Platos Detractors in Antiquity

Plato's Detractors in Antiquity
Author(s): Anton-Herman Chroust

Source: The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Sep., 1962), pp. 98-118
Published by: Philosophy Education Society Inc.
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PLATO'S DETRACTORS IN ANTIQUITY
ANTON-HERMAN CHROUST
Irobably no other ancient author has been more attacked,

belittled, or vilified, than Plato. In an earlier paper, we attempt
ed to recite some of the charges of "plagiarism" hurled
against Plato by ancient critics.1 But the apparently wide-spread
and lasting animadversion against Plato was by no means restricted
to charges of plagiarism. As a matter of fact, if the surviving
sources contain reliable information, Plato must have been with
out doubt the most unpopular and at the same time the most
maligned and most criticized author in Greek antiquity. This
continued and at times vehement dislike, which was shared by a
large segment of ancient intellectuals, deserves to be recorded.
"The day would fail me," Pontianus observes in Athenaeus'
Deipnosophistae, "if I were to proceed enumerating all those men
who were abused by the philosopher [seil., Plato]. . . ."2 For
"Plato was in fact hostile towards everyone,"3 and displayed
"malice towards all";4 he had "the reputation of being jealous and
of having by no means a good name so far as his character was
concerned";5 and "besides of being malicious, . . . [he] also was
eager for fame"6?characteristics which, if true, certainly would
not endear him to others. Aristoxenus, for instance, maintains
that perhaps from sheer envy or malice Plato "wanted co burn all
of the writings of Democritus."7 When he failed in this,
1 A.-H. Chroust, "Charges of Philosophical Plagiarism in Greek Anti

quity," The Modern Schoolman, 38 (1961), 219-37, especially at 225-27.
2 Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 11.507A (subsequently cited as Athen.).
3 Athen. 11.506A.
4 Athen. 11.507A.
5 Athen. 11.507B. See also at 11.504E.
6 Athen. 11.507D. See also Plutarch, De Adulatione et Amicitia,
eh. 32; and Diogenes Laertius 6.7 (subsequently cited as D.L.), where we
are told that Plato was conceited; at 6.26, where Plato's vainglory is
mentioned; and at 6.40.
7 D.L. 9.40.
PLATO'S DETRACTORS IN ANTIQUITY 99
Aristoxenus continues, Plato, "who mentions almost all the early

philosophers, never once alluded to Democritus, not even where
it would be appropriate to take issue with him, obviously because
he knew that he would have to compete against the greatest of
all philosophers."8 Plato was also accused of being jealous of
Xenophon,9 refusing to mention him in his Phaedo,10 and of mak
ing it a deliberate issue to contradict Xenophon's statement that
from his earliest childhood King Cyrus had been thoroughly
educated in all the traditional branches of learning.11 As a matter
of fact, Plato insisted that Cyrus "had never given much thought
to education."12 Plato, according to these reports, also denied
in a spirit of resentment the truth of Xenophon's description of
Menon's foul treachery,13 calling the whole account an outright
fabrication deliberately invented to discredit Menon?in Plato's
opinion an upright and praiseworthy person.14 It might be con
tended, therefore, that in the final analysis the reasons for the
many ancient "anti-platonica" may be looked for in Plato himself,
especially in the many violent and often unrestrained polemics
which he hurled, often indiscriminately, against practically every
author. "He [seil., Plato] was the first philosopher ... to attack
the views of almost all of his predecessors." 15
Plato's undisguised hostility toward many of his intellectually
prominent contemporaries (such as Aeschines of Sphettos,
Antisthenes, Aristippus, Isocrates and probably Xenophon, not to
mention the so-called "sophists" and other "intellectuals"), is a
matter of common knowledge. These men, it appears, often
8 Ibid. See also at 3.25. It may be argued that Plato strongly dis
agreed with Democritus' philosophy because of its "materialistic" implica
tions, and hence suppressed his teachings. It is said that the Pythagoreans,
who in this sided with Plato, prevented the latter from carrying out his futile
plan to burn all of Democritus' writings.
9 Athen. 11.504E; D.L. 3.34, and also at 2.57. Incidentally, Xeno
phon is said to have been jealous of Plato. D.L. loc. cit.
10 Athen. 11.504F; D.L. loc. cit. The reference is to Plato, Phaedo 59B.
11 Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.31; Athen. 11.504F-505A; D.L. 3.34-35.
12 Plato, Laws 694C; Athen, loc. cit.; D.L. loc. cit.
13 Xenophon, Anabasis 2.5.28. See also at 2.6.21ff.; and Athen.
11.505A-505B.
14 Athen. 11.505B. See also at 11.506AB; and Plato, Meno, passim.
15 D.L. 3.25.
100 ANTON-HERMAN CHROUST
retaliated in kind or worse. Antisthenes, for instance, who, like

"most philosophers, . . . [had] a natural tendency to be more
abusive [of others] than even some of the comic poets . . ., "16
violently attacks Plato by "changing the name of Plato [?X?Twv] to
Satho [Ed&wv], a filthy, vulgar word, and published a dialogue
against him under this title." 1T But it was apparently the disciples
or followers of these men who, perhaps inspired by the desire to
"avenge" their masters, teachers, and idols, really unleashed a
flood of indiscriminate invectives and accusations against Plato.
Contemporary comedians18 likewise lashed out at Plato
and the Academy, among them Theopompus,19 Anaxandrides,20
Timon,21 Alexis,22 Amphis,23 Cratinus,24 Anaxilas,25 Ephippus,26 and
others. Alluding either to Plato's personality or to his teachings,
they insinuated that he was a foolish fop who gave himself grand
airs, that he indulged in sonorous platitudes, that his general
deportment was reprehensible, that he had many unpleasant traits
of character, and that his philosophy was shallow, confusing,
lacked originality, and, after all, made little sense if any.27
16 Athen. 5.220A.
17 Athen. 5.220DE. See also at 11.507A; and D.L. 3.35.
18 See, in general, Athen. 2.59C and 11.509C; D.L. 3.26-28.
19 D.L. 3.26; A. Meinecke, Fragmentia Comicorum Graecorum, II
(1839), 796, subsequently cited as Meineke, F.C.G., II, 796. The reference
is to Plato, Phaedo 96E-97B.
20 D.L. 3.26; Meineke, F.C.G., II, 170.
21 D.L. 3.26; Meineke, F.C.G., VI, 25.
22 D.L. 3.27 and 3.28; Athen 8.354D; Meineke, F.C.G., III, 451;
III, 455; III, 468; 111, 382. See also John M. Edmonds, The Fragments
of Attic Comedy, II (1959), 415.
23 D.L. 3.27-28; Meineke, F.C.G., III, 302, and III, 305.
24 D.L. 3.28; Meineke, F.C.G., III, 378.
25 D.L. 3.28; Meineke, F.C.G., III, 342-352.
26 Athen. 11.509B-509E. See also infra note 121, the text thereto.
27 See, in general, D.L. 3.26-28. The dramatists and comedians of
Middle Comedy (404-338 B.C.), it must be borne in mind, wrote for an
audience quite different from that addressed by Old Comedy. The members
of Middle Comedy?and the men mentioned above belong to Middle
Comedy?were no longer entirely Athenian citizens or allies, but in increas
ing numbers men from all over the Greek world who flocked to Athens and
often joined the schools of Plato or Isocrates. See K. Lever, The Art of
Greek Comedy (1956), p. 164. In Middle Comedy, personal mockery was
less used than in Old Comedy, and Plato is probably the only prominent
Socrates himself is quoted as having called Plato a shameless

liar. "On hearing Plato read the Lysis, Socrates exclaimed: 'By
Heracles, what a pack of lies this young man is telling about me.'
For he has included in the dialogue much that Socrates never
said."28 And before a large audience Socrates told of a dream
which he had: "Methought Plato had turned into a crow and had
lighted on my head, where he pecked at my bald spot and croaked
as he looked all around. So I infer, Plato, that you are going to
tell many lies over my head."29
Plato was accused of having abused and treated in a shabby
man who is frequently portrayed and ridiculed by Middle Comedy. Aristo

phon, for instance, wrote a play entitled "Plato," of which a single fragment
survives. See Athen. 12.552E; K. Lever, p. 176; John M. Edmonds, II,
525. In addition, Epicrates wrote of Plato. See Athen. 2.59C ff.; John
M. Edmonds, II, 355 ff.; K. Lever, pp. 177-178. While Karl Lever notes that
the humor and ridicule of Middle Comedy is feeble compared to Aristo
phanes, Thomas B. L. Webster, in his Studies in Later Greek Comedy
(1953), pp. 50-51, points out that the several references to philosophers and
philosophies have three "standardized" features: (1) philosophers are
enemies of pleasure; (2) philosophers are impractical and "unworldly";
and (3) philosophers are eager for money. In New Comedy (Menander, etc.)
these same complaints continue. Other philosophers, such as Zeno the Stoic,
Epicurus, Diogenes of Sinope, etc., also come in for much ridicule.
28 D.L. 3.35.
29 Athen. 11.507C. This story, which probably goes back to Hege
sander of Delphi, is a "take-off" on the tradition that Socrates once had
a dream in which he saw a cygnet flying towards him singing a beautiful
(loud) song, after it had suddenly put on adult plumage. When Socrates
met Plato the next day, he understood the meaning of this dream. See
Pausanias 1.30.3; D.L. 3.5; 3.7; Apuleius, De Piatone et Eius Dogmate 1.1.
Another meaning of this story is the following: Plato was noted for his loud
sweet voice, and Socrates is amused over the fact that this young and
immature person, Plato, has "learned" so quickly and is so eager to display
his newly acquired wisdom. This interpretation, too, probably goes back
to Hegesander.
This is not the place to recite or discuss in detail the many stories
which were circulated about Plato's alleged relationships with all sorts
of disreputable women, about his alleged sexual aberrations, and about
his alleged homosexuality. The stories, which are part of a deliberate
but probably fantastic anti-Platonic (and anti-Socratic) chronique scanda
leuse, were invented or circulated in order to discredit Plato and the
whole Socratic-Platonic circle. See, among others, D.L. 3.29-33; Aelian,
Varia Historia 4,21; Athen. 13.589CD; and, naturally, the vicious outbursts
of the unreliable Aristoxenus. The Peripatetic Antisthenes' dialogue Satho
(see supra) might also have dealt with Plato's alleged erotic excesses.
manner several of his "fellow students": "He [seil., Plato] was so

constituted by nature as to have the disposition of a stepmother
towards all the disciples of Socrates."30 It was claimed that he
treated Aeschines of Sphettus unfairly. According to the
Epicurean Idomeneus, "it was Aeschines, and not Cri to, who
counselled the imprisoned Socrates to make his escape, but . . .
Plato [out of spite] put the words in the mouth of Crito because
Aeschines was more attached to Aristippus than to himself [seil.,
Plato], "31 for which reason Plato bore Aeschines a personal
enmity.32 Plato was also reproached not only for having refused
to help Aeschines when the latter found himself penniless at the
court of Dionysius in Syracuse33 (while he himself was doing
extremely well), but also for having enticed away from Aeschines
his only pupil from sheer malice.34 And he "abused scandalously
Aristippus in his dialogue On the Soul [seil., Phaedo]."35
Prompted by meanness, he brought a law suit against Phaedo of
Elis in which he alleged that the latter was a slave.36 His un
popularity with the other pupils of Socrates is dramatically illus
trated in a story related by Hegesander of Delphi : " After the death
of Socrates the latter's intimate friends gathered together. . . .
Plato . . . taking up a cup exhorted them not to be downcast,
because he was fully competent to lead the school himself, and
proposed a toast to Apollodorus. But the latter said: T would
rather have taken the cup of poison from Socrates than the toast
of wine from you.'"37 Florinus, according to the testimony of
Diogenes Laertius, maintains that when Plato read his Phaedo to
30 Athen. 11.507C.
31 D.L. 2.60; and at 3.36. See Plato, Crito 44B, and passim.
32 D.L. 3.36.
33 D.L. 2.61-62; and at 3.36.
34 Athen. 11.507C.
35 D.L. 2.65, and at 3.36. The "abuse" is probably Plato's remark,
found in Phaedo 59C, that Aristippus was hiding in Aegina (or Megara)
while Socrates drank the hemlock.
36 Athen. 11.507C. Phaedo had been taken captive and was sold into
slavery (as, incidentally, Plato had been). He was ransomed by Cebes
(or Crito) at Socrates' instigation, but Plato is said to have questioned the
validity of Phaedo's emancipation. See also D.L. 2.31; Gellius, Attic Nights
2.18.
37 Athen. 11.507B.
a large audience (of fellow students?), every one became so bored

