Seventh Letter
by
Plato
Seventh Letter
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Seventh Letter by Plato.
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[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 c