PLATO TO THE RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF DION. WELFARE.

You write to me that I must consider your views the same as those ofDion, and you urge me to aid your cause so far as I can in word anddeed. My answer is that, if you have the same opinion and desire as hehad, I consent to aid your cause; but if not, I shall think morethan once about it. Now what his purpose and desire was, I caninform you from no mere conjecture but from positive knowledge. Forwhen I made my first visit to Sicily, being then about forty yearsold, Dion was of the same age as Hipparinos is now, and the opinionwhich he then formed was that which he always retained, I mean thebelief that the Syracusans ought to be free and governed by the bestlaws. So it is no matter for surprise if some God should makeHipparinos adopt the same opinion as Dion about forms of government.

But it is well worth while that you should all, old as well asyoung, hear the way in which this opinion was formed, and I willattempt to give you an account of it from the beginning. For thepresent is a suitable opportunity.

In my youth I went through the same experience as many other men.

I fancied that if, early in life, I became my own master, I shouldat once embark on a political career. And I found myself confrontedwith the following occurrences in the public affairs of my own city.

The existing constitution being generally condemned, a revolution tookplace, and fifty-one men came to the front as rulers of therevolutionary government, namely eleven in the city and ten in thePeiraeus-each of these bodies being in charge of the market andmunicipal matters-while thirty were appointed rulers with fullpowers over public affairs as a whole. Some of these were relativesand acquaintances of mine, and they at once invited me to share intheir doings, as something to which I had a claim. The effect on mewas not surprising in the case of a young man. I considered thatthey would, of course, so manage the State as to bring men out of abad way of life into a good one. So I watched them very closely to seewhat they would do.

And seeing, as I did, that in quite a short time they made theformer government seem by comparison something precious as gold-foramong other things they tried to send a friend of mine, the agedSocrates, whom I should scarcely scruple to describe as the mostupright man of that day, with some other persons to carry off one ofthe citizens by force to execution, in order that, whether he wishedit, or not, he might share the guilt of their conduct; but he wouldnot obey them, risking all consequences in preference to becoming apartner in their iniquitous deeds-seeing all these things and othersof the same kind on a considerable scale, I disapproved of theirproceedings, and withdrew from any connection with the abuses of thetime.

Not long after that a revolution terminated the power of thethirty and the form of government as it then was. And once more,though with more hesitation, I began to be moved by the desire to takepart in public and political affairs. Well, even in the newgovernment, unsettled as it was, events occurred which one wouldnaturally view with disapproval; and it was not surprising that in aperiod of revolution excessive penalties were inflicted by somepersons on political opponents, though those who had returned fromexile at that time showed very considerable forbearance. But once moreit happened that some of those in power brought my friend Socrates,whom I have mentioned, to trial before a court of law, laying a mostiniquitous charge against him and one most inappropriate in hiscase: for it was on a charge of impiety that some of them prosecutedand others condemned and executed the very man who would notparticipate in the iniquitous arrest of one of the friends of theparty then in exile, at the time when they themselves were in exileand misfortune.

As I observed these incidents and the men engaged in public affairs,the laws too and the customs, the more closely I examined them and thefarther I advanced in life, the more difficult it seemed to me tohandle public affairs aright. For it was not possible to be activein politics without friends and trustworthy supporters; and to findthese ready to my hand was not an easy matter, since public affairs atAthens were not carried on in accordance with the manners andpractices of our fathers; nor was there any ready method by which Icould make new friends. The laws too, written and unwritten, werebeing altered for the worse, and the evil was growing with startlingrapidity. The result was that, though at first I had been full of astrong impulse towards political life, as I looked at the course ofaffairs and saw them being swept in all directions by contendingcurrents, my head finally began to swim; and, though I did not stoplooking to see if there was any likelihood of improvement in thesesymptoms and in the general course of public life, I postponedaction till a suitable opportunity should arise. Finally, it becameclear to me, with regard to all existing cornmunities, that theywere one and all misgoverned. For their laws have got into a statethat is almost incurable, except by some extraordinary reform withgood luck to support it. And I was forced to say, when praising truephilosophy that it is by this that men are enabled to see what justicein public and private life really is. Therefore, I said, there will beno cessation of evils for the sons of men, till either those who arepursuing a right and true philosophy receive sovereign power in theStates, or those in power in the States by some dispensation ofprovidence become true philosophers.

