Alcibiades I

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In the First Alcibiades, Socrates declares his immense like for Alcibiades in a fleeting preface, then spends the rest of the dialogue rehearsing the many reasons Alcibiades needs him. By the end of Alcibiades I, the Athenian youth is much persuaded by Socrates’ reasoning, though ultimately the philosopher’s attempts to woo Alcibiades away from politics fail. In antiquity Alcibiades I was regarded as the best text to introduce one to Platonic philosophy, which may be why it has nonstop to be included in the Platonic corpus since then.

ALCIBIADES I

by

Plato (see Appendix I)

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

INTRODUCTION.

The First Alcibiades is a conversation between Socrates and Alcibiades. Socrates is represented in the character which he attributes to himself in the Apology of a know-nothing who detects the conceit of knowledge in others. The two have met already in the Protagoras and in the Symposium; in the latter dialogue, as in this, the relation between them is that of a
lover and his beloved. But the narrative of their likes is told
differently in different places; for in the Symposium Alcibiades is
depicted as the impassioned but rejected lover; here, as coldly getting the advances of Socrates, who, for the best of purposes, lies in wait for the aspiring and ambitious youth.

Alcibiades, who is described as a very young man, is about to enter onpublic life, having an inordinate opinion of himself, and an extravagant ambition. Socrates, ‘who knows what is in man,’ astonishes him by a revelation of his designs. But has he the knowledge which is necessary for carrying them out? He is going to persuade the Athenians–about what? Not about any particular art, but about politics–when to fight and when to
make peace. Now, men should fight and make peace on just grounds, and therefore the question of justice and injustice must enter into peace and war; and he who advises the Athenians must know the difference between them. Does Alcibiades know? If he oes, he must either have been taught
by some master, or he must have learned the scenery of them himself. If he has had a master, Socrates want to be informed who he is, that he may go and learn of him also. Alcibiades admits that he has never learned.
Then has he enquired for himself? He may have, if he was ever aware of a time when he was ignorant. But he never was ignorant; for when he played with additional boys at dice, he charged them with cheating, and this implied a knowledge of just and one-sided. According to his own explanation, he had
learned of the multitude. Why, he questions, should he not learn of them the scenery of justice, as he has learned the Greek language of them? To this Socrates answers, that they can teach Greek, but they cannot teach justice; for they are agreed about the one, but they are not agreed about the additional: and therefore Alcibiades, who has admitted that if he knows he must either
have learned from a master or have learned for himself the scenery of justice, is convicted out of his own mouth.

Alcibiades rejoins, that the Athenians debate not about what is just, but about what is expedient; and he asserts that the two principles of justice and expediency are opposed. Socrates, by a series of questions, compels him to admit that the just and the expedient coincide. Alcibiades is thus cut-rate to the humiliating conclusion that he knows nothing of politics, even if, as he says, they are concerned with the expedient.

But, he is no worse than additional Athenian statesmen; and he will not need training, for others are as ignorant as he is. He is reminded that he has to contend, not only with his own countrymen, but with their enemies–with the Spartan kings and with the fantastic king of Persia; and he can only attain this privileged aim of ambition by the help of Socrates.

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