ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 649 Meeting with Plato

Plato was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled: "Lysias, I'm glad to see you again! You've gained weight, and I almost didn't recognize you."

Indeed, at this time, Lysias lived a good life and had a successful career. He was no longer as shabby as he was in Athens, where he wrote defense statements and made money.He patted the prominent belly that was covered by the gorgeous Burton. He seemed helpless, but secretly sighed with satisfaction: "As I get older, my fat grows more and more, and I can't lose it no matter how I do it. There is really no other way.”

Plato smiled and replied: "Because your experience and knowledge increase with age!"

Being praised by Plato, Lysias laughed, pointed to the person next to him, and said enthusiastically: "Let me introduce to you, this is the Dionysian senator and the main organizer of this "All-Greek Scholars Conference" - —Anchitalos."

"Is it Ansitanus who wrote "History of Magna Graecia"?!" Plato asked with a face of surprise.

"The History of Magna Graecia was written by me, but I can barely read it." Ansitanos said modestly: "Unlike Plato, your "Utopia" shocked scholars all over Greece, even ours. King Davos also praised your book full of praise, saying that it is a wonderful political book, and praised you as the great Plato!"

Plato was a little embarrassed by Ansitanos's praise. He said frankly: "This book was written by me using the knowledge gained from observation and thinking while traveling in the Mediterranean for 12 years. It still has many flaws and shortcomings." , are constantly being improved..."

In fact, when this book was written, it caused a lot of controversy and criticism in Athens, because Plato criticized many shortcomings in the democratic system in the book.

Plato turned to praise and said: "On the other hand, the "History of Magna Graecia" written by you, Master Ansitanos, is plain in text and rigorous in textual research. It uses time as the vertical line and the events that happened at the same time in the city-states of Magna Graecia as the horizontal line. I think the clear description of hundreds of years of Magna Graecia's history is no less than Thucydides' "History of the Peloponnesian War", and it also gives us local people in Greece a good understanding of the role of Greek colonies in I have carefully collected three books about hundreds of years of difficult history in southern Italy in the bookstore of my academy..."

"You two, please stop praising each other. We have to leave here quickly. Ansitanos, don't forget that King Davos is still waiting to meet Plato!" Lysias urged.

"Your king wants to see me?" Plato was surprised.

"Didn't I just say that King Davos admires you very much. The reason why he wants to see you now is because the conference has not started yet and it will not attract too much attention." Ansitanos explained.

Plato understood as soon as he thought about it, and then smiled and said: "Great, I just want to meet the magical king who created the miracle of Dionia!"

Compared to the two scholars who came before, more onlookers recognized Plato, not because he was more famous at this time, but because it had not been a few years since he completed his tour of the major countries and city-states in the Mediterranean. , Hippocrates and Democritus were already in their old age and rarely traveled far.

For example, Eulopes, a merchant from Agrigento, met Plato when he was traveling in Sicily and doing business in Syracuse and Leotini.At this moment, he looked at Plato's retreating back and thought about it: the famous Greek doctor-Hippocrates, the omniscient scholar-Democritus's student, the famous Athenian scholar-Plato.In just half a day, Dionia invited three well-known scholars in the Greek world. The All-Greek Scholars Conference held by Dionia must be a gathering of scholars, and I am afraid it will be quite attractive.Does Thurii want to replace Athens and become the academic center of the Greek world? !

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For this great philosopher and thinker who was called the "Father of Philosophy" by Westerners in his previous life, when Westerners talk about political and philosophical research, they even have a consensus that "Plato is philosophy, and philosophy is Plato." Therefore, Dai Firth had longed to see it.

And Plato also hopes to see this young king who can make a small city-state quickly rise to become the most powerful Greek force in the Western Mediterranean. He can ask in person the political secrets of "making the country strong quickly". He believes that it will be helpful to perfect his politics. Philosophical theories are very helpful.

Both of them had urgent desires and met in the King's Office of the Dionia Palace.

Plato is not tall but has a strong physique, which is very different from the traditional Chinese image of a handsome, talented literati. As a young king who single-handedly founded the powerful kingdom of Dionia, Davos is also in line with the term "handsome, divine and martial". Not too big a deal.

