Alcibiades II

Name: Alcibiades II
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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Alcibiades IIAlcibiades II · 141d–142c

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Alcibiades II · 141d–142c

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Ancient Greek

p. 14

νίδος ἐπιθυμήσαντες ἤδη καὶ σπουδάσαντες τοῦτ’ αὐτοῖς παραγενέσθαι, ὡς ἀγαθόν τι πράξαντες, διὰ τὴν τυραννίδα ἐπιβουλευθέντες τὸν βίον ἀφῃρέθησαν. οἶμαι δέ σε οὐκ ἀνήκοον εἶναι ἔνιά γε χθιζά τε καὶ πρωϊζὰ γεγενημένα, ὅτε Ἀρχέλαον τὸν Μακεδόνων τύραννον τὰ παιδικά, ἐρασθέντα τῆς τυραννίδος οὐθὲν ἧττον ἤπερ ἐκεῖνος τῶν παιδικῶν, ἀπέκτεινε τὸν ἐραστὴν ὡς τύραννός τε καὶ εὐδαίμων 141e ἀνὴρ ἐσόμενος· κατασχὼν δὲ τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρας ἡμέρας τὴν τυραννίδα πάλιν αὐτὸς ἐπιβουλευθεὶς ὑφ’ ἑτέρων τινῶν ἐτελεύτησεν. ὁρᾷς δὴ καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων πολιτῶν—ταῦτα γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλων ἀκηκόαμεν, ἀλλ’ αὐτοὶ παρόντες οἴδαμεν— 142a ὅσοι στρατηγίας ἐπιθυμήσαντες ἤδη καὶ τυχόντες αὐτῆς οἱ μὲν ἔτι καὶ νῦν φυγάδες τῆσδε τῆς πόλεώς εἰσιν, οἱ δὲ τὸν βίον ἐτελεύτησαν· οἱ δὲ ἄριστα δοκοῦντες αὐτῶν πράττειν διὰ πολλῶν κινδύνων ἐλθόντες καὶ φόβων οὐ μόνον ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ στρατηγίᾳ, ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν κατῆλθον, ὑπὸ τῶν συκοφαντῶν πολιορκούμενοι πολιορκίαν οὐδὲν ἐλάττω τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διετέλεσαν, ὥστε ἐνίους αὐτῶν εὔχεσθαι ἀστρατηγήτους εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ ἐστρατηγη142bκέναι. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἦσαν οἱ κίνδυνοί τε καὶ πόνοι φέροντες εἰς ὠφέλειαν, εἶχεν ἄν τινα λόγον· νῦν δὲ καὶ πολὺ τοὐναντίον. εὑρήσεις δὲ καὶ περὶ τέκνων τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, εὐξαμένους τινὰς ἤδη γενέσθαι καὶ γενομένων εἰς συμφοράς τε καὶ λύπας τὰς μεγίστας καταστάντας. οἱ μὲν γὰρ μοχθηρῶν διὰ τέλους ὄντων τῶν τέκνων ὅλον τὸν βίον λυπούμενοι διήγαγον· τοὺς δὲ χρηστῶν μὲν γενομένων, 142c συμφοραῖς δὲ χρησαμένων ὥστε στερηθῆναι, καὶ τούτους οὐδὲν εἰς ἐλάττονας δυστυχίας καθεστηκότας ἤπερ ἐκείνους καὶ βουλομένους ἂν ἀγένητα μᾶλλον εἶναι ἢ γενέσθαι. ἀλλ’ ὅμως τούτων τε καὶ ἑτέρων πολλῶν ὁμοιοτρόπων τούτοις οὕτω σφόδρα καταδήλων ὄντων, σπάνιον εὑρεῖν ὅστις

Alcibiades II

p. 15

before now have desired a tyranny and striven to get it, as though they had achieved something good, and have then been plotted against because of the tyranny and robbed of their lives. And I think you have not failed to hear of some things that happened “yesterday and the day before”, when the beloved of Archelaus, the tyrant of the Macedonians, in love with the tyranny no less than Archelaus was in love with him, killed his lover, thinking he would be a tyrant and a happy 141e man; but after holding the tyranny for three or four days he was in his turn plotted against by certain others and died.¹ You see, too, among our own citizens — for these things we have not heard from others, but know, having been there ourselves — 142a how many who before now desired a generalship and obtained it are, some of them, exiles from this city even now, while others have come to the end of their lives; and those of them thought to fare best, having gone through many dangers and fears, not only in that generalship but when they came back to their own country, have gone on being besieged by the informers with a siege no less than the enemy’s, so that some of them pray to be men who were never generals rather than men who have been.² 142b Now if the dangers and labors led to benefit, there would be some reason in it; but as it is, quite the opposite. You will find the same about children too: some who before now prayed for them to be born, and once they were born fell into the greatest misfortunes and griefs. For some, their children being worthless to the end, spent their whole lives in grief; and others, whose children turned out worthy but 142c met with misfortunes so that they were bereaved of them, you will find these too in no smaller ill fortune than the first, and who would wish their children unborn rather than born. But nevertheless, though these and many other things like them are so very plain, it is rare to find anyone who

1.“Yesterday and the day before” is a tag from the Iliad (2.303), where Odysseus recalls the omen at Aulis as though it were recent. Archelaus, king of Macedon, died in 399 BC. Diodorus says his beloved Craterus struck him by accident in a hunt (14.37.6), but Aristotle tells of a deliberate attack by Crataeus, a favorite who resented their intimacy, with Hellanocrates of Larisa (Politics 5.10, 1311b8–20). Alcibiades had died in 404, so Socrates could not have told him of it as recent news; the anachronism is one reason the dialogue is thought not to be Plato’s.

2.Socrates names no one, but a reader would think of Thucydides, general in 424, who spent twenty years in exile (History 5.26.5), and, with an irony the dialogue leaves unspoken, of Alcibiades himself, condemned in his absence in 415. Of the eight generals condemned after the victory at Arginusae in 406, the six who had come home were put to death (Xenophon, Hellenica 1.7.2, 1.7.34). The informers (sykophantai) were men who brought prosecutions for gain or spite. The word for “never generals”, astratēgētoi, is rare.

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.

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, 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.