A great work, like a great river, has many tributaries. In the case of Plato’s Republic, American classicist James Romm divines one such buried stream, exploring Plato’s encounters with tyranny on his several trips to the Greek West. Romm’s 2025 book is Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece’s Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece.

Passages from Plato’s Seventh Letter are from Jonah Radding’s translation, found in Heather L. Reid and Mark Ralkowski’s Plato at Syracuse. Passages from Plato’s Republic are from Allan Bloom’s translation.

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