The Epistles of Plato 2 · Written to particular people in particular difficulty
The Gospels say who he was; the Rule says how we live. The letters were written between the two — how one man managed with the Law when the Law was not enough.
2.1To my friends in Syracuse.
2.2You ask why I do not come again.
2.3I went twice. The first time I believed a tyrant could be taught. The second time I believed the first had merely been bad luck.
2.4I was wrong both times.
2.5I said to his face: you own their clay, and live every day in terror of a single free thought. (cf. Acts 2.8)
2.6It is a good sentence. Good sentences do not change the man holding the knife.
2.7Here is what I would not admit at the time: I went half for them, and half to see whether my teaching could govern a king.
2.8The second half was vanity. Vanity lets a man believe he is preaching when he is testing a blade.
2.9For what is inside your fence, spend everything you have; what is outside it is no concern of yours. (cf. The Covenant 4.3)
2.10A tyrant’s heart is outside my fence.
2.11It took me twelve years to concede that sentence.
2.12You ask: then what should be done.
2.13Do not go to courts. Go to the Academy. Do not change one king; change ten children. (cf. The Rule 2)
2.14Kings die. Children become kings.
2.15I will not come again. This is not abandonment. It is the acknowledgement of a boundary.