rates, Timaeus, etc., at Tarentum and
Locri, and visiting the volcanic manifestations of Aetna. It appears
that his first visit to Sicily was made when he was about forty years
of age, which would be 387 B.C. Here he made acquaintance with the
youthful Dion, over whom he acquired great intellectual ascendancy. By
Dion Plato was prevailed upon to visit the elder Dionysius at
Syracuse; but that despot, offended by the free spirit of his
conversation and admonitions, dismissed him with displeasure, and even
caused him to be sold into slavery at Aegina on his voyage home. Though
really sold, however, Plato was speedily ransomed by friends. After
farther incurring some risk of his life as an Athenian citizen, in
consequence of the hostile feelings of the Aeginetans, he was conveyed
away safely to Athens, about 386 B.C.

It was at this period, about 386 B.C., that the continuous and formal
public teaching of Plato, constituting as it does so great an epoch in
philosophy, commenced. But I see no ground for believing, as many
authors assume, that he was absent from Athens during the entire
interval between 399-386 B.C.

The spot selected by Plato for his lectures or teaching was a garden
adjoining the precinct sacred to the hero Hecademus or Acedemus,
distant from the gate of Athens called Dipylon somewhat less than a
mile, on the road to Eleusis, toward the north. In this precinct there
were both walks, shaded by trees, and a gymnasium for bodily exercise;
close adjoining, Plato either inherited or acquired a small
dwelling-house and garden, his own private property. Here, under the
name of the Academy, was founded the earliest of those schools of
philosophy, which continued for centuries forward to guide and
stimulate the speculative minds of Greece and Rome.

We have scarce any particulars respecting the growth of the School of
Athens from this time to the death of Plato, in 347 B.C. We only know
generally that his fame as a lecturer became eminent and widely
diffused; that among his numerous pupils were included Speusippus,
Xenocrates, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Hyperides, Lycurgus, etc.; that
he was admired and consulted by Perdiccas in Macedonia, and Dionysius
at Syracuse; that he was also visited by listeners and pupils from all
parts of Greece.

It was in the year 367-366 that Plato was induced, by the earnest
entreaties of Dion, to go from Athens to Syracuse, on a visit to the
younger Dionysius, who had just become d