Salve Orce,
A criticism of your correspondent:
Have you ever asked yourself why you lean towards the Idea of Plato? The man was a monotheist and a moral absolutist who was against
everything that was "Greek" in his own time.
1) Nothing in his writings could suggest that Plato was a monotheist. On the other hand he cannot be said to be an orthodox polytheist either, if any 'orthodox polytheist' ever lived in Hellas that is.
2) If he was a moral absolutist, then why did he write the Lysis, the Charmides and other such 'sceptical' dialogues (it was them who inspired Carneades and others to read Plato as a great sceptic) in which no conclusion is arrived at ?
3) If Plato wasn't Greek for being so transcendentally inspired, as is often said, then Pythagoras, Hesiodos, Aeschylos, Socrates and numerous others were 'un-Greek' as well. If he was un-Greek for his political beliefs, then Sparta, on which his ideal republic was largely based, cannot be said to be "Greek" as well, an inference which would be rather hard to substantiate...
He was a miserable man who distrusted the world of the senses, who taught that poetry and art were "imperfect approaches to reality" and who beleived that democracy and rule by the people was stupid and chaotic, and thought that the perfect society was one where an elite few governed everyone-a totally tyranny. Why do you like Plato so much, except for the fact that all scholarship nowadays seems to think that "Plato is so great", without ever stopping to see the reality? Aside from the fact that people think they look intelligent by claiming to understand and "like" Plato?
I thought the Plato-idolatry among scholars had ceased generations ago, frankly. I read little of it in recent publications anyway.
There is almost NOTHING to like in Plato if you are a modern
day polytheist, or a person who loves ancient Greek Culture- because
Plato was against practically everything that was Heroic and Artistic
ABOUT ANCIENT GREECE of his time.
I would rather call his achievement heroic and artistic itself. Also, Plato - in my opinion - tried to safeguard the heroic and the artistic, which he saw to be degrading in his days, mainly due to the influence of the sophists, who were just as "Greek" as Plato was by the way.
Also, whereas he was critical about poetry,music etc., he did not want the arts to dissapear in his ideal Republic. Rather, he thought poetry and music should always contain a proper moral content. What he criticised where the "lies" of the poets and their wording immoral facts or opinions, not the artistic aspect of their work.
Vale,
Q. Pomponius Atticus