thesis notes.ch2

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 % chapter i
-\defpnote{1.1}{A.N. Whitehead, \bt{Process and Reality} 
-(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941), p. 63.}
-
-{2}{W.H. Walsh, 
-\et{Plato and the Philosophy of History: History and Theory in the Republic,}
- \jt{History and Theory}
-(The Hague: Mouton \& Co., 1962), II, 1, pp. 1--16.}
-
-{3}{K.R. Popper,
-\bt{The Open Society and its Enemies}
-(2 vols.; 2\tss{nd} ed. rev.; London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1952).}
-
-{4}{Walsh, op. cit., p. 6.}
-
-{5}{See, for example. R.L. Nettleship, 
+\defpnote{0.1}{A.N. Whitehead, \bt{Process and Reality} 
+  (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941), p. 63.}
+\defpnote{0,2}{W.H. Walsh, 
+  \et{Plato and the Philosophy of History: History and Theory in the Republic,}
+  \jt{History and Theory}
+  (The Hague: Mouton \& Co., 1962), II, 1, pp. 1--16.}
+\defpnote{0.3}{K.R. Popper,
+  \bt{The Open Society and its Enemies}
+  (2 vols.; 2\tss{nd} ed. rev.; London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1952).}
+\defpnote{0.4}{Walsh, op. cit., p. 6.}
+\defpnote{0.5}{See, for example. R.L. Nettleship, 
 \bt{Lectures on the Republic of Plato }
 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 
 1955), and E. Barker, 
 \bt{Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle}
 (New York: Dover Publications, Imnc., 1959). 
 Both of these authors make slight reference to the \bt{Timaeus} while discussing Plato's \dq{Political Philosophy.}}
-
-{1.6}{R.G. Bury, 
+\defpnote{0.6}{R.G. Bury, 
 \et{Plato and History,}
 \jt{Classical Quarterly,}
 New Series, 1--2, pp. 86--94.}
-
-{1.7}{Edward MacKinnon, S.J., 
+\defpnote{0.7}{Edward MacKinnon, S.J., 
 \et{Time in Contemporary Physics,}
 \jt{International Philosophical Quarterly,}
 II, 3, (September, 1962), p. 429.}
-
-{0.8}{Hermann Gauss,
+\defpnote{0.8}{Hermann Gauss,
 \bt{Philosophischer Handkommentar zu den Dialogen Platos},
 vol. III part 2 (Bern: Herbart Lang, 1961)}
-
-{0.9}{Bertrand Russell, 
+\defpnote{0.9}{Bertrand Russell, 
 \bt{Mysticism and Logic}
 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday \& Co., 1917). }
-
-{0.10}{Whitehead, loc, cit.}
-
-{0.11}{Werner Heisenberg,
+\defpnote{0.10}{Whitehead, loc, cit.}
+\defpnote{0.11}{Werner Heisenberg,
 \bt{Physics and Philosophy}
 (New York: Harper \& Brothers, 1955), ch. 4.}
-
-{0.12}{See, for example. F.M. Cornford, 
+\defpnote{0.12}{See, for example. F.M. Cornford, 
 \bt{From Religion to Philosophy}
 (New York: Harper \& Brothers, 1957).}
-
-{0.13}{F.M. Cornford, 
+\defpnote{0.13}{F.M. Cornford, 
 \bt{Plato's Cosmology},
 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1937), p. 8.}
-
-{0.14}{Carl G. Hempel, 
+\defpnote{0.14}{Carl G. Hempel, 
 \et{Fundamentals of Concept Formation in Empirical Science,}
 \bt{International Encyclopaedia of Unified Science},
 vols. I and IT; 
 \ul{Foundations of the Unity of Science}
 vol. II, no. 7 (University of Chicago Press, 1952)}
-
-{0.15}{Hans Meyerhoff, ed., 
+\defpnote{0.15}{Hans Meyerhoff, ed., 
 \bt{The Philosophy of History in Our Time}
 (New York: Doubleday \& Co., 1959), 
 which contains a valuable anthology of the important authors in this field and some of their most representative views.}
 
 % chapter ii
-CHAPTER IT 
-THE ORDER OF THE DIALOGUES 
-
-
-In the first chapter, it was stated that an attempt 
-will be made in this study to verify the hypothesis that 
-the Timaeus is a late dialogue in which Plato significantly 
-
-
-reformulates his earlier doctrines of eternity, image, and 
-time. It was stated that the hypothesis was to be investigated by dividing it into two logically interrelated 
-aspects; first, the order of the dialogues will be 
-established and their relative chronology will be documented; 
-second, the doctrines of the late dialogues will be 
-
-traced insofar as they develop the tripartite theme ofr 
-eternity, image, and time. 
-
-It was said that the first aspect relied upon 
-criteria which demand an interpretation of the significance 
-of Plato's style, and that the second aspect depends on an 
-interpretation of Plato's thought. In this chapter, the 
-criteria which do not depend on an interpretation of 
-Plato's thought will be discussed. This chapter assumes 
-that some knowledge of the order or Plato's dialogues is 
-needed in order to interpret them intelligently, and so 
-the chapter which discusses how the scholars established 
-this order precedes the chapter which discusses Platonic 
-doctrine. : 
-
-It should be stated at the outset that one cannot 
-
-
-simply assume that a dialogue which was composed later 
-
-
-
-
-
-than another is therefore necessarily a more mature work. 
-This is precisely what must be demonstrated. In this 
-chapter, the chronology of the dialogues is ascertained 
-insofar as this is possible by citing the conclusions of 
-those scholars who have specialized in the use of stylistic criteria. If one establishes the chronological 
-order of composition there is a valid presumption that 
-it also representa some sort of development in doctrine. 
-If, then, one shows in addition that the doctrines 
-developed follow an ascending order of reflection, the 
-point is made. 'thus, the arguments are not independent 
-of each other. 
-
-If it can be shown that there is a development of 
-doctrine which can be traced through the late dialogues, 
-then it can be shown that this progression facilitates 
-
-
-comprehension of the doctrine of the Timaeus. More 
-
-
-specifically, the themes of eternity, image, and time 
-
-can be traced through the late dialogues only after one 
-knows which dialogues are late and in what order they 
-should be read. Thus the chronology of the dialogues 
-
-and the progression of doctrine are not separate items but 
-logically interrelated aspects of a larger argument. 
-
-It would be possible to postulate an order for the 
-dialogues which would support the view that the doctrine 
-of the Timaeus is a culmination, and each scholar could 
-do this without reference to non-interpretative criteria. 
-
-
-'But, in this way, so many different postulates would ensue 
-
-
-
-that it would become impossible for scholars to reach any 
-agreement among themselves. This in fact is what happened 
-when doctrinal criteria alone were used, and it resulted 
-in such widespread disagreement that a need for some sort 
-of non-interpretative criteria by which to establish the 
-sequence of the dialogues was finally perceived. Further, 
-the reliance on interpretative criteria alone and the 
-subsequent differences in the alleged order could support 
-the conclusion that the relation of the dialogues to each 
-other had no bearing on their respective doctrines, since 
-each scholar might postulate a different chronology. But 
-Plato himself contradicted this view in those of his 
-
-
-dialogues which refer to each other, as, for example, in 
-
-
-the Timaeus, which refers to the Republic almost explicitly 
-by repeating 'ciods doctrines of the HKepublic which are 
-found nowhere else in those of Plato's written works which 
-have come down to us. 
-
-The proceedure followed in this chapter is as 
-follows. Firat, the testimony of the ancients is adduced. 
-then the efforts of scholars to use stylistic and Linguistic 
-criteria are described. Then, biographical intormation 
-about Plato's life and travels is recounted. Finally, 
-Plato's own description of his life and his travels is 
-presented. By drawing from each of these sources, one can 
-compile a composite picture of the criteria by which the 
-order of the dialogues can be established, without 
-
-
-reference to an interpretation of Piato's thought. It will 
-
-
-
-be shown that all of these sources lead to the conclusion 
-that there is a group of dialogues which are later than 
-others, and that the Timaeus is the latest of this group. 
-
-
-In the next chapter, it will be shown that the doctrinal 
-interpretation of these dialogues leads to a greater 
-insight into the doctrine of the imaeus. 
-
-
-I_The Traditional View 
-Writing in his "Commentary," A.E. Taylor presents 
-
-
-an impressive list of ancients who authenticate the Timaeus 
-as Plato's work. He cites Aristotle's references to 
-passages of the Timaeus and the fact that Aristotle refers 
-to the Timaeus as a completed dialogue. In addition to 
-reminding us that Aristotle may be presumed to know the 
-works of his teacher, Taylor cites, in regard to the 
-
-
-authenticity of the Timaeus, the testimony of Theophrastus, 
-
-
-Plutarch, Chalcidius, Xenocrates, Crantor, Poseidonius, 
-Procius, Plotinus, Boethius, Cicero, and Diogenes Laertius, ! 
-This list is offered against the view of Schelling, who 
-contended that the Timaeus was spurious, and by it, 
-
-taylor demonstrates that those who do not recognize the 
-Timaeus as authentic are in the decided minority. There is 
-little need to recapitulate all of the scholarship on each 
-of these authors’ claims and it is certainly sate to regard 
-
-
-Taylor's scholarship in these matters as impeccable. 
