Q&A with James Romm

 

 

 

James Romm is the author of the new book Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece. His many other books include The Sacred Band. He is the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Plato and the Tyrant?

 

A: When I first delved into Plato's intrigues with the despotic ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius the Younger, and realized how much it revealed about Plato, I was so gripped that I tried to include it as a subplot in the book I was then writing, The Sacred Band, simply because it took place at the same time as my main plot. 

 

My editor rightly asked “What is this doing here?” and had me strip it out, which was painful because I'd grown so attached to it. I knew then that I would come back to Plato and Dionysius, the strangest of political bedfellows, and tell their stories in full.    

 

Q: What would you say are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Plato?

 

A: Plato's dialogues gave rise to so many of our idealized images of their author: We picture him as an ethereal being, living apart in a realm of pure ideas.  I call that image “the Platonic Plato,” and it's a lovely phantom, but the reality is far more complex. 

 

The Syracuse misadventure and the letters that describe it show Plato engaging in practical politics, making dreadful mistakes, trying to rescue his reputation, and (in the case of the controversial 13th letter) playing a dangerous game by cozying up to a despot. 

 

This is an image of Plato “in a state of undress,” as a Cambridge professor wrote a century ago. Yet it's a more appealing image than the cold, expressionless marble bust we might otherwise picture. I do not intend my book as a takedown of Plato, but rather as a way of making him human.

 

Q: The writer Adam Kirsch said of the book, “With this learned yet accessible account of the philosopher’s misadventures in politics, James Romm asks a question that remains all too relevant today: Is it possible for thought to prevail over tyranny?” What do you think of that description, and do you see any parallels with today's political situation?

 

A: Plato and the Tyrant documents how the lure of authoritarianism can seduce the best minds (i.e. Plato's) in an era when democracy isn't functioning well. In that way, as Adam Kirsch notes, it's a very relevant story. 

 

Plato gave up on all the forms of government he saw around him and tried to propose a new model, in which an absolute ruler would be guided by absolute justice. The dream he bequeathed to us, of the philosopher-king, has, over millennia, served the cause of dictators and despots, yet it continues to exert its dangerous spell.  

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: My research as always is centered on close readings of ancient texts, in this case, the letters of Plato. There are many scholars who dismiss these letters as fakes but, for reasons I discuss in the book, I'm convinced that many are genuine. 

 

The content of these letters was my greatest surprise, since they show us the inner Plato in a way the dialogues never do. It's amazing to me that so few people know they exist.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm translating a collection of fragments from otherwise lost Greek plays, due to appear next year from Norton. These fragments are mostly quotes selected by an ancient Greek father, John of Stobi, as a way of teaching his son the ways of the world. 

 

They're pithy and memorable, little gems that speak to some of life's central mysteries. One of my favorites is a rather dark one:  “The truly happy man ought to never leave home.”

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with James Romm.