From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordἌρχειν means to rule or govern; the corresponding passive is to be ruled.
- In Alcibiades IThe argument has already identified the human being as what uses the body.
- In this edition“Rule” preserves the continuity with political ἄρχειν.
- A place to readThe temperate ruler first masters what is within himself.
Meaning
Ἄρχειν means to rule or govern; the corresponding passive is to be ruled. In 130a–b it describes the relation of soul to body. The participle ἄρχουσα is feminine because its subject is ψυχή. The phrase “what rules the body” then functions as a criterion for identifying the human being. This local use is connected with, but not identical to, the dialogue's political question of who is qualified to rule a city.
Use in the book
The argument has already identified the human being as what uses the body. Socrates asks whether anything other than soul uses it; after Alcibiades says no, he adds “by ruling it?” and receives assent. Use has thus become governing use. The body cannot be the person because it is ruled rather than its own ruler. The composite of soul and body is also excluded because body does not share in rule. Soul remains as the authoritative source of bodily action.
The inference depends on the governing criterion. It should not be summarized as merely “the body is material, therefore the self is immaterial”; materiality is not the stated premise. Nor does the passage identify distinct psychic parts and explain how one rules another. The internal mastery taught to the Persian prince at 122a is relevant background, but no formal psychology is supplied here.
The contrast later acquires an ethical complication. A soul may rule its body and still lack virtue; the identification of agency does not prove the excellence of its exercise. At 135b an adult without virtue is better ruled by someone better than ruling on his own. The human being's position as bodily governor must therefore be joined to the knowledge that makes governance good. This is why the proof of soul's primacy begins, rather than completes, the inquiry into care.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Rule” preserves the continuity with political ἄρχειν. “Control” can clarify the immediate bodily application, but would conceal the way the same vocabulary exposes the difference between possessing authority and exercising it well.
ἄρχω
Attested: ἄρχουσα (archousa; 130a); ἄρχεσθαι (archesthai; 130b). At 130a: Soul using the body by ruling it; this governing relation strengthens the earlier description of use. At 130b: The body's status as governed, used to exclude it as the governing human self. Lexical identification: lemma: ἄρχω. See Ruling the body.