I'm John Batchel or Gaius in the first century AD, Germanicus in the first century AD,

or Machiavlaeus in the 21st, and we look at Plato, who was a consultant to Syracuse,

the most powerful state of his era.

This is after the Peloponnesian War, 50 years, 60 years later.

And Athens is now frail.

Sparta's burned out.

Corinth is okay.

It's the mother city of Syracuse.

But Syracuse was all powerful.

The big fleet, it was the American Empire of the time.

It was the Roman Empire of the time. It was the Roman Empire of the time.

We lived several centuries later, so we've been educated to venerate Syracuse.

And the dictator Dionysius and the challenge to Dionysius.

Now, Plato advised Dionysus.

You've all heard of Plato's Republic. It's a dictatorship. And Dionysius. Now, Plato advised Dionysus. You've all heard of Plato's Republic. It's a dictatorship.

And Dionysius is the man imagined. There's another man involved in this, his son, Dion. But

what's important here is to emphasize that Syracuse was all powerful, and it wasn't asking the people's okay.

The people were told what was best for them.

At an army of – well, the estimates are up to 100,000.

They had a fleet of 300.

Nothing came close to challenging Syracuse.

Maybe Carthage in terms of merchant trading.

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