Tweetable Socratic dialogues

alcibiades.json

[
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I dare say that you may be surprised to find, O son of\nCleinias, that I, who am your first lover, not having spoken to you\nfor many years, when the rest of the world were wearying you with their\nattentions, am the last of your lovers who still speaks to you.",
      "The\ncause of my silence has been that I was hindered by a power more\nthan human, of which I will some day explain to you the nature; this\nimpediment has now been removed; I therefore here present myself before\nyou, and I greatly hope that no similar hindrance will again occur.",
      "Meanwhile, I have observed that your pride has been too much for the\npride of your admirers; they were numerous and high-spirited, but they\nhave all run away, overpowered by your superior force of character; not\none of them remains.",
      "And I want you to understand the reason why you\nhave been too much for them. You think that you have no need of them\nor of any other man, for you have great possessions and lack nothing,\nbeginning with the body, and ending with the soul.",
      "In the first\nplace, you say to yourself that you are the fairest and tallest of the\ncitizens, and this every one who has eyes may see to be true;",
      "in the\nsecond place, that you are among the noblest of them, highly connected\nboth on the father's and the mother's side, and sprung from one of the\nmost distinguished families in your own state, which is the greatest in\nHellas,",
      "and having many friends and kinsmen of the best sort, who can\nassist you when in need;",
      "and there is one potent relative, who is more\nto you than all the rest, Pericles the son of Xanthippus, whom your\nfather left guardian of you, and of your brother, and who can do as he\npleases not only in this city, but in all Hellas, and among many and\nmighty barbarous nations.",
      "Moreover, you are rich; but I must say that\nyou value yourself least of all upon your possessions. And all these\nthings have lifted you up; you have overcome your lovers, and they have\nacknowledged that you were too much for them. Have you not remarked\ntheir absence?",
      "And now I know that you wonder why I, unlike the rest of\nthem, have not gone away, and what can be my motive in remaining."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Perhaps, Socrates, you are not aware that I was just going\nto ask you the very same question--What do you want? And what is your\nmotive in annoying me, and always, wherever I am, making a point of\ncoming? I do really wonder what you mean, and should\ngreatly like to know."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then if, as you say, you desire to know, I suppose that you\nwill be willing to hear, and I may consider myself to be speaking to an\nauditor who will remain, and will not run away?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly, let me hear."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You had better be careful, for I may very likely be as\nunwilling to end as I have hitherto been to begin."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Proceed, my good man, and I will listen."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I will proceed;",
      "and, although no lover likes to speak with\none who has no feeling of love in him , I will make an\neffort, and tell you what I meant: My love, Alcibiades, which I hardly\nlike to confess, would long ago have passed away, as I flatter myself,\nif I saw you loving your good things,",
      "or thinking that you ought to\npass life in the enjoyment of them. But I shall reveal other thoughts\nof yours, which you keep to yourself; whereby you will know that I have\nalways had my eye on you.",
      "Suppose that at this moment some God came to\nyou and said: Alcibiades, will you live as you are, or die in an instant\nif you are forbidden to make any further acquisition?--I verily believe\nthat you would choose death.",
      "And I will tell you the hope in which you\nare at present living: Before many days have elapsed, you think that you\nwill come before the Athenian assembly, and will prove to them that\nyou are more worthy of honour than Pericles, or any other man that ever\nlived,",
      "and having proved this, you will have the greatest power in the\nstate. When you have gained the greatest power among us, you will go\non to other Hellenic states, and not only to Hellenes, but to all the\nbarbarians who inhabit the same continent with us.",
      "And if the God were\nthen to say to you again: Here in Europe is to be your seat of empire,\nand you must not cross over into Asia or meddle with Asiatic affairs, I\ndo not believe that you would choose to live upon these terms;",
      "but the\nworld, as I may say, must be filled with your power and name--no man\nless than Cyrus and Xerxes is of any account with you.",
      "Such I know to be\nyour hopes--I am not guessing only--and very likely you, who know that\nI am speaking the truth, will reply, Well, Socrates, but what have\nmy hopes to do with the explanation which you promised of your\nunwillingness to leave me?",
      "And that is what I am now going to tell you,\nsweet son of Cleinias and Dinomache.",
      "The explanation is, that all these\ndesigns of yours cannot be accomplished by you without my help; so great\nis the power which I believe myself to have over you and your concerns;",
      "and this I conceive to be the reason why the God has hitherto forbidden\nme to converse with you, and I have been long expecting his permission.",
      "For, as you hope to prove your own great value to the state, and having\nproved it, to attain at once to absolute power, so do I indulge a hope\nthat I shall be the supreme power over you, if I am able to prove my own\ngreat value to you, and to show you that neither guardian,",
      "nor kinsman,\nnor any one is able to deliver into your hands the power which you\ndesire, but I only, God being my helper.",
      "When you were young and your hopes were not yet matured, I should have wasted my\ntime, and therefore, as I conceive, the God forbade me to converse with\nyou; but now, having his permission, I will speak, for now you will\nlisten to me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Your silence, Socrates, was always a surprise to me. I never\ncould understand why you followed me about, and now that you have begun\nto speak again, I am still more amazed.",
      "Whether I think all this or not,\nis a matter about which you seem to have already made up your mind, and\ntherefore my denial will have no effect upon you.",
      "But granting, if\nI must, that you have perfectly divined my purposes, why is your\nassistance necessary to the attainment of them? Can you tell me why?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You want to know whether I can make a long speech, such as you\nare in the habit of hearing; but that is not my way. I think, however,\nthat I can prove to you the truth of what I am saying, if you will grant\nme one little favour."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, if the favour which you mean be not a troublesome one."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Will you be troubled at having questions to answer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Not at all."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then please to answer."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Ask me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Have you not the intention which I attribute to you?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I will grant anything you like, in the hope of hearing what\nmore you have to say."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You do, then, mean, as I was saying, to come forward in\na little while in the character of an adviser of the Athenians?",
      "And\nsuppose that when you are ascending the bema, I pull you by the sleeve\nand say, Alcibiades, you are getting up to advise the Athenians--do you\nknow the matter about which they are going to deliberate, better than\nthey?--How would you answer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should reply, that I was going to advise them about a\nmatter which I do know better than they."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you are a good adviser about the things which you know?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you know anything but what you have learned of others,\nor found out yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is all."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would you have ever learned or discovered anything, if you\nhad not been willing either to learn of others or to examine yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would you have been willing to learn or to examine what\nyou supposed that you knew?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then there was a time when you thought that you did not know\nwhat you are now supposed to know?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I think that I know tolerably well the extent of your\nacquirements; and you must tell me if I forget any of them: according\nto my recollection, you learned the arts of writing, of playing on the\nlyre, and of wrestling; the flute you never would learn;",
      "this is the sum\nof your accomplishments, unless there were some which you acquired in\nsecret; and I think that secrecy was hardly possible, as you could not\nhave come out of your door, either by day or night, without my seeing\nyou."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, that was the whole of my schooling."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And are you going to get up in the Athenian assembly, and give\nthem advice about writing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No, indeed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or about the touch of the lyre?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they are not in the habit of deliberating about wrestling,\nin the assembly?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Hardly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what are the deliberations in which you propose to advise\nthem? Surely not about building?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "For the builder will advise better than you will about that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He will."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor about divination?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "About that again the diviner will advise better than you will?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Whether he be little or great, good or ill-looking, noble or\nignoble--makes no difference."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "A man is a good adviser about anything, not because he has\nriches, but because he has knowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Assuredly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Whether their counsellor is rich or poor, is not a matter\nwhich will make any difference to the Athenians when they are\ndeliberating about the health of the citizens; they only require that he\nshould be a physician."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of course."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what will be the subject of deliberation about which you\nwill be justified in getting up and advising them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "About their own concerns, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean about shipbuilding, for example, when the question is\nwhat sort of ships they ought to build?