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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 15 of 65
Alcibiades I · 110a–110d
Ancient Greek
p. 24ΣΩ. Τότε μὲν τοίνυν εὖ οἶδα ὅτι ᾤου εἰδέναι.
ΑΛ. Πῶς εὖ οἶσθα;
110bΣΩ. Πολλάκις σοῦ ἐν διδασκάλων ἤκουον παιδὸς ὄντος καὶ ἄλλοθι, καὶ ὁπότε ἀστραγαλίζοις ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ παιδιὰν παίζοις, οὐχ ὡς ἀποροῦντος περὶ τῶν δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων, ἀλλὰ μάλα μέγα καὶ θαρραλέως λέγοντος περὶ ὅτου τύχοις τῶν παίδων ὡς πονηρός τε καὶ ἄδικος εἴη καὶ ὡς ἀδικοῖ· ἢ οὐκ ἀληθῆ λέγω;
ΑΛ. Ἀλλὰ τί ἔμελλον ποιεῖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὁπότε τίς με ἀδικοῖ;
ΣΩ. Σὺ δ’ εἰ τύχοις ἀγνοῶν εἴτ’ ἀδικοῖο εἴτε μὴ τότε, λέγεις, τί σε χρὴ ποιεῖν;
110cΑΛ. Μὰ Δί’ ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἠγνόουν ἔγωγε, ἀλλὰ σαφῶς ἐγίγνωσκον ὅτι ἠδικούμην.
ΣΩ. Ὤιου ἄρα ἐπίστασθαι καὶ παῖς ὤν, ὡς ἔοικε, τὰ δίκαια καὶ τὰ ἄδικα.
ΑΛ. Ἔγωγε· καὶ ἠπιστάμην γε.
ΣΩ. Ἐν ποίῳ χρόνῳ ἐξευρών; οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἐν ᾧ γε ᾤου εἰδέναι.
ΑΛ. Οὐ δῆτα.
ΣΩ. Πότε οὖν ἀγνοεῖν ἡγοῦ; σκόπει· οὐ γὰρ εὑρήσεις τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον.
ΑΛ. Μὰ τὸν Δί’, ὦ Σώκρατες, οὔκουν ἔχω γ’ εἰπεῖν.
110dΣΩ. Εὑρὼν μὲν ἄρ’ οὐκ οἶσθα αὐτά.
ΑΛ. Οὐ πάνυ φαίνομαι.
ΣΩ. Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἄρτι γε οὐδὲ μαθὼν ἔφησθα εἰδέναι· εἰ δὲ μήθ’ ηὗρες μήτ’ ἔμαθες, πῶς οἶσθα καὶ πόθεν;
ΑΛ. Ἀλλ’ ἴσως τοῦτό σοι οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἀπεκρινάμην, τὸ φάναι εἰδέναι αὐτὸς ἐξευρών.
ΣΩ. Τὸ δὲ πῶς εἶχεν;
ΑΛ. Ἔμαθον οἶμαι καὶ ἐγὼ ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι.
Alcibiades I
p. 25Soc. Then at that time, I know for certain, you thought you knew.
Alc. How do you know it for certain?
Soc. 110b I often heard you, when you were a child, at your teachers’ and elsewhere, and whenever you were playing knucklebones or some other game,1 not at a loss about what was just and unjust, but saying very loudly and boldly of whichever of the boys it might be that he was wicked and unjust, and that he was doing wrong. Or am I not telling the truth?
Alc. Well, what was I to do, Socrates, when someone wronged me?
Soc. And if you were in fact ignorant at the time whether you were being wronged or not, you ask what you ought to do?
Alc. 110c No, by Zeus, I was not ignorant: I recognized clearly that I was being wronged.
Soc. So even as a child, it seems, you thought you knew what was just and unjust.
Alc. I did; and I did know.
Soc. Having discovered it at what time? Not, surely, at a time when you thought you knew.
Alc. Certainly not.
Soc. Then when did you think you were ignorant? Look into it: you won’t discover that time.
Alc. By Zeus, Socrates, I can’t say, no.
Soc. 110d So it is not by discovering them that you know them.
Alc. I don’t appear to, not at all.
Soc. And yet just now you said you did not know them by learning either. But if you neither discovered them nor learned them, how do you know them, and where from?
Alc. Well, perhaps I did not answer you rightly in this, in saying I knew them by discovering them myself.
Soc. Then how was it?
Alc. I learned, I suppose, just as the others did.
Socrates
Reading Alcibiades I · Alcibiades I · 110a–110d
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Socrates and Alcibiades examine political ambition, education, justice, and the care of the soul. Their inquiry turns on what it means to know oneself. This complete revised edition presents the dialogue, 103a–135e, across fifty-eight Greek–English page pairs, with an introduction, Key Words of the Dialogue, an outline, glossary, critical apparatus, and translator’s notes. The dialogue is transmitted among Plato’s works; its authorship remains disputed.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek follows John Burnet’s Platonis Opera, volume II (Oxford, 1901), in a later Oxford impression printed by John Johnson and published by Humphrey Milford. The words were taken from the Perseus Digital Library transcription and checked against the supplied printed pages. Burnet’s lineation and critical apparatus are retained, including the extended mirror passage at 133c. The supplied PDF preserves the complete printed layout.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared and revised this independent English translation directly from the Greek, preserving the argument’s distinctions, consistent key terms, Socrates’ humor, and the quick exchanges with Alcibiades. Each English dialogue page translates the Greek page opposite it. Translator’s notes accompany their passages. The introduction and Key Words of the Dialogue precede the text; the Outline, Editorial Note, Glossary of Key Terms, and Note on this Edition follow it. Introductory and concluding matter reflows for the screen.
Rights
The ancient Greek work and Burnet’s printed edition are in the public domain. The Perseus digital Greek transcription and its modifications are attributed to the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, and reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. The independent English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions.