‘Plato and the Tyrant' Review: Letters From Athens
One way classical scholars have kept busy for 2,500 years is by debating what's real and what isn't. Readers today take it for granted that the texts they encounter are stable and reliable. But in the age of artisanal reproduction, when every character was copied by hand, texts were a bit blurry at the edges. Scribes made unwitting flubs or deliberate 'improvements,' changing letters, words or entire lines.
Then there are the parodies, imitations and outright forgeries that have been mistaken for the real thing. Some of these productions came from the classroom, where aping great authors was a staple exercise, as it sometimes still is. One of my Greek professors made us translate the Gettysburg Address in the style of Demosthenes. In that case, nobody was fooled.
Among the most tantalizing ancient works of uncertain authenticity is a series of 13 letters supposedly written by Plato. The dialogues for which the Greek philosopher is known unfold as cagey dramas of point and counterpoint, with his teacher Socrates the usual protagonist. But Plato the man does not speak. The letters, by contrast, offer a first-person glimpse of his life and thoughts. The problem is that they have mostly been considered fake.
In 'Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece,' James Romm, a classicist at Bard College, argues that the letters offer a behind-the-scenes look at the 'Republic,' Plato's treatise on justice and government, and the philosopher's disastrous attempts to put its lessons into practice.
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