Dion and Brutus: Philosopher Kings Adrift in a Hostile World

Dillon, J. (2010 [2008]) “Dion and Brutus: Philosopher Kings Adrift in a Hostile World.” In Plutarch’s Lives: Parallelism and Purpose. ed. N. Humble, 87-102. Swansea.

Excerpt:
To be a philosopher king without a kingdom is indeed a sorry fate. As Plato puts it in Book 6 of the Republic(496cd), when describing the problems facing the enlightened philosopher in contemporary (Athenian democratic) society:

And those who have been of this little company (sc. of true philosophers) and have tasted the sweetness and blessedness of this possession and who have also come to understand the madness of the multitude sufficiently and have seen that there is pretty well nothing sound or right in any present political activity, and that there is no ally with whose aid the champion…

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