Dion joined him at the Academy. But Dionysius was still friendly to
Plato, and there was an understanding that he and Dion should
come back when the climate was more propitious.

Four years later Dionysius asked Plato to return, saying that Dion
could come back after a year. He professed a continuing zeal for
philosophy, and supported this claim with testimonials from emi-
nent philosophers. Plato was pressed from all sides, and in the end
consented. But Dionysius was no more tractable; while giving
himself airs as a philosopher, he kept Dion in exile and confiscated
and sold his property. Plato escaped with some difficulty from
Sicily, and wisely refused to lend any support to Dion's attempt to
recover his position by force. This attempt was at first successful,
but Dion was later assassinated by a supposed friend, a fellow-
member of Plato's circle, Callippus (who was not the only student of
Plato's to become guilty of the political murder of a fellow-
alumnus). Plato, his views about politics amply confirmed, kept out
of them and devoted himself to his Academy.

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