(528 PLATO. 
advantages of the beft education. He had for his in- 
ftruCtor in the rudiments of learning, Dionyfius the gram¬ 
marian ; and he was trained in athletic exercifes by 
Arifto of Argos, who is faid to have fuggefted the above- 
mentioned alteration in his name. He diligently ftudied 
the arts of painting and poetry, and became fuch a profi¬ 
cient in the latter as to produce an'epic poem 5 but, 
upon comparing it with that of Homer, he was fo fenfihle 
of its inferior claims to merit, that he committed it to 
the flames. Before he was twenty years of age he had 
alfo compofed a dramatic piece, and put it into the hands 
of the performers, to be reprefented on the ftagej but, on 
the day before its intended exhibition, having accidentally 
heard a difcourfeof Socrates, he was fo charmed with his 
eloquence, that he was determined from that time to 
renounce all attempts to acquire poetical diltinCtion, 
deftroyed all the poems which he had written, and devoted 
himfelf wholly to the ftudy of philofophy. It feems pro¬ 
bable that he had already received fome tinCture of this 
fcience from Cratylus and Hermogenes, who taught the 
fyftems of Heraclitus and Parmenides. 
He now became the conftant difciple of Socrates, and 
remained in that relation eight years. During this 
period, like the other difciples of his mailer, he committed 
the fubftance of his difcourfes to writing, and formed it 
into Dialogues; but with fuch an intermixture of notions 
of his own, or which he had imbibed from other fyftems, 
that, when Socrates heard one of them recited, he com¬ 
plained, in ftrong terms, of fome of the fentiments which 
were grafted upon the ftock of his philofophy. He was, 
neverthelefs, pleafed with the mark of extraordinary 
talents which his pupil difcovered ; and Plato retained a 
zealous attachment to Socrates. When the latter was 
fummoned before the fenate, to defend himfelf from the 
accufations preferred againft him by his enemies, Plato 
undertook to plead his caufe, and began a fpeech in his 
defence; but the violence and partiality of the judges 
would not permit him to proceed, and he was commanded 
to fit down. After the iniquitous condemnation of that 
great and good man, Plato prefented him with a fum of 
money to redeem him from the punifliment demanded by 
his accufers; which, however, Socrates, as will be more 
particularly feen in his life, refufed for fome time to 
accept. During his imprifonment, Plato attended him, 
and was prefentat a converfation which he held with his 
friends concerning the immortality of the foul. The 
fubftance of this converfation Plato afterwards committed 
to writing, in his beautiful dialogue entitled, “ Phaedo;” 
not, however, without interweaving his own opinions and 
language. 
Upon the death of Socrates, Plato, and feveral others 
of his difciples and friends, withdrew to Megara, where 
they met with a hofpitable reception from Euclid, and 
continued till the ferment fubfided at Athens. Here 
Plato applied afliduoufly to the ftudy of dialectics, under 
the inftruCtions of Euclid. Being afterwards defirous of 
improving the ftock of wifdom and learning which he 
had acquired, by travelling info diftant countries where 
new fources of knowledge might be opened to him, he 
firft paid a vifit to that part of Italy called Magna Graecia. 
In this country, where a celebrated fchool of philofophy 
had been eftablifhed by Pythagoras, he was inftruCted in 
all the myfteriesof the Pythagorean fyftem, the fubtleties 
of which he afterwards too freely blended with the 
Ample dcCtrine of Socrates. From Italy, Plato went to 
Cyrene, where he ftudied the mathematics under Theo- 
clorus. When he had become fufficiently acquainted 
with the elements of the mathematical fciences, he went 
to Egypt, to learn aftronomy; and, that he might travel that 
country with fafety, he affumed the character of a dealer 
in oil, in which he palled through the whole kingdom. 
Here he obtained information from the priefts concerning 
their aftronomical obfervations and calculations; hut 
that he was initiated in their facred myfteries, and thence 
derived the doctrines of tranfmigration and the immor¬ 
tality of the foul, as fome have afferted, will not appear- 
likely to thofe who confider with what extreme care and 
jealoufy they always concealed the fecrets of their religion 
from llrangers, even when they were introduced to them 
by the moft powerful recommendations. It is more pro¬ 
bable that Plato learned the latter doCtrine from Socrates, 
and the former from Pythagoras. Others have fuppofed, 
that while Plato refided in Egypt he became acquainted 
with the doctrine of the Hebrews, with which he greatly 
improved his fyftem ; and this fuppofition, which was 
countenanced by the vanity of certain Jewilh writers who 
lived feveral centuries after Plato, was embraced by many 
fathers of the Chriftian church, and has been adopted by 
feveral learned divines. The grounds, however, on 
which attempts have been made to eftablifli it, are no 
better than conjecture and unfupported affertion. From 
Egypt it was Plato’s with to proceed to Perfia, that he 
might learn the tenets of the Magi, and from thence to 
penetrate into India, to inform himfelf concerning the 
principles and diftinguifliing cuftoms of the Bramins; but 
the wars which prevailed in Afia would not permit him 
to vifit thofe diftant regions. He now went a fecond 
time to Italy, where he further ftudied the Pythagorean 
doCtrine, as it was then taught by Architas, Timseus, 
a'nd others ; and fo ftrong was his attachment to it, that, 
when he afterwards vifited Sicily, he purchafed, at a high 
price, feveral books which contained it, from Philolaus,- 
one of the followers of Pythagoras. 
Having returned from his travels to Athens, with con- 
fiderable acceflions of knowledge of every kind, Plato 
carried into execution a defign which he had entertained 
for fome time, of eftablifhing a new fchool for the in- 
ftruCtion of young perfons in the principles of philofo¬ 
phy, This fchool he opened in a fmall garden which 
was his patrimony, in the fuburbs of the city called the 
Academy , from Hecademus, who left the greateft part of 
them to the citizens for the purpofe of gymnaftic exer¬ 
cifes. To (how the value which he placed on mathema- 
tical ftudies, and how neceflarya preparation they were 
for higher fpeculations, Plato placed the following in- 
fcription over the door of his fchool: Ovari? uytuy, et^to? 
eiciTti ; “Let no one, who is unacquainted with geome¬ 
try, enter here.” To this delightful retreat, furrounded 
with groves, temples, ftatues, and fepulchres, numbers of 
pupils reforted to attend Plato’s inftruCtions, whofe 
fchool foon rofe into great celebrity, and fecured to its 
mafter a reputation which ranked him among the moft 
eminent philofophers. Not only young men crowded to 
it from every quarter, but people of the firft diltinCtion, 
in every department, frequented the Academy. Even 
females, difguifed in men’s clothes, often attended his 
leCtures. Among the names of other illuftrious charac¬ 
ters who enlifted themfelves in the number of his difciples, 
are thofe of Dion the Syracufan prince, Ariftotle, Hype- 
rides, Lycurgus the orator, Demofthenes, and Ifocrates. 
But, as the diftinguifhed reputation of Plato procured 
him many difciples and admirers, fo it alfo excited the 
jealoufy and envy of fome who had formerly attended 
with him on the lectures of Socrates ; and who either at¬ 
tempted to depreciate and ridicule his doCtrines, or loaded 
him with detraction and obloquy. Xenophon and he 
were mutually jealous of each other; and their unfriendly 
emulation was difplayed in their making choice of the 
fame Subjects for the exercife of their talents, and in the 
different manner in which they related the difcourfes o 
their common mafter. Diogenes the cynic contempt- 
uoufly ridiculed Plato’s doCtrine of ideas, and others of 
his abftraCt fpeculations. Others bafely infmuated 
groundlefs fufpicions againft the purity of his moral cha¬ 
racter, But, notwithftanding the efforts which were 
made to rival or degrade him, his public fame daily in- 
creafed. In fuch high estimation was his political wif¬ 
dom held, that feveral dates folicited his afliftance in new- 
modelling their refpeCtive forms of government. The 
applications of fome of thefe he rejected, becaufe they 
would 
