Chapter 642
Because even if it is an excellent person, because of the lack of knowledge and experience when he is young, he is easily impulsive, reckless, and easily tempted. The children born during this period will often inherit these shortcomings, but when the excellent person is mature, the children born will be stable and thoughtful … "
Hearing this, some students showed a happy expression, as if they had learned something, but some students were still thinking.
Vesypus continued to ask, "Teacher, you once said, 'Among the current Greek city-states, Sparta is the best monarchy you have ever seen. The double kings, the council of elders, the censor … these positions make Sparta a mixed monarchy. No party has absolute power, and the greed for power is strongly restrained. '
But now, Sparta has violated the Greek tradition and forcibly occupied the Thebes. What do you think about this? "
"Vesypus." Plato looked at Vesypus with a trace of affection in his eyes, because Vesypus was the son of his sister, Potone. He said in a gentle tone, "I said that Sparta is a good monarchy, but it does not mean that it will follow the rules and become a city-state that fully follows the Greek tradition. It is precisely this kind of regime of Sparta that allows it to dominate the Peloponnesus peninsula for a long time without any major problems at home. In today's chaotic situation, Sparta still dominates the Greek city-states. Isn't this the effect of its institutional advantages?
However, Thebes is not like other weak city-states. It is not easy for Sparta to completely enslave it. On the contrary, occupying the Thebes' acropolis for a long time will only increase the disgust of the Thebes towards Sparta. One day, this disgust will lead to a fire that will burn the Sparta army, just like how Thrasybulus led the people of Athens to overthrow the tyrant's rule … "
"Teacher Plato, since Sparta is the best monarchy among the Greek city-states, what do you think of the monarchy of Diónia?" Aliforon from Corinth asked.
Diónia! Upon hearing this name, ripples appeared in Plato's heart. He had once yearned to visit this city-state alliance of the Western Mediterranean Sea, but due to various reasons, he was unable to do so. He always had a regret in his heart.
While he was distracted, Olas refuted, "Diónia is not a Greek city-state, it is a foreign regime."
Alifalon retorted, "You've watched too much of the drama 'The Diónia People'. The main ethnic group in the Kingdom of Diónia are Greeks. The center of the kingdom, Turií, is the city that Pericles gathered all the Greeks to build. There are also Crotone, Tarantum, Locri … These are all famous Greek cities in the western Mediterranean. How can Diónia not belong to Greece?!"
"Diónia has not been recognized by Delphi. It can't even participate in the Four Olympic Games. How can it be recognized as a Greek country?" Olas refuted once again.
"I heard that Ellis sent an invitation to Diónia several times under the instigation of Sparta, but Diónia said, 'As long as you agree to allow foreign citizens to participate in the Olympia Games, it will send a representative team.' Ellis did not agree, so Diónia has not participated in the Olympia Games." Vesippus reminded.
"Doesn't this just mean that we Greek city-states have doubts about the recognition of Diónia?"
…
Plato did not stop the students' argument. While listening to the students' opinions, he was also thinking about how to better answer Alifalon's question.
At this time, the academy's guard came over and respectfully said to Plato, "There is someone outside asking to see you. He said he is from Diónia."
As soon as the guard's voice fell, everyone present stopped talking.
They were just talking about Diónia, and they did not expect that someone from Diónia would come. This was too much of a coincidence!
"Let him come in." Plato was also curious. He did not have many friends in Diónia. The only one he was familiar with was Lysias. It was said that he was doing well in Turií.
After a while, the guard led a young man towards them.
Everyone's eyes were focused on him curiously. The young man did not feel uncomfortable at all. He generously bowed to Plato and then said respectfully, "I am Forstcader from the Diónia Academy. I was entrusted by Teacher Gorgia to deliver a letter from him and wait for your reply."
Gorgia! Plato was quite surprised and asked, "I remember that Gorgia should be in Leontini. I visited him a few years ago when I was traveling in Sicily. When did he go to Diónia? "
Forstcader thought for a while and answered, "Around the sixth year in Diónia. The King of Devers personally invited him to become a teacher in the Diónia Academy. He accepted the invitation."
