The Platonic corpus includes the thirteen letters commonly referred to as the Epistles of Plato. Over time, scholarly opinion has changed, as well as considerable discussion over their integrity. By the end of the nineteenth century, several philologists believed that none of the letters were actually written by Plato, despite being “generally recognized as authentic until recent times.” Now, others argue that all letters save the first are legitimate. Fewer people support the Fifth and Ninth than the others, and many think the Twelfth is a fake.
Plato’s tenure in Syracuse and his effect on the political figures Dion and Dionysus are primarily the subject of the Epistles. They tend to be more biographical than philosophical; however, a few, especially Seventh Letter, reference Plato’s philosophical tenets. Socrates, the central figure in Plato’s philosophical dialogues, is mentioned only twice in the Second and Seventh (Foster, 2022). The seventh and eighth letters are the two most usually claimed to have been written by Plato since they were open letters and are thus less likely to result from fraud or creative fabrication. This letter is due less to a presumption in favor of the authenticity of an open letter and more to a presumption against the authenticity of a private letter: the preservation of the former is expected, whereas conservation and protection, dissemination, and publication of the last call for some justification.
According to George Boas, a claim that Terence Irwin has more recently joined all Epistles, including the Seventh, was purported to be fake (Foster, 2022). On the contrary hand, Bentley accepted all of them, whereas George Grote, Anton Raeder, Novotny, Harward, and Bluck only reject the First.Scholars have varied degrees of approval for the other letters. The Sixth, Third, and Eleventh of the remaining letters have the most support, followed by the Fourth, Tenth, and Second letters. Fewer researchers believe the Fifth, Ninth, and Twelfth Letters to be authentic, and virtually no one disputes that the First Letter is a forgery.
Learners know more about Plato’s life than any other ancient intellectual, assuming the Epistles are authentic, which some of the best historians and scholars believe. ‘ Even without the Epistles, they already know a lot. In addition to what we may conclude from the dialogues, there are a few remarks that Hermodoros, a participant in the Academy during Plato’s time, made, and these provide us with some set points to work on. Although it can contain one or two errant facts from earlier, lost sources, their general nature is that it is safer to ignore them initially.
Scholars like Bentley and Cobet and historians like Grote and E. Meyer have upheld the Epistles’ veracity. In reality, most Plato versions rely heavily on them, concealed by the tradition of using Plutarch’s Life of Dion instead. He should also point out that the Initial Epistle can stand alone. It is a real letter from the fourth century, but I don’t believe the author, whoever he was, meant to pretend to be Plato.
Reference
Foster, P. (2022). Commentary on the Epistle of Barnabas. The Expository Times, 134(1), 21–23. Web.