ABSTRACT
Plato was born about the year 428 B.C. By birth he belonged to a distinguished Athenian family. On his mother’s side he could trace his pedigree as far back as Athenian archons of the middle of the seventh century; and among the men of his own generation he was connected with Critias, who was prominent among the members of the oligarchical clique which ruled for a time in 404. It would be a mistake, however, to judge the politics of Plato’s family from the career of Critias, or to maintain that Plato inherited from his family a prejudice against Athenian democracy. The politics of his family were Whig rather than Tory: they were proud of their connexion with Solon; and it would be truer to ascribe to the influence of his family, if any such influence can be traced at all, a prejudice in favour of that mixed and moderate form of constitution which is advocated in the Laws. 1 On occasion, and more especially in the Gorgias, Plato is a bitter critic of Periclean democracy; but he can also do justice to its better side even in the Republic; and in later dialogues like the Politicus and the Laws, in which Socratic influence is less present, he shows a real appreciation of its value.
