[310a] Bereft of friends—ah! woe is me—I die.
[4] But not one of them has represented him as dying for lack of gold. This other poem also to men of judgement seemeth not amiss—[5]
In this our human life, with halting hopes,
It is not glittering gold that rarest is:
Not diamond nor couches silver-wrought
Appear so brilliant in the eyes of men:
Nor do the fertile fields of earth’s broad breast,
Laden with crops, so all-sufficing seem
As gallant men’s unanimous resolve.
[310b] Farewell; and may you learn how much you have lost in us, so that you may behave yourself better towards all others.
[310b] Plato to Dionysius wishes well-doing. I hear from Archedemus [6] 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.” [7] [310c] 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. [8] However, I do not say this as though what Cratistolus and Polyxenus [9] have told you is to be trusted; for it is said that [310d] one of these men declares that at Olympia [10] 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; [310e] 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.