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No, I should not advise them about that."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose, because you do not understand shipbuilding:--is\nthat the reason?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It is."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then about what concerns of theirs will you advise them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "About war, Socrates, or about peace, or about any other\nconcerns of the state."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean, when they deliberate with whom they ought to make\npeace, and with whom they ought to go to war, and in what manner?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they ought to go to war with those against whom it is\nbetter to go to war?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when it is better?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And for as long a time as is better?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But suppose the Athenians to deliberate with whom they ought\nto close in wrestling, and whom they should grasp by the hand, would\nyou, or the master of gymnastics, be a better adviser of them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly, the master of gymnastics."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And can you tell me on what grounds the master of gymnastics\nwould decide, with whom they ought or ought not to close, and when and\nhow? To take an instance: Would he not say that they should wrestle with\nthose against whom it is best to wrestle?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And as much as is best?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And at such times as are best?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Again; you sometimes accompany the lyre with the song and\ndance?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "When it is well to do so?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And as much as is well?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Just so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And as you speak of an excellence or art of the best in\nwrestling, and of an excellence in playing the lyre, I wish you would\ntell me what this latter is;--the excellence of wrestling I call\ngymnastic, and I want to know what you call the other."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do not understand you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then try to do as I do; for the answer which I gave is\nuniversally right, and when I say right, I mean according to rule."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And was not the art of which I spoke gymnastic?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And I called the excellence in wrestling gymnastic?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You did."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And I was right?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I think that you were."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, now,--for you should learn to argue prettily--let me ask\nyou in return to tell me, first, what is that art of which playing and\nsinging, and stepping properly in the dance, are parts,--what is the\nname of the whole? I think that by this time you must be able to tell."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Indeed I cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then let me put the matter in another way: what do you call\nthe Goddesses who are the patronesses of art?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The Muses do you mean, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, I do; and what is the name of the art which is called\nafter them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose that you mean music."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, that is my meaning; and what is the excellence of the\nart of music, as I told you truly that the excellence of wrestling was\ngymnastic--what is the excellence of music--to be what?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "To be musical, I suppose."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Very good; and now please to tell me what is the excellence of\nwar and peace; as the more musical was the more excellent, or the more\ngymnastical was the more excellent, tell me, what name do you give to\nthe more excellent in war and peace?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But I really cannot tell you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if you were offering advice to another and said to\nhim--This food is better than that, at this time and in this quantity,\nand he said to you--What do you mean, Alcibiades, by the word\n'better'?",
      "you would have no difficulty in replying that you meant 'more\nwholesome,' although you do not profess to be a physician: and when the\nsubject is one of which you profess to have knowledge, and about which\nyou are ready to get up and advise as if you knew, are you not ashamed,",
      "when you are asked, not to be able to answer the question? Is it not\ndisgraceful?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, then, consider and try to explain what is the meaning\nof 'better,' in the matter of making peace and going to war with those\nagainst whom you ought to go to war? To what does the word refer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I am thinking, and I cannot tell."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But you surely know what are the charges which we bring\nagainst one another, when we arrive at the point of making war, and what\nname we give them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, certainly; we say that deceit or violence has been\nemployed, or that we have been defrauded."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And how does this happen? Will you tell me how? For there may\nbe a difference in the manner."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Do you mean by 'how,' Socrates, whether we suffered these\nthings justly or unjustly?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Exactly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There can be no greater difference than between just and\nunjust."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would you advise the Athenians to go to war with the just\nor with the unjust?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is an awkward question; for certainly, even if a person\ndid intend to go to war with the just, he would not admit that they were\njust."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He would not go to war, because it would be unlawful?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Neither lawful nor honourable."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you, too, would address them on principles of justice?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What, then, is justice but that better, of which I spoke, in\ngoing to war or not going to war with those against whom we ought or\nought not, and when we ought or ought not to go to war?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But how is this, friend Alcibiades? Have you forgotten that\nyou do not know this, or have you been to the schoolmaster without my\nknowledge, and has he taught you to discern the just from the unjust?\nWho is he?",
      "I wish you would tell me, that I may go and learn of him--you\nshall introduce me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You are mocking, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "No, indeed; I most solemnly declare to you by Zeus, who is the\nGod of our common friendship, and whom I never will forswear, that I am\nnot; tell me, then, who this instructor is, if he exists."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But, perhaps, he does not exist; may I not have acquired the\nknowledge of just and unjust in some other way?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes; if you have discovered them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But do you not think that I could discover them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I am sure that you might, if you enquired about them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "And do you not think that I would enquire?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes; if you thought that you did not know them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "And was there not a time when I did so think?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Very good; and can you tell me how long it is since you\nthought that you did not know the nature of the just and the unjust?\nWhat do you say to a year ago? Were you then in a state of conscious\nignorance and enquiry? Or did you think that you knew?",
      "And please to\nanswer truly, that our discussion may not be in vain."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Well, I thought that I knew."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And two years ago, and three years ago, and four years ago,\nyou knew all the same?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I did."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And more than four years ago you were a child--were you not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And then I am quite sure that you thought you knew."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why are you so sure?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Because I often heard you when a child, in your teacher's\nhouse, or elsewhere, playing at dice or some other game with the boys,\nnot hesitating at all about the nature of the just and unjust;",
      "but very\nconfident--crying and shouting that one of the boys was a rogue and a\ncheat, and had been cheating. Is it not true?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But what was I to do, Socrates, when anybody cheated me?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And how can you say, 'What was I to do'? if at the time you\ndid not know whether you were wronged or not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "To be sure I knew; I was quite aware that I was being\ncheated."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you suppose yourself even when a child to have known the\nnature of just and unjust?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly; and I did know then."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when did you discover them--not, surely, at the time when\nyou thought that you knew them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when did you think that you were ignorant--if you\nconsider, you will find that there never was such a time?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Really, Socrates, I cannot say."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you did not learn them by discovering them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But just before you said that you did not know them by\nlearning; now, if you have neither discovered nor learned them, how and\nwhence do you come to know them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose that I was mistaken in saying that I knew them\nthrough my own discovery of them; whereas, in truth, I learned them in\nthe same way that other people learn."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "So you said before, and I must again ask, of whom? Do tell me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of the many."