With these thoughts in my mind I came to Italy and Sicily on myfirst visit. My first impressions on arrival were those of strongdisapproval-disapproval of the kind of life which was there called thelife of happiness, stuffed full as it was with the banquets of theItalian Greeks and Syracusans, who ate to repletion twice every day,and were never without a partner for the night; and disapproval of thehabits which this manner of life produces. For with these habitsformed early in life, no man under heaven could possibly attain towisdom-human nature is not capable of such an extraordinarycombination. Temperance also is out of the question for such a man;and the same applies to virtue generally. No city could remain in astate of tranquillity under any laws whatsoever, when men think itright to squander all their property in extravagant, and consider it aduty to be idle in everything else except eating and drinking andthe laborious prosecution of debauchery. It follows necessarily thatthe constitutions of such cities must be constantly changing,tyrannies, oligarchies and democracies succeeding one another, whilethose who hold the power cannot so much as endure the name of any formof government which maintains justice and equality of rights.

With a mind full of these thoughts, on the top of my previousconvictions, I crossed over to Syracuse-led there perhaps bychance-but it really looks as if some higher power was even thenplanning to lay a foundation for all that has now come to pass withregard to Dion and Syracuse-and for further troubles too, I fear,unless you listen to the advice which is now for the second timeoffered by me. What do I mean by saying that my arrival in Sicily atthat movement proved to be the foundation on which all the sequelrests? I was brought into close intercourse with Dion who was then ayoung man, and explained to him my views as to the ideals at which menshould aim, advising him to carry them out in practice. In doingthis I seem to have been unaware that I was, in a fashion, withoutknowing it, contriving the overthrow of the tyranny which;subsequently took place. For Dion, who rapidly assimilated my teachingas he did all forms of knowledge, listened to me with an eagernesswhich I had never seen equalled in any young man, and resolved to livefor the future in a better way than the majority of Italian andSicilian Greeks, having set his affection on virtue in preference topleasure and self-indulgence. The result was that until the death ofDionysios he lived in a way which rendered him somewhat unpopularamong those whose manner of life was that which is usual in the courtsof despots.

After that event he came to the conclusion that this conviction,which he himself had gained under the influence of good teaching,was not likely to be confined to himself. Indeed, he saw it beingactually implanted in other minds-not many perhaps, but certainly insome; and he thought that with the aid of the Gods, Dionysios mightperhaps become one of these, and that, if such a thing did come topass, the result would be a life of unspeakable happiness both forhimself and for the rest of the Syracusans. Further, he thought itessential that I should come to Syracuse by all manner of means andwith the utmost possible speed to be his partner in these plans,remembering in his own case how readily intercourse with me hadproduced in him a longing for the noblest and best life. And if itshould produce a similar effect on Dionysios, as his aim was that itshould, he had great hope that, without bloodshed, loss of life, andthose disastrous events which have now taken place, he would be ableto introduce the true life of happiness throughout the wholeterritory.

Holding these sound views, Dion persuaded Dionysios to send forme; he also wrote himself entreating me to come by all manner of meansand with the utmost possible speed, before certain other personscoming in contact with Dionysios should turn him aside into some wayof life other than the best. What he said, though perhaps it is ratherlong to repeat, was as follows: "What opportunities," he said,"shall we wait for, greater than those now offered to us byProvidence?" And he described the Syracusan empire in Italy andSicily, his own influential position in it, and the youth of Dionysiosand how strongly his desire was directed towards philosophy andeducation. His own nephews and relatives, he said, would be readilyattracted towards the principles and manner of life described by me,and would be most influential in attracting Dionysios in the samedirection, so that, now if ever, we should see the accomplishment ofevery hope that the same persons might actually become bothphilosophers and the rulers of great States. These were the appealsaddressed to me and much more to the same effect.

My own opinion, so far as the young men were concerned, and theprobable line which their conduct would take, was full ofapprehension-for young men are quick in forming desires, which oftentake directions conflicting with one another. But I knew that thecharacter of Dion's mind was naturally a stable one and had also theadvantage of somewhat advanced years.

Therefore, I pondered the matter and was in two minds as towhether I ought to listen to entreaties and go, or how I ought to act;and finally the scale turned in favour of the view that, if everanyone was to try to carry out in practice my ideas about laws andconstitutions, now was the time for making the attempt; for if onlyI could fully convince one man, I should have secured thereby theaccomplishment of all good things.