-
-
-. ' avs. Taylor, commenter on Plato's iimaeus 
-(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), pe. 4. 
-
-
-te 
-
-
-To this List, Cornfrord adds the names of Galen, 
-Theon, Derclydes, and Adrastus, who not only knew the 
-Zimaeug to be Plato's own but in addition agreed that it 
-was the work of Plato's maturity. Summing up his own 
-argument, Cornford says, "All the ancient Platonists from 
-Aristotle to Simplicius, all the medieval and modern 
-scholars have assumed that this dialogue contains the 
-mature doctrine of its author." Again it seems unnecessarv 
-to repeat the details of Cornford's scholarship which may, 
-like Taylor's, be regarded as impeccable. Both authors 
-
-
-state that the ancients regarded the Timaeus as Plato's 
-
-
-mature work. 
-
-But the testimony of the ancients is hardly sufficient 
-to establish beyond doubt that the Timaeus is both Plato's 
-work, and, in addition, a work of Plato's old age. Citing 
-the ancients lends a great deal of support to the claim 
-
-
-that the Timaeus is authentic, but the claim that it is a 
-
-
-late work bears closer scrutiny. This is especially true 
-in view of the fact that, at one time, a lively controversy 
-
-
-with regard to the alleged maturity of the Timaeus took 
-
-
-place among the scholars. 
-
-Between the time of the ancients and the moderns, 
-the Timaeug was not unknown. Jaeger presents a short and 
-terse history of the Timaeus in the middle ages. Beginning 
-
-
-2 ¥F.M. Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, p. viii. 
-
-
-
-
-
-with the fact that Plato's Timaeus deeply influenced 
-
-
-Augustine, and through Augustine, the whole of the middle 
-ages, and continuing through the Renaissance by way of the 
-Byzantine theologian and mystic Gemistos Plethon, who 
-brought Plato to the Quattrocento, Jaeger also describes 
-the treatment Plato received at the academy of the Medicis, 
-
-
-where Marsilius Ficinus taught from the text of the 
-
-
-Timaeug." 
-
-
-Jaeger notes a change in the eighteenth century, 
-when Schleiermacher seems to have resuscitated a Plato who 
-was nonetheless very much alive. However, theretofore, 
-Plato had been regarded as a mystic and as a theologian 
-whose doctrine was as systematic and systematized as the 
-Aristotelianism of the Schoolmen. Plato was regarded only 
-as the author of the theory of ideas." 
-
-According to Jaeger, it was Schleierzacher's 
-contention that the form which a philosophy took was a 
-creative expression of the philosopher's individuality, 
-and it was Plato's genius, he thought, to dramatize, and to 
-
-
-use philosophy as a "continuous philosophical discussion 
-
-
-aimed at discovering the truth. "> 
-
-
-> Werner Jaeger, Paideia: The Ideals of Greek 
-Culture (3vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 
-1943), II, pp. 77, 78. 
-
-4 Ibid., p. 78. 
-
-
-> Ibid., p. 79. 
-
-
-
-
-Immediately after Schleiermacher's view became 
-known, there followed a period during which the philological investigation of every last minute hypothesis of 
-Plato's was undertaken with the painstakingly precise 
-attention for which philologists are deservedly famous. 
-However, it soon became evident that the forest was being 
-obscured by the trees. 
-
-
-It remained for C.F. Hermann® 
-
-
-to regard the problems 
-of authenticating not only the authorship but the chronology of Plato's dialogues as of paramount importance, and 
-Jaeger tells us that Hermann came to regard the dialogues 
-as "stages in the gradual development of Plato's philosophy."? Thus Hermann brought "into the center of interest 
-@\& problem which had hitherto been little considered, and 
-gave it much greater importance. This was the problem of 
-the dates at which the several dialogues had been written, "8 
-Since various authors developed differing opinions on the 
-dating of the dialogues by using doctrinal criteria alone, 
-4t was the task of philology and researches into stylistic 
-
-
-differences and minute characteristics of language to fix 
-
-
-the date of composition as exactly as possible. 
-
-
-© o.F. Hermann, Geschichte und 8 m der 
-Platonischen Phil EOUONTy 1e30), in Jaeger, 
-oS ae Pe 79. 
-
-T Jaeger, Op, cite, p. 79. 
-
-5 tpad., p. 80. 
-
-
-
-II The Stylistic Controversy | 
-
-T. Gomperz presents an entire chapter on the question 
-of the authenticity and order of Plato's dialogues.? He 
-makes a good summary of some of the chief difficulties to 
-be encountered in an evaluation of the results of the whole 
-stylistic controversy, and gives evidence of how and to 
-what extent the whole question has been settled, 
-
-He begins with a tantalizing supposition: suppose 
-Speusippus had sat down one afternoon, and, in fifteen 
-minutes, written on a scrap of paper the order of the 
-Platonic dialogues. But, of course, Speusippus did no such 
-thing, nor did anyone else, so that the scholars were left 
-with the need to know the order of the dialogues, but, 
-also, they were left with a need to construct methods of 
-establishing the chronology, with no hints from Plato or 
-the Academy as to which methods would prove the most 
-fruitful, 1° 
-
-Initially, each man interpreted the dialogues in 
-what he felt was the logical order of Platonic philosophy. 
-But this produced almost as many logical orders as there 
-were interpreters. 
-
-According to Gomperz (and others, including Jaeger) 
-
-
-it was Schleiermacher who first attempted to find his own 
-
-
-9 Theodor Gomperz, eyock thinkers, trans. G.G. Berry 
-(London: John Murray, 1905). 
-
-
-10 Ipad., pe 275. 
-
-
-
-way out of this myriad of opinions. By viewing Plato's 
-doctrine developmentally, and, starting with Aristotle's 
-guarantees as to certain authentic passages and chronologies, he set about constructing an orderly arrangement of 
-the dialogues. However, this attempt got off to a wrong 
-start because, since only approximately half of Aristotle's 
-works are extent, it became possible for some to construct 
-what was called the argument from silence, i.e., those 
-works of Plato which Aristotle did not mention might be 
-regarded as spurious. !! Gomperz points out that this was 
-really an excess of Platonic zeal since it included only 
-those works which Aristotle claimed were Plato's best. '* 
-Notwithstanding these efforts, Gomperz states that 
-
-
-even in ancient tradition, the Laws were regarded as Plato's 
-
-
-last work. Campbell then perceived that there were 
-stylistic similarities between the Laws and the Timaeus 
-and the Critias, including the fact that some 1500 words 
-were used in these works which do not appear in any of 
-Plato's earlier works.!> In addition, these works appear 
-last on the list of Plato's works which was kept by 
-Aristophanes of Byzantium, the Librarian of Alexandria. 
-
-
-But these are not final criteria. Gomperz asks "...is not 
-
-
-11 Ibid., p. 278. 
-
-
-12 Ipad. 
-15 Ipaa., pp. 279, 283. 
-
-
-
-an author's 'advance,’ his progress towards perfection 
-the surest criterion for the chronological arrangement of 
-his works"? He answers his own question in the affirmative, 
-but reminds us that this road leads to diverse and varied 
-interpretations of "advance," because there are so many 
-possible meanings for this tern. '* 
-
-For these reasons, the stylistic methods were tried. 
-Describing them as "linguistic...and verbal statistics, "!5 
-Gomperz lists some of the criteria employed: 
-
-@. number and use of particles 
-
-b. new words and phrases 
-
-c. certain formulae of affirmation and negation 
-
-d. special superlatives !© 
-
-He goes on to say that the use of these criteria 
-produced "astonishing agreement between many different 
-
-
-investigators."!7 They noted that the style of the Laws, 
-
-
-known to be late, (from other sources) was very similar to 
-the style of the Timaeus, Critias, Sophist, Statesman, and 
-the Philebus. 
-
-
-He concludes: 
-
-
-The determination of the chronologically separate 
-
-
-14 Ipda., p. 284. 
-'5 Ipaa., p. 285. 
-16 psa, 
-
-17 Ibid., p. 286. 
-
-
-
-
-groups and the distribution among these groups 
-
-of the {individual dialogues...are problems 
-
-which may be regarded as finally solved; the 
-
-more ambitious task of settling the chronological 
-
-order within all the groups cannot yet be said to 
-
-have been completed. ! 
-
-However, Jaeger claimed, 
-
-This method, in its turn, was at first successful; 
-but it was later discredited by its own exaggerations. It actually undertook, by the purely 
-mechanical application of language tables, to 
-determine the exact date of every dialogue.19 
-
-Before entering into this lively controversy, it is 
-necessary to distinguish a few crucial points; otherwise, 
-Jaeger's claim that the movement discredited itself will not 
-be intelligible. First, let it be noted that it 1s sometimes impossible to distinguish very well between the 
-date of composition of a dialogue, that is, the period of 
-time during which Plato is said to have actually written 
-down his thoughts, and the date at which the dialogue 
-appeared, that is, was circulated, and, as we should say, 
-released for publication. Although it is sometimes possible 
-to indicate that a dialogue was actually composed in the 
-late period of Plato's life, one cannot simply equate a 
-late doctrine and a late writing. This distinction is 
-necessary if one is to assert that the doctrine of the 
-Timaeyus is a late formulation in Plato's life, and, as our 
-documentation will attempt to indicate, both the formulation 
-
-
-of doctrine and the actual composition of the Jimacus seem 
-
-
-~ Ibid., p. 287. 19 Jaeger, loce cit. 