Plato had done research on Diónia, so he had a better understanding of the unique way of counting years in Diónia. He said with slight surprise, "That should be shortly after I met Gorgia. He told me that he was old and in poor health, so he would not come to Athens for a visit. I did not expect him to go to Turií in Diónia … "
Forstcader said proudly, "That is because the doctors of Diónia have superb medical skills and can treat Teacher Gorgia's illness. The excellent environment of the Academy of Diónia is conducive to his research and teaching students. That is why he was moved."
Plato nodded and asked, "You are a student of Gorgia?"
Forstcader hesitated for a while and said, "Gorgia is my teacher. I learned philosophy from him. However, I also learned history from Teacher Ancitanos, mathematics and geometry from Teacher Martiris, rhetoric and debate from Teacher Lysias … "
Hearing this, Plato sighed in his heart. The Academy of Academy was an educational place for him to cultivate outstanding students and realize his political ideals. He also wanted every student to receive a multi-faceted and high-quality education. However, unlike the Diomedia Academy, which was funded by the entire kingdom and had incomparably rich teaching resources, the Academy of Academy of Academy was the private property of him and his friends. Since its establishment, other than himself and a few occasional friends, there had been no famous scholars invited to teach the students advanced mathematics and geometry knowledge. Although he had dabbled in this area, he could not fully satisfy the desire of some students to further their studies. Therefore, most of the students were allowed to read the books themselves. For this reason, Plato spent a lot of effort and collected various books of knowledge through various channels.
Plato did not ask any more questions. Instead, he opened Gorgia's letter.
While he was reading the letter, the curious students had begun to communicate with Forstcader.
"We have long heard that the Diónia Academy is the largest educational place in the Western Mediterranean. Compared to our Academy of Academy, which one is better?" As the most prosperous city in the Greek city-states, Athens was once called "the best school in all of Greece" by Pericles. Therefore, the young people in Athens had a kind of cultural confidence. They always had a sense of pride towards the people from the colonies, even these young people who were receiving higher education were no exception.
Forstcader saw their expressions and did not answer directly. Instead, he asked seriously, "How large is the area of your academy?"
"About ten acres."
"How many teachers are there?" Forstcader asked again without batting an eyelid.
"Not only do we have Teacher Plato, but also … also Teacher Saetetus often comes to teach us mathematics." Afraid that he would be looked down upon, Olias specially added Saetetus, a mathematician from Athens who occasionally came.
"How many students are there?"
"Twenty-three. Several of them are reading in the academy's library …"
After listening to this, Forstcader raised his head and said loudly, "The Diónia Academy covers an area of 150 acres, like a small town. There are more than 20 buildings of various sizes in the academy, more than 300 students, and 15 famous scholars, including Teacher Lysias who wrote "Rhetoric and Debate", Teacher Ansitanos who wrote "History of Great Greece", Teacher Martikos who invented pulley mechanics, lever mechanics, the theory of tone waves, and the theory of buoyancy, Teacher Helpes who wrote "Human Anatomy" and "A Preliminary Study of Diseases", Teacher Gorgia who wrote "On Existence or On Nature", Teacher Frosanus who invented new musical lyrics … In addition to these famous scholars, we have more than 20 teachers and more than 100 staff who serve the students and teachers …
We students have many courses, including philosophy, rhetoric, law, mathematics, astronomy, history, poetry, biology, music … In addition, we also have to do sports and even hold some competitions to ensure our physical and mental harmony, and at the same time, to train our will to win.
In order to be able to devote ourselves to learning, we have our own residence in the academy … Oh, yes! There is also a large library in the Diónia Academy, which now has more than 5,000 books, not only Greek works, but also Persia, Egypt, Carthage … For example, Carthage's agricultural books, Persia's code of law, we have specialized personnel to translate these books … "
Forstcader's narration stunned the young people, with envy and jealousy intertwined on their faces. Someone could not help but say, "What you said sounds good, who knows if it's true?"
Forstcader sneered and said, "The Diónia Academy is thousands of miles west of Athens. You can send someone to verify it at any time. You will find that what I said is far from describing the true strength of the Diónia Academy."
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