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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 20 of 28
Alcibiades II · 148b–148e
Ancient Greek
p. 34148bκαὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς πολλῆς φυλακῆς, ὅπως μὴ λήσει τις αὑτὸν εὐχόμενος μὲν κακά, δοκῶν δὲ τἀγαθά, ἔπειτ’ ὀλίγον ἐπισχών, ὅπερ καὶ σὺ ἔλεγες, παλινῳδῇ, ἀνευχόμενος ἅττ’ ἂν τὸ πρῶτον εὔξηται.
ΣΩ. Ἆρ’ οὖν οὐχὶ εἰδώς τι πλέον ἡμῶν ὁ ποιητής, οὗ καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ λόγου ἐπεμνήσθην, τὰ δειλὰ καὶ εὐχομένοις ἀπαλέξειν ἐκέλευεν;
ΑΛ. Ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ.
ΣΩ. Τοῦτον μὲν τοίνυν, ὦ Ἀλκιβιάδη, καὶ Λακεδαι148cμόνιοι τὸν ποιητὴν ἐζηλωκότες, εἴτε καὶ αὐτοὶ οὕτως ἐπεσκεμμένοι, καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ ἑκάστοτε παραπλησίαν εὐχὴν εὔχονται, τὰ καλὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τοὺς θεοὺς διδόναι κελεύοντες αὖ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς· πλείω δ’ οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐκείνων εὐξαμένων ἀκούσειεν. τοιγαροῦν εἰς τὸ παρῆκον τοῦ χρόνου οὐδένων ἧττον εὐτυχεῖς εἰσιν ἄνθρωποι· εἰ δ’ ἄρα καὶ συμβέβηκεν αὐτοῖς ὥστε μὴ πάντα εὐτυχεῖν, ἀλλ’ οὖν ⟨οὐ⟩ διὰ 148d τὴν ἐκείνων εὐχήν, ἐπὶ τοῖς θεοῖς δ’ ἐστὶν ὥστε οἶμαι καὶ διδόναι ἅττ’ ἄν τις εὐχόμενος τυγχάνῃ καὶ τἀναντία τούτων. βούλομαι δέ σοι καὶ ἕτερόν τι διηγήσασθαι, ὅ ποτε ἤκουσα [τῶν πρεσβυτέρων] τινῶν, ὡς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις διαφορᾶς γενομένης συνέβαινεν ἀεὶ τῇ πόλει ἡμῶν ὥστε καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ὁπότε μάχη γένοιτο δυστυχεῖν καὶ μηδέποτε δύνασθαι κρατῆσαι· τοὺς οὖν Ἀθηναίους ἀγανακτοῦντας τῷ πράγματι καὶ ἀπορουμένους τίνι 148e χρὴ μηχανῇ τῶν παρόντων κακῶν ἀποτροπὴν εὑρεῖν, βουλευομένοις αὐτοῖς δοκεῖν κράτιστον εἶναι πέμψαντας πρὸς
Alcibiades II
p. 35148band truly in need of much caution, lest one should, without noticing it, pray for bad things while thinking them the good things, and then, after waiting a little, as you too were saying, sing a palinode, unpraying whatever he prayed for at first.1
Soc. Is it not, then, because he knew something more than we do that the poet, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the argument too, bade Zeus ward off the wretched things even when we pray?2
Alc. I think so.
Soc. This poet, then, Alcibiades, the Spartans too 148c have emulated, or else they have looked into it in this way themselves, and both in private and in public they pray on each occasion a like prayer, bidding the gods give them in their turn the fine things on top of the good; and no one would hear them pray for more. And so up to the present time they are no less fortunate than any people; and if it has after all happened to them not to be fortunate in everything, still it is not because of 148d their prayer; it lies with the gods, I think, both to give whatever one in fact prays for and the opposite of it.3 I wish to tell you something else too, which I once heard from certain people:4 how, when a quarrel arose between the Athenians and the Spartans, it always happened to our city, whenever a battle took place by land or by sea, to be unfortunate and never able to win; so the Athenians, vexed at the matter and at a loss 148e by what device they should find a way out of the bad things they had, deliberated, and it seemed best to them to send to
Socrates
Reading Alcibiades II · Alcibiades II · 148b–148e
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.