigram on the Eretrians, who were swept out of the country, was written by him[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 259.):

We are Eretrians by race, from Euboea, and lie near Susa. How far, alas, from our native land!

Thus Venus to the Muses spoke:
1. Damsels, submit to Venus’ yoke,
2. Or dread my Cupid’s arms.
3. Those threats, the virgins nine replied,
4. May weigh with Mars, but we deride
5. Love’s wrongs, or darts, or charms.

A certain person found some gold,
1. Carried it off and, in its stead,
2. Left a strong halter, neatly rolled.
3. The owner found his treasure fled,
4. And, daunted by his fortune’s wreck,
5. Fitted the halter to his neck.

Further, Molon, being his enemy, said, It is not wonderful that Dionysius should be in Corinth, but rather that Plato should be in Sicily. And it seems that Xenophon was not on good terms with him. At any rate, they have written similar narratives as if out of rivalry with each other, a Symposium, a

It is said also that Antisthenes, being about to read publicly something that he had composed, invited Plato to be present. And on his inquiring what he was about to read, Antisthenes replied that it was something about the impossibility of contradiction. How then, said Plato, can you write on this subject? thus showing him that the argument refutes itself. Thereupon he wrote a dialogue against Plato and entitled it Sathon. After this they continued to be estranged from one another. They say that, on hearing Plato read the Lysis, Socrates exclaimed, By Heracles, what a number of lies this young man is telling about me! For he has included in the dialogue much that Socrates never said.

Plato was also on bad terms with Aristippus. At least in the dialogue Of the Soul[*](Cf. ii. 65 with note.) he disparages him by saying that he was not present at the death of Socrates, though he was no farther off than Aegina. Again, they say that he showed a certain jealousy of Aeschines, because of his reputation with Dionysius, and that, when he arrived at the court, he was despised by Plato because of his poverty, but supported by Aristippus. And Idomeneus asserts that the arguments used by Crito, when in the prison he urges Socrates to escape, are really due to Aeschines,

Nowhere in his writings does Plato mention himself by name, except in the dialogue On the Soul[*](Phaedo, 59 b.) and the Apology.[*](34 a.) Aristotle remarks that the style of the dialogues is half-way between poetry and prose. And according to Favorinus, when Plato read the dialogue On the Soul, Aristotle alone stayed to the end; the rest of the audience got up and went away. Some say that Philippus of Opus copied out the Laws, which were left upon waxen tablets, and it is said that he was the author of the Epinomis. Euphorion and Panaetius relate that the beginning of the Republic was found several times revised and rewritten, and the Republic itself Aristoxenus declares to have been nearly all of it included in the Controversies of Protagoras.