Tenth Letter (Plato)

Tenth Letter (Plato)

The "Tenth Letter of Plato", also known as "Epistle X" or "Letter X", is an epistle that tradition has ascribed to Plato. It is the shortest of the so-called "Epistles of Plato", comprising two or three sentences aside from the salutation, and spanning a single letter in the Stephanus pagination (358c).

Few consider the "Tenth Letter" to be authentic [Bury, Epistle X, 599; Hamilton and Cairns, "Collected Dialogues", 1516.] . It purports to be a private letter of encouragement to an otherwise unknown Aristodorus, commending him for his continued support of Dion, presumably during the latter's exile from Syracuse in his struggle for power with his nephew, Dionysius the Younger. Why such a letter would be preserved is unknown. More damaging to the letter's authenticity is its rather un-Platonic claim that genuine philosophy, which Aristodorus supposedly exhibits to the highest degree, consists entirely of steadfastness, trustworthiness, and sincerity, apparently to the exclusion of any intellectual qualities or even of any particular love of learning: any wisdom or cleverness which tends toward other moral commitments is rightly called "ingenuity" or "daintiness" (Bury translates "parlour-tricks;" Post, "embellishments;" κομψότητας). [Bury, Epistle X, 599.]

ee also

*Epistles (Plato)
*Plato
*Dialogues of Plato

Footnotes

References

*Bury, R. G., ed. (1942) "Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles". Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
*Hamilton, Edith and Cairns, Huntington, ed. (1961 [1989] ) "The Collected Dialogues of Plato". Princeton: Princeton University Press.
*Post, L. A., ed. (1925) "Thirteen Epistles of Plato". Oxford.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ninth Letter (Plato) — The Ninth Letter of Plato, also called Epistle IX or Letter IX, is an epistle that is traditionally ascribed to Plato. In the Stephanus pagination, it spans III. 357d–358b. The letter is ostensibly written to Archytas of Tarentum, whom Plato met… …   Wikipedia

  • Epistles (Plato) — The Epistles of Plato are a series of thirteen letters traditionally included in the Platonic corpus. Their authenticity has been the subject of some dispute, and scholarly consensus has shifted back and forth over time. By the close of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Greek arithmetic, geometry and harmonics: Thales to Plato — Ian Mueller INTRODUCTION: PROCLUS’ HISTORY OF GEOMETRY In a famous passage in Book VII of the Republic starting at Socrates proposes to inquire about the studies (mathēmata) needed to train the young people who will become leaders of the ideal… …   History of philosophy

  • Philosophy and its background in the early medieval West — Rosamond McKitterick and John Marenbon ‘Libraries, schools and the dissemination of texts’ is by Rosamond McKitterick; the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Philosophical themes’ are by John Marenbon. INTRODUCTION The period from 800 to 1100 is even more… …   History of philosophy

  • From the beginnings to Avicenna — Jean Jolivet INTRODUCTION Arabic philosophy began at the turn of the second and third centuries of the Hegira, roughly the ninth and tenth centuries AD. The place and the time are important. It was in 133/750 that the ‘Abbāssid dynasty came to… …   History of philosophy

  • LITERATURE, JEWISH — Literature on Jewish themes and in languages regarded as Jewish has been written continuously for the past 3,000 years. What the term Jewish literature encompasses, however, demands definition, since Jews have lived in so many countries and have… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • education — /ej oo kay sheuhn/, n. 1. the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. 2. the act or process of… …   Universalium

  • BIBLE — THE CANON, TEXT, AND EDITIONS canon general titles the canon the significance of the canon the process of canonization contents and titles of the books the tripartite canon …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Jewish philosophy — Colette Sirat INTRODUCTION The history of medieval Jewish philosophy can be divided into two consecutive periods. The first, beginning in the ninth century and ending roughly with the death of Maimonides in 1204, occurred in Islamic lands. The… …   History of philosophy

  • Judaism — /jooh dee iz euhm, day , deuh /, n. 1. the monotheistic religion of the Jews, having its ethical, ceremonial, and legal foundation in the precepts of the Old Testament and in the teachings and commentaries of the rabbis as found chiefly in the… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”