With these views and thus nerved to the task, I sailed from home, inthe spirit which some imagined, but principally through a feeling ofshame with regard to myself, lest I might some day appear to myselfwholly and solely a mere man of words, one who would never of hisown will lay his hand to any act. Also there was reason to thinkthat I should be betraying first and foremost my friendship andcomradeship with Dion, who in very truth was in a position ofconsiderable danger. If therefore anything should happen to him, or ifhe were banished by Dionysios and his other enemies and coming to usas exile addressed this question to me: "Plato, I have come to youas a fugitive, not for want of hoplites, nor because I had nocavalry for defence against my enemies, but for want of words andpower of persuasion, which I knew to be a special gift of yours,enabling you to lead young men into the path of goodness andjustice, and to establish in every case relations of friendship andcomradeship among them. It is for the want of this assistance onyour part that I have left Syracuse and am here now. And thedisgrace attaching to your treatment of me is a small matter. Butphilosophy-whose praises you are always singing, while you say sheis held in dishonour by the rest of mankind-must we not say thatphilosophy along with me has now been betrayed, so far as youraction was concerned? Had I been living at Megara, you would certainlyhave come to give me your aid towards the objects for which I askedit; or you would have thought yourself the most contemptible ofmankind. But as it is, do you think that you will escape thereputation of cowardice by making excuses about the distance of thejourney, the length of the sea voyage, and the amount of labourinvolved? Far from it." To reproaches of this kind what creditablereply could I have made? Surely none.

I took my departure, therefore, acting, so far as a man can act,in obedience to reason and justice, and for these reasons leaving myown occupations, which were certainly not discreditable ones, to putmyself under a tyranny which did not seem likely to harmonise withmy teaching or with myself. By my departure I secured my own freedomfrom the displeasure of Zeus Xenios, and made myself clear of anycharge on the part of philosophy, which would have been exposed todetraction, if any disgrace had come upon me for faint-heartedness andcowardice.

On my arrival, to cut a long story short, I found the court ofDionysios full of intrigues and of attempts to create in the sovereignill-feeling against Dion. I combated these as far as I could, but withvery little success; and in the fourth month or thereabouts,charging Dion with conspiracy to seize the throne, Dionysios put himon board a small boat and expelled him from Syracuse with ignominy.

All of us who were Dion's friends were afraid that he might takevengeance on one or other of us as an accomplice in Dion's conspiracy.

With regard to me, there was even a rumour current in Syracuse thatI had been put to death by Dionysios as the cause of all that hadoccurred. Perceiving that we were all in this state of mind andapprehending that our fears might lead to some serious consequence, henow tried to win all of us over by kindness: me in particular heencouraged, bidding me be of good cheer and entreating me on allgrounds to remain. For my flight from him was not likely to redound tohis credit, but my staying might do so. Therefore, he made a greatpretence of entreating me. And we know that the entreaties ofsovereigns are mixed with compulsion. So to secure his object heproceeded to render my departure impossible, bringing me into theacropolis, and establishing me in quarters from which not a singleship's captain would have taken me away against the will of Dionysios,nor indeed without a special messenger sent by him to order myremoval. Nor was there a single merchant, or a single official incharge of points of departure from the country, who would have allowedme to depart unaccompanied, and would not have promptly seized meand taken me back to Dionysios, especially since a statement had nowbeen circulated contradicting the previous rumours and giving out thatDionysios was becoming extraordinarily attached to Plato. What werethe facts about this attachment? I must tell the truth. As time wenton, and as intercourse made him acquainted with my disposition andcharacter, he did become more and more attached to me, and wished meto praise him more than I praised Dion, and to look upon him as morespecially my friend than Dion, and he was extraordinarily eagerabout this sort of thing. But when confronted with the one way inwhich this might have been done, if it was to be done at all, heshrank from coming into close and intimate relations with me as apupil and listener to my discourses on philosophy, fearing thedanger suggested by mischief-makers, that he might be ensnared, and soDion would prove to have accomplished all his object. I endured allthis patiently, retaining the purpose with which I had come and thehope that he might come to desire the philosophic life. But hisresistance prevailed against me.

The time of my first visit to Sicily and my stay there was takenup with all these incidents. On a later occasion I left home and againcame on an urgent summons from Dionysios. But before giving themotives and particulars of my conduct then and showing how suitableand right it was, I must first, in order that I may not treat as themain point what is only a side issue, give you my advice as to whatyour acts should be in the present position of affairs; afterwards, tosatisfy those who put the question why I came a second time, I willdeal fully with the facts about my second visit; what I have now tosay is this.