In writing the Introduction and Notes I have consulted chiefly the Introductions of Jowett and Grote, the Notes of Stallbaum, and Riddell's 'Digest of Idioms' in his edition of Plato's Apology. In the first part of the note on the 'modes' of Greek music I have followed Gevaert (Histoire et Théorie de la Musique de l'Antiquité).

It is hoped that the book may be useful as an introduction to the study of Plato; but it is not meant for the lower forms of a public school, or for those who have not already some acquaintance with other Greek authors.

NORTHCOURT HOUSE,

ABINGDON, April, 1888.

INTRODUCTION.

PLATO, the son of Ariston and Perictione, was born about B.C. 429.* His father is said to have traced his descent from Codrus, his mother was the greatgrand-daughter of Dropides, brother of Solon. Plato was of an healthy and athletic frame, and gained some skill in the art of wrestling under an Argive trainer named Ariston. He was taught to read and write at the school of a Dionysius, and his education was continued by the lessons of Draco, a teacher of literature and music. The boy learnt readily, and is said to have developed a taste for writing poetry. We have a few epigrams ascribed to him, but it is not probable that any of them are genuine. There is a story that on hearing Socrates discourse, Plato burnt a tragedy that he had intended for the stage, exclaiming, presumably in self-derision

"Ηφαιστε πρόμολ ̓ ὧδε, Πλάτων νύ τι σεῖο χατίζει. 'Hephaestus, come. Plato hath need of thee.'

Our

* This seems, on the whole, the most probable date. authorities do not enable us to fix the date of Plato's life with any certainty, and consequently the dates here given for his travels must be taken as being no better than approximations.

Plato's intimacy with Socrates dates from his twenty-first year, but his philosophical studies had begun before this, as he had already made acquaintance with the Heraclitean system under the guidance of Cratylus. But from the first year of his friendship with Socrates, to the day of his master's death, we may be sure that the two were as constantly together as the duties and dangers of those troubled times would allow. Plato indeed seems to have kept aloof from active political life at Athens, partly, it may be supposed, because he could not persuade himself to work under a democratical system which he disliked, partly because he had a weak voice, which must in great measure have disqualified him for public speaking in the Pnyx.

He was present at the trial of Socrates, and did all that he could in support of his friend, but was prevented by illness from being with him in the prison when he drank the hemlock.

After the death of Socrates, Plato withdrew to Megara, where he stayed with Euclides his fellow disciple, and became acquainted with the Megaric system, which was a combination of Socratic philosophy with the doctrines known as Eleatic. From Megara he went to Cyrene, a Greek colony in Africa, and from Cyrene he may have visited Egypt. He then-possibly after returning to Athens-travelled in Italy, where he made the acquaintance of the Pythagorean philosophers of Locri and Tarentum, and Sicily, where he became intimate with Dion, brother-inlaw of the elder Dionysius. The elder Dionysius was