Plato, Letters 327b

καὶ σφόδρα, ὡς οὐδεὶς πώποτε ὧν ἐγὼ προσέτυχον νέων, καὶ τὸν ἐπίλοιπον βίον ζῆν ἠθέλησεν διαφερόντως τῶν πολλῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν τε καὶ Σικελιωτῶν, ἀρετὴν περὶ πλείονος ἡδονῆς τῆς τε ἄλλης τρυφῆς ἠγαπηκώς· ὅθεν ἐπαχθέστερον τοῖς περὶ τὰ τυραννικὰ νόμιμα ζῶσιν ἐβίω μέχρι τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ περὶ Διονύσιον γενομένου. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο διενοήθη μὴ μόνον ἐν αὑτῷ ποτʼ ἂν γενέσθαι ταύτην τὴν διάνοιαν, ἣν

of the youth whom I have met; and he determined to live the rest of his life in a different manner from the majority of the Italians and Sicilians, counting virtue worthy of more devotion than pleasure and all other kinds of luxury. In consequence, his way of life was in ill-odor with those who were conforming to the customary practices of the tyranny, until the death of Dionysius occurred. After this event, he came to the belief that this belief, which he himself had acquired through right instruction, would not always be confined to himself;