-
-
-
-
-
-to be very late, according to the sources available to us. 
-But one cannot jump immediately from the conclusion that a 
-dialogue was written late to the conclusion that its 
-doctrine is therefore, on that basis alone, a late doctrine. 
-It should be pointed out in this regard that we have no 
-
-way of knowing whether Plato did or did not compose in the 
-last years of his life, dialogues whose doctrine and style 
-we should call early or middle doctrines. Like anyone else, 
-he might incorporate in late writing what he had formulated 
-much earlier. Although it is unlikely that Plato set early 
-or middle doctrines down on paper in his late years, it is 
-aimost impossible to establish this unlikelihood to a 
-degree of satisfaction which would entirely eliminate 
-controversy. For example, the last few pages of the Philebus 
-seem not to be in the same style or in the doctrinal spirit 
-as the rest of the dialogue. It may well be that this 
-dialogue was left unfinished by Plato, and was completed by 
-the Academy after Plato's death, and that the completion 
-was accomplished by an academician whose insight and 
-doctrinal leaning corresponds to what we should call the 
-middle period of Plato's philosophy. 
-
-However, in the instance of the imaeus, it is claimed 
-here that both the doctrine and the composition of the 
-dialogue are to be placed in the last years of Plato's 
-life, and that it was probably a late doctrine, because it 
-
-
-was composed late. These are the two sides or halves of the 
-
-
-ks 
-
-
-
-argument which we are following in the attempt to verify 
-our hypothesis. On the one hand, if the dialogue was 
-written late, we have probable grounds to infer that ite 
-doctrine is a late one. But it is unwise to conclude only 
-from its late composition that the Timaeus contains a late 
-view. In addition to establishing its date of composition 
-one must examine its doctrine, to see whether it reveals a 
-more developed form of Plato's later thought. Having made 
-this distinction, it is now possible to pass in review 
-the main points of the stylistic controversy, whose 
-protaganists and antagonists tried by what we are calling 
-non-interpretative criteria, to establish the late date of 
-composition of the Timaeus. 
-
-Campbe112° presents a brief outline of the history 
-of attempts to date the dialogues. He recounts how 
-Schleiermacher was so assured that Plato had a complete 
-system of philosophy to expound that there must have been 
-a pedagogical order of the dialogues which Plato intended 
-so that his students could gradually master his philosophical 
-systen. 
-
-Campbell says that Schleiermacher's conception of a 
-"complete system gradually revealed" was a stirring one 
-
-
-which caused a renaissance of Platonic scholarship. Later, 
-
-
-20 L. Campbell, "Plato," Encyclopaedia britannica, 
-llth ed., Vol. XXI, pp. 808-824. 
-
-
-
-
-
-C.F. Hermann's statement that the gradual development of 
-Plato's thought in the dialogues was not a pedagogical 
-gradualism but reflected the slow maturation and development of Plato's mind, brought about a quickening of 
-interest beyond even that which Schleilermacher had precipitated. Ueberweg discerned that the Sophist and the 
-Statesman must be placed between the Republic and the Laws 
-
-
-on the basis of Hermann's view. Ueberweg and other Hegelians 
-felt that the non-being of the Sophist represented a 
-dialectical advance over the Republic and welcomed the 
-chance to demonstrate this point of view by mapping out 
-
-the dialogues in a series of dialectical advances, -! Grote, 
-on the other hand felt so strongly that the Protagoras was 
-Plato's most mature doctrine that he discounted the 
-chronological attempts of Schleiermacher, Hermann, and 
-Ueberweg. 
-
-Campbell adopted a different method of reasoning. 
-Starting with the conclusion that the Laws remained 
-unedited because Plato died before he could do so himself, 
-and noting that the Laws contains a reference to the death 
-of Dionysius Il, and inferring from the tone and style of 
-the Laws that it is almost a monologue and represents a 
-departure from the Socratic dialogues, and adding the 
-agreement of the Ancients with his own view, Campbell 
-
-
-21 Ipid., p. 810. 
-
-
-
-'concluded that the Laws is probably the last of Plato's 
-
-
-works. Then, Campbell reasoned that both the Timaeus and 
-
-
-the Critias presuppose the Republic, and both resemble 
-
-
-the Laws in style and tone. Thus they should both precede 
-the Laws. Since the Sophist and the Statesman seem to 
-
-
-belong together, he placed the Philebus between them and 
-the Timaeus and Critias. So, Campbell concluded, the order 
-
-
-of the late dialogues must be begun at the Sophist, and 
-followed by the Statesman, Philebus, Timaeus, Critias, and 
-
-
-Laws. ° He says, in addition, that Dittenberger and Ritter 
-followed him in taking this view, and that Lutoslawski 
-later reached the same conclusions. —> Jaeger says that he 
-himself reached these same conclusions by another route. 
-
-
-He also agreed with Campbell that the Parmenides, and 
-
-
-Theatetus immediately precede the Sophist. 
-
-
-It should be pointed out that Campbell's chain of 
-reasoning depends on the placement of the Laws as the last 
-of the dialog'es, and this placement does not rest 
-exclusively on non-interpretative bases, since it includes 
-the criterion of the tone and style of Plato's language. 
-One must have at least a comprehension of the tones and 
-styles of the language in which Plato wrote and some 
-
-
-knowledge of the relation of style to the content which 
-
-
-22 Ipig. 
-23 Ip4a. 
-
-
-
-is expressed by language. To avoid confusion, it is 
-necessary to define certain terms as they are employed in 
-this study. By stylistic criteria, I mean the use made by 
-reputable scholars of observations such as the presence 
-or absence of Socrates in a dialogue, or the apparent 
-attempt on Plato's part to have his passage read more 
-smoothly and without unnecessary interruptions. Such 
-devices as the avoidance of hiatus and the use of 
-anacoluthic sentence endings are here called stylistic. 
-The term stylometry refers to the application of statistical procedures to the number of particles in a paragraph, 
-or to the frequency of certain words in one dialogue as 
-against another; clearly, it carries metric connotations, 
-and necessitates only the sort of competence which can 
-easily be programmed into a computer. Whereas the stylistic 
-reader must understand what he reads, the stylometric 
-reader ought to avoid understanding the passage he 
-subjects to statistical criteria. A similar difference 
-could be found between counting a number of unknown 
-objects, which, by analogy, would represent the stylometric method, and concluding that the objects so counted 
-are a strange lot of objects, which be analogy, would 
-represent the stylistic method. It is one thing to count 
-the number of clausulae and quite another to notice that a 
-passage reads more smoothly because of the presence of a 
-number of clausulae. Thus objections to the use of stylometric scholarship need not carry equal weight if referred | 
-
-
-
-to stylistic scholarship. It would be impossible, for 
-example, to put words of the Laws into a computer and 
-
-
-arrive at the conclusion that the Laws 1s a late dialogue, 
-
-
-without at the same time programming into the computer the 
-criteria according to which one says that a certain 
-language style is late or early. There are similar studies 
-concerning the language of Homer in progress at Columbia 
-University, and there too, the criteria of "lateness" 
-must be agreed upon before the "purely mechanical application of language tables to determine the exact date of 
-every dialogue" is undertaken. Thus, Campbell's argument 
-should read as follows; if the Laws is agreed to be last, 
-then the remainder follows on stylistic grounds. And it 
-should be tallied against Jaeger that the placement of the 
-Laws as last does not rest on "purely mechanical" criteria. 
-This conclusion bears directly on the question of 
-
-
-the chronology and the relation of the Seventh Letter to 
-
-
-the Timaeus, because the Seventh Letter contains a 
-
-
-description of certain events in Sicilian politics in which, 
-Plato was directly involved. These events were significant 
-experiences for Plato, and their impress is discernible 
-
-in certain passages of the Timaeus. Detailed comment on the 
-impact of the Sicilian journeys on the doctrine of the 
-Timaeus will be reserved for the discussion of the 
-
-doctrine of the-Timaeus in the fourth chapter. Suffice 
-
-4t here to point out that the autobiographical material 
-Which the Seventh Letter makes available was taken over 
-
-
-= 40 
-by the stylists,-" 25 and added to their attempts to : 
-establish the order of the avavoedee: Again, this shows 
-that the stylistic criteria cannot be viewed as "purely 
-machanical." On the one hand this limite the extent to 
-which stylistic criteria may be said to be non-interpretative; on the other hand, since interpretative sources 
-enter into stylistic researches, it seems to add to the 
-reliability of stylistic criteria in establishing the 
-order of the dialogues. 
