On my arrival, I thought that first I must put to the test the
question whether Dionysios had really been kindled with the fire of
philosophy, or whether all the reports which had come to Athens were
empty rumours. Now there is a way of putting such things to the test
which is not to be despised and is well suited to monarchs, especially
to those who have got their heads full of erroneous teaching, which
immediately my arrival I found to be very much the case with
Dionysios. One should show such men what philosophy is in all its
extent; what their range of studies is by which it is approached,
and how much labour it involves. For the man who has heard this, if he
has the true philosophic spirit and that godlike temperament which
makes him a kin to philosophy and worthy of it, thinks that he has
been told of a marvellous road lying before him, that he must
forthwith press on with all his strength, and that life is not worth
living if he does anything else. After this he uses to the full his
own powers and those of his guide in the path, and relaxes not his
efforts, till he has either reached the end of the whole course of
study or gained such power that he is not incapable of directing his
steps without the aid of a guide. This is the spirit and these are the
thoughts by which such a man guides his life, carrying out his work,
whatever his occupation may be, but throughout it all ever cleaving to
philosophy and to such rules of diet in his daily life as will give
him inward sobriety and therewith quickness in learning, a good
memory, and reasoning power; the kind of life which is opposed to this
he consistently hates.
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