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you take refuge in them? I cannot say much for your\nteachers."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, are they not able to teach?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "They could not teach you how to play at draughts, which you\nwould acknowledge (would you not) to be a much smaller matter than\njustice?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And can they teach the better who are unable to teach the\nworse?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I think that they can; at any rate, they can teach many far\nbetter things than to play at draughts."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What things?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, for example, I learned to speak Greek of them, and I\ncannot say who was my teacher, or to whom I am to attribute my knowledge\nof Greek, if not to those good-for-nothing teachers, as you call them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Why, yes, my friend; and the many are good enough teachers\nof Greek, and some of their instructions in that line may be justly\npraised."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why is that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Why, because they have the qualities which good teachers ought\nto have."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What qualities?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Why, you know that knowledge is the first qualification of any\nteacher?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if they know, they must agree together and not differ?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would you say that they knew the things about which they\ndiffer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then how can they teach them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "They cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, but do you imagine that the many would differ about the\nnature of wood and stone? are they not agreed if you ask them what they\nare? and do they not run to fetch the same thing, when they want a\npiece of wood or a stone?",
      "And so in similar cases, which I suspect to be\npretty nearly all that you mean by speaking Greek."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "These, as we were saying, are matters about which they are\nagreed with one another and with themselves; both individuals and states\nuse the same words about them; they do not use some one word and some\nanother."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "They do not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then they may be expected to be good teachers of these things?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if we want to instruct any one in them, we shall be right\nin sending him to be taught by our friends the many?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if we wanted further to know not only which are men and\nwhich are horses, but which men or horses have powers of running, would\nthe many still be able to inform us?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you have a sufficient proof that they do not know these\nthings and are not the best teachers of them, inasmuch as they are never\nagreed about them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And suppose that we wanted to know not only what men are like,\nbut what healthy or diseased men are like--would the many be able to\nteach us?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "They would not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you would have a proof that they were bad teachers of\nthese matters, if you saw them at variance?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, but are the many agreed with themselves, or with one\nanother, about the justice or injustice of men and things?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Assuredly not, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "There is no subject about which they are more at variance?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "None."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I do not suppose that you ever saw or heard of men quarrelling\nover the principles of health and disease to such an extent as to go to\nwar and kill one another for the sake of them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No indeed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But of the quarrels about justice and injustice, even if\nyou have never seen them, you have certainly heard from many people,\nincluding Homer; for you have heard of the Iliad and Odyssey?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "To be sure, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "A difference of just and unjust is the argument of those\npoems?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Which difference caused all the wars and deaths of Trojans\nand Achaeans, and the deaths of the suitors of Penelope in their quarrel\nwith Odysseus."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when the Athenians and Lacedaemonians and Boeotians fell\nat Tanagra, and afterwards in the battle of Coronea, at which your\nfather Cleinias met his end, the question was one of justice--this was\nthe sole cause of the battles, and of their deaths."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But can they be said to understand that about which they are\nquarrelling to the death?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And yet those whom you thus allow to be ignorant are the\nteachers to whom you are appealing."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But how are you ever likely to know the nature of justice and\ninjustice, about which you are so perplexed, if you have neither learned\nthem of others nor discovered them yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "From what you say, I suppose not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "See, again, how inaccurately you speak, Alcibiades!"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "In what respect?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In saying that I say so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, did you not say that I know nothing of the just and\nunjust?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "No; I did not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Did I, then?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How was that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Let me explain. Suppose I were to ask you which is the greater\nnumber, two or one; you would reply 'two'?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And by how much greater?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "By one."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Which of us now says that two is more than one?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Did not I ask, and you answer the question?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then who is speaking? I who put the question, or you who\nanswer me?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I am."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or suppose that I ask and you tell me the letters which make\nup the name Socrates, which of us is the speaker?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I am."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Now let us put the case generally: whenever there is a\nquestion and answer, who is the speaker,--the questioner or the\nanswerer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should say, Socrates, that the answerer was the speaker."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And have I not been the questioner all through?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you the answerer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Just so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Which of us, then, was the speaker?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The inference is, Socrates, that I was the speaker."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Did not some one say that Alcibiades, the fair son of\nCleinias, not understanding about just and unjust, but thinking that he\ndid understand, was going to the assembly to advise the Athenians about\nwhat he did not know? Was not that said?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then, Alcibiades, the result may be expressed in the language\nof Euripides. I think that you have heard all this 'from yourself, and\nnot from me'; nor did I say this, which you erroneously attribute to me,\nbut you yourself, and what you said was very true.",
      "For indeed, my dear\nfellow, the design which you meditate of teaching what you do not know,\nand have not taken any pains to learn, is downright insanity."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But, Socrates, I think that the Athenians and the rest of\nthe Hellenes do not often advise as to the more just or unjust; for they\nsee no difficulty in them, and therefore they leave them, and consider\nwhich course of action will be most expedient;",
      "for there is a difference\nbetween justice and expediency. Many persons have done great wrong and\nprofited by their injustice; others have done rightly and come to no\ngood."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, but granting that the just and the expedient are ever so\nmuch opposed, you surely do not imagine that you know what is expedient\nfor mankind, or why a thing is expedient?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why not, Socrates?--But I am not going to be asked again\nfrom whom I learned, or when I made the discovery."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What a way you have! When you make a mistake which might be\nrefuted by a previous argument, you insist on having a new and different\nrefutation; the old argument is a worn-our garment which you will no\nlonger put on, but some one must produce another which is clean and\nnew.",
      "Now I shall disregard this move of yours, and shall ask over\nagain,--Where did you learn and how do you know the nature of the\nexpedient, and who is your teacher?",
      "All this I comprehend in a single\nquestion, and now you will manifestly be in the old difficulty, and\nwill not be able to show that you know the expedient, either because you\nlearned or because you discovered it yourself.",
      "But, as I perceive\nthat you are dainty, and dislike the taste of a stale argument, I will\nenquire no further into your knowledge of what is expedient or what is\nnot expedient for the Athenian people,",
