The rule of philosophers had been attempted by Pythagoras, and in Platos time Archytas the Pythagorean was politically influential in Taras the modern Taranto when Plato visited Sicily and southern Italy. It was a common practice for cities to employ a sage to draw up their laws; Solon had done this for Athens, and Protagoras for Thurii. Colonies, in those days, were completely free from control by their parent cities, and it would have been quite feasible for a band of Platonists to establish the Republic on the shores of Spain or Gaul.p. 118.

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