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Plato

Alcibiades I

Name: Alcibiades I
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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Alcibiades IAlcibiades I · 135c–135e

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English Page · Branch 61 of 65

Alcibiades I · 135c–135e

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Ancient Greek

p. 116

ΣΩ. Οὐκοῦν φεύγειν χρή, ὦ ἑταῖρε, τὴν δουλοπρέπειαν;

ΑΛ. Μάλιστά γε, ὦ Σώκρατες.

ΣΩ. Αἰσθάνῃ δὲ νῦν πῶς ἔχεις; ἐλευθεροπρεπῶς ἢ οὔ;

ΑΛ. Δοκῶ μοι καὶ μάλα σφόδρα αἰσθάνεσθαι.

ΣΩ. Οἶσθ’ οὖν πῶς ἀποφεύξῃ τοῦτο τὸ περὶ σὲ νῦν; ἵνα μὴ ὀνομάζωμεν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ καλῷ ἀνδρί.

135dΑΛ. Ἔγωγε.

ΣΩ. Πῶς;

ΑΛ. Ἐὰν βούλῃ σύ, ὦ Σώκρατες.

ΣΩ. Οὐ καλῶς λέγεις, ὦ Ἀλκιβιάδη.

ΑΛ. Ἀλλὰ πῶς χρὴ λέγειν;

ΣΩ. Ὅτι ἐὰν θεὸς ἐθέλῃ.

ΑΛ. Λέγω δή. καὶ πρὸς τούτοις μέντοι τόδε λέγω, ὅτι κινδυνεύσομεν μεταβαλεῖν τὸ σχῆμα, ὦ Σώκρατες, τὸ μὲν σὸν ἐγώ, σὺ δὲ τοὐμόν· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ παιδαγωγήσω σε ἀπὸ τῆσδε τῆς ἡμέρας, σὺ δ’ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ παιδαγωγήσῃ.

135eΣΩ. Ὦ γενναῖε, πελαργοῦ ἄρα ὁ ἐμὸς ἔρως οὐδὲν διοίσει, εἰ παρὰ σοὶ ἐννεοττεύσας ἔρωτα ὑπόπτερον ὑπὸ τούτου πάλιν θεραπεύσεται.

ΑΛ. Ἀλλὰ οὕτως ἔχει, καὶ ἄρξομαί γε ἐντεῦθεν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐπιμέλεσθαι.

ΣΩ. Βουλοίμην ἄν σε καὶ διατελέσαι· ὀρρωδῶ δέ, οὔ τι τῇ σῇ φύσει ἀπιστῶν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς πόλεως ὁρῶν ῥώμην, μὴ ἐμοῦ τε καὶ σοῦ κρατήσῃ.

Alcibiades I

p. 117

Soc. Then one must flee, my friend, what befits a slave?

Alc. Most of all, Socrates.

Soc. And do you perceive how it is with you now? As befits a free man, or not?

Alc. I think I perceive it very keenly indeed.

Soc. Then do you know how you will escape this thing that is about you now? So as not to call it by its name, where a beautiful man is concerned.

Alc. 135d I do.

Soc. How?

Alc. If you wish it, Socrates.

Soc. That is not well said, Alcibiades.

Alc. Well, how should I put it?

Soc. “If god wills.”¹

Alc. Then I say it. And besides this I say this as well: that we are likely to change parts, Socrates, I taking yours and you mine. For from this day on there is no way that I shall not attend you as a tutor attends a boy, and you will be attended by me.²

Soc. 135e My noble friend, then my love will be no different from a stork, if, having hatched a winged love in you, it is to be tended by it in return.³

Alc. Well, so it is; and I shall begin from this very moment to care for justice.

Soc. I would wish you to carry it through as well. But I dread, not that I distrust your nature at all, but seeing the strength of the city, that it may get the better of both me and you.⁴

1.Socrates had put his own claim the same way at the start, “except me — with the god’s help, to be sure” (105e), and again at 127e, “if god wills”.

2.The paidagōgos was the slave who escorted a boy and watched over him (122b). The parts are reversed: the young man will now follow the older one about, as Socrates followed him (104d, 106a).

3.Greeks believed that young storks fed their parents in old age (Aristotle, History of Animals 615b23–24; in Aristophanes’ Birds 1353–57 the “law of the storks” requires it). Eros was pictured with wings: the love Socrates’ love hatches in Alcibiades will look after it in turn.

4.The last words look ahead to what the dialogue’s readers knew. Alcibiades was one of the generals of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse in 415, was recalled to stand trial for profaning the Mysteries, escaped, and went over to Sparta; he returned to Athens in 407, lost his command after the defeat at Notium the next year and withdrew to his forts in the Chersonese, and was killed in exile about 404. In 399 the city tried Socrates and put him to death. Xenophon reports “the accuser” as charging that Critias and Alcibiades, Socrates’ associates, did the city the greatest harm (Memorabilia 1.2.12).

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.

Discussion Questions

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.