ke a poor man, regardless of the fact that he
may have money. Nature knows nothing of bank-balances. In order to have
an appetite for dinner, you must first earn your dinner. If you would
sleep at night, you must first pay for sweet sleep by physical labor.

* * * * *

Plato was born on the Island of AEgina, where his father owned an estate.
His mother was a direct descendant of Solon, and his father, not to be
outdone, traced to Codrus.

The father of Socrates was a stonecutter and his mother a midwife, so
very naturally the son had a beautiful contempt for pedigree. Socrates
once said to Plato, "Anybody can trace to Codrus--by paying enough to
the man who makes the family-tree." This seems to show that genealogy
was a matter of business then as now, and that nothing is new under the
sun. Yet with all his contempt for heredity, we find Socrates often
expressing pride in the fact that he was a "native son," whereas Plato,
Aspasia, the mother of Themistocles, and various other fairly good
people, were Athenian importations.

Socrates belonged to the leisure class and had plenty of time for
extended conversazione, so just how much seriousness we should mix in
his dialogues is still a problem. Each palate has to season to suit.
Also, we can never know how much is Socrates and how much essence of
Plato. Socrates wrote nothing, and Plato ascribes all of his wisdom to
his master. Whether this was simple prudence or magnanimity is still a
question.

The death of Socrates must have been a severe blow to Plato. He at once
left Athens. It was his first intention never to return. He traveled
through the cities of Greece, Southern Italy and down to Egypt, and
everywhere was treated with royal courtesies.

After many solicitations from Dionysius, Tyrant of Syracuse, he went to
visit that worthy, who had a case of philosophic and literary scabies.
Dionysius prided himself on being a Beneficent Autocrat, with a literary
and artistic attachment. He ruled his people, educated them, cared for
them, disciplined them.

Some people call this slavery; others term it applied socialism.
Dionysius wanted Syracuse to be the philosophic center of the world, and
to this end Plato was importuned to make Syracuse his home and dispense
his specialty--truth.

This he consented to do.

It was all very much like the arrangement between Maecenas and Horace, or
Voltaire and Frederick the Great. The patron is a man