LETTERS. FRAGMENTS

The nine Letters of Isokrates may best be taken in their probable chronological order.

Letter I., To Dionysios

Object of the Letter

1. To Dionysios [Ep. i.]—This is the proem of a letter to Dionysios the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse from 405 to 367 b.c., urging him to interfere, for the common good, in the affairs of Greece. The fragment breaks off just as Isokrates is going to explain the purpose for which he asks this interference. But the purpose, which could hardly have been doubtful, is expressly stated in the Philippos (§ 8). Isokrates wished Dionysios to undertake the work which he had already pressed on Athens and Sparta and which he afterwards pressed on Archidamos and on Philip—the leading of united Greece against Persia.

Date

Three points are helps towards fixing the date. (1) Isokrates is too old and infirm for a voyage to Sicily: § 1. (2) The Spartan supremacy is past; the Carthaginians are in such a plight as to be thankful if they can keep their own territory: § 8. (3) Friendly relations exist between Dionysios and Athens. Now the references in § 8 might be applied to the latter part of 394 b.c.; in which year the defeat at Knidos destroyed at least the naval supremacy of Sparta, and Dionysios imposed an humiliating peace upon Imilkon. But in 394 b.c. Isokrates was only forty-two. And the good understanding between Dionysios and Athens was not established before 369 b.c. The time indicated is more probably 368 b.c. In that year Dionysios was again at war with the Carthaginians, and was at first, though not finally, successful.