Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/106

 80 HISTORY OF GREECE. accorded to Dion ; shrinking nevertheless from philosophy, or tn Platonic treatment and training, under the impression that there was a purpose to ensnare and paralyze him, under the auspices of Dion. 1 This is a strange account, given by Plato himself; but it reads like a real picture of a vain ard weak prince, admiring the philosopher coquetting with him, as it were and anxious to captivate his approbation, so far as it could be done without sub- mitting to the genuine Platonic discipline. During this long and irksome detention, which probably made him fully sensible of the comparative comforts of Athenian liber- ty, Plato obtained from Dionysius one practical benefit. He pre- vailed upon him to establish friendly and hospitable relations with Archytas and the Tarentines, which to these latter was a real in- crease of security and convenience. 2 But in the point which he strove most earnestly to accomplish, he failed. Dionysius resisted all entreaties for the recall of Dion. Finding himself at length occupied with a war (whether the war with Carthage previously mentioned, or some other, we do not know), he consented to let Plato depart ; agreeing to send for him again as soon as peace an< leisure should return, and promising to recall Dion at the same time ; upon which covenant, Plato, on his side, agreed to come back. After a certain interval, peace arrived, and Dionysius re- invited Plato ; yet without recalling Dion whom he required still to wait another year. But Plato, appealing to the terms of the covenant, refused to go without Dion. To himself personally, in spite of the celebrity which his known influence with Dionysius tended to confer, the voyage was nothing less than repugnant, for he had had sufficient experience of Syracuse and its despotism. Nor would he even listen to the request of Dion himself; who. partly in the view of promoting his own future restoration, ear- nestly exhorted him to go. Dionysius besieged Plato with solici- tations to come, 3 promising that all which he might insist upon in favor of Dion should be granted, and putting in motion a second time Archytas and the Tarentines to prevail upon him. These men, through their companion and friend Archedemus, who came to Athens in a Syracusan trireme, assursd Plato that Dionysius 1 Plato, Bpiet. vij. p. 329, 330. * Plato, Epist. m p. 338 a ' Plato, EphSol. iii. p. 317 B. C.