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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 15 of 28
Alcibiades II · 145a–145d
Ancient Greek
p. 24ΑΛ. Οὕτως.
ΣΩ. Οὐκοῦν πρός τι ἀποβλέπων ἀμφοτέρους;
ΑΛ. Ναί.
145bΣΩ. Ἆρ’ οὖν τὸν τοιοῦτον συμβουλεύειν εἰδότα, χωρὶς τοῦ πότερον βέλτιον καὶ ὅτε βέλτιον, φρόνιμον καλεῖς;
ΑΛ. Οὐ δῆτα.
ΣΩ. Οὐδέ γε οἶμαι ὅστις τὸ πολεμεῖν αὐτὸ οἶδε χωρὶς τοῦ ὁπότε βέλτιον καὶ τοσοῦτον χρόνον ὅσον βέλτιον. ἦ γάρ;
ΑΛ. Ναί.
ΣΩ. Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ εἴ τίς τινα ἀποκτεινύναι οἶδεν οὐδὲ χρήματα ἀφαιρεῖσθαι καὶ φυγάδα ποιεῖν τῆς πατρίδος, χωρὶς τοῦ ὁπότε βέλτιον καὶ ὅντινα βέλτιον;
ΑΛ. Οὐ μέντοι.
145cΣΩ. Ὅστις ἄρα τι τῶν τοιούτων οἶδεν, ἐὰν μὲν παρέπηται αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ βελτίστου ἐπιστήμη—αὕτη δ’ ἦν ἡ αὐτὴ δήπου ἥπερ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὠφελίμου· ἦ γάρ;—
ΑΛ. Ναί.
ΣΩ. Φρόνιμόν δέ γε αὐτὸν φήσομεν καὶ ἀποχρῶντα σύμβουλον καὶ τῇ πόλει καὶ αὐτὸν αὑτῷ· τὸν δὲ μὴ τοιοῦτον τἀναντία τούτων. ἢ πῶς δοκεῖ;
ΑΛ. Ἐμοὶ μὲν οὕτως.
ΣΩ. Τί δ’ εἴ τις ἱππεύειν ἢ τοξεύειν οἶδεν, ἢ αὖ πυκτεύειν ἢ παλαίειν ἤ τι τῆς ἄλλης ἀγωνίας ἢ καὶ ἄλλο τι 145d τῶν τοιούτων ὅσα τέχνῃ οἴδαμεν, τί καλεῖς ὃς ἂν εἰδῇ τὸ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν τέχνην βέλτιον γιγνόμενον; ἆρ’ οὐ τὸν κατὰ τὴν ἱππικὴν ἱππικόν;
ΑΛ. Ἔγωγε.
ΣΩ. Τὸν δέ γε οἶμαι κατὰ τὴν πυκτικὴν πυκτικόν, τὸν
Alcibiades II
p. 25Alc. Just so.
Soc. And in both cases you are looking to something?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. 145b Do you, then, call such a man intelligent, one who knows how to advise, but apart from whether it is better and when it is better?1
Alc. Certainly not.
Soc. Nor, I think, the one who knows waging war itself, apart from when it is better and for as long a time as is better. Isn’t that so?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. Nor, then, anyone who knows how to kill someone, or to take away his property and make him an exile from his fatherland, apart from when it is better and whom it is better to?
Alc. No indeed.
Soc. 145c Whoever, then, knows any of these things, if the knowledge of the best accompanies him—and this, surely, was the same as the knowledge of the beneficial; isn’t that so?—
Alc. Yes.
Soc. —we shall say that he is intelligent, and a sufficient adviser both to the city and to himself; and the one who is not such, the opposite of these. Or how does it seem?2
Alc. That is how it seems to me.
Soc. What if someone knows how to ride or to shoot with the bow, or again to box or to wrestle, or anything in the other contests, or anything else 145d of the kind that we know by craft: what do you call the one who knows what turns out better according to that craft? Don’t you call the one in horsemanship a horseman?
Alc. I do.
Soc. And the one in boxing, I think, a boxer, and the one
Socrates
Reading Alcibiades II · Alcibiades II · 145a–145d
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 prayer, ignorance, and the knowledge of what is best. Their inquiry asks whether receiving what we desire can harm us when we do not know what is good. This complete revised edition presents the dialogue, 138a–151c, across twenty-one 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, verse quotations, and critical apparatus are retained. 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 and the vocabulary of prayer and ritual. 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.