Dion

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. VI. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1918.

Now when Archytas and his fellow Pythagoreans learned that Plato was in such peril, they quickly sent a galley with an embassy, demanding him from Dionysius and declaring that Plato had taken them for sureties of his safety when he sailed to Syracuse.

Dionysius sought to disprove his enmity to Plato by giving banquets in his honour and making kind provisions for his journey, and went so far as to say something like this to him: I suppose, Plato, thou wilt bring many dire accusations against me to the ears of your fellow philosophers.

To this Plato answered with a smile: Heaven forbid that there should be such a dearth of topics for discussion in the Academy that any one mention thee.

Such, they say, was the dismissal of Plato; Plato’s own words,[*](Epist. vii. p. 349 f.) however, do not entirely agree with this account.