of this edition .-- Ed.] [Footnote P: When Plato visited Syracuse, in the reign of Dionysius, Dion became his disciple, and induced Dionysius to invite Plato a second time to Syracuse.

But neither Plato nor Dion could succeed in their efforts to influence and elevate Dionysius.

Dion withdrew to Athens, and lived in close intimacy with Plato, and with Speusippus.

The latter urged him to return, and deliver Sicily from the tyrant Dionysius, who had become unpopular in the island.

Dion got some of the Syracusan exiles in Greece to join him, and "sailed from Zacynthus," with two merchant ships, and about 800 troops.