consented to pay a tribute to Carthage; and that his son entered not again into the war till two or three years afterwards, which lasted probably not three years. We must not wonder if we find little account of this in Diodorus, as he has said nothing at all of the eight first years of Dionysius the younger; only in the ninth year (which is Ol. 105. 2.) he tells us that he made peace with Carthage and the Lucanians: but it does not, by the narration, appear to be a transaction of that year, but rather makes part of a summary account of what had passed since his father's death. That peace was certainly made about four years earlier than Diodorus seems to have placed it. Ρ. 333. Απεδωκεν αυτος δις την πολιν.] Have a care of correcting this passage, as Serranus has done, who reads instead of dis, Aiwv. It is again repeated in the next, or eighth Epistle, p. 355. Eyw de año Tuрavvæv vvv dus. He twice preserved Syracuse, first by driving out Dionysius, and afterwards by beating Nypsius, the Neapolitan. See Plutarch. Ib. Adeλpw dvw.] They were Callippus and Philocrates, or (as some MSS. of Cornelius Nepos have it) Philostratus. agree Ρ. 336. 'Αυτη παντα το δευτερον.] Αυτη seems to with aμalia. Either a word is lost, or the sentence is an example of that ανακολουθια, which is not uncommon with Attick writers. P. 338. 'ОTI уeрwv тe einv.] Plato was then about sixty-six years old. P. 339. Ta voμpa.] The usual salutations and compliments at the beginning of a letter. Ρ. 340. Τοις των Παρακουσμάτων μεστοις.] This word (IIapakovoμa) means a transitory application to any science, sufficient to give a superficial tincture of knowledge, but neither deep, nor lasting. Such proficients Plato calls, δόξαις επικεχρωσμενοι. P. 342. I know not what to say to this very uncommon opinion of Plato, that no philosopher should put either his system, or the method of attaining to a knowledge of it, into writing. The arguments he brings in support of it are obscure beyond my comprehension. All I conceive is, that he means to shew, how inadequate words are to express our ideas, and how poor a representation even our ideas are of the essence of things. What he says, on the bad effects which a half-strained and superficial knowledge produces in ordinary minds, is certainly very just and very fine. See the Phædrus, p. 274 to p. 276, where he compares all written arts to the gardens of Adonis, which look gay and verdant, but, having no depth of earth, soon wither away. Lord Bacon expresses himself strongly on this head. "Homines per sermones sociantur; at verba ex captu vulgi imponuntur : itaque mala et inepta verborum impositio miris modis intellectum obsidet. Neque definitiones aut explicationes, quibus homines docti se munire et vindicare in nonnullis consueverunt, rem ullo modo restituunt, sed verba planè vim faciunt intellectui, et omnia turbant, et homines ad inanes et innumeras controversias deducunt." (Nov. · Organ. L. 1. aphorism 43 and 59.) P. 342. Ovoμa.] Is the name of a thing; Aoyos is the definition, or verbal description of its properties; Edwλov, its representation by a figure to our senses; Emτηun, the mental comprehension, or the complete and just idea of it: what the Tо Tеμπтоν is, I do not know, except it be the perfect notion of things, such as it exists in the mind of the Divinity. P. 343. I put a comma after kai taûta eis aμietaκινητον, and read, ὁ τε δη πασχει· &c. P. 344. We here learn that Dionysius had written a treatise on philosophy. P. 345. Adeλpidov avrov.] Arete, Dion's wife, was half-sister to Dionysius, consequently, Hipparinus, her son, was his nephew. Ρ. 345. Ιττω Ζευς, φησιν ὁ Θηβαιος.] That is Pindar, as I imagine; though I find not the expression in any of his odes extant. It was a common phrase with the Bootians, Ιττω Ηρακλης, ιττω Ζευς. See Aristophan. Acharn. v. 911. the French use Dieu sçait," and we say, "God knows," in the same manner. 66 Ρ. 346. Καρπούσθω δε Διων.] Let him receive the rents, or interest, but let him not touch the principal. Ib. Εις δε ώρας.] The next summer, when the season returns for sailing. P. 348. Theodotes was uncle to Heraclides, as Plutarch says: and I imagine that Euribius was his brother. See the life of Dion. Ρ. 349. Εις την Καρχηδονιων επικρατειαν.] Sicily was then divided between the Carthaginians and the Syracusans. P. 350. Twv væηpeσiv.] Athenians that served on board the fleet of Dionysius for hire. Ib. Πεμπουσι τριακοντορον.] The Tarentine de puties were Lamiscus and Photidas. The original letter in the Dorick dialect is preserved by Diogenes Laertius in his life of Plato. : Ib. Εις Ολυμπιαν Δίωνα καταλαβων θεωροῦντα.] Hence we may settle pretty exactly the time of Plato's third voyage. It is plain that he landed (on his return) in Peloponnesus, and immediately went to Olympia, where the games were then celebrating, to acquaint Dion with what so nearly concerned him. This must be Ol. 105. 1. It could not be earlier, because there is not time from the death of Dionysius the elder for all that happened, according to Plato's own account, in his two voyages and in the interval between them. He went not to Syracuse at soonest before Ol. 103. 1. and probably not till the year following he staid there at least a year, and came back because of the war which broke out in Sicily. When that was over (and it could not well be determined in less than one campaign) Dionysius invited him back again. He hesitated a full year, and then went; and he spent a year and upwards at Syracuse, before he returned: all which must be, on the least computation, above five years. Besides the improbability that Dion, after he lost his revenues, and was deprived of his wife, should be near seven years before he attempted to right himself. As I have placed it, he was near three years in preparing for his design, which he executed Ol. 105. 4. as Diodorus tells us, and which Plutarch confirms, reckoning forty-eight years from the establishment of Dionysius the elder's tyranny to Dion's entry into Syracuse. He began to reign Ol. 93. 4. from which to Ol. 105. 4. is just forty-eight years. See Xenoph. Græc. Hist. L. 2. p. 460. and Dodwell's Annals. It was in the beginning of the year, for Plutarch tells us that it was the midst of summer, the Etesian winds then blowing; and the olympick year began after the summer solstice. If then Plato came to Olympia, Ol. 105. 1. he must have gone to Syracuse towards the end of Ol. 104. 3. for, from his own account, he must have passed a year or more there. EPISTLE VIII. TO THE FRIENDS OF DION. Ol. 106. 4. From a passage in this epistle (p. 354. TOV TWV Epopov Saopov.) it appears that Plato, as well as Herodotus, makes Lycurgus the author of the institution of the Ephori, and not Theopompus, as late writers do. See Aristot. Politic. L. 5. c. 11. NOTES ON THE GREEK TEXT. Ρ. 352. Πλην ειτις αυτων ανοσιουργος γεγονε.] He means those engaged in the murder of Dion, Callippus and his brother, and their party. Ρ. 353. Κίνδυνος εγενετο εσχατος.] When they had sacked the rich and powerful city of Agrigentum, and demolished it. (Diodorus, L. 13.) Ib. Оnikov.] The ancient inhabitants of Campania, particularly that country which lies round the Bay of Naples. (Aristot. Politic. L. 8. c. 10.) In a passage cited from Aristotle by Dionysius Halicarnassensis (L. 1. p. 57. ed. Huds. Oxon. 1704.), he seems to extend |