Plato
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Plato. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Greek philosopher; born in Athens, or in Ægina, in May, 429 b. c. He was son of Ariston and Perictione, and was named Aristocles. The name Plato was afterward applied to him in allusion to his broad brow, broad chest, or fluent speech. Endowed with an imaginative and emotional nature, he early began to write poems, and studied philosophy, and at 20 became the disciple of Socrates. He burnt his poems, remained devotedly attached to Socrates for 10 years. After the death of Socrates, he went to Megara, to hear Euclid; thence to Cyrene, and perhaps to Egypt and S. Italy. On his return he began to teach gratuitously at Athens, in the plane tree grove of the Academia; and had a great number of disciples. Among them was Aristotle, distinguished as the " Mind of the School, " and perhaps Demosthenes. 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. PLATO Plato never married, took no active part in public affairs, lived absorbed in the pursuit of truth. His works have come down to us complete, and are chiefly in the form of dialogues. They are singular in their union of the philosophic and poetic spirit-the depth of the philosopher and the rigorous exactitude of the logician with the highest splendor of imagination of the poet. We owe to him the threefold division of philosophy into dialectics, physics, and ethics; the first sketch of the laws of thought; the doctrine of "ideas," as the eternal archetypes of all visible things; and the first attempt toward a demonstration of the immortality of the soul. It is difficult to say what idea Plato had of the Deity. It seems, however, that his idea of the good and Him were identical. Plato distinguishes two components of the soul the divine or rational, that which partakes of a divin principle, and participates in the knowledge of the eternal; and the mortal or irrational, that which participates in the motions and changes of the body, and is perishable. The two are united by an intermediate link, which he calls thumos, or spirit. He believes in future retribution; exonerates God from responsibility for sin and suffering, and sets forth in elaborate myths the blessedness of the virtuous and the punishments of the vicious. His birthday was long observed as a festival. He died in the act of writing, it is said, in May, 347 B. C. For biography see Adams' "Religious Teachers of Greece" (1909) and for doctrine Fowler's "Loeb's Classical Library" (1913).
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pla'to (427-347 B. C.), an Athenian philosopher. He came of a scholarly family. He was well educated in grammar, music, and gymnastics. When about twenty years of age he came under the influence of the great teacher, Socrates, and became his favorite pupil and companion. When Socrates was accused of heretical teaching Plato appeared before the judges and offered to pay any fine which might be imposed. He was prostrated by Socrates' death. He wrote a series of dialogues in which Socrates is the leading speaker. The chief of these are the Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. They are written on a lofty moral plane, unsurpassed outside of Holy Writ. Truthfulness, right living, honesty, justice, kindliness to all creatures, piety, and belief in the immortality of the soul are inculcated in a simplicity of language that approaches the sublime. The Socratic method of leading one's opponent to better understanding of the topic by drawing him out through a series of simple questions is brought out fully in the dialogues. Still other writings, cast also in the form of imaginary dialogues, embody the sentiments of Socrates and the reflections of Plato. Taken as a whole, they mirror the condition of Athenian society four centuries before the Christian era,--love, beauty, law, government, rhetoric, the science of language, psychology, the art of reasoning. His Republic in particular has had influence in the shaping of modern political institutions.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated philosopher of Athens . He was educated carefully, his mind being cultivated by the study of poetry and geometry, while his body was invigorated by the practice of gymnastics. He began his literary career by writing poetry and tragedies. At the age of twenty he was introduced to Socrates , with whom he was for some time a pupil. After traveling in various countries he retired to the neighborhood of Athens, where his lectures were attended by a crowd of learned, noble, and illustrious pupils. He died on his birthday in the eighty-first year of his age, about 348 years before the Christian His writing were so celebrated, and his opinions so highly regarded, that he was called the Divine. era. Plautus, M. Accius. A dramatic poet born in Umbria . He wrote twenty-five comedies, of which only nineteen are extant. He died about 184 years before the Christian era.