that they all got up and left except Aristotle;38 and Aristoxenus
insinuates that Plato was personally so unpopular with his imme
diate disciples that they conspired against him while he was absent
in Sicily.39 But Aristoxenus omits to give the details of this alleged
conspiracy, and neither does he mention who led it.
Plato, the story goes, also was a fundamentally dishonest
person. He stole the (esoteric) teachings of the Pythagoreans and
published them in his own name.40 Gorgias of Leontini, after
having perused Plato's dialogue Gorgias, is said to have been
greatly annoyed by this work, observing "that he had neither
spoken any of these lines nor had he heard them from Plato
[Socrates]." 41 To his intimate friends, Gorgias remarked about the
Platonic Gorgias: "What nice satire Plato seems to be able to
write."42 Timaeus of the Sicilian Locri, in his Histories, allegedly
slandered Plato,43 although the exact nature of this "slander" is not
divulged ; and Myronianus reports that according to some tradition
Plato was a filthy old man whose death was due to vermin. 44
Plato, it appears, must have been fully aware of the many
attacks that were launched against his person, against his philos
ophy, and against the motivations behind his actions. To cite
but one example of Plato's efforts to refute some of these attacks, in
the Seventh Epistle he finds it necessary to justify his first journey
to Syracuse (c. 388/7) and his stay at the court of Dionysius the
Elder. "Holding this view [seil., that if I were to succeed in con
vincing one single person?Dion?sufficiently, I should have
achieved a great deal of good] and in this spirit of a mission it was
that I set out from home?not in the spirit which some have
imputed to me, but dreading self-reproach most of all, lest I should
seem to myself to be utterly and absolutely nothing more than a
mere voice and never to undertake willingly any action, and now
38 D.L. 3.37.
39 Aristoxenus, frag. 35.
40 D.L. 8.54; and at 8.55. The same story is told of Empedocles.
See ibid.
41 Athen. 11.505E.
42 Athen. 11.505D.
43 Plutarch, Nicias 1.
44 D.L. 3.40-41.
to be in danger of proving false, in the first instance, to my friend

ship and association with Dion."45 It goes without saying that
Plato tries here to rebut certain charges. Some people must have
cast suspicion on the reasons why he, a citizen of democratic Athens,
should go and live at the court of a notorious tyrant; others might
have ridiculed Plato's failure of putting into practice some of his
political views. Molon, one of his personal enemies, jibed at
Plato's sojourn in Syracuse, "It is not wonderful that Dionysius
should be in Corinth, but rather that Plato should be in
Syracuse;" ** implying thereby that the further Plato, the "friend"
of tyrants, is away from Athens, the better for Athenian demo
cracy.
Apparently some of Plato's detractors had charged him with
going to Syracuse solely for the purpose of enjoying the advantages
of living in luxurious surroundings, collecting munificent presents
from the tyrant, and revelling in the sensuous pleasures of lavish
entertainments. Diogenes of Sinope, for instance, is said to have
observed Plato "at a costly banquet eating olives. 'How is it,' he
said, 'that you the philosopher (or wise man) who journeyed all
the way to Sicily for the sake of these dishes, now when they are
before you [here in Athens] you do not enjoy them ? ' "47 Accord
ing to Onetor, the author of an essay on "Whether a wise man
should make money," Plato, who was generally said to be
avaricious and extremely fond of money,48 received from Dionysius
the fantastic sum of eighty talents.49 The Thirteenth Epistle,
erroneously ascribed to Plato, depicts the latter not only as an
implacable enemy of any one who should dare to disagree with him
and as the unreliable friend of Dion, but also as a calculating and
45 Epistle VII, 328C (Italics ours). It is presumed here that the

Seventh Epistle is an authentic work of Plato. The "second instance" which
induced Plato to go to Syracuse was that he had to be "true to philosophy."
Ibid, at 328E.
46 D.L. 3.34.
47 D.L. 6.25. Other sources which mention Plato's alleged gluttony
are Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate 4; Themistius, Oratio 23, 285C;
Aelius Aristides, De quatuor viribus 2.301 (ed. Dindorf); Philostratus, De
vita Apollonii 1.34.
48 Philostratus, op. cit., 1.34.
49 D.L. 3.9.
greedy person interested solely in commercial and financial

matters.50 To refute some of these charges, Plato condemned at
great length the sumptuous and profligate life of the Syracusans,
pointing out that any city where the inhabitants live an in
temperate life is headed for destruction.51
Plato was also accused of having excelled in his flattery of the
tyrant Dionysius: "If you had flattered Dionysius [as I have (?)],"
Plato allegedly once remarked to Diogenes of Sinope who washed
his own lettuce in a public fountain, "you would not now be
washing lettuce,"52 implying that it paid him off well to have
flattered the ruler of Syracuse.
The attacks upon Plato by his contemporaries were resumed
and, in some instances, intensified by later philosophers and
authors. It appears that the followers and disciples of Plato's con
temporary enemies took up the cudgel with renewed rigor and
increased animosity. Theopompus, the disciple of Isocrates53 and
friend of Antisthenes,54 soon launched his literary campaign against
Plato. Theopompus, who became the historian of Philip of
Maced?n, may also have had some particular reasons for disliking
Plato. Plato, in the Gorgias, had expressed himself in a most un
favorable manner, not only about Gorgias of Leontini, but also
about King Archelaus of Maced?n, insisting that Archelaus was the
bastard son of Perdiccas (who had usurped the throne of Maced?n)
and a slave girl of his uncle Alcetas (and, hence, himself a slave of
Alcetas) ; and that this Archelaus had treacherously murdered
Alcedas, his master, and Alcedas' son, Alexander, who was his
cousin.55 On account of having spread this scandalous story, Plato
50 Epistle XIII, 361C; and at 362E.

