§8.352Πλάτων τοῖς Δίωνος οἰκείοις τε καὶ ἑταίροις εὖ πράττειν.
Plato to the relatives and companions of Dion, wishing them well.
ἃ δʼ ἂν διανοηθέντες μάλιστα εὖ πράττοιτε ὄντως, πειράσομαι ταῦθʼ ὑμῖν κατὰ δύναμιν διεξελθεῖν.
What things you might bear in mind so as to fare best indeed in reality, these I will try to explain to you according to my ability.
ἐλπίζω δὲ οὐχ ὑμῖν μόνοις συμβουλεύσειν τὰ συμφέροντα, μάλιστά γε μὴν ὑμῖν, καὶ δευτέροις πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐν Συρακούσαις, τρίτοις δὲ ὑμῶν καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις, πλὴν εἴ τις αὐτῶν ἀνοσιουργὸς γέγονεν· ταῦτα γὰρ ἀνίατα καὶ οὐκ ἄν ποτέ τις αὐτὰ ἐκνίψειν.
And I hope to advise what is beneficial not to you alone, but most of all indeed to you, and secondly to all those in Syracuse, and thirdly, after you, even to your enemies and adversaries, except if any of them has committed unholy deeds; for these things are incurable and no one could ever wash them away.
νοήσατε δὲ ἃ λέγω νῦν.
Consider then what I am saying now.
ἔσθʼ ὑμῖν κατὰ Σικελίαν πᾶσαν λελυμένης τῆς τυραννίδος πᾶσα μάχη περὶ αὐτῶν τούτων, τῶν μὲν βουλομένων ἀναλαβεῖν πάλιν τὴν ἀρχήν, τῶν δὲ τῇ τῆς τυραννίδος ἀποφυγῇ τέλος ἐπιθεῖναι.
Since the tyranny has been dissolved throughout all Sicily, all your battle is about these very things: those on the one hand wishing to take back the rule again, and those on the other hand wishing to put a finishing touch on the escape from the tyranny.
συμβουλὴ δὴ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὀρθὴ δοκεῖ ἑκάστοτε τοῖς πολλοῖς εἶναι ταῦτα συμβουλεύειν δεῖν ἃ τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους ὡς πλεῖστα κακὰ ἐξεργάσεται, τοὺς δὲ φίλους ὡς πλεῖστα ἀγαθά· τὸ δὲ οὐδαμῶς ῥᾴδιον πολλὰ κακὰ δρῶντα τοὺς ἄλλους μὴ οὐ καὶ πάσχειν αὐτὸν πολλὰ ἕτερα.
Now, concerning such matters, the right advice always seems to the many to be that one ought to advise those things which will work the most possible evils upon enemies, and the most possible goods upon friends; but it is by no means easy for one, while doing many evils to others, not to suffer many other evils oneself in turn.
δεῖ δὲ οὐ μακρὰν ἐλθόντας ποι τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐναργῶς ἰδεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὅσα νῦν γέγονεν τῇδε, αὐτοῦ περὶ Σικελίαν, τῶν μὲν ἐπιχειρούντων δρᾶν, τῶν δὲ ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς δρῶντας· ἃ κἂν ἄλλοις μυθολογοῦντες ἱκανοὶ γίγνοισθʼ ἂν ἑκάστοτε διδάσκαλοι.
And there is no need to go far somewhere to see such things clearly, but only to look at what has now happened here, right in Sicily, with some attempting to act, and others defending themselves against those acting; concerning these things, even by telling them as stories to others, you would always be capable teachers.
τούτων μὲν δὴ σχεδὸν οὐκ ἀπορία· τῶν δὲ ὅσα γένοιτʼ ἂν ἢ πᾶσιν συμφέροντα ἐχθροῖς τε καὶ φίλοις ἢ ὅτι σμικρότατα κακὰ ἀμφοῖν, ταῦτα οὔτε ῥᾴδιον ὁρᾶν οὔτε ἰδόντα ἐπιτελεῖν, εὐχῇ δὲ προσέοικεν ἡ τοιαύτη συμβουλή τε καὶ ἐπιχείρησις τοῦ λόγου.
Of these things, indeed, there is almost no lack; but as for what would be either beneficial to all, both enemies and friends, or would cause the smallest possible evils to both, these things are neither easy to see, nor, when seen, to accomplish, and such advice and undertaking of the discourse resembles a prayer.
§8.353ἔστω δὴ παντάπασι μὲν εὐχή τις—ἀπὸ γὰρ θεῶν χρὴ πάντα ἀρχόμενον ἀεὶ λέγειν τε καὶ νοεῖν—ἐπιτελὴς δʼ εἴη σημαίνουσα ἡμῖν τοιόνδε τινὰ λόγον· νῦν ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις σχεδόν, ἐξ οὗπερ γέγονεν ὁ πόλεμος, συγγένεια ἄρχει μία διὰ τέλους, ἥν ποτε κατέστησαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἐς ἀπορίαν ἐλθόντες τὴν ἅπασαν, τόθʼ ὅτε κίνδυνος ἐγένετο ἔσχατος Σικελίᾳ τῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων ἀνάστατον ὅλην ἐκβαρβαρωθεῖσαν γενέσθαι.
