Plato. A Greek philosopher. Born in Athens or in Aegina in 429 B.C., the year in which Pericles died. He was a disciple of Socrates, and after the death of that philosopher, Plato himself became a teacher in the plane tree grove of the Academia. Plato had a great number of disciples, many of whom became eminent teachers. Among them was Aristotle, distinguished as the "Mind of the School," and perhaps Demostehenes. Women are said to have attended. In his 40th year, Plato visited Sicily, but he offended the tyrant Dionysius by the political opinions he uttered, and only escaped death through the influence of his friend, Dion. Two later visits to the court of the younger Dionysius were the only interruptions to his calm life as a teacher and writer at Athens. He died in 347 B.C.

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