51 Epistle VII, 326C. See also Republic 404D.
52 D.L. 6.58.
53 Isocrates, it will be remembered, for a while was a bitter opponent
of Plato.
54 D.L. 6.14 "Of all the Socratics, Antisthenes alone is praised by
Theopompus."
55 Plato, Gorgias 471A ff. This story is repeated in Athen. 11.506DE.
See also Plato (?), Alcibiades II, 141D, where Plato (Socrates) states that
Archelaus was slain by "his beloved" (Crataeas) for "the love of tyranny,"
and Crataeas, in turn, was slain a few days later. See also Aristotle, Politics
1311 b 7 ff.
became very unpopular at the Macedonian court in Pella, where,

according to Charystus of Pergamum, King Philip "was uttering
slanders about Plato."56 To counteract this story, Speusippus,
the nephew of Plato, invented the tale that Plato was on friendly
terms with Philip, and was actually the cause of Philip's becoming
king of Maced?n.57
In addition, Theopompus, who according to Speusippus was
Plato's implacable enemy,58 not only takes umbrage at Plato's
"fantastic tales" about Atlantis,59 but also attempts to outdo him
and put him to shame in his Meropis.60 It was he who, in his
Attack on Plato's School,61 declares that "the majority of . . .
Plato's dialogues were utterly useless and mostly in error," calling
some of them outright plagiarisms or borrowings from the dis
courses of Aristippus, from the writings of Antisthenes, and from
the compositions of Bryson of Heracleia.62 He further maintains
that Plato had derived the "myth of Er," 63 as well as the doctrine
of the immortality of the human soul, from the Magi, from the
Egyptians,64 or from Homer.65 Theopompus, the historian, also
repeatedly finds fault with Plato's views concerning history.66
And finally, he derides Plato's passion for definitions and con
56 Athen. 11.506E.
57 Athen. 11.506E-506F.
58 Epistolae Socratis 30, p. 632 (ed. Hercher).
59 In Plato's Critias.
60 Frag. 259 (ed. Jacoby).
61 Probably a separate work or diatribe, the full title of which was
Kaxa?pofXT) tt)? nXaxwvo? oiaTpi?^. See Karl M?ller, Fragmenta Hist?rico
rum Graecorum, I, 325; Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen
Historiker, 2B (1923), 591.
62 Athen. 11.508CD. These particular charges of plagiarism apparently
were contained in a special diatribe. See A.-H. Chroust, op. cit. supra
note 1, at 225, and ibid, note 35.
63 Plato, Republic 614B ff.
64 According to D.L. 3.6, Plato travelled to Egypt, a most unlikely
story. According to D.L. 3.7, he planned to visit the Magi, but was pre
vented from carrying out this plan "by the wars in Asia," presumably the
Spartan-Persian War (400-387/6).
65 See A.-H. Chroust, loc. cit.; and at note 39.
66 See, for instance, frag. 281 (ed. Jacoby) which contradicts Plato,
Protagoras 337D.
ceptual clarifications.67 Like Theopompus, two other disciples

of Isocrates, Cephisodorus and Zoilus, attack Plato, denouncing
and vilifying him in general.
Especially nicious were Aristoxenes' denunciations of Plato.
Aristoxenus, a member of the Peripatetic school, and on account
of his interest in music a close adherer of the Pythagorean tradi
tion,68 apparently wished to discredit Plato and especially Plato's
Socr?tica. The reasons for his animosity toward Plato are difficult
to ascertain. Omitting the fact that he was a Peripatetic, it could
be argued that he was hostile toward all Socratics because of
Aeschines' (of Sphettus) slanderous declamations against the
Pythagorean Telauges. These declamations he might have consid
ered part of an effort to create a new Socratic myth at the expense
of the Pythagoreans.69 To counteract these efforts Aristoxenus
directed his polemics against Socrates, Aeschines, and Plato. The
specific motives behind Aristoxenus' animus against Plato in
particular are not wholly clear, although a few conjectures might
be in order. Plato consistently denounced all forms of experience,
including all scientific experimentations, as wholly "unscientific."
The Pythagoreans, especially Archytas and his followers, on the
other hand, took great store not only in mathematical theories but
also in their practical application to mechanics and mechanical
devices, as well as in all sorts of scientific experimentations. Plato,
who displayed little interest in the technical detail of the various
arts, roundly rejected and even ridiculed these attempts of the
Pythagoreans.70 Aristoxenus, whose surname was 6 jjiou<nxo?, on the
other hand, stressed these technical and "applied" aspects in his
67 Frag. 275 (ed. Jacoby). See here also D.L. 6.40. This latter refer
ence is to Plato (?), "f'0poi," 415A. See also D.L. 3.24, where Plato's
passion for "analysis" and conceptual clarification is recorded. Diogenes
Laertius (3.63 ff.) also accuses Plato of having employed a confusing variety
of terms in order to make his philosophical system less intelligible. Plato
is also charged with being confused; ibid.
68 See W. Jaeger, Aristoteles 90 (1923). Aristoxenus is also said to
have written a biography of the Pythagorean Archytas.
69 H. Dittmar, Aischines von Sphettos (Studien zur Literatur
geschichte der Sokratiker, Philologische Untersuchungen, Heft 21, 1912),
pp. 213 ff.
70 Plutarch, s^roaiax? irpo?X^a , 8.2.1 (718E ff.). In Athen. 4.174C,
Theory of Harmonics, and, among other things, had spoken with

much authority on rcuxvcofjiaTa (tonal repetitions) or "continuous
musical notes."71 But Plato had pointedly ridiculed Aristoxenus'
views on this subject.72 In addition, Aristoxenus was a friend of
Dionysius the Younger, the tyrant of Syracuse,73 who spent several
years of exile in Italy. Dionysius, who disliked Plato for the
latter's close association with Dion?in 357 B.C. Dion had forced
Dionysius to seek refuge in Italy?probably fanned Aristoxenus'
hatred for Plato.74
Aristoxenus, the implacable foe of Plato and the Platonists,
insists that Plato had plagiarised most of his Republic from
Protagoras' 'AvTiXoyix?, 75 an allegation which was repeated by
Favorinus,76 who in this probably relied on the testimony of
Aristoxenus. Athenaeus, or his sources, who in this might repeat
a statement made by Theopompus, states that Plato had lifted his
doctrine of the immortality of the soul i'rom Homer's Iliad,77 and
Porphyry suggests that Plato made use of (or plagiarized from)
Protagoras' icepiTo? ovto?.78 "If one should peruse his [seil., Plato's]
Timaeus and his Gorgias and all other such dialogues . . . one could
not admire him for them, because one could get all this [informa
tion] from other authors either better or, at least, not worse."79
Timon of Phlius levels the charge that Plato had copied the
however, Plato is said to have invented a water clock. Aristotle, on the

other hand, admired the technical achievements of Archytas: Politics
1340 a 18. See also at 1340 a 26 ff., where Aristotle warns of imparting
"mechanical" or purely "technical" habits to youths, calling such habits
undesirable.
71 'AptTco?Evou ?pfxovixwv aqj?ofxEva (ed. P. Marquard, 1868), p. 34.
72 Plato, Republic 531A.
73 Aristoxenus, frag. 9, K. M?ller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum,
II, 269 ff.
74 It is also known that Aristoxenus denounced Plato in a most violent
manner in his "lectures." See 'ApurroS?vou ?pptovtx05v.. . . (ed. Marquard 1868),
p. 44.
75 D.L. 3.37.
76 D.L. 3.57.
77 Athen. 11.507E. The Homeric passage would be Iliad 16.856. Plato,
it will be noticed, himself quotes (and disapproves of) this Homeric passage
in Republic 386D.
78 In: Eusebius, Praeparatio Evang?lica 10.3.24.
79 Athen. 11.508C.
Timaeus from a work composed by the Pythagoreans (Philo