-
-A.E. Taylor says that the real impetus for the 
-
-
-stylometric method was received from Campbell's groundbreaking edition of the Sophist and Statesman, and that 
-
-
-Dittenberger, Ritter, and Lutoslawski continued and 
-extended Campbell's efforts, but, he adds, these scholars 
-were able to agree further that there was a definite break 
-in style between the Theatetus and the whole group of 
-dialogues Which Campbell had called the late group. However, Taylor says that the stylometric tabulations, while 
-they could establish whole groups of dialogues which 
-shared a style, could not effectively establish the order 
-
-
-of dialogues within a given group. °° 
-
-
-24 U.v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Platon,I (2d ed.; 
-Berlin: Weidman, 1920), in Jaeger, op, cit., p. 80. 
-
-
-25 Jaeger, Op. cit., p. 84. 
-
-26 A.E. Taylor, "Plato," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
-agar (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1957), 
-pe 49. 
-
-
-Le 
-
-
-Af 
-It is interesting to follow A.E. Taylor's shifting 
-
-emphasis and reliance on the stylistic researches. In the 
-
-article which he wrote for the Britannica, ! Taylor says 
-
-
-there are no stylistic grounds for placing the Timaeus 
-
-
-late in the order of Plato's dialogues. However, in the 
-Commentary on the Timaeus, -° there is a rather extensive 
-description of the stylistic and stylometric criteria and 
-@ rather extensive reliance on both of them, albeit 
-accompanied by a critique. Later, in Plato, the Man and 
-his Work, "2 there is a recapitulation of the stylistic 
-criteria and a somewhat limited reliance upon them. One 
-can only conclude that Taylor did not deem it worthwhile 
-to inform the readers of the Britannica on the intricasies 
-of the stylistic controversy. Nevertheless, in all these 
-works, Taylor concludes that the Timaeus is the work of 
-Plato's last years. 
-
-It is informative therefore, to read Taylor's 
-description of the satylistic criteria. He summarizes those 
-used to establish the late group as follows: 
-
-1. @ reduction of dramatic style 
-
-2. a lesser role for Socrates 
-
-
-3. the presence of a lecture 
-
-
-27 Ipid. 
-28 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, p. 4. 
-
-
-29 alm Taylor, Plato: The Man and His Work (6th 
-ed.;3 Aa print.; New York: Meridian Books, Inc., 1959), 
-(Pe 436. 
-
-
-
-
-4, periodic versus poetic style-0 
-He says, in addition, that the last dialogue which bears 
-the marks of Plato's earlier style must be the Theatetus, 
-and that he shares this view with Ritter"! and 
-Lutoslawek1.>* 
-
-A.E. Taylor's recapitulation of the stylistic 
-criteria is especially interesting in view of the fact 
-that he follows Burnet rather carefully, and yet Burnet 
-states, "I have ventured to assume the results of the 
-stylistic researches inaugurated by Lewis Campbell in 
-1867.""2 It is also interesting to note that Burnet, like 
-taylor, refers to these researches as stylistic and not 
-stylometric, which indicates that he is not willing to go 
-so far as Lutoslawski's application of calculus to the 
-frequency of hiatus and the use of clausulae in Plato's 
-aQialogues. On the other hand, Burnet himself makes use of 
-"stylistic" arguments when he notes that the early dialogues 
-make use of dramatic form and employ the person ot Socrates 
-
-
-centrally in that endeavor, whereas the later dialogues do 
-
-
-30 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, pe 4. 
-
-
-
-Constantin Ritter, The Essence of Plato's 
-EnLiceophy, trans. Adam Alles (London: George Allen \& 
-Unwin, Ltd., 1933). 
-
-
-32 W. Lutoslawski, Origi ad Growth of Plato's 
-Logig (New York: Longmans, rooey. 
-
-
-33 John Burnet, Greek Philosophy (London: Macmillan 
-\& Co., Ltd., 1914), Part I, p. 212. 
-
-
-
-80 with less and less emphasis on drama and on Socrates’ 
-interlocutory role. On this basis Burnet too concludes 
-that the Timaeus is the work of Plato's old age, but 
-
-
-reserves decision as to whether the Philebus precedes it or 
-
-
-not. 
-
-It 18 frequently recognized that Burnet, A.E. Taylor 
-and Cornford collectively form something of a school, and 
-so it is appropriate to take Cornford's remarks on the 
-order of the dialogues into account. This is especially 
-
-
-true since his translation of the Timaeus is the most 
-
-
-recent and constitutes a valuable synthesis of scholarly 
-efforts to understand this dialogue. 
-
-In his Plato's Cosmology Cornford discusses the 
-dating of the Timaeug but makes only peripheral reference 
-to the stylistic criteria.-* He cites Wilamowitz 35 to the 
-effect that Timaeus speaks with an authoritative tone, and 
-makes little use of the gently poetic questionings of 
-Socrates. Cornford also cites Ritter to the effect that 
-the fourth person of the Timaeys is left unknown, perhaps 
-because Plato wanted to keep open the possibility of writing a fourth dialogue in the series. © 
-
-
-34 Gornford, op, cit. 
-
-
-35 Wilamowitz, Platon, I, p. 591, in Jaeger, 
-Op. cit., pe sO. 
-
-
-36 Constantin Ritter, Neve Untersuchungen uber 
-Platon (Munich: 1910), p. 181. 
-
-
-
-But Cornford, like Burnet and unlike A.E. taylor, makes 
-little mention of the whole matter of stylistic dating. 
-He assumes the results of the stylists but prefers to place 
-
-
-the Timaeus and Critias just before the Laws for reasons of 
-
-
-doctrine rather than for reasons of style. 
-
-Ritter says that he learned most "from the English," 
-meaning Burnet, Taylor, and Cornford, and that his own 
-researches brought him into "remarkably close agreement... 
-with respect to their chronological determinations."-/ 
-Briefly, his conclusions are theses there are six major 
-groupings of dialogues, and the last group, composed of 
-the Sophist, Statesman, Timaeus, Critias, Philebus, and 
-
-
-Laws, must be late because a "careful study of the differences in language and expression" creates an "indubitable 
-means of determining their genuineness as well as the 
-approximate date of their appearance." >° In addition, he 
-says that there are changes in style and writing which 
-are less precise but no less observable by the trained 
-observer, and that perhaps the strongest of these 
-considerations is the transition from the "poetic" style 
-in the early works to the "didactic" style of the later 
-
-
-works.-? It 18 interesting to observe that when Zeller 
-
-
-3T Ritter, The Essence of Plato's Philosophy, p. 9. 
-38 tpia., pe 27. 
-39 tpid., pp. 29, 30. 
-
-
-
-challenged Ritter to try the stylistic methods on a 7 
-modern writer's works, whose chronology could be independantty verified, Ritter was able to arrive at the correct 
-chronology of the works of Goethe, 40 
-
-Perhaps a summary of the stylistic controversy is 
-
-in order at this point. "1 Briefly, it began with the 
-efforts of Schleiermacher to reveal what he felt was the 
-pedagogical gradualiem of Plato's dialogues. But Hermann 
-felt that the gradual development in the dialogues revealed 
-not Plato's pedagogical process so much as the gradual 
-growth of Plato's own insight. Campbell started with the 
-assertion that the Laws was the last work of Plato and 
-noted stylistic similarities between the Laws and a whole 
-group of dialogues, which included the Sophist, Statesman, 
-Philebus, Timaeus, and Critias. Ritter modified the 
-
-
-stylistic criteria and made them more precise, and arrived 
-at astonishingly similar conclusions. In turn, Wilamowitz 
-and Lutoslawski carried the work further (and perhaps to 
-excess) by accomplishing stylometric word-counts and 
-establishing frequency tables for the number of particles, 
-clausulae, and hiatus. They too reached similar conclusions. 
-
-
-It emerged that the comparison of styles of writing employed 
-
-
-4 Ross has summerized these results in tabular 
-form. See appendix A. 
-
-
-by Plato in the dialogues could be used by several 
-relatively independant scholars to reach agreement on the 
-chronology of the dialogues, and, on this basis, it was 
-
-
-agreed that the Timaeus was a work of Plato's old age, 
-
-
-since the Timaeug and the Crjtias resembled the Laws, | 
-
-
-more than any other work of Plato, in its style and 
-composition. The researches of Burnet, Taylor, and Cornford 
-assume these stylistic results and take them up into a 
-
-more comprehensive view of the dialogues. This however 
-
-
-does not alter their opinions that the Timaeus is the work 
-
-
-of Plato's old age. Taylor and Burnet are uncertain whether 
-
-
-the stylistic methods can place the Timaeus after the 
-
-
-Philebus and conclude that if this is to be done it must 
-
-
-be done on other grounds. More recent researchers have 
-little or nothing to add to the stylistic probability that 
-
-
-the Timaeus is the work of Plato's old age. 
-
-
-The criteria used by these authors are said to be 
-non-interpretative, insofar as they refer to the use of 
-grammar, style, language devices such as expletives, hiatus, 
-clausulae, etc. But other criteria, such as the death of 
-Dionysius II, the decreasing importance of the role of 
-Socrates in the various dialogues, do, to a certain extent, 
-demand a degree of insight and interpretation of the style 
-of the dialogues, and are used both as starting points for 
-stylistic analyses and as parts of such analyses. They 
-
-
-cannot be said to be purely mechanical, nor are they wholly 
-
-
-
-objective, but their use by what Ritter calls "trained 
-observers" has led to a remarkably wide and detailed 
-agreement on the part of scholars to the effect that the 
-Timaeug is the work of Plato's old age. 
