THE SEVENTH LETTER [1]
would not
participate in the iniquitous arrest of one of the friends of the
party then in exile, at the time when they themselves were in exile
and misfortune.
As I observed these incidents and the men engaged in public affairs,
the laws too and the customs, the more closely I examined them and the
farther I advanced in life, the more difficult it seemed to me to
handle public affairs aright. For it was not possible to be active
in politics without friends and trustworthy supporters; and to find
these ready to my hand was not an easy matter, since public affairs at
Athens were not carried on in accordance with the manners and
practices of our fathers; nor was there any ready method by which I
could make new friends. The laws too, written and unwritten, were
being altered for the worse, and the evil was growing with startling
rapidity. The result was that, though at first I had been full of a
strong impulse towards political life, as I looked at the course of
affairs and saw them being swept in all directions by contending
currents, my head finally began to swim; and, though I did not stop
looking to see if there was any likelihood of improvement in these
symptoms and in the general course of public life, I postponed
action till a suitable opportunity should arise. Finally, it became
clear to me, with regard to all existing cornmunities, that they
were one and all misgoverned. For their laws have got into a state
that is almost incurable, except by some extraordinary reform with
good luck to support it. And I was forced to say, when praising true
philosophy that it is by this that men are enabled to see what justice
in public and private life really is. Therefore, I said, there will be
no cessation of evils for the sons of men, till either those who are
pursuing a right and true philosophy receive sovereign power in the
States, or those in power in the States by some dispensation of
providence become true philosophers.
With these thoughts in my mind I came to Italy and Sicily on my
first visit. My first impressions on arrival were those of strong
disapproval-disapproval of the kind of life which was there called the
life of happiness, stuffed full as it was with the banquets of the
Italian Greeks and Syracusans, who ate to repletion twice every day,
and were never without a partner for the night; and disapproval of the
habits which this manner of life produces. For with these habits
formed early in life, no man under heaven could possibly attain to
wisdom-human nature is not capable of such an extraordinary
combination. Temperance also is out of the question for such a man;
and the same applies to virtue generally. No city could remain in a
state of tranquillity under any laws whatsoever, when men think it
right to squander all their property in extravagant, and consider it a
duty to be idle in everything else except eating and drinking and
the laborious prosecution of debauchery. It follows necessarily that
the constitutions of such cities must be constantly changing,
tyrannies, oligarchies and democracies succeeding one another, while
those who hold the power cannot so much as endure the name of any form
of government which maintains justice and equality of rights.
With a mind full of these thoughts, on the top of my previous
convictions, I crossed over to Syracuse-led there perhaps by
chance-but it really looks as if some higher power was even then
planning to lay a foundation for all that has now come to pass with
regard to Dion and Syracuse-and for further troubles too, I fear,
unless you listen to the advice which is now for the second time
offered by me. What do I mean by saying that my arrival in Sicily at
that movement proved to be the foundation on which all the sequel
rests? I was brought into close intercourse with Dion who was then a
young man, and explained to him my views as to the ideals at which men
should aim, advising him to carry them out in practice. In doing
this I seem to have
participate in the iniquitous arrest of one of the friends of the
party then in exile, at the time when they themselves were in exile
and misfortune.
As I observed these incidents and the men engaged in public affairs,
the laws too and the customs, the more closely I examined them and the
farther I advanced in life, the more difficult it seemed to me to
handle public affairs aright. For it was not possible to be active
in politics without friends and trustworthy supporters; and to find
these ready to my hand was not an easy matter, since public affairs at
Athens were not carried on in accordance with the manners and
practices of our fathers; nor was there any ready method by which I
could make new friends. The laws too, written and unwritten, were
being altered for the worse, and the evil was growing with startling
rapidity. The result was that, though at first I had been full of a
strong impulse towards political life, as I looked at the course of
affairs and saw them being swept in all directions by contending
currents, my head finally began to swim; and, though I did not stop
looking to see if there was any likelihood of improvement in these
symptoms and in the general course of public life, I postponed
action till a suitable opportunity should arise. Finally, it became
clear to me, with regard to all existing cornmunities, that they
were one and all misgoverned. For their laws have got into a state
that is almost incurable, except by some extraordinary reform with
good luck to support it. And I was forced to say, when praising true
philosophy that it is by this that men are enabled to see what justice
in public and private life really is. Therefore, I said, there will be
no cessation of evils for the sons of men, till either those who are
pursuing a right and true philosophy receive sovereign power in the
States, or those in power in the States by some dispensation of
providence become true philosophers.
With these thoughts in my mind I came to Italy and Sicily on my
first visit. My first impressions on arrival were those of strong
disapproval-disapproval of the kind of life which was there called the
life of happiness, stuffed full as it was with the banquets of the
Italian Greeks and Syracusans, who ate to repletion twice every day,
and were never without a partner for the night; and disapproval of the
habits which this manner of life produces. For with these habits
formed early in life, no man under heaven could possibly attain to
wisdom-human nature is not capable of such an extraordinary
combination. Temperance also is out of the question for such a man;
and the same applies to virtue generally. No city could remain in a
state of tranquillity under any laws whatsoever, when men think it
right to squander all their property in extravagant, and consider it a
duty to be idle in everything else except eating and drinking and
the laborious prosecution of debauchery. It follows necessarily that
the constitutions of such cities must be constantly changing,
tyrannies, oligarchies and democracies succeeding one another, while
those who hold the power cannot so much as endure the name of any form
of government which maintains justice and equality of rights.
With a mind full of these thoughts, on the top of my previous
convictions, I crossed over to Syracuse-led there perhaps by
chance-but it really looks as if some higher power was even then
planning to lay a foundation for all that has now come to pass with
regard to Dion and Syracuse-and for further troubles too, I fear,
unless you listen to the advice which is now for the second time
offered by me. What do I mean by saying that my arrival in Sicily at
that movement proved to be the foundation on which all the sequel
rests? I was brought into close intercourse with Dion who was then a
young man, and explained to him my views as to the ideals at which men
should aim, advising him to carry them out in practice. In doing
this I seem to have