      "and simply request you to say\nwhy you do not explain whether justice and expediency are the same or\ndifferent? And if you like you may examine me as I have examined you,\nor, if you would rather, you may carry on the discussion by yourself."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But I am not certain, Socrates, whether I shall be able to\ndiscuss the matter with you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then imagine, my dear fellow, that I am the demus and the\necclesia; for in the ecclesia, too, you will have to persuade men\nindividually."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And is not the same person able to persuade one individual\nsingly and many individuals of the things which he knows? The\ngrammarian, for example, can persuade one and he can persuade many about\nletters."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And about number, will not the same person persuade one and\npersuade many?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And this will be he who knows number, or the arithmetician?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Quite true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And cannot you persuade one man about that of which you can\npersuade many?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And that of which you can persuade either is clearly what you\nknow?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the only difference between one who argues as we are\ndoing, and the orator who is addressing an assembly, is that the one\nseeks to persuade a number, and the other an individual, of the same\nthings."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, then, since the same person who can persuade a multitude\ncan persuade individuals, try conclusions upon me, and prove to me that\nthe just is not always expedient."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You take liberties, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I shall take the liberty of proving to you the opposite of\nthat which you will not prove to me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Proceed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Answer my questions--that is all."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Nay, I should like you to be the speaker."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What, do you not wish to be persuaded?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And can you be persuaded better than out of your own mouth?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I think not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you shall answer; and if you do not hear the words, that\nthe just is the expedient, coming from your own lips, never believe\nanother man again."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I won't; but answer I will, for I do not see how I can come\nto any harm."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "A true prophecy! Let me begin then by enquiring of you whether\nyou allow that the just is sometimes expedient and sometimes not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And sometimes honourable and sometimes not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I am asking if you ever knew any one who did what was\ndishonourable and yet just?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Never."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "All just things are honourable?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And are honourable things sometimes good and sometimes not\ngood, or are they always good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I rather think, Socrates, that some honourable things are\nevil."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And are some dishonourable things good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean in such a case as the following:--In time of war, men\nhave been wounded or have died in rescuing a companion or kinsman, when\nothers who have neglected the duty of rescuing them have escaped in\nsafety?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And to rescue another under such circumstances is honourable,\nin respect of the attempt to save those whom we ought to save; and this\nis courage?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But evil in respect of death and wounds?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the courage which is shown in the rescue is one thing, and\nthe death another?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the rescue of one's friends is honourable in one point of\nview, but evil in another?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if honourable, then also good: Will you consider now\nwhether I may not be right, for you were acknowledging that the courage\nwhich is shown in the rescue is honourable? Now is this courage good or\nevil? Look at the matter thus: which would you rather choose, good or\nevil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Good."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the greatest goods you would be most ready to choose, and\nwould least like to be deprived of them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What would you say of courage? At what price would you be\nwilling to be deprived of courage?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I would rather die than be a coward."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you think that cowardice is the worst of evils?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "As bad as death, I suppose?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And life and courage are the extreme opposites of death and\ncowardice?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they are what you would most desire to have, and their\nopposites you would least desire?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Is this because you think life and courage the best, and death\nand cowardice the worst?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you would term the rescue of a friend in battle\nhonourable, in as much as courage does a good work?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But evil because of the death which ensues?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Might we not describe their different effects as follows:--You\nmay call either of them evil in respect of the evil which is the result,\nand good in respect of the good which is the result of either of them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they are honourable in so far as they are good, and\ndishonourable in so far as they are evil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then when you say that the rescue of a friend in battle is\nhonourable and yet evil, that is equivalent to saying that the rescue is\ngood and yet evil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I believe that you are right, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nothing honourable, regarded as honourable, is evil; nor\nanything base, regarded as base, good."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Look at the matter yet once more in a further light: he who\nacts honourably acts well?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And he who acts well is happy?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of course."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the happy are those who obtain good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they obtain good by acting well and honourably?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then acting well is a good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And happiness is a good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the good and the honourable are again identified."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Manifestly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then, if the argument holds, what we find to be honourable we\nshall also find to be good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And is the good expedient or not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Expedient."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you remember our admissions about the just?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes; if I am not mistaken, we said that those who acted\njustly must also act honourably."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the honourable is the good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the good is expedient?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then, Alcibiades, the just is expedient?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should infer so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And all this I prove out of your own mouth, for I ask and you\nanswer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I must acknowledge it to be true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And having acknowledged that the just is the same as the\nexpedient, are you not (let me ask) prepared to ridicule any one who,\npretending to understand the principles of justice and injustice, gets\nup to advise the noble Athenians or the ignoble Peparethians,",
      "that the\njust may be the evil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I solemnly declare, Socrates, that I do not know what I am\nsaying. Verily, I am in a strange state, for when you put questions to\nme I am of different minds in successive instants."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And are you not aware of the nature of this perplexity, my\nfriend?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Indeed I am not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you suppose that if some one were to ask you whether you\nhave two eyes or three, or two hands or four, or anything of that sort,\nyou would then be of different minds in successive instants?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I begin to distrust myself, but still I do not suppose that\nI should."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You would feel no doubt; and for this reason--because you\nwould know?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the reason why you involuntarily contradict yourself is\nclearly that you are ignorant?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very likely."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if you are perplexed in answering about just and unjust,\nhonourable and dishonourable, good and evil, expedient and inexpedient,\nthe reason is that you are ignorant of them, and therefore in\nperplexity. Is not that clear?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But is this always the case, and is a man necessarily\nperplexed about that of which he has no knowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly he is."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you know how to ascend into heaven?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in this case, too, is your judgment perplexed?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you see the reason why, or shall I tell you?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Tell me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The reason is, that you not only do not know, my friend, but\nyou do not think that you know."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There again; what do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Ask yourself; are you in any perplexity about things of which\nyou are ignorant? You know, for example, that you know nothing about the\npreparation of food."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you think and perplex yourself about the preparation of\nfood: or do you leave that to some one who understands the art?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The latter."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or if you were on a voyage, would you bewilder yourself by\nconsidering whether the rudder is to be drawn inwards or outwards, or do\nyou leave that to the pilot, and do nothing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It would be the concern of the pilot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you are not perplexed about what you do not know, if you\nknow that you do not know it?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I imagine not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you not see, then, that mistakes in life and practice\nare likewise to be attributed to the ignorance which has conceit of\nknowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Once more, what do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose that we begin to act when we think that we know what\nwe are doing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But when people think that they do not know, they entrust\ntheir business to others?