Note 27 — Chapter XXXIII · MENEXENUS.
Reading edition
Dionys. Hal. ad Cn. Pomp. De Platon. p. 762. τραφεὶς μὲν ἐν τοῖς Σωκρατικοῖς διαλόγοις ἰσχνοτάτοις οὖσι καὶ ἀκριβεστάτοις, οὐ μείνας δ’ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ τῆς Γοργίου καὶ Θουκυδίδου κατασκευῆς ἐρασθείς. Compare p. 761, the passage immediately preceding, and De Adm. Vi Dicendi in Demosthene, pp. 1025-1031.
To many critics Plato appeared successful in the figurative and metaphorical style — δεινὸς περὶ τὸ τροπικόν. But Dionysius thinks him very inferior to Demosthenes even on this point, though it was not the strongest point of Demosthenes, whose main purpose was ὁ ἀληθινὸς ἀγών (Dionys. ibid. p. 1057).