Plato before his death bequeathed his Academy to his nephew Speusippus, who
continued its president for eight years; and on his death the office passed
to Xenocrates, who held it for twenty-five years. From him it passed in
succession to Polemo, Crates, Crantor, and others. Plato was thus the
founder of a school or sect of teachers who busied themselves with
commenting, expanding, modifying here and there the doctrines of the master.
Little of their works beyond the names has been preserved, and indeed we can
hardly regret the loss. These men no doubt did much to popularise the
thoughts of their master, and in this way largely influenced the later
development of philosophy; but they had nothing substantial to add, and so
the stern pruning-hook of time has cut them off from remembrance.