Kala Demokratia! (With Thoughts from Plato)

According to the traditional Athenian calendar, today is the festival of Demokratia. In honor of that, I’ll share some casual reflections that I wrote for a public symposium, held last year, quite by chance, on this lunar date. I copy those remarks here, unchanged from what I wrote (for a very different audience) in 2019.

Wisdom for the Day

Then we must suppose that the same is true of a just person who falls into poverty or disease or some other apparent evil, namely, that this will end well for him, either during his lifetime or afterwards, for the Gods never neglect anyone who eagerly wishes to become just, and who makes himself as much like a God as a human can by adopting a virtuous way of life.

Plato, Republic X, 613a.

For Plato, on his Nativity

According to the Athenian lunar calendar, this weekend (6th and 7th Thargelion) are the birthdays of Artemis and Socrates (on Saturday, 11 May = 6 Thargelion) and of Apollon and Plato (Sunday). In honor of the latter, I wrote these two poems last year. I post them here again here for others to enjoy, and perhaps to use in your own commemorations.