laus?).80 At the same time, in his bitterly abusive StXXo; he
denounces and ridicules Plato's "world of Ideas." And Timaeus
of Sicily, follower of the Pythagorean tradition, openly refers to
Plato's penchant for plagiarism in general ( AoyoxXoTua) .81
Timaeus, in the ninth book of his Histories, contends that
Plato was excluded from taking part in the philosophical discus
sions or disputations of the Pythagoreans, because he stole some of
their secret or esoteric teachings for his own use.82 Proclus has
preserved a story according to which Plato had been charged by
some of his contemporaries?presumably by Crantor?with hav
ing stolen the "Atlantis myth" and especially the description of the
ideal city of Atlantis, found in the Platonic Critias, from the
ancient Egyptians.83 According to Porphyry, the Peripatetic
Prosenes had accused Plato not only of having made illicit use
of the ideas advanced by his many predecessors, but also of having
borrowed heavily from them without giving them proper credit or
acknowledgment. Prosenes is said to have remarked that if more
of the pre-Socratic philosophical literature had survived, he would
be in a position to establish and prove the many literary thefts that
had been committed by Plato.84
Timon of Phlius, the sillographer and disciple of Stilpon,
reports that Plato paid a fantastic price85 for one of the important
literary works of the Pythagoreans, possibly the ??epl <p?*sw<; of Philo
laus.86 From this work he then copied the Timaeus, or at least
80 Gellius, Attic Nights 3.17.6. See also D.L. 8.85, and note 88, infra.
81 Frag. 81.
82 D.L. 8.54. See also at 8.55, where we are told that Plato was
"excommunicated" from the Pythagorean fraternity because he made public
(under his own name?) some of the secret or esoteric teachings of the
sect.
83 Proclus, Commentarius in Platonis Timaeum 1.76.7 (Diehl ed.).
84 Eusebius, Praeparatio Evang?lica 10.3.24-25.
85 According to Gellius, Attic Nights 3.17.4, Plato paid 10,000 denarii;
according to Hermippus (D.L. 8.85), forty Alexandrian minae. Hermippus
(or Diogenes Laertius) commits here a serious anachronism: the Alexan
drian mina was not in use until after Plato's death. According to Diogenes
Laertius 8.15 (and 3.9), Plato paid one hundred minae.
86 D.L. 8.85; frag. 26 (Wachsmuth).
part of it.87 According to Hermippus of Smyrna, some authors

insisted that "Plato . . . when he went to Sicily to the court of
Dionysius, bought from Philolaus' relatives [the one book which
Philolaus wrote] . . . from which . . . the Timaeus was copied."88
Others, again, maintain that Plato was given this book?the
nepl ?ptWew??as a present or token of gratitude for having procured
from Dionysius the release of a disciple of Philolaus who had been
cast into prison by the tyrant.89 Satyrus and others claim that
Plato wrote to Dionysius in Sicily instructing him to purchase some
Pythagorean books from Philolaus for one hundred minae,90 while
Diogenes Laertius records that Plato "sent one hundred minae
to purchase [the three celebrated books which had been published
by Philolaus]."91 Diogenes Laertius also reproduces a letter
allegedly written by Archytas the Pythagorean in which the latter
informed Plato that "[w]e did get the works On Law, On Kingship,
Of Piety, and On the Origin of the Universe, all of which we have
sent on to you. . . ." 92 It was said that a gift of over eighty talents
which he received from Dionysius enabled Plato to make these
purchases.93 All these stories about Plato's purchase of the philo
sophical works of others, some of which are obviously conflicting,
were intended to discredit Plato by imputing plagiarism to him.94
Alcimus, the disciple of Stilpon, insists that "[i]t is evident
that Plato often borrowed the ideas originally developed by
Epicharmus," 95 the Sicilian comic poet who was claimed by the
Pythagoreans as a member of their sect. In particular, Alcimus
contends, he derived from Epicharmus the notion that the objects
of the senses are in constant flux and change, while the true objects
87 Gellius, Attic Nights 3.17.6.

88 D.L. 8.85. See also Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae 199.
89 D.L. 8.85. According to Cicero, De Rep?blica 1.10.16, Plato received
this book from Philolaus (as a personal present?).
90 D.L. 3.9.
91 Ibid, at 8.15.
92 Ibid, at 8.80-81. These are actually the writings of Ocellus Lucanus,
a fifth century Pythagorean.?Plato's acknowledgment of receipt of these
works is recorded in D.L. 8.81.
93 Ibid, at 3.9.
94 See for this whole section, A.-H. Chroust, op. cit. supra note 1,
at 225-27.
95 D.L. 3.9.
of the intellect are constant and unchanging; the doctrine of the

Ideas as archetypes; and the notion that our knowledge of the
Ideas is based on "memory."96 "These and the like instances
Alcinus notes . . . pointing out the assistance which Plato derived
from Epicharmus."97
Epicurus not only taunts Plato and others by calling
them AiovuT'.ox?Xaxec?the "flatterers of Dionysius,"98 but he also
denounces as inane the doctrines propounded in the Platonic
Phaedo." In addition, in ironical reference to his ornate style,
he calls Plato "the golden simpleton," or "the golden Plato."100
Epicurus' disciples continued these tirades; Hermarchus101 and
other Epicureans constantly belittle Plato. Colotes not only tries
to ridicule Plato's Lysis and Euthydemus,102 but also calls103 the
Delphic reply to Chaerephon, as reported by Plato, "a fancy and
tiresome tale."104 Colotes maintains that the closing myth of Er
in the Platonic Republic105 is a worthless piece of misguided
imagination,106 and that this myth must be regarded as having been
plagiarized from Zoroaster.107 It goes without saying that Plato's
Timaeus came to be the preferred target of Epicurean ridicule and
vituperation.108
Of the early Peripatetic School, Theophrastus took violent
issue with Plato's notions of "pleasure" as well as with his
tpuyoyovia (generation of the soul),109 using terms that were ex
96 Ibid, at 3.9-16.
97 Ibid. at 3.17.
98 Ibid. at 10.8. See also H. Usener, Epic?rea 176; 238.
99 H. Usener at 175.9 ff.
100 D.L. 10.8.
101 H. Usener at 369,6.
102 See W. Cr?nert, Kolotes und Menedemus 162-172 (1906).
103 Plato, Apology 21D ff. See also D.L. 2.37-38; Xenophon, Socrates'
Defense before his Judges 14; Dio Chrysistom, Oratio 58.8; Athen. 5.218E ff.
104 Plutarch, Adversus Coloten 17.
105 Plato, Republic 614B ff.
loe Proclus, Comment, in Piatonis Rempublicam (Kroll ed.). II, 105,
lines 23 ff.; Macrobius, quoted in Cicero, De Somnio Scipionis 3.
107 Proclus at II, 109, lines 7 ff. and at II, 116, lines 19 ff. Proclus
quotes from Colotes, who simply substituted Zoroaster for Er, the son of
Armenius.
108 H. Usener at 257, 3 ff.
109 In the Timaeus 35A ff. See also Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Gram
maticos 1.303.
tremely unflattering.110 Strato of Lampsacus, in a similar vein,

