V. When the meeting took place, Plato chose for his subject human virtue, and discussed more particularly the virtue of manly courage, proving that despots are the most cowardly of men. From this he went on to speak of justice, and as he pointed out that the life of the just is happy, and that of the unjust miserable, Dionysius, who considered the lecture as a reproach to himself, was much exasperated, especially when he observed how all the audience admired Plato and were enchanted by his rhetoric. At last in a rage he asked him why he had come to Sicily: and when Plato answered that he had come in order to find a good man, Dionysius caught up his words, and said, “You seem hitherto not to have found one.”
Dion and his friends imagined that this outburst marked the end of Dionysius’s indignation; and as Plato was now anxious to leave Sicily they obtained a passage for him on board of a trireme which was about to convey home Pollis, the Lacedæmonian envoy. Dionysius however secretly besought Pollis to put Plato to death during the voyage, or at any rate to sell him for a slave, because, he said, Plato, according to his own showing, would be none the worse off for being a slave, but would be just as happy, provided that he was just. In consequence of this we are told that Pollis took Plato to Ægina and there sold him, because the people of Ægina were at that time at war with the Athenians, and had passed a decree that any Athenian found in Ægina should be sold for a slave.[482] Yet Dion was no less honoured and trusted by Dionysius in consequence of this, but was entrusted with the management of the most important negotiations, and was himself sent as ambassador to Carthage, in which capacity he gained great credit. Indeed he was almost the only person whom Dionysius allowed freely to speak his mind, as is proved by the reproof which he gave Dionysius about Gelon. It appeals that Dionysius was sneering at Gelon and his kingdom, and saying that he was the laughing-stock of Sicily. All the other courtiers pretended to approve of this jest, but Dion harshly answered, “Yet you have been allowed to become our despot because of the good example set by Gelon; but your example will not encourage any state to imitate us.” In truth Gelon’s conduct as an absolute monarch seems to have been just as admirable as that of Dionysius was detestable.
VI. Dionysius had three children by his Lokrian wife, and four by Aristomache. Of his two daughters, Sophrosyne married her half-brother, and Arete married Thearides, the brother of Dionysius, but on the death of Thearides Dion took Arete, who was his own niece, for his wife. In Dionysius’s last illness, when his life was despaired of, Dion wished to ask him what was to become of the children of Aristomache, but the physicians, who wished to pay their court to the heir to the throne, would not allow Dion an opportunity of doing so. Timæus even states that when Dionysius asked for a sleeping draught they gave him one which rendered him completely insensible, so that he passed from sleep into death. However, as soon as the young Dionysius assembled his friends in council, Dion made such an admirable speech upon the political situation that all the others appeared by his side to be mere children in intellect, and their words seemed to be those of slaves and grovelling flatterers of the despot when compared with his bold and fearless utterances. He impressed upon their minds the greatness of the danger by which they were menaced by Carthage, and promised that if Dionysius wished for peace he himself would at once set sail for Africa and obtain the best terms he could; or that, if he preferred to fight, he would place at his disposal a force of fifty triremes, which he would maintain at his own expense.
VII. Dionysius greatly admired his magnanimity and approved of his zeal; but the others, who thought that they were eclipsed by Dion, and were jealous of his power, at once set to work to effect his ruin, and lost no opportunity of exasperating the young despot against him by pointing out that he was plotting to obtain the supreme throne by means of the fleet, and that his object in making the offer of the ships was to place all real power in the hands of the children of Aristomache. Their hate and jealousy of Dion was chiefly owing to the proud reserve of his life, so different to their own: for they at once began to court the friendship of their young and ill-trained monarch by offering him all kinds of flatteries and pleasures, endeavouring to amuse his leisure by vagrant amours, drinking parties, and the like dissolute pastimes, which blunted the excessive sharpness of his tyranny, and made his subjects regard it as milder and less ferocious than before, although the alteration was due only to the laziness and not to the real goodness of their ruler. By slow degrees the extravagance and licentious life of the young monarch relaxed and broke those “chains of adamant” by which the elder Dionysius boasted that he had secured his power. We are told that he once continued drinking for ninety days in succession, and that during the whole of this time his court was a place which no respectable person could enter, and where no business could be transacted, as it was a constant scene of singing, jesting, dancing, drunkenness and debauchery.
VIII. As may easily be imagined, Dion soon lost the favour of the monarch, as he never relaxed the austerity of his life. For this reason the calumnies of infamous men were more easily believed by Dionysius, when they attacked the virtues of Dion, calling his pride arrogance, and his boldness of speech churlishness. When he gave good advice he was thought to reproach them, and because he refused to join in their excesses, he seemed to despise them. Indeed, his disposition was naturally inclined to haughtiness, and his manners harsh and forbidding. It was not only to a young man whose ears were accustomed to flatteries that he appeared so ungracious and harsh-tempered, but even those who were sincerely attached to him, and who admired the noble simplicity of his character, used to blame his discourtesy and rudeness towards those with whom he was brought in contact upon political business. Indeed, not long after this, Plato, as if prophetically, wrote to him, warning him against a stubborn and arrogant temper, the consort of a lonely life. Yet, even at that time, though Dion was regarded as the most able man in the state, and was thought to be the only person who could save the kingdom from the dangers by which it was menaced, he knew well that his honourable and powerful position was not due to any love which the monarch bore him, but merely to the fact that he could not do without him.