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And so there is a class of ignorant persons who do not make\nmistakes in life, because they trust others about things of which they\nare ignorant?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Who, then, are the persons who make mistakes? They cannot, of\ncourse, be those who know?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if neither those who know, nor those who know that they\ndo not know, make mistakes, there remain those only who do not know and\nthink that they know."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, only those."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then this is ignorance of the disgraceful sort which is\nmischievous?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And most mischievous and most disgraceful when having to do\nwith the greatest matters?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "By far."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And can there be any matters greater than the just, the\nhonourable, the good, and the expedient?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There cannot be."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And these, as you were saying, are what perplex you?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if you are perplexed, then, as the previous argument has\nshown, you are not only ignorant of the greatest matters, but being\nignorant you fancy that you know them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I fear that you are right."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And now see what has happened to you, Alcibiades! I hardly\nlike to speak of your evil case, but as we are alone I will: My good\nfriend, you are wedded to ignorance of the most disgraceful kind, and of\nthis you are convicted, not by me,",
      "but out of your own mouth and by\nyour own argument; wherefore also you rush into politics before you are\neducated. Neither is your case to be deemed singular. For I might say\nthe same of almost all our statesmen, with the exception, perhaps of\nyour guardian, Pericles."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, Socrates; and Pericles is said not to have got his\nwisdom by the light of nature, but to have associated with several of\nthe philosophers; with Pythocleides, for example, and with Anaxagoras,\nand now in advanced life with Damon, in the hope of gaining wisdom."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Very good; but did you ever know a man wise in anything who\nwas unable to impart his particular wisdom? For example, he who taught\nyou letters was not only wise, but he made you and any others whom he\nliked wise."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you, whom he taught, can do the same?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in like manner the harper and gymnastic-master?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "When a person is enabled to impart knowledge to another, he\nthereby gives an excellent proof of his own understanding of any matter."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, and did Pericles make any one wise; did he begin by\nmaking his sons wise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But, Socrates, if the two sons of Pericles were simpletons,\nwhat has that to do with the matter?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, but did he make your brother, Cleinias, wise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Cleinias is a madman; there is no use in talking of him."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if Cleinias is a madman and the two sons of Pericles were\nsimpletons, what reason can be given why he neglects you, and lets you\nbe as you are?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I believe that I am to blame for not listening to him."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But did you ever hear of any other Athenian or foreigner,\nbond or free, who was deemed to have grown wiser in the society of\nPericles,--as I might cite Pythodorus, the son of Isolochus, and\nCallias, the son of Calliades, who have grown wiser in the society of\nZeno,",
      "for which privilege they have each of them paid him the sum of\na hundred minae (about 406 pounds sterling) to the increase of their\nwisdom and fame."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I certainly never did hear of any one."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, and in reference to your own case, do you mean to remain\nas you are, or will you take some pains about yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "With your aid, Socrates, I will. And indeed, when I hear you\nspeak, the truth of what you are saying strikes home to me, and I\nagree with you, for our statesmen, all but a few, do appear to be quite\nuneducated."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What is the inference?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, that if they were educated they would be trained\nathletes, and he who means to rival them ought to have knowledge\nand experience when he attacks them;",
      "but now, as they have become\npoliticians without any special training, why should I have the trouble\nof learning and practising? For I know well that by the light of nature\nI shall get the better of them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "My dear friend, what a sentiment! And how unworthy of your\nnoble form and your high estate!"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What do you mean, Socrates; why do you say so?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I am grieved when I think of our mutual love."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "At what?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "At your fancying that the contest on which you are entering is\nwith people here."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, what others are there?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Is that a question which a magnanimous soul should ask?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Do you mean to say that the contest is not with these?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And suppose that you were going to steer a ship into action,\nwould you only aim at being the best pilot on board?",
      "Would you not,\nwhile acknowledging that you must possess this degree of excellence,\nrather look to your antagonists, and not, as you are now doing, to your\nfellow combatants?",
      "You ought to be so far above these latter, that they\nwill not even dare to be your rivals; and, being regarded by you as\ninferiors, will do battle for you against the enemy;",
      "this is the kind\nof superiority which you must establish over them, if you mean to\naccomplish any noble action really worthy of yourself and of the state."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That would certainly be my aim."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Verily, then, you have good reason to be satisfied, if you are\nbetter than the soldiers; and you need not, when you are their superior\nand have your thoughts and actions fixed upon them, look away to the\ngenerals of the enemy."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of whom are you speaking, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Why, you surely know that our city goes to war now and then\nwith the Lacedaemonians and with the great king?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True enough."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if you meant to be the ruler of this city, would you not\nbe right in considering that the Lacedaemonian and Persian king were\nyour true rivals?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I believe that you are right."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Oh no, my friend, I am quite wrong, and I think that you ought\nrather to turn your attention to Midias the quail-breeder and others\nlike him, who manage our politics;",
      "in whom, as the women would remark,\nyou may still see the slaves' cut of hair, cropping out in their minds\nas well as on their pates; and they come with their barbarous lingo to\nflatter us and not to rule us.",
      "To these, I say, you should look, and\nthen you need not trouble yourself about your own fitness to contend in\nsuch a noble arena: there is no reason why you should either learn what\nhas to be learned, or practise what has to be practised,",
      "and only when\nthoroughly prepared enter on a political career."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There, I think, Socrates, that you are right; I do not\nsuppose, however, that the Spartan generals or the great king are really\ndifferent from anybody else."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But, my dear friend, do consider what you are saying."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What am I to consider?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In the first place, will you be more likely to take care of\nyourself, if you are in a wholesome fear and dread of them, or if you\nare not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly, if I have such a fear of them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you think that you will sustain any injury if you take\ncare of yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No, I shall be greatly benefited."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And this is one very important respect in which that notion of\nyours is bad."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In the next place, consider that what you say is probably\nfalse."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How so?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Let me ask you whether better natures are likely to be found\nin noble races or not in noble races?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly in noble races."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Are not those who are well born and well bred most likely to\nbe perfect in virtue?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then let us compare our antecedents with those of the\nLacedaemonian and Persian kings; are they inferior to us in descent?",
      "Have we not heard that the former are sprung from Heracles, and the\nlatter from Achaemenes, and that the race of Heracles and the race of\nAchaemenes go back to Perseus, son of Zeus?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, so does mine go back to Eurysaces, and he to Zeus!"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And mine, noble Alcibiades, to Daedalus, and he to Hephaestus,\nson of Zeus. But, for all that, we are far inferior to them.",
      "For they\nare descended 'from Zeus,' through a line of kings--either kings\nof Argos and Lacedaemon, or kings of Persia, a country which the\ndescendants of Achaemenes have always possessed, besides being at\nvarious times sovereigns of Asia, as they now are;",
      "whereas, we and our\nfathers were but private persons. How ridiculous would you be thought if\nyou were to make a display of your ancestors and of Salamis the island\nof Eurysaces, or of Aegina, the habitation of the still more ancient\nAeacus, before Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes.",
      "You should consider how\ninferior we are to them both in the derivation of our birth and in other\nparticulars. Did you never observe how great is the property of the\nSpartan kings?",
