Pseudo-Platonica

The first is those Greek works which were attributed to Plato in antiquity and circulated alongside his authentic writings.

These can be subdivided into two groups: the spuria, which were considered spurious already in antiquity, and the dubia, the authenticity of which has been doubted only since the rise of modern scholarship.

The Platonic corpus, the ancient canon of Plato's works compiled by Thrasyllus of Mendes, contains 36 writings grouped into nine tetralogies: 35 dialogues and one set of 13 letters.

[5] The dialogue Halcyon, sometimes attributed to Plato in antiquity and since medieval times also to Lucian, has generally been excluded from the Platonic corpus in modern printed editions.

[2] The dialogues Theages and Minos are generally regarded spurious and serious doubts have been expressed about First Alcibiades, Greater Hippias and Clitophon.

[9] For all of the ancient pseudo-Platonic dialogues, it is impossible to say if they were originally published under Plato's name or if they were only attributed to him later.

Some works may have circulated anonymously or under other names before being attributed to Plato to enhance their authority or commercial value or else to resolve uncertainty.

Contact with the genuine Platonic corpus came through commentaries, paraphrases and the translation of Galen's Synopsis of the dialogues.

The one most detached from the historical Plato concerns occult, hermetic, alchemical, astrological and magical through and practice.

[22] On the Subsistence of Soul's Virtues, another Pseudo-Platonic work originally written in Greek, was translated into Syriac in the 9th century.

Neither the Greek nor the Syriac text survives, but an Arabic translation is known under the title Maqāla fī ithbāt faḍāʾil al-nafs.

[24] According to Bar Hebraeus,Plato said, "The fool is known by two things: by his much speaking about that which benefiteth him not, and by his giving answers about subjects concerning which men ask him not.