Theater of Fate

a most learned man, who excuses him as much as is in his power, and he deserves to be read in the Commentaries on his life and on book 10 of Laërtius.

A middle path, as it were, was chosen by

ARISTIPPUS,

ARISTIPPUS.

a Cyrenaic by birth and a diligent student of Socrates, a man with a mild disposition adaptable to all times, who knew how to temper the severity of the other sects in such a way that he was very dear to the tyrant Dionysius. But this royal favor begot envy, and envy begot hatred. Therefore, he was poorly regarded among the courtiers because he was a philosopher, and among philosophers because he was a courtier, for they interpreted all commerce with tyrants as slavery and an intolerable yoke, born for the school rather than the court. Reflecting on this and the slippery inconstancy of human affairs, he wrote a book on Fortune Laërtius in his Life..

PLATONIC PHILOSOPHERS.

Thus we approach the remaining students of Socrates, among whom stands out

P L A T O,

a man nearly divine, for whom Greece of his own age had no equal, and certainly no superior.