rejects Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the soul advanced in
the Phaedo, and especially the proofs which the latter submitted
in order to demonstrate this immortality.111 Praxiphanes, one of
Theophrastus' disciples, ridicules not only the "preamble" to the
Platonic Timaeus, but denounces the author of the Timaeus as
well.112 Plato, we know, on the whole took a rather dim view of
the poetic arts,113 while the Peripatetics,114 who became genuinely
interested in literary and esthetic studies, wholeheartedly rejected
Plato's "rigoristic" rejection of the poets. Duris of Samos, like
wise a disciple of Theophrastus, bluntly accuses Plato of being
wholly incapable of enjoying or "judging poetry,"115 a view fully
shared by Callimachus of Cyrene,116 who also takes vehement excep
tion to Plato's Phaedo.117
Aristarchus (the grammarian) and his disciples, in the course
of their Homeric studies, frequently maintain that Plato had
repeatedly plagiarized Homer.118 Herodicus of Babylon, also called
the Cratetean and a member of the School of Pergamon, who like
his teacher Crates was interested in allegorical interpretations of
Homer, in his Hpo; tov cpiXotxwxpaT/iv (Against the Socrates Wor
shipper) ,119 tries to discredit Plato. In particular, he attempts to
show by means of his knowledge of history and chronology that
110 Theophrasti Eresii quae supersunt, frag. 85 (ed. Wimmer). See

also frag. 99.
111 See F. Susemihl, Geschichte der Griechischen Literatur in der
Alexandrinerzeit, I (1891), 144.
112 Proclus, Comment, in Piatonis Timaeum, I (Diehl ed., 1903), 14,
lines 20 ff.
113 See, for instance, Republic 377B ff.; 595A ff.; Laws 886C; 890A;
941B; et passim.
114 It has been claimed that Aristotle's Poetics is a "rebuttal" of Plato's
indictment of the poetic arts.
115 Karl M?ller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, II, frag. 83.
116 Ibid.
117 Callimachi Epigrammata 23 (Wilamowitz ed.).
118 Ammonius, the follower of Aristarchus, for instance, wrote about
the words and ideas which Plato allegedly had "stolen" from Homer.
Judging from the Utp\ u^ouc (13.3), formerly ascribed to Longinus, it would
appear that Ammonius had charged Plato with a great many literary thefts
from Homer.
119 Athen. 5.215F.
many of the persons, incidents, or places referred to in Plato's

dialogues were unhistorical.120 Ephippus, in his Shipwrecked,
satirizes Plato as well as some of his disciples, calling them venial
informers and fops who spend more time with clothes and orna
ments than the worst rakes.121 Bion of Borysthenes, the Cynic,
chastises Plato for having befriended such evil tyrants as the two
Dionysii;122 and Menippus of Gadara, likewise an adherer of the
Cynic doctrine, calls Plato's Laws cold and repulsive.123
According to Herodicus the Cratetean, Plato claims that
Socrates took part in three major military campaigns.124 But this
claim, Herodicus insists, is surprisingly not reported by Thucy
dides 125 or Isocrates. Furthermore, he emphasizes that Plato him
self contradicts the whole story.126 Plato's account that Socrates
resigned the prize for bravery and conferred it on Alcibiades127 is
not mentioned by either Thucydides or Isocrates.128 Also, Plato's
account of Socrates "standing his ground at Delium," 129 is shown
most implausible by Thucydides.130 This being so, Herodicus
concludes, Plato's dialogues contain many untrue and unhistorical
accounts as well as many serious anachronisms.131 As a matter of
fact, he makes Plato out a shameless liar who invented many fanci
ful stories about Socrates, some of which are highly derogatory
120 The Platonic "anachronisms" and "repetitions" listed in Athen.

5.215C-222B, and at 11.505F-506A, are probably based on Herodicus.
121 Athen. 11.509B-509D. See also John M. Edmonds, II, 153-155;
Thomas B. L. Webster, pp. 51-52.
122 Lucian, Dial. mort. 20.5.
123 Lucian, Icaromenippus 24.
124 Athen. 5.215C. The reference is to Plato, Apology 28E; and
Charmides 153B. The three campaigns were the siege of Potidaea (428),
the military expedition to Boeotia which ended with the Athenian defeat at
Delium (424), and the expedition to Amphipolis (422). See D.L. 2.22.
125 Thucydides 5.2.
126 In the Crito Plato claims that Socrates never left Athens, except to
attend the Isthmian Games. But the story that Socrates visited the Isthmian
Games is omitted in the more reliable MSS. Crito 52B; Phaedrus 230C.
127 Plato, Symposium 220E.
128 Isocrates, On the Team of Horses, which was composed in defense
of Alcibiades.
129 Plato, Symposium 221B.
130 Thucydides 4.96. See also Athen. 5.215-216.
131 Athen. 5.216CD, and at 5.217D-218E; 11.505F.
of the latter.132 In addition, Herodicus calls Plato's Symposium