      "And their wives are under the guardianship of the Ephori,\nwho are public officers and watch over them, in order to preserve as\nfar as possible the purity of the Heracleid blood.",
      "Still greater is the\ndifference among the Persians; for no one entertains a suspicion that\nthe father of a prince of Persia can be any one but the king. Such is\nthe awe which invests the person of the queen, that any other guard is\nneedless.",
      "And when the heir of the kingdom is born, all the subjects of\nthe king feast; and the day of his birth is for ever afterwards kept\nas a holiday and time of sacrifice by all Asia;",
      "whereas, when you and\nI were born, Alcibiades, as the comic poet says, the neighbours hardly\nknew of the important event.",
      "After the birth of the royal child, he is\ntended, not by a good-for-nothing woman-nurse, but by the best of the\nroyal eunuchs, who are charged with the care of him, and especially with\nthe fashioning and right formation of his limbs,",
      "in order that he may\nbe as shapely as possible; which being their calling, they are held in\ngreat honour. And when the young prince is seven years old he is put\nupon a horse and taken to the riding-masters, and begins to go out\nhunting.",
      "And at fourteen years of age he is handed over to the royal\nschoolmasters, as they are termed: these are four chosen men, reputed to\nbe the best among the Persians of a certain age;",
      "and one of them is the\nwisest, another the justest, a third the most temperate, and a fourth\nthe most valiant.",
      "The first instructs him in the magianism of Zoroaster,\nthe son of Oromasus, which is the worship of the Gods, and teaches him\nalso the duties of his royal office; the second, who is the justest,\nteaches him always to speak the truth;",
      "the third, or most temperate,\nforbids him to allow any pleasure to be lord over him, that he may be\naccustomed to be a freeman and king indeed,--lord of himself first,\nand not a slave;",
      "the most valiant trains him to be bold and fearless,\ntelling him that if he fears he is to deem himself a slave; whereas\nPericles gave you, Alcibiades, for a tutor Zopyrus the Thracian, a slave\nof his who was past all other work.",
      "I might enlarge on the nurture and\neducation of your rivals, but that would be tedious; and what I have\nsaid is a sufficient sample of what remains to be said.",
      "I have only\nto remark, by way of contrast, that no one cares about your birth or\nnurture or education, or, I may say, about that of any other Athenian,\nunless he has a lover who looks after him.",
      "And if you cast an eye on\nthe wealth, the luxury, the garments with their flowing trains, the\nanointings with myrrh, the multitudes of attendants, and all the other\nbravery of the Persians, you will be ashamed when you discern your own\ninferiority;",
      "or if you look at the temperance and orderliness and ease\nand grace and magnanimity and courage and endurance and love of toil\nand desire of glory and ambition of the Lacedaemonians--in all these\nrespects you will see that you are but a child in comparison of them.",
      "Even in the matter of wealth, if you value yourself upon that, I must\nreveal to you how you stand; for if you form an estimate of the wealth\nof the Lacedaemonians, you will see that our possessions fall far short\nof theirs.",
      "For no one here can compete with them either in the extent\nand fertility of their own and the Messenian territory, or in the number\nof their slaves, and especially of the Helots, or of their horses, or of\nthe animals which feed on the Messenian pastures.",
      "But I have said enough\nof this: and as to gold and silver, there is more of them in Lacedaemon\nthan in all the rest of Hellas, for during many generations gold has\nbeen always flowing in to them from the whole Hellenic world, and often\nfrom the barbarian also,",
      "and never going out, as in the fable of Aesop\nthe fox said to the lion, 'The prints of the feet of those going in\nare distinct enough;' but who ever saw the trace of money going out of\nLacedaemon?",
      "And therefore you may safely infer that the inhabitants are\nthe richest of the Hellenes in gold and silver, and that their kings are\nthe richest of them, for they have a larger share of these things, and\nthey have also a tribute paid to them which is very considerable.",
      "Yet\nthe Spartan wealth, though great in comparison of the wealth of the\nother Hellenes, is as nothing in comparison of that of the Persians and\ntheir kings.",
      "Why, I have been informed by a credible person who went up\nto the king (at Susa), that he passed through a large tract of excellent\nland, extending for nearly a day's journey, which the people of the\ncountry called the queen's girdle, and another, which they called her\nveil;",
      "and several other fair and fertile districts, which were reserved\nfor the adornment of the queen, and are named after her several\nhabiliments.",
      "Now, I cannot help thinking to myself, What if some one\nwere to go to Amestris, the wife of Xerxes and mother of Artaxerxes, and\nsay to her, There is a certain Dinomache,",
      "whose whole wardrobe is not\nworth fifty minae--and that will be more than the value--and she has a\nson who is possessed of a three-hundred acre patch at Erchiae,",
      "and he\nhas a mind to go to war with your son--would she not wonder to what this\nAlcibiades trusts for success in the conflict? 'He must rely,' she would\nsay to herself, 'upon his training and wisdom--these are the things\nwhich Hellenes value.",
      "' And if she heard that this Alcibiades who\nis making the attempt is not as yet twenty years old, and is wholly\nuneducated, and when his lover tells him that he ought to get education\nand training first, and then go and fight the king, he refuses,",
      "and says\nthat he is well enough as he is, would she not be amazed, and ask 'On\nwhat, then, does the youth rely?",
      "' And if we replied: He relies on his\nbeauty, and stature, and birth, and mental endowments, she would think\nthat we were mad, Alcibiades, when she compared the advantages which you\npossess with those of her own people.",
      "And I believe that even Lampido,\nthe daughter of Leotychides, the wife of Archidamus and mother of Agis,\nall of whom were kings, would have the same feeling; if, in your present\nuneducated state, you were to turn your thoughts against her son, she\ntoo would be equally astonished.",
      "But how disgraceful, that we should not\nhave as high a notion of what is required in us as our enemies'\nwives and mothers have of the qualities which are required in their\nassailants! O my friend, be persuaded by me, and hear the Delphian\ninscription,",
      "'Know thyself'--not the men whom you think, but these kings\nare our rivals, and we can only overcome them by pains and skill.",
      "And\nif you fail in the required qualities, you will fail also in becoming\nrenowned among Hellenes and Barbarians, which you seem to desire more\nthan any other man ever desired anything."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I entirely believe you; but what are the sort of pains which\nare required, Socrates,--can you tell me?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, I can; but we must take counsel together concerning the\nmanner in which both of us may be most improved. For what I am telling\nyou of the necessity of education applies to myself as well as to you;\nand there is only one point in which I have an advantage over you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What is that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I have a guardian who is better and wiser than your guardian,\nPericles."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Who is he, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "God, Alcibiades, who up to this day has not allowed me to\nconverse with you; and he inspires in me the faith that I am especially\ndesigned to bring you to honour."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You are jesting, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Perhaps, at any rate, I am right in saying that all men\ngreatly need pains and care, and you and I above all men."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You are not far wrong about me."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And certainly not about myself."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But what can we do?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "There must be no hesitation or cowardice, my friend."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That would not become us, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "No, indeed, and we ought to take counsel together: for do we\nnot wish to be as good as possible?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "We do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In what sort of virtue?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Plainly, in the virtue of good men."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Who are good in what?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Those, clearly, who are good in the management of affairs."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What sort of affairs? Equestrian affairs?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean that about them we should have recourse to horsemen?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, naval affairs?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean that we should have recourse to sailors about them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what affairs? And who do them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The affairs which occupy Athenian gentlemen."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when you speak of gentlemen, do you mean the wise or the\nunwise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The wise."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And a man is good in respect of that in which he is wise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And evil in respect of that in which he is unwise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The shoemaker, for example, is wise in respect of the making\nof shoes?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then he is good in that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He is."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But in respect of the making of garments he is unwise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then in that he is bad?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then upon this view of the matter the same man is good and\nalso bad?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But would you say that the good are the same as the bad?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then whom do you call the good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I mean by the good those who are able to rule in the city."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Not, surely, over horses?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But over men?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "When they are sick?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or on a voyage?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or reaping the harvest?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "When they are doing something or nothing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "When they are doing something, I should say."