While a lot of what Plato wrote about Socrates is accepted by historians , some people believe that Plato ( who saw Socrates as a hero ) portrayed Socrates as a much greater man than he actually was . Some people think that Plato was simply using the character of Socrates as a tool to express his own opinions rather than to accurately write about Socrates . It is also clear from other writings and historical artifacts , however , that Socrates was not simply a character , or an invention , of Plato .