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Facing Pages · Branch 4 of 28
Alcibiades II · 138a–138c
Ancient Greek
p. 2ΑΛΚΙΒΙΑΔΗΣ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ
ΣΩΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΑΛΚΙΒΙΑΔΗΣ
138aΣΩ. Ὦ Ἀλκιβιάδη, ἆρά γε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν προσευξόμενος πορεύῃ;
ΑΛ. Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ὦ Σώκρατες.
ΣΩ. Φαίνῃ γέ τοι ἐσκυθρωπακέναι τε καὶ εἰς γῆν βλέπειν, ὥς τι συννοούμενος.
ΑΛ. Καὶ τί ἄν τις συννοοῖτο, ὦ Σώκρατες;
ΣΩ. Τὴν μεγίστην, ὦ Ἀλκιβιάδη, σύννοιαν, ὥς γ’ ἐμοὶ 138b δοκεῖ. ἐπεὶ φέρε πρὸς Διός, οὐκ οἴει τοὺς θεούς, ἃ τυγχάνομεν εὐχόμενοι καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ, ἐνίοτε τούτων τὰ μὲν διδόναι, τὰ δ’ οὔ, καὶ ἔστιν οἷς μὲν αὐτῶν, ἔστι δ’ οἷς οὔ;
ΑΛ. Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
ΣΩ. Οὐκοῦν δοκεῖ σοι πολλῆς προμηθείας γε προσδεῖσθαι, ὅπως μὴ λήσεται αὑτὸν εὐχόμενος μεγάλα κακά, δοκῶν δ’ ἀγαθά, οἱ δὲ θεοὶ τύχωσιν ἐν ταύτῃ ὄντες τῇ ἕξει, ἐν ᾗ διδόασιν αὐτοὶ ἅ τις εὐχόμενος τυγχάνει; ὥσπερ τὸν Οἰ138cδίπουν αὐτίκα φασὶν εὔξασθαι χαλκῷ διελέσθαι τὰ πατρῷα τοὺς ὑεῖς· ἐξὸν αὐτῷ τῶν παρόντων αὐτῷ κακῶν ἀποτροπήν
Alcibiades II
p. 3Soc. 138a Alcibiades, are you on your way to pray to the god?
Alc. Certainly, Socrates.
Soc. You do appear to be wearing a gloomy face and keeping your eyes on the ground, like a man pondering something.
Alc. And what would anyone be pondering, Socrates?
Soc. The greatest pondering of all, Alcibiades, as it 138b seems to me at least. For come, by Zeus: don’t you think that the gods, of the things we in fact pray for, both in private and in public, sometimes give some and not others, and give them to some of us and not to others?
Alc. Certainly.
Soc. Then don’t you think a great deal of forethought is needed, lest one should, without noticing it, pray for things that are very bad while thinking them good, and the gods should in fact be in the very state in which they themselves give whatever one in fact prays for? Just as Oedipus, 138c for instance, they say, prayed that his sons might divide their inheritance with the bronze;1 when it was open to him to pray for some way out of the bad things he had,
Socrates
Reading Alcibiades II · Alcibiades II · 138a–138c
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.