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I wish that you would explain to me what this something is."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "When they are having dealings with one another, and using\none another's services, as we citizens do in our daily life."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Those of whom you speak are ruling over men who are using the\nservices of other men?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Are they ruling over the signal-men who give the time to the\nrowers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No; they are not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That would be the office of the pilot?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But, perhaps you mean that they rule over flute-players, who\nlead the singers and use the services of the dancers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That would be the business of the teacher of the chorus?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what is the meaning of being able to rule over men who\nuse other men?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I mean that they rule over men who have common rights of\ncitizenship, and dealings with one another."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what sort of an art is this? Suppose that I ask you\nagain, as I did just now, What art makes men know how to rule over their\nfellow-sailors,--how would you answer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The art of the pilot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And, if I may recur to another old instance, what art enables\nthem to rule over their fellow-singers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The art of the teacher of the chorus, which you were just\nnow mentioning."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what do you call the art of fellow-citizens?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should say, good counsel, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And is the art of the pilot evil counsel?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But good counsel?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, that is what I should say,--good counsel, of which the\naim is the preservation of the voyagers."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "True. And what is the aim of that other good counsel of which\nyou speak?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The aim is the better order and preservation of the city."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what is that of which the absence or presence improves\nand preserves the order of the city? Suppose you were to ask me, what is\nthat of which the presence or absence improves or preserves the order\nof the body?",
      "I should reply, the presence of health and the absence of\ndisease. You would say the same?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if you were to ask me the same question about the eyes, I\nshould reply in the same way, 'the presence of sight and the absence of\nblindness;",
      "' or about the ears, I should reply, that they were improved\nand were in better case, when deafness was absent, and hearing was\npresent in them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what would you say of a state? What is that by the\npresence or absence of which the state is improved and better managed\nand ordered?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should say, Socrates:--the presence of friendship and the\nabsence of hatred and division."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you mean by friendship agreement or disagreement?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Agreement."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What art makes cities agree about numbers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Arithmetic."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And private individuals?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The same."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what art makes each individual agree with himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "The same."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what art makes each of us agree with himself about the\ncomparative length of the span and of the cubit? Does not the art of\nmeasure?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Individuals are agreed with one another about this; and\nstates, equally?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the same holds of the balance?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But what is the other agreement of which you speak, and about\nwhat? what art can give that agreement? And does that which gives it to\nthe state give it also to the individual, so as to make him consistent\nwith himself and with another?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should suppose so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But what is the nature of the agreement?--answer, and faint\nnot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I mean to say that there should be such friendship and\nagreement as exists between an affectionate father and mother and their\nson, or between brothers, or between husband and wife."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But can a man, Alcibiades, agree with a woman about the\nspinning of wool, which she understands and he does not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No, truly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor has he any need, for spinning is a female accomplishment."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would a woman agree with a man about the science of arms,\nwhich she has never learned?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose that the use of arms would be regarded by you as a\nmale accomplishment?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It would."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then, upon your view, women and men have two sorts of\nknowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then in their knowledge there is no agreement of women and\nmen?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There is not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor can there be friendship, if friendship is agreement?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Plainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then women are not loved by men when they do their own work?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor men by women when they do their own work?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor are states well administered, when individuals do their\nown work?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should rather think, Socrates, that the reverse is the\ntruth. "
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What! do you mean to say that states are well administered\nwhen friendship is absent, the presence of which, as we were saying,\nalone secures their good order?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But I should say that there is friendship among them, for\nthis very reason, that the two parties respectively do their own work."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That was not what you were saying before; and what do you mean\nnow by affirming that friendship exists when there is no agreement? How\ncan there be agreement about matters which the one party knows, and of\nwhich the other is in ignorance?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Impossible."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when individuals are doing their own work, are they doing\nwhat is just or unjust?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What is just, certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when individuals do what is just in the state, is there no\nfriendship among them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I suppose that there must be, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what do you mean by this friendship or agreement about\nwhich we must be wise and discreet in order that we may be good men?\nI cannot make out where it exists or among whom; according to you, the\nsame persons may sometimes have it, and sometimes not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But, indeed, Socrates, I do not know what I am saying; and I\nhave long been, unconsciously to myself, in a most disgraceful state."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nevertheless, cheer up; at fifty, if you had discovered your\ndeficiency, you would have been too old, and the time for taking care of\nyourself would have passed away, but yours is just the age at which the\ndiscovery should be made."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "And what should he do, Socrates, who would make the\ndiscovery?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Answer questions, Alcibiades; and that is a process which,\nby the grace of God, if I may put any faith in my oracle, will be very\nimproving to both of us."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "If I can be improved by answering, I will answer."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And first of all, that we may not peradventure be deceived\nby appearances, fancying, perhaps, that we are taking care of ourselves\nwhen we are not, what is the meaning of a man taking care of himself?\nand when does he take care?",
      "Does he take care of himself when he takes\ncare of what belongs to him?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should think so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "When does a man take care of his feet? Does he not take care\nof them when he takes care of that which belongs to his feet?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do not understand."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Let me take the hand as an illustration; does not a ring\nbelong to the finger, and to the finger only?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the shoe in like manner to the foot?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And when we take care of our shoes, do we not take care of our\nfeet?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do not comprehend, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But you would admit, Alcibiades, that to take proper care of a\nthing is a correct expression?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And taking proper care means improving?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what is the art which improves our shoes?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Shoemaking."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then by shoemaking we take care of our shoes?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do we by shoemaking take care of our feet, or by some\nother art which improves the feet?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "By some other art."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the same art improves the feet which improves the rest of\nthe body?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Which is gymnastic?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then by gymnastic we take care of our feet, and by shoemaking\nof that which belongs to our feet?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And by gymnastic we take care of our hands, and by the art of\ngraving rings of that which belongs to our hands?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And by gymnastic we take care of the body, and by the art of\nweaving and the other arts we take care of the things of the body?