IX. As Dion imagined that this must be caused by Dionysius’s want of education, he endeavoured to interest him in literature, and to form his character by the study of philosophy and science. Indeed Dionysius was far from being a stupid ruler, but his father, fearing that if he were educated, and frequented the society of intellectual men, he would certainly plot against him and seize his throne, used to keep him shut up at home, where, through want of companionship and ignorance, he was forced, we are told, to amuse himself by making little waggons and lamps, and wooden chairs and tables; for the elder Dionysius was so distrustful and suspicious of all men, and was driven by his fears to take such precautions against assassination, that he would not even allow his hair to be cut with a barber’s tools, but a workman used to come and singe his hair with a live coal. Neither his brother nor his son was allowed to enter his house in their ordinary dress, but were obliged to take off their clothes and put on others, so that they might be seen naked by the guard. Once when his brother Leptines, describing the situation of some place, took a spear from one of the life-guards and with it drew a map upon the floor, Dionysius was furiously angry with him, and put to death the man who gave him the spear. He used to say that he suspected all his friends, because he knew that they were sensible men, who would prefer to be despots themselves rather than live under the rule of a despot. He put to death one Marsyas, whom he had himself promoted to a responsible post, because he dreamed that he was killing him; for Dionysius argued that his dream must have been suggested by some thoughts or talk in his waking hours. To such a condition of terror and misery was he reduced by his cowardice, although he was angry with Plato for not declaring him to be the bravest of men.
X. Dion, perceiving, as has been said before, that the character of the young Dionysius had been ruined by his want of education, begged him to educate himself, to offer all possible inducements to the first of philosophers to visit Sicily, and when he came, to place himself in his hands, in order that his character might be exalted by the contemplation of virtue, and formed upon the noblest of models, which alone can produce order out of chaos; by which means he would not only gain great happiness for himself, but would bestow great happiness upon the citizens by his mild and just paternal rule, thus becoming a true king instead of a despot. He pointed out that the “adamantine chains” by which Dionysius’s father boasted that his dominion was secured, were not terror and force, the numbers of his ships of war, or the thousands of his barbarian mercenaries, but rather the goodwill, loyalty, and gratitude engendered by virtue and justice, which, though softer than those rough defences, would nevertheless establish his rule far more securely than they. Besides these considerations he urged that it was a sorry thing, and showed a want of proper ambition for a ruler to be splendidly dressed and luxuriously lodged, but yet to be no more intellectual in his conversation and arguments than any ordinary man, and to neglect to adorn the palace of his soul as became a king.
XI. As Dion frequently urged these considerations, and quoted several of Plato’s discourses, Dionysius became passionately desirous of seeing and conversing with Plato. Many letters were at once sent to Athens by Dionysius, while Plato also received many injunctions from Dion and from several of the Pythagorean philosophers in Italy, bidding him go to Syracuse, undertake the guidance of the mind of this young and powerful ruler, and fill it with serious thoughts. Plato obeyed their invitation, chiefly, he tells us, because he feared to appear a mere man of words, unwilling to take in hand any real work, and also because he hoped that if he could purify the mind of the chief, he might through him influence for good the whole of the corrupt people of Sicily. The opponents of Dion, who feared the results of any change in the character of Dionysius, prevailed upon him to recall from exile Philistus, a man of intellectual culture and an experienced courtier, in order to make use of him as a counterpoise to Plato and his philosophy. Indeed, Philistus had zealously assisted in the establishment of the despotism, and for a long time had acted as chief of the garrison of the citadel. There was also a report that he had been the favoured lover of the mother of the elder Dionysius, and that, too, not altogether without the knowledge of the despot; for when Leptines, without telling Dionysius of it, gave Philistus for his wife one of the two daughters which had been born to him by a woman whom he had seduced while she was married to another man, and who afterwards lived with him, Dionysius was very angry, caused the wife of Leptines to be imprisoned in chains, and forced Philistus to leave Sicily and take refuge with some friends of his at Adria, where he is thought to have found leisure to write the greater part of his history; for he never returned to Syracuse during the life of the elder Dionysius, but it was after that prince’s death, as has been told, that the opposition to Dion brought him back as being a person more likely to agree with their views and more likely to support the monarchy.
XII. Philistus on his return at once became closely connected with the monarchy; while Dion was assailed by misrepresentations and slanders reported by others to the despot, charging him with having discussed the extinction of despotism with Theodotes and Herakleides. Dion appears to have hoped by the influence of Plato to remove from Dionysius all the arbitrary harshness of a despot, and to make him into an orderly constitutional ruler. If he resisted, and refused to be thus softened and refined, Dion had determined to set him aside, and to restore to the Syracusans their free constitution; not that he was an admirer of democracy, but because he thought that at any rate it was better than a despotism for states which were not ruled by a wise and stable oligarchy.
XIII. While affairs were in this posture, Plato arrived at Sicily and received a most kindly and magnificent welcome. One of the royal carriages, splendidly equipped, stood ready to receive him as he landed, and Dionysius offered sacrifice, as though some great good fortune had befallen his rule. The sobriety of the royal banquets, the refined tone of the court and the gentle manners of Dionysius himself in transacting business, all inspired the Syracusans with great hope of a change for the better. It became the fashion to take interest in philosophical matters, and it is said that so many began to study geometry that the palace was filled with the dust in which they drew their figures. In a few days’ time a hereditary sacrifice was celebrated in the palace; and when the herald, according to custom, prayed that the despotism might remain unshaken for many years, it is said that Dionysius, who stood near him, exclaimed: “Will you not cease from imprecating curses upon us?” This greatly grieved the party of Philistus, who feared that Plato’s power over Dionysius would become unassailable, if he were allowed time to become intimate with him, if after so short an acquaintance he had already wrought so great a change in the young man’s ideas.