-
-Before we pass on to an examination of those details 
-of Plato's biography which help to establish the sequence 
-of the late dialogues, there is another point which 
-deserves attention, and it is the matter of those dialogues 
-which Zeller and Ritter call the "transitional dialogues, " 
-
-
-namely the Parmenides and the Theatetus. It is necessary 
-
-
-to note that a number of those scholars who have constructed 
-chronologies of the dialogues have reached agreement that 
-these two dialogues must be placed after the works of 
-Plato's middle period, which include the Republic, and 
-before the last period, which begins with the Sophist. In 
-the next chapter, the doctrinal significance of this 
-placement will become evident. It is necessary here only 
-
-to document the assertion that reputable scholars have 
-
-
-agreed to place the Parmenides and Theatetus immediately 
-
-
-before the dialogues of the late period. 
-III Biographical Criteria 
-Up to this point, we have seen that there is a long 
-
-
-and honorable tradition which regards the Timaeus as the 
-
-
-work of Plato's old age, and that atylistic criteria, used 
-by a small but highly reputable number of Platonic scholars, 
-has brought about a condition of wide and detailed agreement that the Timaeus is Plato's work and that he wrote it 
-
-
-i 
-
-
-in his last few years 
-
-To these sources, let us now add a review of those 
-details of Plato's life which may be useful in determining 
-the order of the dialogues. Again, so far as possible, the 
-argument here will attempt to avoid any interpretations of 
-Plato's thought, in keeping with the attempt to divide the 
-evidence in favor of the nypotheale into two inseparable 
-but logically discrete aspects. 
-
-Unfortunately, the biographical information which 
-we posess about Plato is painfully scant, since most of 
-what we know about Plato's life has to be derived from the 
-dialogues and the letters. The date of Plato's birth is 
-usually said to be 427, although A.E, Taylor gives 428. 
-Similarly, the date of Plato's death is usually given as 
-347 but A.E. Taylor gives 348. All agree that these dates 
-are approximate. The concensus seems to be that Plato was 
-approximately eighty or eighty-one when he died. 
-
-Plato was descended from an aristocratic family. 
-His mother's first husband was Ariston who traced himself 
-to Poseidon; her second husband was Pyrilampes, who 
-related himself to Pericles. Plato's mother, Perictione, 
-was of the family of Solon. 42 
-
-' Plato had two brothers, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and 
-
-
-a sister, Potone, whose son, Speusippus was therefore 
-
-
-42 alk. Taylor, "Plato," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
-pp. 48-64. 
-
-
-
-
-Plato's nephew as well as successor as head of the 
-Academy. Plato was the youngest child in the family. *? 
-According to Cicero, Plato's introduction to Archytas (the 
-Strategus of Tarentum) was extremely fortunate since 
-Archytas later rescued Plato from slavery, into which he 
-had been sold by Dionysius 11.44 the incident of Plato's 
-slavery was also recorded by Philodemus in his Index 
-Academicorum. "5 However, without the Seventh Letter it is 
-not possible to set a precise date for this event. Cicero 
-only tells us that Plato was in Sicily and that he was 
-ransomed by Archytas from the slavery into which he had 
-been sola. *© 
-
-After citing the well known details of Plato's birth 
-and aristocratic lineage, Ritter reminds us that Plato was 
-born during the Peloponesian war and that soon thereafter 
-Pericles succumbed to the plague. Plato was six when peace 
-was concluded with Sparta in 421 and he was fourteen, an 
-
-
-Aimpressionable age, when the Athenian fleet was destroyed 
-
-
-43 Field, op. cit., p. 4. 
-a According to Field, Plato's benefactor was 
-
 
+\defpnote{1.1}{A.E. Taylor, 
+\bt{Commentary on Plato's Timaeus}
+(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), p. 4.}
+\defpnote{1.2}{F.M. Cornford,
+\bt{Plato's Cosmology},
+p. viii.}
+\defpnote{1.3}{Werner Jaeger, 
+\bt{Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture}
+(3 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 1943), II, pp. 77--78. }
+\defpnote{1.4}{Ibid., p. 78.}
+\defpnote{1.5}{Ibid., p. 79.}
+\defpnote{1.6}{C.F. Hermann, 
+\bt{Geschichte und System der Platonischen Philosophie}
+(Heidelberg: 1839), in Jaeger, 
+op. cit., p. 79}
+\defpnote{1.7}{Jaeger, op. cit., p. 79.}
+\defpnote{1.8}{Ibid., p. 80.}
+\defpnote{1.9}{Theodor Gompers,
+\bt{Greek Thinkers},
+trans. G.G. Berry 
+(London: John Murray, 1905).}
+\defpnote{1.10}{Ibid., p. 275.}
+\defpnote{1.11}{Ibid., p. 278.}
+\defpnote{1.12}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.13}{Ibid., pp. 279, 283.}
+\defpnote{1.14}{Ibid., p. 284.}
+\defpnote{1.15}{Ibid., p. 285.}
+\defpnote{1.16}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.17}{Ibid., p. 286.}
+\defpnote{1.18}{Ibid., p. 287.}
+\defpnote{1.19}{Jaeger, loc. cit.}
+\defpnote{1.20}{L. Campbell, 
+\et{Plato,}
+\bt{Encyclopaedia Britannica,}
+11\tss{th} ed., Vol. XXI, pp. 808--824.}
+\defpnote{1.21}{Ibid., p. 810.}
+\defpnote{1.22}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.23}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.24}{U.V. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff,
+\bt{Platon}, I,
+(2\tss{nd} ed.; 
+Berlin: Weidman, 1920), in Jaeger, op. cit., p. 80.}
+\defpnote{1.25}{Jaeger, op. cit., p. 84.}
+\defpnote{1.26}{A.E. Taylor, 
+\et{Plato,}
+\bt{Encyclopaedia Britannica},
+XVIII (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1957), 
+p. 49.}
+\defpnote{1.27}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.28}{A.E. Taylor, \bt{Commentary}, p. 4.}
+\defpnote{1.29}{A.E. Taylor, 
+\bt{Plato: The Man and His Work}
+(6\tss{th} ed.; 5\tss{th} print.; New York: Meridian Books, Inc., 1959), 
+p. 346}
+\defpnote{1.30}{A.E. Taylor, \bt{Commentary}, p. 4.}
+\defpnote{1.31}{Constantin Ritter, 
+\bt{The Essence of Plato's Philosophy},
+trans. Adam Alles (London: George Allen \& Unwin, Ltd., 1933).}
+\defpnote{1.32}{W. Lutoslawski, 
+\bt{Origin and Growth of Plato's Logic}
+(New York: Longmans, 1928.)}
+\defpnote{1.33}{John Burnet, 
+\bt{Greek Philosophy}
+(London: Macmillan \& Co., Ltd., 1914), Part I, p. 212.}
+\defpnote{1.34}{Cornford, op, cit.}
+\defpnote{1.35}{Wilamowitz, \bt{Platon}, I, p. 591, in Jaeger, 
+op. cit., p. 8O.}
+\defpnote{1.36}{Constantin Ritter, 
+\bt{Neue Untersuchungen uber Platon}
+(Munich: 1910), p. 181.}
+\defpnote{1.37}{Ritter, \bt{The Essence of Plato's Philosophy}, p. 9.}
+\defpnote{1.38}{Ibid., p. 27.}
+\defpnote{1.39}{Ibid., pp. 29--30.}
+\defpnote{1.40}{G.C. Field, \bt{Plato and His Contemporaries: A Study in Fourth-Century Life and Thought} (London: Methuen \& Co., Ltd., 1930), p. 68.}
+\defpnote{1.41}{Ross has summarized these results in tabular 
+form: see Appendix A.}
+\defpnote{1.42}{A.E. Taylor, \et{Plato,} \bt{Encyclopaedia Britannica}, 
+pp. 48--64.}
+\defpnote{1.43}{Field, op. cit., p. 4.}
+\defpnote{1.44}{According to Field, Plato's benefactor was 
 Archytas (Field, op. cit., p. 16), but according to 
-Gomperz it was Anniceris (Gomperz, op. cit., p. 261). 
-
-
-45 Field, op. cit., p. 18. 
-46 Gomperz, op, cit., p. 261. 
-
-
-
-
-off Sicily. 47 
-
-In 405, when he was approximately twenty, Plato met 
-Socrates, and Ritter tells us that even his exceptional 
-education in the arts of drama and poetry were not enough 
-to prevent Plato from committing his poetic works to the 
-flames, since they were not up to the new philosophical 
-standards Socrates had impressed on nim, 48 
-
-When "The Thirty" came to rule, Plato was asked to 
-join with them, but he could not bring himself to take 
-part in a regime which he felt to be responsible for the 
-injustice of Socrates' death, so he went instead to Megara 
-for a few years. 49 
-
-Plato also travelled to Egypt, Crete, Cyrene, and 
-Italy and Sicily. The Sicilian travels were "of great 
-significance" for Plato's philosophy. In addition to 
-Archytas of Tarentum he met other Pythagoreans in Syracuse. 
