Cleinias, brother of Alcibiades · Lexicon

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Alcibiades I

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

The wordCleinias here is Alcibiades’ brother, another ward of Pericles, not the father named in the opening patronymic.
In Alcibiades ISocrates proposes the brother as a possible example of someone Pericles has made wise.
In this editionThe supplied note calls this the younger brother by reference to the Protagoras.
A place to readPericles is guardian to Alcibiades and his brother.

Meaning

Cleinias here is Alcibiades’ brother, another ward of Pericles, not the father named in the opening patronymic.

Use in the book

Socrates proposes the brother as a possible example of someone Pericles has made wise. Alcibiades answers with a dismissive description of Cleinias as mad; Socrates provisionally repeats the description and asks why Alcibiades himself has been left in his present condition. The passage records Alcibiades’ characterization in an argumentative exchange. It is not a clinical diagnosis or independent biographical evidence. The brother’s function is to block the easy defence that the failure of Pericles’ own sons tells nothing about his ability to educate others. Alcibiades then blames his own inattention, so the conversation moves from exceptional pupils back to the person being questioned.

Places to read

104bPericles is guardian to Alcibiades and his brother.
118eThe brother is named and rejected as evidence of successful education.

Translation in this edition

The supplied note calls this the younger brother by reference to the Protagoras. The present dialogue itself says brother without specifying the relative ages.

ἀδελφός

Attested: ἀδελφόν (adelphon; 118e). Brother, here identifying Cleinias’ relationship to Alcibiades. Lexical identification: lemma: ἀδελφός. See Cleinias, brother of Alcibiades.

Κλεινίας

Attested: Κλεινίου (kleiniou; 103a); Κλεινίαν (kleinian; 118e). Cleinias: father of Alcibiades in the opening patronymic; his distinct brother of the same name at 118e. Lexical identification: lemma: Κλεινίας. See Cleinias, father of Alcibiades; Cleinias, brother of Alcibiades.

Source note

The supplied edition, note 3 on 104b, compares Plato, Protagoras 320a–b, for the younger brother and Pericles’ arrangements. The relative age is external to the present passage.