ABSTRACT
The first mystery concerns the complementary relationship, the interdependence even, of wisdom — and hence of the vita contemplativa — and of power — and hence of the vita active — the interdependence in other words of the philosopher and the ruler. Ficino identifies as the second mystery, Plato simply adverts to the fact that "the most slavish" men have no regard for their posthumous reputations, whereas "the most upright do all they can to ensure that they well spoken of in the future," and then adding as a proof that the dead have "some perception of things on earth". The third mystery, which have analyzed elsewhere in light of its anticipation of the doctrine of the Trinity, has been dismissed by some modern Plato scholars as "wilful mystification. The fourth mystery deals with perception of matters divine; and it is the one, significantly, most elaborated in the letter.