-It was during these travels that he also met Dion and 
-Dionysius I. Plato was at this time fourty years old; Dion 
-was twenty and Dionysius forty-three, 99 
-
-Many years later, after the unfortunate and misconceived rivalry between Dion and Dionysius II, Plato was 
-
-
-sold into slavery at the island of Aegina but was soon 
-
-
-47 Ritter, The Essence of Plato's Philosophy, pp. 21, 
-22. 
-
-
-48 tpaa., p. 22. 
-49 Ipta., p. 23. © Abia. 
-
-
-
-ransomed, His benefactor refused reimbursement, so Plato 
-took the sum and applied it to the purchase of a plot of 
-ground in the gardens of Akademos, where the founding and 
-administration of his school occupied his attention for the 
-next twenty years.>! 
-
-In 367, Dionysius I dies and Dionysius II is advised 
-by Dion to send for Plato. A rivalry takes place between 
-Dion and Dionysius. Plato is allowed to return to Athens 
-for the duration of the war in which Syracuse is engaged, 
-on the promise that he will return as soon as it is over. 
-Plato leaves and Dion is banished. °2 
-
-Five years later, Plato returns. He tries, with less 
-success than before, to have Dion reinstated. He returns 
-again to Athens in 360. Three years later, Dion assembles 
-an army and marches on Syracuse. He meets with some success 
-but is later assassinated. According to Ritter, 52 Plato 
-mourns with deeper grief than he had for Socrates, 
-although Ritter does not reveal the source of his information. 
-
-In 347, Plato dies. Ritter says: "To the end of his 
-
-
-life he was mentally alert and active and enjoyed the honour 
-
-
-51 Ip4d., p. 24. 
-52 Ibid., p. 25. 
-53 Ipid., pe 26. 
-
-
-
-and respect conferred upon him by his circle of disciples." 
-By accepting the authenticity of the Seventh Letter, 
-Ritter is able to conclude that the Parmenides and the 
-
-
-Theatetus were written before Plato’s Sicilian adventures 
-and that the late dialogues were written thereafter. >> 
-Thus Ritter is of the opinion that the Parmenides and 
-
-
-Theatetus immediately precede the late group and should be 
-
-
-read before them, since, in this order, the changes in style 
-and doctrine between the Parmenides and the Jheatetus and 
-the late group became more clearly recognizeable. In short, 
-the influence of Plato's Sicilian experiences can be 
-
-better discerned in the late group, and this influence is 
-not detectable in the Parmenjdes and Theatetus. 
-
-One final biographical point deserves attention 
-before we pass on to a discussion of the relevance of 
-Plato's letters to the matter of establishing the chronology 
-of the dialogues, and it is the problem of determining the 
-relative influence of Socrates on Plato's life. 
-
-While this problem seems at first sight to belong 
-to a discussion of Plato's biography, actually it does not. 
-While it is true to say that we have as little information 
-
-
-about the details of Socrates’ life as we have of Plato's, 
-
-
-o4 Ibid., pe 27. 
-
-
-55 Ritter cit., pp. 329 ff.; Untersuchungen 
-uber Platon (Stutheeres 1888 » pp. 88 ff, 
-
-
-() 
-
-
-
-the fact is that we can only determine the influence of | 
-Socrates by examining Plato's thought. It is frequently 
-asserted that Plato wrote in the dialogue form because he 
-held Socrates’ method of communication in such high esteem, 
-and this is probably true. But there seems to be no 
-information which could help us to determine whether the 
-order of the dialogues was influenced by Socrates. It 
-seems better to postpone this question until the next 
-chapter, where we take up the doctrines of the dialogues, 
-and the influence of Socrates’ thought on Plato's doctrine. 
-
-It might be noted in anticipation that Plato does 
-
-
-give several hints, through the Parmenides, Theatetus, and 
-
-
-in the whole group of late dialogues, of the extent to 
-which the doctrines of these dialogues are "beyond" 
-Socrates, that is, ask the sort of questions which Socrates 
-probably would not have asked. 
-
-Let us pass, then, to a discussion of Plato's 
-Seventh Letter, which reveals in some detail how Plato's 
-Sicilian experiences influenced him. Such information will 
-be useful in understanding some of the passages in the late 
-dialogues. 
-IV. The Letters 
-
-J. Harward °° has made a very useful compendium 
-
-
-which contains an impressive amount of material on the 
-
-
-NE PIN SE IE TE ESI IT IT I I SE TS TC EIT OT DFAT I LEED TENE EEE 
-
-
-50 J, Harward, The Platonic Epistles (Cambridge: 
-The University Press, 1932). 
-
-
-L a 
-
-
-
-Letters. He cites a number of ancients who regarded the i 
-whole collection of Plato's letters as authentic, including 
-Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, Lucian, Cicero, and Aristophanes the grammarian of Alexandria.o? Although Jowett 58 
-followed Karsten 99 into the opinion that the entire lot 
-was spurious, Harward says that the increasingly wide use 
-of stylistic criteria soon dissipated the influence of their 
-opinions. The stylists were thus able to overcome the views 
-of Jowett and Karsten 60 which were that the letters were 
-written in too lowly a style for them to be regarded as 
-Plato's own, that the philosophical doctrine of the letters 
-differs too widely from Plato's theory or Ideas, and that 
-there are no sources from which we may conclude that Plato 
-was actually ever in Sicily.©! Wilamowitz was particularly 
-strong in asserting the letters to be genuine, and his 
-criteria were largely stylistic, that is, he was able to 
-conclude that the satyle of the letters was not too lowly 
-tor Plato, but was in fact written with many or the idioms 
-
-
-and phrases which Plato favored in his late years. 
-
-
-57 Harward, op, cit., p. 60. 
-
-
-58 B. Jowett, e Dialogues of Plato (3rd ed.; New 
-York: Scribner, Armstrong, Oe, 1 » preface. 
-
-
-59 H.T. Karaten, De Epistolis quae feruntur 
-Platonicis (Utrecht: 1864), in Harvard, Op, cit., Pp. 61. 
-
-60 Harward, op. cit., pp. 71, 72. 
-
-61 Field, op, git., p. 16. 
-
-
-
-Thus, there are few scholars today who would reject 
-all the letters, although some scholars reject some of then, 
-as we shall see. But in the main, the wave of scepticism 
-has subsided. Thus, Harward is able to compile a list of 
-scholars and tabulate which scholars accept which of the 
-letters. 
-
-
-The Seventh Letter in particular, has been accepted by 
-
-
-Taylor, Burnet, Ritter, Hackforth, Wilamowitz, Souilhe, 
-Bury, and Field.©2 These scholars were able to agree 
-largely because of the stylistic criteria as applied to 
-the letters. Harward discusses these criteria in some 
-detail. He divides them into four groups, which include 
-the following: 
-1. choice of words, including neologisms and 
-expressions Known to be current in certain 
-years by reference to other authors. 
-2. word order, including inversions of normal 
-word order, hiatus, elision, the use of clausulae 
-3. sentence structure, including extra paranthetic 
-clauses, hanging nominatives, a string of terse, 
-clipped unmodified verbs, following intuitional 
-rather than strictly logical order. 
-4. circuitous mannerisms and tautologous phrases 63 
-One notices that the foregoing criteria are neither 
-atrictly stylistic nor strictly stylometric. In order to 
-make use of them i1t would be necessary to be a "trained 
-observer" as Ritter says, and, in addition to noticing the 
-
-
-presence of these devices of style, one could, if so 
-
-
-62 Harward, ope cit., p. 76. 
-63 Ibid., pp. 86-96. 
-
-
-
-inclined, make tables and count the frequency with which 
-these mannerisms occurred. But the deeper point is that 
-the most reputable Platonic scholars were able to agree 
-on the basis of these criteria that the Seventh Letter was 
-both genuine and late. Harward says "...the stylistic 
-
-
-features in common (between the Seventh Letter and the 
-
-
-Laws) are so striking that they stare the reader in the 
-
-
-face, "64 Ritter makes a similar comment when he says, "On 
-
-
-any unprejudiced reader it (the Seventh Letter) cannot 
-
-
-fail to produce the impression of the natural outspokenness 
-of a narrative of personal experience. "65 Cicero himself 
-says, "praeclara epistula Platonis ad Dionis propinquos..."66 
-To these, Harward adds his own views since Plato regarded 
-Kallipos as a "fiend incarnate," and since it was Kallipos 
-who had Dion murdered, and since Kallipos wrote to Plato 
-
-of the death of Dion in 354, and since the death of Dion 
-
-4s recorded in the letter, but the letter does not record 
-the death of Kallipos, which occurred a year later, it is 
-probable that the letter was written between 354 and 353,67 
-From all of these probabilities, Harward concludes that the 
-
-
-64 Ipia., p. 86. 
-
-
-65 Ritter, Neue Untersuchungen uber Platon, p. 408. 
-66 Tusc, Disp. V, 35, in Harward, op. cit., p. 189. 
-67 Harward, op, cit., p. 192. 
