From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe unnamed maker of comedy whose words Socrates uses to say that even the neighbours scarcely notice ordinary births.
- In Alcibiades IThe comic quotation cuts across the grand account of the Persian heir’s birth.
- In this editionThe edition says some editors have assigned the line to the comic poet Plato, but gives no settled attribution.
- A place to readThe royal birthday festival is contrasted with the comic line about neighbours.
Meaning
The unnamed maker of comedy whose words Socrates uses to say that even the neighbours scarcely notice ordinary births.
Use in the book
The comic quotation cuts across the grand account of the Persian heir’s birth. His arrival is celebrated throughout the king’s domain and thereafter by all Asia on the anniversary; the births of “us,” Socrates and Alcibiades together, attract almost no notice. The joke reduces private Athenian status without singling out Alcibiades for all the ridicule. Its contrast is public recognition, not a claim that either speaker literally lacked family care or neighbours. The poet remains unnamed, so identifying him requires evidence beyond the spoken text.
Places to read
- 121c–121dThe royal birthday festival is contrasted with the comic line about neighbours.
Translation in this edition
The edition says some editors have assigned the line to the comic poet Plato, but gives no settled attribution. It must not be presented as a verified quotation from Plato the philosopher or from an identified comic play.
κωμῳδοποιός
Attested: τοῦ κωμῳδοποιοῦ (tou kōmōidopoiou; 121d). Comic poet, left unnamed in the quotation about unnoticed births. Lexical identification: lemma: κωμῳδοποιός. See Comic poet, unnamed.
Source note
The supplied edition, note 39 on 121d, explicitly leaves the comic poet unnamed and reports only that some editors assign the words to the comic poet Plato. No play-title or fragment-number is invented here.