 There is the possibility that on his first visit to Southern Italy and Sicily in 388–7 Plato met an aged Philolaus in Tarentum (D. L. III 36). This would motivate Plato’s allusion to Philolaus as the teacher of Socrates’ interlocutors, Simmias and Cebes, in the Phaedo, which scholars have often dated in the years immediately following Plato’s return from Italy. The presentation of Philolaus in the Phaedo is not particularly favorable; Socrates supposes that Cebes should have heard something from Philolaus about the prohibition on suicide, but Cebes responds that he has heard nothing clear on the topic from Philolaus, or anyone else. Plato may also be criticizing Philolaus when he shows the inconsistency between the doctrine that the soul is a harmony and the belief that the soul is immortal (see 6.2 above). On the other hand, late in Plato’s life, in the Philebus, there is evidence that Plato had studied Philolaus’ metaphysical system and derived fruitful insights from it. At 16b4 ff. Socrates introduces a philosophical method which he describes as