-
-
-
-letter was composed after the Sicilian journeys and before : 
-the Laws. This places the letters in a setting which is 
-either immediately before or contemporaneous with the 
-
-
-Timaeus. As we shall see after a discussion of the Seventh 
-
-
-Letter in detail, it is probable that it precedes the 
-Timaeus. 
-
-
-Having shown on the basis of reputable scholarship 
-
-
-the authenticity of the Seventh Letter and its late 
-
-
-composition, I would like now to summarize its contents, 
-in order to point out certain experiences Plato had 
-relevant to the doctrine of the Timaeus. 
-
-Plato begins by telling that his motive for visiting 
-Sicily as the desire to see the people there freed by the 
-best laws for the situation, and, in addition, he will 
-recount in the letter the process in which he reached the 
-formation of his opinions on the matter (324b). 
-
-He describes his youthful aspiration for a political 
-career and recounts that some of his relatives, (Critias 
-and Charmides) were members of the Thirty, and that they 
-had asked him to rule with them (324 b,c). But he declines 
-because he sees that their rule, like most revolutionary 
-regimes new in power, suffered excesses. These were 
-particularly visible in these attempt to send Socrates on 
-a dishonorable mission (324 6). It was finally certain, 
-when Socrates was sentenced to death at the hands of this 
-regime (325 c). Plato notes sadly that the older he gets 
-the more he realizes the extreme difficulty of handling 
-
-
-
-public matters (325 a). He noticed that not only the 
-written but the unwritten laws were extremely inflexible 
-and therefore hard to mold. As a matter of fact, those in 
-Athens struck him as incurable, and for the time, nothing 
-could be done (326 a). | 
-
-We then read a small recapitulation of the Republic 
-doctrine of the philosopher-king. Plato tells his readers 
-that the situation in Sicily, like the one in Athens, is 
-so difficult that there will be no peace for the sons of 
-men until either philosophers are kings or those in power 
-lay hold to some philosophical illumination (326 b). It 
-was with these expectations that Plato first arrived in 
-Sicily. He is repelled by the life of vice and court 
-debauchery which he finds there, and says that here as 
-elsewhere such immorality will inevitably lead to a 
-succession of tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy (326 d). 
-
-However, while there, he instructs the young Dion 
-who is extraordinarily adept at this sort of learning, and 
-Dion resolves to "live for the future" which of course 
-makes him terribly unpopular at the court (327 b,c) 
-However it is his hope that Dionysius will learn too, and 
-in this way peace and happiness will be introduced (327 d). 
-This fitea in with Plato's desires not to be "only a man 
-of words" (328 aec) and, in addition, helps Plato to 
-prove to himself that he does no dishonor to philosophy by 
-inaction (329 a). However, Dionysius does not devote himself to philosophy. Moreover, Dion is perceived as a 
-
-
-
-threat and is expelled from the court. Plato becomes a 
-prisoner of the court (329 ced). Dionysius flatters Plato, 
-but Plato is aware that it is his status and not his 
-philosophy which Dionysius desires (330 a). 
-
-Plato reflects on these experiences for his readers, 
-and tells them an allegory to the effect that the physician 
-is to his patient as the philosopher is to the state, and 
-that, just as the physician prescribes diet, so the 
-philosopher prescribes laws and constitutions which will 
-eventuate in a good state (330 d-33!1 e). This too is 
-reminiscent of the Republic. Again we are told that the 
-good governor is he who frames good laws (332 b). To do 
-80, @ man must have loyal friends, and there is no surer 
-test of vice than a man without friends (332 c). Such a 
-man is Dionysius, whose early years were hungry for want 
-of education and proper training. Thus he was raised 
-discordantly, and, beyond the fact that he is wrecking 
-Sicily, the greatest poverty arises from his lack of 
-harmony with himself (332 a). Nevertheless, a way must be 
-found to free Sicily by the introduction of just laws (334c). 
-A way might be found if only Dionysius can be brought to 
-harmony with himself. If it is not possible to introduce 
-order through Dionysius, then other means must be sought, 
-for the source of light is the soul at harmony within the 
-man (335 aed). Plato's hope is high and his desire is 
-strong, but the worst crime is comitted: Dionysius 
-
-
-refuses (335 e). 
-
-
-
-- Thus the second venture ends worse than the first, 
-due to a "fiendish" ignorance of matters of the soul and 
-of philosophy on the part of Dionysius (336 bec). 
-
-We are reminded of the early lesson of the letter, 
-i.e., that a period of temperance after a revolution is 
-as rare as it is necessary. Perhaps it follows that this 
-is the time when just laws should be enacted but it is 
-unfortunately true that this is also the time when such 
-an enactment is least possible. Perhaps this task will 
-remain for the future (356 e). 
-
-How should such laws come to be? Plato answers his 
-own question by saying that only the best men can make 
-the best laws, and actually goes into the proportion of 
-men to the population (337 c). 
-
-The motive for Plato's third trip to Sicily is 
-given. We are informed that Dionysius is eager to have 
-Plato return, and that he has made progress in his study 
-of philosophy. Archytas and his Tarentine circle of 
-Pythagoreans implore Plato by letter, and one, Archydemos, 
-even accompanies the trireme which is sent to supply 
-Plato's passage. In order not to betray Dion and his other 
-Tarentine friends, Plato allows himself to be convinced( 339 
-a-e). 
-
-There follows what one writer (Ritter) calls a 
-philosophical digression into the nature of the process 
-wherein philosophy is "imparted" so that the student will 
-
-
-_gsee a "marvellous road" open before him (340 b,c). Here 
-
-
-
-we have a recapitulation of some of the thoughts Plato 
-
-
-had set down in the Phaedo and in the Republic, where he 
-
-
-described how the soul, reflecting on herself, sees a 
-whole new realm (340 d). 
-
-"There neither is nor ever will be a treatise of 
-mine on the subject" says Plato, in what seems at first 
-to be a deep paradox. What can a philosopher mean whose 
-Magnificent dramatic dialogues are revered as perhaps 
-the highest insights ever written? Is it all a game? The 
-key to this, is to be found in the Seventh Letter, which 
-
-
-explains to the friends of Dion that Plato never fell from 
-honor and was not among the murderers of Dion nor among 
-the followers or participants in the horrible rule of 
-Dionysius who had him killed. Plato is not addressing a 
-learned academy nor an audience of philosophers but a 
-group of friends and former associates of Dion who cannot 
-understand how the great Plato and his philosophy could 
-not save Dion from an unjust fate. 
-
-To the claim of Dionysius that he was learning 
-philosophy from the one lesson Plato had given him and 
-that he was in fact producing learned treatises of originality and brilliance, Plato responds not only that his 
-philosophy can't be taught in a few lessons, but that its 
-deepest meanings cannot be taught at all, but must be 
-experienced as a fire which is enkindled in the soul 
-after an arduous preliminary regimen in the company of 
-
-
-\. 
-
-
-
-
-teachers who have been so inflamed (341 d,e).
-
-If philosophy cannot be taught as a series of learnable propositions, how can one expect to learn it in 
-writings and disquisitions? To bolster this argument and to 
-derive it from higher knowledge, Plato launches into a 
-short essay on the steps and stages on the way to philosophical insight. There are, he says, three preliminary 
-steps and two later stages through which philosophical 
-knowledge is imparted (342 a), o8 
-
-the "instruments" of this process are names, definitions, and images (eidola). Names are notoriously flighty 
-and subject to the winds of change and fashion. Definitions 
-are frequently contradictory and refer to aspects which 
-shift. Images may be drawn and fashioned at will but what 
-images attempt to convey is not necessarily subject to 
-these inconsistancies (342 b,c). More proximate but still 
-very distant is knowledge of the thing and closest is the 
-thing itself as it is. If somehow one does not go through 
-the first three, (names, definitions, and images) one 
-cannot even aspire to the fourth, (knowledge of the thing) 
-much less the fifth. It is much the same with the Good, 
-the Beautiful, the Just, Bodies, even Characters of the 
-
-
-65 not learned. Plato is talking about the 
+Gompers it was Anniceria (Gompers, op. cit., p. 261).}
+\defpnote{1.45}{Field, op. cit., p. 18.}
+\defpnote{1.46}{Gompers, op, cit., p. 261.}
+\defpnote{1.47}{Ritter, 
+\bt{The Essence of Plato's Philosophy},
+pp. 21--22.}
+\defpnote{1.48}{Ibid., p. 22.}
+\defpnote{1.49}{Ibid., p. 23.}
+\defpnote{1.50}{Ibid.}
+\defpnote{1.51}{Ibid., p. 24.}
+\defpnote{1.52}{Ibid., p. 25.}
+\defpnote{1.53}{Ibid., pe 26.}
+\defpnote{1.54}{Ibid., p. 27.}
+\defpnote{1.55}{Ritter op. cit., pp. 329 ff.; 
+\bt{Untersuchungen uber Platon}
+(Stutheeres 1888), pp. 88 ff.}
+\defpnote{1.56}{J. Harward, \bt{The Platonic Epistles} (Cambridge: 
+The University Press, 1932).}
+\defpnote{1.57}{Harward, op, cit., p. 60.}
+\defpnote{1.58}{B. Jowett, 
+\bt{The Dialogues of Plato}
+(3\tss{rd} ed.; New York: Scribner, Armstrong, \& Co., 1878) preface.}
+\defpnote{1.59}{H.T. Karsten,
+\bt{De Epistolis quae feruntur Platonicis}
+(Utrecht: 1864), in Harward, op, cit., p. 61.}
+\defpnote{1.60}{Harward, op. cit., pp. 71--72.}
+\defpnote{1.61}{Field, op. cit., p. 16.}
+\defpnote{1.62}{Harward, op. cit., p. 76.}
+\defpnote{1.63}{Ibid., pp. 86--96.}
+\defpnote{1.64}{Ibid., p. 86.}
+\defpnote{1.65}{Ritter, 
+\bt{Neue Untersuchungen uber Platon}, p. 408.}
+\defpnote{1.66}{\bt{Tusc, Disp.} V, 35, in Harward, op. cit., p. 189.}
+\defpnote{1.67}{Harward, op. cit., p. 192.}
+\defpnote{1.68}{Not \e{learned.} Plato is talking about the 
 communication of philosophy, not the stating of it, nor 
 the acquisition of it, but the process in which, so to 
-speak, philosophy happens. 
