For these reasons he
conceived a desire for more definite instruction, and his love of
glory was an additional incentive to him. The real reasons why he
had learnt nothing during my previous visit have just been set forth
in the preceding narrative. Accordingly, now that I was safe at home
and had refused his second invitation, as I just now related,
Dionysios seems to have felt all manner of anxiety lest certain people
should suppose that I was unwilling to visit him again because I had
formed a poor opinion of his natural gifts and character, and because,
knowing as I did his manner of life, I disapproved of it.
It is right for me to speak the truth, and make no complaint if
anyone, after hearing the facts, forms a poor opinion of my
philosophy, and thinks that the tyrant was in the right. Dionysios now
invited me for the third time, sending a trireme to ensure me
comfort on the voyage; he sent also Archedemos-one of those who had
spent some time with Archytes, and of whom he supposed that I had a
higher opinion than of any of the Sicilian Greeks-and, with him, other
men of repute in Sicily. These all brought the same report, that
Dionysios had made progress in philosophy. He also sent a very long
letter, knowing as he did my relations with Dion and Dion's
eagerness also that I should take ship and go to Syracuse. The
letter was framed in its opening sentences to meet all these
conditions, and the tenor of it was as follows: "Dionysios to
Plato," here followed the customary greeting and immediately after
it he said, "If in compliance with our request you come now, in the
first place, Dion's affairs will be dealt with in whatever way you
yourself desire; I know that you will desire what is reasonable, and I
shall consent to it.
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