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Plato to Dionysius wishes well-doing. I hear from Archedemus A disciple of Archytas af Tarentum, the Pythagorean scientist; cf. Plat. L. 3.319a; Plat. L. 7.339a, Plat. L. 7.349d. that you think that not only I myself should keep quiet but my friends also from doing or saying anything bad about you; and that you except Dion only. cf. Plat. L. 7.347c. Now your saying this, that Dion is excepted, implies that I have no control over my friends; for had I had this control over you and Dion, as well as the rest, more blessings would have come to us all and to the rest of the Greeks also, as I affirm. But as it is, my greatness consists in making myself follow my own instructions. This closely resemblesPlat. Laws 835c (with μόνος for μέγας). However, I do not say this as though what Cratistolus and Polyxenus Polyxenus was a Sophist and a disciple of Bryson of Megara, cf. Plat. L. 2.314dand Plat. L. 13.360c. Of Cratistolus nothing further is known. have told you is to be trusted; for it is said that one of these men declares that at Olympia Probably the Olympic Festival of 364 B.C. (not 360 B.C. as in Plat. L. 7.350b); see the Prefatory Note. he heard quite a number of my companions maligning you. No doubt his hearing is more acute than mine; for I certainly heard no such thing. For the future, whenever anyone makes such a statement about any of us, what you ought, I think, to do is to send me a letter of inquiry; for I shall tell the truth without scruple or shame. Now as for you and me, the relation in which we stand towards each other is really this. There is not a single Greek, one may say, to whom we are unknown, and our intercourse is a matter of common talk; and you may be sure of this, that it will be common talk also in days to come, because so many have heard tell of it owing to its duration and its publicity. What, now, is the point of this remark? I will go back to the beginning and tell you.
