# Was Plato Murdered by Pagans?



## RamistThomist (May 22, 2015)

A platonist told me Plato was murdered by pagans, probably because his theory of forms negated the need for the gods. The man who told me that has an otherwise sharp understanding of Plato, which is why I didn't dismiss the claim outright. Still, I haven't seen in substantiated elsewhere.


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## MW (May 22, 2015)

I haven't seen it either, and I've been doing some refreshing on Greek history. Is it possible he is confusing Plato and Socrates, and over-generalising the Socrates account?


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## RamistThomist (May 22, 2015)

I thought about that, too. He would be smart enough to see the difference. I'll ask him.


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## bookslover (May 22, 2015)

Well, since Plato was a pagan surrounded by pagans...


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## RamistThomist (May 23, 2015)

I wonder if he was a pure pagan. His doctrine of the Forms made the gods irrelevant (which his enemies noticed). The forms aren't just archetypes. They also have causal power. Once one admits this, the pagan theogny and cosmology are irrelevant.


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## ZackF (May 23, 2015)

The idea of Plato dying by homicide is new to me.


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## JimmyH (May 23, 2015)

In my thirties I picked up a copy of the dialogues of Plato in a used bookstore. I read it with interest until I got to his promotion of homosexuality. Threw it in the bin and never looked back.


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## Physeter (May 23, 2015)

I couldn't stomach Plato either. I read his stuff in college.


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## bookslover (May 23, 2015)

I've always liked C. S. Lewis's advice: if you want to find out what Plato thought, read Plato himself. A person of average intelligence can understand what Plato wrote, according to Lewis. This is better than reading a modern book about Plato, many of which are tortuous to read and insufferably technical.


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## RamistThomist (May 23, 2015)

bookslover said:


> I've always liked C. S. Lewis's advice: if you want to find out what Plato thought, read Plato himself. A person of average intelligence can understand what Plato wrote, according to Lewis. This is better than reading a modern book about Plato, many of which are tortuous to read and insufferably technical.



i am rereading the dialogues for the 3rd time


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## RamistThomist (May 24, 2015)

"Plato teaches Philosophy ... most completely and brilliantly." ~Martin Bucer
Metaphrasis et Enarratio in Epist. ad Romanos (Strasbourg: Rihel, 1536), 30).


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## MW (May 24, 2015)

ReformedReidian said:


> "Plato teaches Philosophy ... most completely and brilliantly." ~Martin Bucer
> Metaphrasis et Enarratio in Epist. ad Romanos (Strasbourg: Rihel, 1536), 30).



Aristobulus the Jew: “It is evident that Plato imitated our legislation and that he had investigated thoroughly each of the elements in it."

Numenius of Apamea: "What is Plato but Moses Atticizing?"


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## RamistThomist (May 25, 2015)

MW said:


> ReformedReidian said:
> 
> 
> > "Plato teaches Philosophy ... most completely and brilliantly." ~Martin Bucer
> ...



And it is true that Plato was in Egypt early on. Beyond that I really can't say.

I have big problems with Plato, but I really didn't care about Augustine until I understood Plato.


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