Epistles

Plato to Archytas of Tarentum wishes well-doing. We have been wonderfully pleased at receiving the treatises which have come from you and felt the utmost possible admiration for their author; indeed we judged the man to be worthy of those ancient ancestors of his. For in truth these men are said to be Myrians; and they were amongst those Trojans who emigrated in the reign of Laomedon [*](Father of Priam, king of Troy. Nothing is told us elsewhere of this Trojan colony in Italy; so we may regard it as an invention of the writer.)—valiant men, as the traditional story declares. As to those treatises of mine about which you wrote, they are not as yet completed, but I have sent them to you just in the state in which they happen to be; as concerns their preservation [*](Cf. Plat. L. 2.314a, Plat. L. 13.363e.) we are both in accord, so that there is no need to give directions. (Denied to be Plato’s.)

Plato to Dionysius, Tyrant of Syracuse, wishes well-doing. Let this greeting not only commence my letter but serve at the same time as a token that it is from me. [*](For the significance of the greeting well-doing see Plat. L. 3 ad init.; cf. Plat. L. 13.363b below.) Once when you were feasting the Locrian youths and were seated at a distance from me, you got up and came over to me and in a friendly spirit made some remark which I thought excellent, as also did my neighbor at the table, who was one of the beautiful youths. And he then said—No doubt, Dionysius, you find Plato of great benefit as regards philosophy! And you replied—Yes, and in regard to much else; since from the very moment of my inviting him I derived benefit at once from the very fact that I had invited him. This tone, then, should be carefully preserved, in order that the mutual benefit we derive from one another may always go on increasing. So by way of helping towards this end I am now sending you some of the Pythagorean works and of the Divisions, and also, as we arranged at that time, a man of whom you and Archytas—if Archytas has come to your court—may be able to make use. His name is Helicon, he is a native of Cyzicus, and he is a pupil of Eudoxus [*](A famous astronomer.) and exceedingly well versed in all his doctrine. Moreover, he has associated with one of the pupils of Isocrates and with Polyxenus, [*](cf. Plat. L. 2.310c. Bryson the Sophist was a mathematician who claimed, it is said, to have squared the circle (cf. Aristot.An. Post. i. 9,Rhet. iii. 2).) one of Bryson’s companions; and, what is rare in these cases, he is not without charm of address nor is he of a churlish disposition; rather he would seem to be gay and good-tempered. This, however, I say with trepidation, since I am uttering an opinion about a man, and man though not a worthless is an inconstant creature, [*](cf. Plat. L. 6.323b, Plat. L. 7.335e.) save in very few instances and in few respects. For even in this man’s case my fears and suspicions were such that, when I met him, I observed him carefully myself and I made inquiry also from his fellow-citizens, and no one had anything bad to say of the man. But do you yourself also keep him under observation and be cautious. It were best, then, if you have any leisure at all, to take lessons from him in addition to your other studies in philosophy; but if not, get someone else thoroughly taught so that you may learn from him when you have leisure, and thereby make progress and gain glory,—that so the benefit you gain from me may still continue. So much, then, for this subject.