Ancestry, nature and upbringing · Lexicon

From the book

Alcibiades I

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordGenos denotes family, stock or lineage; physis natural endowment; trophē rearing or upbringing.
In Alcibiades IAlcibiades initially relies on his family’s strength and later says he will surpass local politicians by nature, so learning is unnecessary.
In this editionThe edition uses family and nature without turning them into modern racial or genetic categories.
A place to readFamily standing and connections enter the inventory of advantages.

Meaning

Genos denotes family, stock or lineage; physis natural endowment; trophē rearing or upbringing. Being wellborn and being well reared are distinct conditions in the comparison, even when the speakers suppose they are mutually reinforcing.

Use in the book

Alcibiades initially relies on his family’s strength and later says he will surpass local politicians by nature, so learning is unnecessary. Socrates first challenges the scale of comparison and then asks whether better natures are likely to arise in noble families. Alcibiades agrees, as he does to the proposition that good natural endowment joined to good upbringing yields completeness in virtue. These are agreed premises in a rhetorically targeted comparison, not a separately established universal theory of biological superiority.

The royal pedigrees, Alcibiades’ reply and Socrates’ Daedalus joke show how easily a prestigious remote ancestry can be matched. Socrates introduces continuous kingship and carefully managed succession to strengthen the distinction. Yet birth is still not the whole matter: the speech proceeds to rearing, teachers and practice. At the close Socrates does not distrust Alcibiades’ nature; he fears the strength of the city. The drama accordingly preserves both capacity and vulnerability. A good beginning does not make education dispensable or guarantee its success.

Places to read

104a–104bFamily standing and connections enter the inventory of advantages.
119b–119c2Natural superiority is invoked to avoid training.
120d–122b2 3 4Wellborn nature, rearing and dynastic continuity form the countercomparison.
123e–124aPoor rearing offsets the young man’s claimed resources.
135eNature is not blamed for the feared failure.

Translation in this edition

The edition uses family and nature without turning them into modern racial or genetic categories. The aristocratic assumptions should remain attributed to the exchange, and the sequence from nature to upbringing should not be collapsed.

γενναῖος

Attested: γενναίοις (gennaiois; 120d). Wellborn or noble, describing families in the likelihood argument. Lexical identification: lemma: γενναῖος. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.

γένος

Attested: γένους (genous; 104a); γενναίοις γένεσιν (gennaiois genesin; 120d–120e2). Family or lineage; the composite second phrase specifies wellborn families. Lexical identification: lemma: γένος. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.

τρέφω

Attested: τραφῶσιν (traphōsin; 120e). To rear or bring up; good natural endowment is joined to good upbringing. Lexical identification: lemma: τρέφω. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.

τροφή

Attested: τροφῇ (trophēi; 121b). Rearing or upbringing, compared across Athenian and royal households. Lexical identification: lemma: τροφή. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.

φύσις

Attested: φύσει (physei; 119c). Natural endowment, claimed as a sufficient basis for defeating uneducated rivals. Lexical identification: lemma: φύσις. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.

φύω / εὖ φύομαι

Attested: εὖ φύντας (eu phyntas; 120e). To grow or be naturally endowed; here being well endowed by nature. Lexical identification: family label: φύω / εὖ φύομαι. See Ancestry, nature and upbringing.