If then Dionysios
gained this culture from the one lesson which he had from me, we may
perhaps grant him the possession of it, though how he acquired
it-God wot, as the Theban says; for I gave him the teaching, which I
have described, on that one occasion and never again.
The next point which requires to be made clear to anyone who
wishes to discover how things really happened, is the reason why it
came about that I did not continue my teaching in a second and third
lesson and yet oftener. Does Dionysios, after a single lesson, believe
himself to know the matter, and has he an adequate knowledge of it,
either as having discovered it for himself or learnt it before from
others, or does he believe my teaching to be worthless, or, thirdly,
to be beyond his range and too great for him, and himself to be really
unable to live as one who gives his mind to wisdom and virtue? For
if he thinks it worthless, he will have to contend with many who say
the opposite, and who would be held in far higher repute as judges
than Dionysios, if on the other hand, he thinks he has discovered or
learnt the things and that they are worth having as part of a
liberal education, how could he, unless he is an extraordinary person,
have so recklessly dishonoured the master who has led the way in these
subjects? How he dishonoured him, I will now state.
Up to this time he had allowed Dion to remain in possession of his
property and to receive the income from it. But not long after the
foregoing events, as if he had entirely forgotten his letter to that
effect, he no longer allowed Dion's trustees to send him remittances
to the Peloponnese, on the pretence that the owner of the property was
not Dion but Dion's son, his own nephew, of whom he himself was
legally the trustee.
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