which pursuits he relinquished to become the disciple and follower of
Socrates. It is said that his name was originally Aristocles, but that
it was changed to Plato on account of the breadth of his shoulders and
forehead. He is also said to have been an expert wrestler and to have
taken part in several important battles.

He was the devoted friend and pupil of Socrates, and during the
imprisonment of his master he attended him constantly, and committed to
writing his last discourses on the immortality of the soul.

After the death of Socrates it is supposed that Plato took refuge with
Euclides in Megara, and subsequently extended his travels into Magna
Graecia and Egypt.

Upon his return to Athens he taught those who came to him for
instruction in the grove named Academus, near the Cephisus, and thus
founded the first great philosophical school, over which he continued to
preside until the day of his death. Above the entrance to this grove was
inscribed the legend: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here." Here
he was attended by persons of every description, among the more
illustrious of whom were Aristotle, Lycurgus, Demosthenes and Isocrates.

There is a story to the effect that Plato three times visited Sicily,
once upon the invitation of the elder Dionysius, and twice at the
earnest solicitations of the younger. The former he is said to have so
seriously offended as to cause the tyrant to have him seized on his
return home and sold as a slave, from which state of bondage he was,
however, released by Anicerius of Cyrene.

The people of his time thought more of him than they did of all their