Royal comparison

Use in the book

The speech answers a precise mistake. Alcibiades accepts that most local politicians are uneducated but concludes that he can surpass them by natural gifts without training. Socrates does not initially abandon competition as a motive. He asks what the correct competition is. A pilot preparing for naval battle cannot measure himself only against his shipmates; opposing commanders matter. Similarly, a prospective Athenian leader must look to the rulers of Sparta and Persia.

This distinction is practical as well as verbal. Those whom Alcibiades treats as rivals within the city ought to be outclassed sufficiently to become collaborators against external enemies. Socrates’ mock advice to look to Meidias and take no care of himself exposes how the original standard trivializes the young man’s own ambition. The terms for opponent and fellow-contestant thus prevent “rival” from becoming an indiscriminate label for everyone in politics.

When Alcibiades doubts the exceptional standing of the foreign rulers, Socrates offers two replies. First, thinking them formidable would encourage beneficial care even before the belief’s truth has been established. Second, Socrates proposes a comparison from likelihood: lineage, upbringing, education, discipline and wealth all count against the Athenian’s complacency. These different arguments, motivational usefulness and comparative plausibility, should not be merged into one proof.

The long description moves from heroic descent to guarded succession, infancy, royal tutors, Persian luxury, Spartan virtues and wealth, and finally an imagined judgement by the mothers of rival kings. Its variety matters. Different resources are selected to defeat different grounds of Alcibiades’ pride, while the foreign women’s imagined common sense shames his refusal to prepare. The speech contains assertions, a reported traveller’s testimony and hypothetical speeches; these retain different evidential status.

The result is not that the strongest or richest dynasty must be morally best. Socrates says only care and craft could let the Athenians prevail, and the Delphic injunction makes accurate assessment the transition to a new inquiry. After the comparison, the question becomes what becoming good and caring for oneself actually involve. By the final pages even unlimited rule is rejected as the primary acquisition: virtue must precede responsible power. The competitive framework has recruited Alcibiades into a programme that revises the terms on which he hoped to win.

Places to read

1. 119b–119e2Amateur local rivals are replaced through the naval-command analogy.
2. 120a–120dKings become the true rivals; fear of them would motivate care.
3. 120d–121c23Comparative likelihood leads to birth and succession.
4. 121d–123b23Education, virtues and resources are set against Athenian advantages.
5. 123c–124b2Imagined royal women’s judgement ends in Delphi and care with craft.

Translation in this edition

“Royal comparison” is not an attested Greek technical name. Burnet prints his own corrections at 119e7 and 124b3; the edition’s “whether ever” and “by care, at least” follow those readings. The speech is a rhetorical intervention, not a source-critically verified ethnography.

ἀγών

Attested: ἀγῶνα (agōna; 120a). Contest or struggle, the competition whose proper scale Alcibiades has misunderstood. Lexical identification: lemma: ἀγών. See Royal comparison.

ἀνταγωνιστής

Attested: ἀνταγωνιστάς (antagōnistas; 119d). Opponent or contestant against one, distinguished from allies on one’s own side. Lexical identification: lemma: ἀνταγωνιστής. See Royal comparison.

ἀντίπαλος

Attested: ἀντίπαλοι (antipaloi; 124b). Rival or opponent, the actual competitors identified by the royal comparison. Lexical identification: lemma: ἀντίπαλος. See Royal comparison.

βασιλεύς

Attested: βασιλέας (basileas; 120a). King, identifying the Spartan and Persian rulers as the relevant opponents. Lexical identification: lemma: βασιλεύς. See Royal comparison.

γενέθλια

Attested: γενέθλια (genethlia; 121c). Birthday festival or observances, described as an annual celebration throughout Asia. Lexical identification: lemma: γενέθλια. See Royal comparison.

ἑορτάζω

Attested: ἑορτάζουσι (heortazousi; 121c). To hold festival, of the kingdom’s celebration when the royal heir is born. Lexical identification: lemma: ἑορτάζω. See Royal comparison.

περιγίγνομαι

Attested: περιγενοίμεθα (perigenoimetha; 124b). To surpass or prevail over, attainable in the comparison through care and craft. Lexical identification: lemma: περιγίγνομαι. See Royal comparison.

συναγωνιστής

Attested: συναγωνιστάς (synagōnistas; 119d). A fellow contender or ally in a struggle; one's own compatriots should support the real contest rather than define its highest standard. Lexical identification: lemma: συναγωνιστής. See Royal comparison.