Let it then be entirely a prayer—for it is necessary always to begin from the gods in both speaking and thinking—and may it be fulfilled, showing us some such discourse: Now for you and your enemies, almost from the time the war began, one single kinship has ruled continuously, which your fathers once established when they had come to utter helplessness, at that time when there arose the extreme danger that Sicily, being Greek, would be utterly devastated by the Carthaginians and become entirely barbarized.
τότε γὰρ εἵλοντο Διονύσιον μὲν ὡς νέον καὶ πολεμικὸν ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ πολέμου πρεπούσας αὐτῷ πράξεις, σύμβουλον δὲ καὶ πρεσβύτερον Ἱππαρῖνον, ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῆς Σικελίας αὐτοκράτορας, ὥς φασιν, τυράννους ἐπονομάζοντες.
For then they chose Dionysius, as being young and warlike, for the deeds of war fitting for him, and the elder Hipparinus as advisor, naming them, as they say, absolute tyrants for the salvation of Sicily.
καὶ εἴτε δὴ θείαν τις ἡγεῖσθαι βούλεται τύχην καὶ θεὸν εἴτε τὴν τῶν ἀρχόντων ἀρετὴν εἴτε καὶ τὸ συναμφότερον μετὰ τῶν τότε πολιτῶν τῆς σωτηρίας αἰτίαν συμβῆναι γενομένην, ἔστω ταύτῃ ὅπῃ τις ὑπολαμβάνει· σωτηρία δʼ οὖν οὕτως συνέβη τοῖς τότε γενομένοις.
And whether indeed someone wishes to believe that divine fortune and a god, or the virtue of the rulers, or even both together with the citizens of that time, happened to be the cause of the salvation, let it be in whichever way anyone supposes; at any rate, salvation did occur in this way for those who lived at that time.
τοιούτων οὖν αὐτῶν γεγονότων, δίκαιόν που τοῖς σώσασιν πάντας χάριν ἔχειν· εἰ δέ τι τὸν μετέπειτα χρόνον ἡ τυραννὶς οὐκ ὀρθῶς τῇ τῆς πόλεως δωρεᾷ κατακέχρηται, τούτων δίκας τὰς μὲν ἔχει, τὰς δὲ τινέτω.
Since these things happened so, it is surely just for all to be grateful to those who saved them; and if in the subsequent time the tyranny made improper use of the city's gift, for these things it has paid some penalties and let it pay others.
τίνες οὖν δὴ δίκαι ἀναγκαίως ὀρθαὶ γίγνοιντʼ ἂν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῖς;
What penalties then would necessarily be right, under their existing circumstances?
εἰ μὲν ῥᾳδίως ὑμεῖς ἀποφυγεῖν οἷοί τʼ ἦτε αὐτοὺς καὶ ἄνευ μεγάλων κινδύνων καὶ πόνων, ἢ ʼκεῖνοι ἑλεῖν εὐπετῶς πάλιν τὴν ἀρχήν, οὐδʼ ἂν συμβουλεύειν οἷόν τʼ ἦν τὰ μέλλοντα ῥηθήσεσθαι· νῦν δʼ ἐννοεῖν ὑμᾶς ἀμφοτέρους χρεὼν καὶ ἀναμιμνῄσκεσθαι ποσάκις ἐν ἐλπίδι ἑκάτεροι γεγόνατε τοῦ νῦν οἴεσθαι σχεδὸν ἀεί τινος σμικροῦ ἐπιδεεῖς εἶναι τὸ μὴ πάντα κατὰ νοῦν πράττειν, καὶ δὴ καὶ ὅτι τὸ σμικρὸν τοῦτο μεγάλων καὶ μυρίων κακῶν αἴτιον ἑκάστοτε συμβαίνει γιγνόμενον, καὶ πέρας οὐδέν ποτε τελεῖται, συνάπτει δὲ ἀεὶ παλαιὰ τελευτὴ δοκοῦσα ἀρχῇ φυομένῃ νέᾳ, διολέσθαι δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ κύκλου τούτου κινδυνεύσει καὶ τὸ τυραννικὸν ἅπαν καὶ τὸ δημοτικὸν γένος, ἥξει δέ, ἐάνπερ τῶν εἰκότων γίγνηταί τι καὶ ἀπευκτῶν, σχεδὸν εἰς ἐρημίαν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς φωνῆς Σικελία πᾶσα, Φοινίκων ἢ Ὀπικῶν μεταβαλοῦσα εἴς τινα δυναστείαν καὶ κράτος.
If on the one hand you had been able to escape them easily and without great dangers and labors, or if those on the other hand had been able easily to seize the rule again, it would not even have been possible to advise what is about to be said; but now both of you must consider and remember how many times each of you has been in expectation of thinking, almost always, that you fall short in some small thing of not doing everything according to your mind, and indeed that this small thing constantly happens to be the cause of great and countless evils, and no end is ever reached, but what seems to be an old end always connects with a newly growing beginning; and by this circle both the whole tyrannic and democratic race will run the risk of being destroyed, and, if any of the likely and deprecable things should happen, all Sicily will come almost to a desolation of the Greek tongue, shifting into some dynasty and power of Carthaginians or Opicians.
τούτων δὴ χρὴ πάσῃ προθυμίᾳ πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας τέμνειν φάρμακον.
For these things indeed, all the Greeks must with all zeal prepare a remedy.