During his five-year exile, Dion determined to overthrow the regime after Dionysius confiscated his estate and forced his wife to marry a loyalist. James Romm notes that Plato refused to join the coup but made a third voyage to Syracuse in 361 BCE to plea

During his five-year exile, Dion determined to overthrow the regime after Dionysius confiscated his estate and forced his wife to marry a loyalist. James Romm notes that Plato refused to join the coup but made a third voyage to Syracuse in 361 BCE to plead for Dion's reinstatement. These political failures directly informed the Republic, where Plato uses the "tyrannical man" to condemn autocracy. Syracuse was then a massive military power of 200,000 people, often compared in strength to the King of Persia. Plato's firsthand experience under a tyrant provided the basis for his philosopher king ideal. (4/8)
1898 THE ACADEMY