-
-
-
-'soul, and with all that is done or suffered (342 e). : 
-
-Plato distrusts the fixity and unchangeable character 
-of language as he hesitates to put down in words which 
-seem firm and clear what cannot be grasped so easily (343 a). 
-Words, definitions, and images contain much that is 
-opposite to the things themselves (343 b). Philosophy is so 
-hard that men satisfy themselves with images. ©9 Most men 
-cannot study philosophy, and even those who do, find it 
-hard if not impossible to speak of. Perhaps, after the 
-preliminaries of words, definitions, and images, a birth 
-will take place but unless the preparatory steps are 
-taken, naught will avail the ambitious, such as Dionysius. 
-In addition, if there is no "natural inclination," even 
-these steps will lead nowhere (344 a). 
-
-What is needed is a "sudden flash" which will arrive 
-only occasionally and then only after long preperation (344b). 
-Therefore, Plato warns his audience, do not expect to plumb 
-the deepest meanings of philosophy too rapidly. And, even 
-if a treatise on Laws, written by a great writer, should 
-cross your attention, do not think that you see there the 
-most precious thought of their writer; you do not. These, 
-he implies, are images drawn for your information, but 
-they are not philosophy, in its deepest sense (344 c). 
-
-Moreover, Plato tells his readers that his reverence 
-
-
-for the truth is such that he will not entrust it to 
-
-
-69 See the Cave Allegory of the Republic 507. F 
-
-
-
-vehicles. That which is inexpressibly beautiful should not 
-be dragged down in homely expression. The inner harmony of 
-philosophy will not mix with the discordant decadence of 
-Dionysian politics. On the other hand, once truths of this 
-sort have been experienced, there is no need to write them 
-down because there is no danger of forgetting them. Once 
-posessed, they live on (344d). So ends the "philosophical 
-digression." 
-
-Plato returns to his history of the events of his 
-third stay in Sicily. He is implored to stay on by 
-Dionysius’ promise to restore Dion's property and income. 
-Plato is asked to remain for a while to consider the plan, 
-but while he does so, the last trade ships leave and the 
-season for travel comes to an end. (He has been tricked) 
-(346). After the ships are gone, Dionysius sells Dion's 
-property (347). Plato is told that Herakleides will not be 
-harmed, even though he led a guard's revolt for higher pay, 
-but again Dionysius goes back on his promise. Plato is 
-ousted from the palace gardens on the pretext that they are 
-needed for a festival (349). 
-
-Plato begins to realize that his friendship for Dion 
-4s disadvantageous, that he no longer shares the tyrant's 
-confidence, that he is no longer useful, either to himself 
-or to the tyrant, and that his friends at the court are 
-gradually being arrested. 
-
-He sends for help to Archytas (350). A trireme of 
-
-
-_thirty oars is sent, with Lamiskos, a Pythagorean, in 
-
-
-
-command. Plato is taken to Dion, who immediately plots 
-revenge against Dionysius II. This time, Plato pleads not 
-to be included, because of his advanced age, and because 
-Dion is plotting to injure someone, and Plato will not be 
-a party to violence (350 c). 
-
-Plato gives out another allegory. Like the brave 
-captain of a good vessel who underestimates the brutal 
-ferocity of a storm, it became Dion's fate to die at the 
-hands of Dionysius' forces, but it was a death with honor. 
-
-Plato ends the letter by saying that he felt it was 
-necessary to explain the paradoxical turn of events in 
-Sicily, and he hopes he has done so (352). 
-
-Since reputable scholars have agreed that the 
-Seventh Letter is Plato's own, and since, in all probability 
-it was written between 354 and 353, we must place it in the 
-late period. We should expect the extraordinary experiences 
-of Plato's Sicilian travels to have a marked influence on 
-the doctrine of those dialogues written after the travels 
-
-
-which the Seventh Letter record. 
-
-
-However, in order to show what influences these 
-
-
-experiences had on the doctrine of the Timaeus, it is 
-
-
-first necessary to pass in review the doctrines of the 
-
-dialogues between the Republic and the Timaeus. This task 
-is the burden of the following chapter. It is possible at 
-this point only to anticipate how the Seventh Letter leads 
-
-
-us to expect that the Timaeus will reveal the influence of 
-
-
-_Plato's Sicilian experiences. 
-
-
-
-Thus, there is confirmatory evidence to be derived 
-
-
-from the Seventh Letter for the view that the Timaeus is a 
-
-
-late dialogue. This is indicated in the statement (at 344c) 
-that even if a great writer were to write a treatise on 
-laws and if such a treatise were to come to the attention 
-of the Sicilians, it should not be regarded as philosophy 
-but as a set of images. The fact that this statement is 
-put in the hypothetical future seems to indicate that the 
-Laws have not yet been written (at least, not completed). 
-If the Laws is Plato's last effort, and if the Timaeus 
-
-
-is as closely related to the Laws as the stylistic criteria 
-
-
-indicate, this statement would seem to indicate that the 
-
-
-letter itself was written before both the Timaeus and the 
-
-
-Laws. We have already cited evidence for this view. 
-
-It 18 the business of the next chapter to spell out 
-the doctrinal criteria on which this same conclusion can 
-be reached. There, the relevence of the doctrinal points 
-of the Seventh Letter will be introduced. 
-
-Perhaps it is not inexcusable to ask the reader to 
-recall at this point that the division of the initial 
-hypothesis into two methodological procedures, has, at 
-this point, only dealt with one half of the argument, and 
-that both halves are necessary to establish the hypothesis. 
-Thus, one concludes from this chapter that the external 
-sources, individually and collectively, point to the 
-Timaeus as a late work. It now needs to be demonstrated 
-ithat the doctrine of the Timaeus is a late doctrine. 
-
-
-
-Thereafter, it will be shown that in the doctrine of the 
-
-
-Timaeus we find not only a later doctrine than its 
-
-
-predecessors, but a more developed doctrine, consisting of 
-@ culmination and synthesia of the themes of eternity, 
-image, and time. 
-
-
-V__Conclusion 
-
-
-I conclude this chapter with the conviction that the 
-Timaeus is a late dialogue, probably written after Plato's 
-Sicilian adventures. It is difficult to fix a precise date 
-for its composition. It is certainly after the first two 
-Sicilian adventures and certainly before 347, the year of 
-Plato's death. /° stylistic criteria place it in the same 
-age grouping as the Laws. This makes it probable that the 
-Laws and the Timaeus occupied Plato's attention alternately 
-
-
-during the same set of years. This means that the Timaeus 
-trilogy and the Laws were both written in the last years 
-of Plato's life. I think it is probable that the Timaeus 
-
-
-was written after the third Sicilian adventure, after 
-Plato's indebtedness to the Tarentine Pythagoreans had 
-increased a great deal. I feel no need to separate the 
-Laws, the Seventh Letter, and the Timaeug more precisely 
-because I think that work on all three of them could have 
-proceded together, yet I feel it is probable that the 
-
-
-Seventh Letter precedes the completion of the Laws and 
-
-
-70 4.e., it 48 in all probability not a posthumous 
-edition. 
-
-
-Ln 
-
-
-
-
-
-the Timaeus. Cornford's hypothesis that Plato stopped in 
-
-
-the middle of the Critias in order to complete the Laws is 
-
-
-especially attractive. 
-
-
-
-
+speak, philosophy happens.}
+\defpnote{1.69}{See the Cave Allegory of the \bt{Republic} 507.}
+\defpnote{1.70}{i.e., it is in all probability not a posthumous 
+edition.}
 
 CHAPTER III 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE DIALOGUES 
@@ -9757,7 +8046,7 @@ American Catholic Sociological Review. XXII, No. 2,
 Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1961, pp. 143 ff. 
 
 
-Gomperz, Theodor. Greek Thinkers. trans. G.G. ery. 
+Gompers, Theodor. Greek Thinkers. trans. G.G. ery. 
 Londons John Murray, 1! °