"nonsense pure and simple," 133 and insists that this dialogue is
replete with "many chronological mistakes" which can to shown
without much difficulty;134 that he wrote "without discrimina
tion" ; and that he worked without proper care.135 Other historical
anachronisms and errors can be found in the Gorgias,136 if Theo
pompus, Marsyas, Nicomedes of Acanthus, Philolarchus, and
Xenophon may be trusted;137 and in the Protagoras,136 as may be
shown by reference to the works of the comedians.139
Herodicus also revives the old charge that Plato had indis
criminately abused other people, including Thrasymmachus of
Chalcedon, Protagoras, Hippias of Elis, Gorgias of Leontini, Par
menides of Elea, and many other renowned philosophers (in the
Protagoras) ; 14? that he had "banished Homer as well as all imi
tative poetry from his [ideal] city,"141 although "he himself wrote
imitative dialogues"; that in his dialogue Ion he had denounced
all poets as well as all of the Athenian democratic leaders ; and that
in his Meno [and Gorgias] he had assailed the greatest among the
Athenian statesmen. In particular, Herodicus maintains that in
the Euthydemus Plato foully abused Euthydemus and his brother
Dionysodorus, not only by calling them narrow-minded pedants
132 Ibid, at 5.219A ff., referring to Plato, Theaetetus 149A; Symposium

219B; and Protagoras 309A.
133 Athen. 5.217A. The "anachronisms" allegedly contained in the
Symposium are listed at 5.216 ff.
134 Ibid, at 5.217C.
135 Ibid.
136 Plato, Gorgias 471A; and at 473E.
137 Xenophon, Hellenica 1.7.14.
138 Plato, Protagoras 309D; and at 314C1; 315D; 327D.
139 The Flatterers of Eupolis are dated 422-421; the Connus of Ameip
sias 423; and The Savages of Pherecrates 421-420. See, in general, Athen.
5.217A-218E.
140 Parmenides is not mentioned in Plato's dialogue Protagoras. As
a matter of fact, Plato praises Parmenides in Theaetetus 183E and in the
dialogue Parmenides.
141 Athen. 11.505B-505D; and at 506AB. In Republic, book III, as
well as at 595B and 607A, Plato "banished" Homer from his city; in Ion
534A, and at 541D, he slandered the poets and democratic statesmen; and
in the Meno (94A ff.) he denounced Aristides as well as Themistocles, as
he did in the Gorgias (at the end), especially 519A.
and wranglers, but by reproaching them for having migrated

from Chios to Thurii;142 that in the Laches he had unfairly
belittled Melesias and Lysimachus;143 that in the Symposium, the
Alcibiades I (and the Alcibiades II) he had slandered Alcibiades;144
and that he had always disparaged the Athenians and Athens,
his native city, while at the same time he always extolled the
Lacedaemonians and even the Persians, the hereditary foes of
Greece.145 He insists that Plato had called Cleinias, the brother of
Alcibiades, an insane person, Cleinias' sons stupid fools, and
Meidias a disreputable gambler.146 In his Cimon,147 Herodicus con
tinues, Plato unsparingly denounced and chastized Themistocles,
Alcibiades, Myrionides, and Cimon;148 the Crito belittles Crito; 149
the Republic attacks Sophocles;150 the Gorgias maligns not only
Gorgias but also King Archelaus of Maced?n;151 the Protagoras
indiscriminately denounces the old poets, adding a few indiscreet
remarks about Callias; and the Menexenus mocks Hippias of Elis,
Antiphon of Rhamus and the musician Lamprus.152 And finally,
Herodicus alleges or repeats the old story that Plato had actually
borrowed or stolen the "dialogue form" from Alexamenus of
Theos;153 that in his dialogues he had shamelessly copied the
Mimes of Sophron;154 and that, after all, the content of the several
Platonic dialogues was sheer fabrication, nonsense, and lies.155
142 Athen. 11.506B, referring to Euthydemus 271C.

143 Athen. 11.506B, referring to Laches 179BC.
144 Athen. 11.506C, referring to Symposium 212C; and Alcibiades I
103A. Alcibiades II, which Herodicus might also have had in mind, is
definitely spurious.
145 Athen. 11.506C, referring to Alcibiades I 121A ff.
146 Athen. 11.506D, referring Alcibiades I 118E (but here the sons of
Pericles rather than those of Cleinias' are called simpletons), and Alci
biades I 120A.
147 This refers to the Gorgias.
148 Athen. 11.506D, referring to Gorgias 503C, and at 515D.
149 Crito 45AB.
150 Republic 329B (?).
151 Gorgias 471A ff. The last three references are to be found in
Athen. 11.506DE. See supra note 55, and the corresponding text.
152 Athen. 11.506F, referring to Menexenus 236A. Hippias of Elis,
however, is not mentioned in Plato's Menexenus.
153 Athen. 11.505BC. See also Aristotle, frag. 72 (Rose); D.L. 3.48.
154 Athen. 11.505C; D.L. 3.18.
155 Athen. 11.506A.
The old charge is endlessly repeated that Plato had "stolen"

from Homer the notion of the soul's deathlessness;156 and Dio
Chrysostom insists that much of what Plato had to say was largely
based on Homeric passages.157 Plato's two major "political"
works, namely, the Republic and the Laws, are said never to have
produced any practical results whatsoever,158 and his efforts at
becoming a lawgiver for some city were actually laughed at by
his contemporaries and flatly rejected inasmuch as his political or
philosophical views were considered impractical and even use
less.159 Hegesander of Delphi goes so far as to alter deliberately
certain passages in the Timaeus (19B) in order to demonstrate
that Plato was inordinately proud of his Republic.1*0
Heracleitus the Stoic, the author of Homeric Allegories, once
more revives the old attacks upon Plato by repeating the story of
Plato's alleged dependence on Homer. In addition, he denounces,
as others had done before him, Plato's program of a community
of women and children, his p?d?rastie inclinations, and the "un
savory" motives which induced Plato to journey thrice to Sicily.161
Philodemus the Epicurean censors the senseless and "excessive"
drinking depicted in the Platonic Symposium as well as the "inane
ness" of the several speeches made by the participants in the
symposium. He also takes violent exception to the allegedly
Platonic thesis that crude eroticism constitutes a moral virtue.162
The waning of antiquity saw a last flurry of "anti-Platonica."
156 Athen. 11.507EF. Presumably in the Phaedo (?) or in the Repub

lic. The Homeric passage is Iliad 16.856. In Republic 386D, Plato quotes
these Homeric lines with disapproval. See note 77, supra, and the text.
157 Dio Chrysostom, Oratio 55.14.
158 Athen. 11.508A.
159 Ibid. 11.508B. At 11.508E ff., Athenaeus (Herodicus) enumerates
the many evil disciples who had been trained or influenced by Plato and
subsequently became treacherous tyrants and despicable persons: "These
were," according to Plato's enemies, "the beneficial results derived from
the noble Republic and the lawless Laws." Ibid, at 11.509B.
160 Ibid, at 11.507E.
161 Heracliti Quaestiones Homericae (ed. Societas Phil. Bonn., 1910),
passim.
162 Yot Philodemus' denunciations, see H. Diels, "Philodemus ?ber
die G?tter," Abhandlungen der Preuss. Akad. der Wissensch., Philologisch
Historische Abteilung, No. 6 (1916), pp. 80 ff., and ibid., frag. 76.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, historian and rhetorican, decries

