Stork and reciprocal love · Lexicon

From the book

Alcibiades I

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordThe stork is the bird to which Socrates compares his own love.
In Alcibiades IAlcibiades has announced that the two will change parts: he will now attend Socrates.
In this editionThe article uses the note’s traditional explanation while keeping it separate from the text’s compact allusion.
A place to readThe promise of reversed attendance becomes the stork comparison and then care for justice.

Meaning

The stork is the bird to which Socrates compares his own love. Nesting or hatching a winged love in Alcibiades leads to being tended in return. The image joins generation, reciprocity and care.

Use in the book

Alcibiades has announced that the two will change parts: he will now attend Socrates. Socrates recasts the promise as a small animal fable about his love, which has produced a winged offspring and will itself receive care. The supplied note explains the traditional belief that young storks feed their aged parents, making the reversal intelligible. The dialogue’s actual words do not narrate that natural history; they rely on the reader recognizing it.

The image does not say Socrates has ceased to guide or Alcibiades has completed his education. It celebrates a new motive for continuing the relation. The return of tending is especially apt after the distinctions about what genuinely deserves care. Yet the immediately following exchange prevents a sentimental ending: Alcibiades promises to care for justice, and Socrates hopes he will persist but fears the city’s strength. The stork therefore expresses reciprocal commitment at the moment it begins, not a guarantee that the offspring will fulfil it.

Places to read

135d–135eThe promise of reversed attendance becomes the stork comparison and then care for justice.

Translation in this edition

The article uses the note’s traditional explanation while keeping it separate from the text’s compact allusion. Burnet prints the singular participle ἐννεοττεύσας from B against T’s plural-looking variant in the apparatus. “Winged” modifies the love produced in Alcibiades.

ἐννεοττεύω

Attested: ἐννεοττεύσας (enneotteusas; 135e). To nest or hatch young within; Socrates' love has hatched a responsive love in Alcibiades, preparing the stork comparison. Lexical identification: lemma: ἐννεοττεύω. See Stork and reciprocal love.

θεραπεύω

Attested: θεραπεύει (therapeuei; 131b); θεραπεύσεται (therapeusetai; 135e). At 131b: To tend a body: an activity directed to something belonging to the person, distinguished here from tending the self. At 135e: To be tended in return: the love Socrates fosters is pictured as receiving reciprocal care from its offspring. To tend or care for, here love being tended in return. Lexical identification: lemma: θεραπεύω. See Care and neglect; Stork and reciprocal love.

πελαργός

Attested: πελαργοῦ (pelargou; 135e). Stork, the image of reciprocal care for the love that generated another love. Lexical identification: lemma: πελαργός. See Stork and reciprocal love.

ὑπόπτερος

Attested: ἔρωτα ὑπόπτερον (erōta hypopteron; 135e). Winged, modifying the love hatched in Alcibiades. Lexical identification: lemma: ὑπόπτερος. See Stork and reciprocal love.

Source note

The supplied edition, note 76 on 135e, cites Aristotle, History of Animals 615b23–24 and Aristophanes, Birds 1353–57, for the tradition of young storks supporting their parents. Those references are reported from the source edition.