The ''Second Letter'' of Plato, also called ''Epistle II'' or ''Letter II'', is an epistle that tradition has ascribed to

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, though some scholars consider it a forgery. In the

Stephanus pagination Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato (and less famously, Plutarch) based on the three-volume 1578 edition''Platonis opera quae extant omnia'' edidit Henricus Stephanus, Ge ...

, it spans III. 310b–315a. The ''Second Letter'' is addressed to

Dionysius II of Syracuse Dionysius the Younger ( el, Διονύσιος ὁ Νεώτερος, 343 BC), or Dionysius II, was a Greek politician who ruled Syracuse, Sicily from 367 BC to 357 BC and again from 346 BC to 344 BC. Biography Dionysius II of Syracuse was the s ...

in response to a supposed complaint he lodged against

and his associates that they were slandering him. The letter disclaims any responsibility for these slanders and further denies that Plato has even heard of them occurring. It then counsels Dionysius that a concern for his reputation after his death should incline him to repair his relationship with Plato, since the interactions of political men with the wise is a topic of constant discussion. From this subject, the letter turns to an enigmatic discussion of "the First," in which Plato warns Dionysius to never write these doctrines down and to burn this letter upon committing its contents to memory. The ''Second Letter'' is the source of the oft-cited remark that "no writing of Plato exists or ever will exist, but those now said to be his are those of a

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

become beautiful and new (καλός καί νέος)". R. G. Bury argues of the ''Second Letter'' that it is "fairly certain" that it is inauthentic, based primarily upon conflicts he sees between "the general tone" and Plato's ''

Seventh Letter The ''Seventh Letter of Plato'' is an epistle that tradition has ascribed to Plato. It is by far the longest of the epistles of Plato and gives an autobiographical account of his activities in Sicily as part of the intrigues between Dion and ...

''. He considers it to be by the same author as the '' Sixth Letter''.Bury, ''Epistle VI'', 454–5.

Footnotes

References

*Bury, R. G., ed. (1942) ''Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles''. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Epistles of Plato {{philo-book-stub

See also

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References