From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe Persian king, son of Xerxes, against whom Alcibiades imagines competing; Burnet’s Greek spells the name Artoxerxes.
- In Alcibiades IAt 121b Socrates imagines Alcibiades exhibiting Salamis, Aegina and his ancestry to the king and receiving laughter rather than admiration.
- In this editionBurnet’s apparatus explicitly confirms ἀρτοξέρξῃ as the reading of B and T. The English uses the conventional Artaxerxes.
- A place to readA hypothetical genealogical display to the king invites ridicule.
Meaning
The Persian king, son of Xerxes, against whom Alcibiades imagines competing; Burnet’s Greek spells the name Artoxerxes.
Use in the book
At 121b Socrates imagines Alcibiades exhibiting Salamis, Aegina and his ancestry to the king and receiving laughter rather than admiration. At 123c–d2 the imagined audience shifts to the king’s mother: she would wonder what resource Alcibiades could possibly rely upon. Thus Artaxerxes is not present or consulted; he supplies the external scale against which familiar Athenian advantages appear small. Care and wisdom emerge as the only plausible means of competition once property, looks and noble birth have been relativized.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
Burnet’s apparatus explicitly confirms ἀρτοξέρξῃ as the reading of B and T. The English uses the conventional Artaxerxes. The edition identifies Artaxerxes I in its note; the dialogue identifies him by his father.
Ἀρτοξέρξης
Attested: Ἀρτοξέρξῃ (artoxerxēi; 121b). Artaxerxes, in Burnet’s Artoxerxes spelling; the Persian king identified as son of Xerxes. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἀρτοξέρξης. See Artaxerxes.