Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato (Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk.5.27)

political statecraft. He replied: "To make the citizens better." He questioned him a third time: "Does it then seem a small thing to you to judge rightly?" For Dionysius held a high opinion of his own ability to judge rightly. He replied without hesitation: "It is indeed a small thing, and the lowest part. For those who judge rightly resemble menders who patch up torn garments." He questioned him a fourth time: "Is it not courageous to be a tyrant?" "It is the most cowardly of all things," he said, "since he even fears the barber’s shears, lest he perish by them." Because of these things, Dionysius became angry and ordered him to depart from Syracuse while the sun was still above the earth. And thus, Plato was driven from Syracuse in disgrace. The cause of the second journey to Sicily was this: after the death of Dionysius the Great, Dionysius the son of Dionysius succeeded to the tyranny, having Dion as his mother’s brother. Dion had become a student of Plato during the first journey. Therefore, Dion wrote to him, saying that if he arrived now, there was hope of changing the tyranny into an aristocracy. For this reason, then, the second