Plato's alleged "pathological ambition," 18S his jealousy of
Homer,164 his "revolting extravagance" of expression,165 his pathetic
pursuit of frivolities, his essential dullness and lack of wit, and his
lack of persuasive forcefulness.166 Plutarch of Chaeronaea deplores
Plato's "extravagance of expression,"1*7 as does Longinus.1**
Aelius Aristeides reproaches Plato for having been a loafer and a
prattler,169 and recalls the alleged maliciousness of Plato towards
others,170 the "unsavory" motives behind his three journeys to
Sicily,171 his association with tyrants and evil men,172 and his patho
logical ambition.173 In addition, Aristeides takes violent exception
to Plato's "fantastic" reports about Socrates,174 to the many and
inexcusable anachronisms in his writings,175 to his many and seri
ous failures as a man and as an educator,176 to the frequent and
fatal serious contradictions found in his works,177 and to his total
lack of tact.178 And like so many of his predecessors, Aristeides
also points out Plato's lack of any "practical sense,"179 especially
when the latter insists that it is better to suffer injustice than to
commit an act of injustice.180 For such a maxim, Aristeides con
163 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ad Pompeium 225.

164 Ibid.
165 Ibid., p. 230.
i66 Ibid., p. 184, and pp. 187, 188.
167 Plutarch, frag. 38 (Bernardakis). Plutarch might be repeating
here the charges made by Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
168 See Spengel-Hammer, Rhetores Graeci, I, 324.
169 See A. Boulanger, Aelius Aristides et la Sophistique dans la Pro
vince d'Asie au IIe Si?cle de notre Ere (1923), p. 169.
170 Ibid., p. 158.
171 Ibid., p. 277.
172 Ibid., p. 305.
173 Ibid., p. 431 (IIp??KaitiTcAva).
174 Ibid., p. 295.
175 Ibid., p. 370. Here Aristides may be under the influence of Hero
dicus the Cratetean, who likewise found many "anachronisms" in Plato's
writings. See supra.
176 Ibid., p. 324 ff.
177 Ibid., pp. 380 ff. and p. 384.
178 Ibid., p. 430 (npo?Kauinrwva).
179 Ibid., p. 244 (Ilspt TtoV T?TtT?pOJV).
180 See Plato, Gorgias 469A ff.; and at 475B ff.; 489A ff.; 508B;
509B; 522C.
tends, would mean the destruction of any city or state.181 Sextus

Empiricus complains that no one, not even a Platonist, is able to
understand Plato's doctrine of the origin of the human soul;182
Marcus Aurelius rejects the ideas expressed in Plato's Republic;163
and Lucian dwells on the old charges against Plato of having
advocated the community of women as well as the practice of
pederasty.184
No attempt will be made here to offer any explanation for the
many and protracted attacks upon Plato and his doctrines during
antiquity. It appears, however, that for some reasons?perhaps
his own ill-treatment of others, if our sources contain reliable
information?he incurred the vicious enmity of many people who
vented their animosity without restraint and, one might expect,
without discretion. Judging from the surviving evidence, it must
be admitted that Plato was undoubtedly the most "unpopular"
philosophic author in antiquity, at least the most unpopular man
among the truly great philosophers. Since his philosophy is of a
type which in its far-reaching consequences requires either com
plete acceptance or complete rejection, such reactions are by no
means wholly surprising. But it must also be conceded that in all
likelihood much of what has been said against Plato in a spirit of
vindictive animosity is part of a fanciful chronique scandaleuse.
University of Notre Dame.
181 A. Boulanger, pp. 85, 97.

182 Adversus Grammaticos 1.303, referring to Plato, Timaeus 35A ff.
183 Marcus Aurelius 9.29.
184 Lucian, Vita auctorum 17.

Platos Detractors in Antiquity

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Platos Detractors in Antiquity

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Plato's Detractors in Antiquity

Author(s): Anton-Herman Chroust

Irobably no other ancient author has been more attacked,

1 A.-H. Chroust, "Charges of Philosophical Plagiarism in Greek Anti

Aristoxenus continues, Plato, "who mentions almost all the early

retaliated in kind or worse. Antisthenes, for instance, who, like

Socrates himself is quoted as having called Plato a shameless

man who is frequently portrayed and ridiculed by Middle Comedy. Aristo

manner several of his "fellow students": "He [seil., Plato] was so

a large audience (of fellow students?), every one became so bored

to be in danger of proving false, in the first instance, to my friend

45 Epistle VII, 328C (Italics ours). It is presumed here that the

greedy person interested solely in commercial and financial

50 Epistle XIII, 361C; and at 362E.

became very unpopular at the Macedonian court in Pella, where,

ceptual clarifications.67 Like Theopompus, two other disciples

Theory of Harmonics, and, among other things, had spoken with

however, Plato is said to have invented a water clock. Aristotle, on the

Timaeus from a work composed by the Pythagoreans (Philo

part of it.87 According to Hermippus of Smyrna, some authors

87 Gellius, Attic Nights 3.17.6.

of the intellect are constant and unchanging; the doctrine of the

tremely unflattering.110 Strato of Lampsacus, in a similar vein,

110 Theophrasti Eresii quae supersunt, frag. 85 (ed. Wimmer). See

many of the persons, incidents, or places referred to in Plato's

120 The Platonic "anachronisms" and "repetitions" listed in Athen.

of the latter.132 In addition, Herodicus calls Plato's Symposium

132 Ibid, at 5.219A ff., referring to Plato, Theaetetus 149A; Symposium

and wranglers, but by reproaching them for having migrated

142 Athen. 11.506B, referring to Euthydemus 271C.

The old charge is endlessly repeated that Plato had "stolen"

156 Athen. 11.507EF. Presumably in the Phaedo (?) or in the Repub

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, historian and rhetorican, decries

163 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ad Pompeium 225.

tends, would mean the destruction of any city or state.181 Sextus

University of Notre Dame.

181 A. Boulanger, pp. 85, 97.

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