But both of them are not ordinary people, and they will not look at each other with the common attitude of "judging a book by its appearance". After sizing each other up, Plato first said: "Dear Your Majesty Davos, I came here from the port. On the way, I discovered that there is a big difference between the citizens of Dionia and the citizens of other Greek city-states-" He paused, saw Davos's curious look, and then said: "None of you have beards, is this intentional? "

Davos did not expect that Plato would ask such a question when he opened his mouth. He subconsciously touched his bare chin and said with a smile: "This is because the people of Dionia have realized that long beards can be grown in their lives over the years. This is not a good thing. When our citizen soldiers were fighting the enemy, they found that beards that were too long could easily be grabbed by the opponent, leading to injury or even loss of life. Doctors from the Dionysian Medical College found through research that too many beards If it’s too long, if we don’t clean it frequently, some small things that we can’t see will breed in it, causing us to get diseases, but frequent cleaning will consume a lot of energy and time on our part, so it’s better to scrape it off completely.”

After hearing what Davos said, Plato also subconsciously stroked his thick beard on his chin and said in deep thought: "So, the Dionians advocate practicality? For this reason, they are not even willing to follow the ancient Greek tradition?"

Davos smiled and said seriously: "We Greeks' understanding of the environment and nature has gradually become clearer and richer over time. Scholars in ancient times are certainly incomparable to us now, so there are many of them. The views and understandings are simple, even wrong... So of course we must inherit the good Greek tradition; but why should we keep the bad tradition! Just like other city-states lock women in their homes, and We in Dionia have given more freedom and equal education to the women of the kingdom. Didn’t you also call for equality between men and women in the city-state in "Utopia"?!..."

Davos's words made Plato listen and think, but he did not respond directly, but asked: "Since your Majesty said that you should inherit the good Greek traditions and abandon the bad ones, then you become the king and bring Dionysius to the throne." Is it right for the Asian Union to become a kingdom because it believes that the royal system is superior to other political systems?"

Davos also did not answer his question directly, but looked at him and said seriously: "I have read your "Utopia", and regarding your view that 'only philosophers are the best rulers of city-states' , I don’t agree. Even letting philosophers be in power will only make the city-state worse!”

Upon hearing this, Plato opened his eyes, and then quickly regained his composure, and asked emphatically, "Why does His Majesty think so?"

Davos said calmly: "We Greeks call philosophy the 'Learn of Love of Wisdom'. It is a profound knowledge that explores the evolution of everything in the world, society, and the world. It can be called a philosopher. A person must devote all his energy to it in order to gain insightful insights into the world. This is not an easy task, so how can he have extra time to govern the country?! Look at me - —”

Davos pointed to the mountains of letters, proposals, materials... on his desk, sighed, and said: "This is the kingdom affairs that I have to deal with in a day. In addition, I also have to recruit officials to discuss and participate. The discussion of various proposals in the Senate... I have almost no free time during this day. Even for my meeting with you, I have to plan it in advance and only have half an hour of free time, and this will also lead to today's meeting. I have to go home later, otherwise some resolutions cannot be approved in time and will have to be postponed to tomorrow. This not only means a reduction in administrative efficiency, but may also mean that the lives of people in a city or a region of the kingdom are greatly affected... …

You see, if he wants to be a good king, he doesn't have time to study philosophy. He can only devote most of his energy to the complicated affairs of the city-state.The same is true for the chief administrators of various cities in my kingdom. Their power is equivalent to the rulers of other city-states. They must work diligently and down-to-earth to solve the practical problems of the cities under their jurisdiction. If anyone spends their energy on studying knowledge and does not do it, It's business, without me replacing him, the local councilors and tribunes will protest against him..."

"Your Majesty, your diligence amazes me!" Plato first praised, and then said calmly: "Since Your Majesty has said that philosophy is the knowledge of loving wisdom, then wisdom cannot be achieved by sitting there and dreaming. What you get must be refined through practice. When you encounter a problem in handling government affairs, think carefully, discover the rules, and finally find a solution. You can even refine this method into a system. By extension, isn’t this the result of applying philosophy!…”

"It seems that I and the various administrators in the kingdom are all philosophers. It is too easy to become a philosopher." Davos retorted lightly.

　Thanks for the tip because it’s so hard to come up with a name!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)