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the art which takes care of each thing is different from\nthat which takes care of the belongings of each thing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then in taking care of what belongs to you, you do not take\ncare of yourself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "For the art which takes care of our belongings appears not to\nbe the same as that which takes care of ourselves?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And now let me ask you what is the art with which we take care\nof ourselves?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I cannot say."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "At any rate, thus much has been admitted, that the art is\nnot one which makes any of our possessions, but which makes ourselves\nbetter?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But should we ever have known what art makes a shoe better, if\nwe did not know a shoe?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Impossible."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor should we know what art makes a ring better, if we did not\nknow a ring?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And can we ever know what art makes a man better, if we do not\nknow what we are ourselves?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Impossible."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And is self-knowledge such an easy thing, and was he to be\nlightly esteemed who inscribed the text on the temple at Delphi? Or is\nself-knowledge a difficult thing, which few are able to attain?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "At times I fancy, Socrates, that anybody can know himself;\nat other times the task appears to be very difficult."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But whether easy or difficult, Alcibiades, still there is\nno other way; knowing what we are, we shall know how to take care of\nourselves, and if we are ignorant we shall not know."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, then, let us see in what way the self-existent can be\ndiscovered by us; that will give us a chance of discovering our own\nexistence, which otherwise we can never know."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "You say truly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Come, now, I beseech you, tell me with whom you are\nconversing?--with whom but with me?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "As I am, with you?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That is to say, I, Socrates, am talking?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And Alcibiades is my hearer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And I in talking use words?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And talking and using words have, I suppose, the same meaning?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "To be sure."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the user is not the same as the thing which he uses?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I will explain; the shoemaker, for example, uses a square\ntool, and a circular tool, and other tools for cutting?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But the tool is not the same as the cutter and user of the\ntool?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of course not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in the same way the instrument of the harper is to be\ndistinguished from the harper himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It is."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Now the question which I asked was whether you conceive the\nuser to be always different from that which he uses?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then what shall we say of the shoemaker? Does he cut with his\ntools only or with his hands?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "With his hands as well."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He uses his hands too?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And does he use his eyes in cutting leather?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He does."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And we admit that the user is not the same with the things\nwhich he uses?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the shoemaker and the harper are to be distinguished from\nthe hands and feet which they use?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And does not a man use the whole body?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And that which uses is different from that which is used?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then a man is not the same as his own body?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is the inference."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What is he, then?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I cannot say."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nay, you can say that he is the user of the body."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the user of the body is the soul?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, the soul."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the soul rules?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Let me make an assertion which will, I think, be universally\nadmitted."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What is it?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That man is one of three things."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What are they?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Soul, body, or both together forming a whole."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But did we not say that the actual ruling principle of the\nbody is man?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, we did."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And does the body rule over itself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "It is subject, as we were saying?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then that is not the principle which we are seeking?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It would seem not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But may we say that the union of the two rules over the body,\nand consequently that this is man?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very likely."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The most unlikely of all things; for if one of the members is\nsubject, the two united cannot possibly rule."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But since neither the body, nor the union of the two, is man,\neither man has no real existence, or the soul is man?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Just so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Is anything more required to prove that the soul is man?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not; the proof is, I think, quite sufficient."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if the proof, although not perfect, be sufficient, we\nshall be satisfied;--more precise proof will be supplied when we have\ndiscovered that which we were led to omit, from a fear that the enquiry\nwould be too much protracted."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What was that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "What I meant, when I said that absolute existence must be\nfirst considered; but now, instead of absolute existence, we have been\nconsidering the nature of individual existence, and this may, perhaps,\nbe sufficient;",
      "for surely there is nothing which may be called more\nproperly ourselves than the soul?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There is nothing."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then we may truly conceive that you and I are conversing with\none another, soul to soul?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And that is just what I was saying before--that I, Socrates,\nam not arguing or talking with the face of Alcibiades, but with the real\nAlcibiades; or in other words, with his soul."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then he who bids a man know himself, would have him know his\nsoul?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That appears to be true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He whose knowledge only extends to the body, knows the things\nof a man, and not the man himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then neither the physician regarded as a physician, nor the\ntrainer regarded as a trainer, knows himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He does not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The husbandmen and the other craftsmen are very far from\nknowing themselves, for they would seem not even to know their own\nbelongings?",
      "When regarded in relation to the arts which they practise\nthey are even further removed from self-knowledge, for they only know\nthe belongings of the body, which minister to the body."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then if temperance is the knowledge of self, in respect of his\nart none of them is temperate?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And this is the reason why their arts are accounted vulgar,\nand are not such as a good man would practise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Quite true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Again, he who cherishes his body cherishes not himself, but\nwhat belongs to him?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But he who cherishes his money, cherishes neither himself nor\nhis belongings, but is in a stage yet further removed from himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the money-maker has really ceased to be occupied with his\nown concerns?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if any one has fallen in love with the person of\nAlcibiades, he loves not Alcibiades, but the belongings of Alcibiades?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But he who loves your soul is the true lover?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is the necessary inference."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The lover of the body goes away when the flower of youth\nfades?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But he who loves the soul goes not away, as long as the soul\nfollows after virtue?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And I am the lover who goes not away, but remains with you,\nwhen you are no longer young and the rest are gone?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, Socrates; and therein you do well, and I hope that you\nwill remain."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you must try to look your best."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I will."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The fact is, that there is only one lover of Alcibiades the\nson of Cleinias; there neither is nor ever has been seemingly any\nother; and he is his darling,--Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus and\nPhaenarete."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And did you not say, that if I had not spoken first, you were\non the point of coming to me, and enquiring why I only remained?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The reason was that I loved you for your own sake, whereas\nother men love what belongs to you; and your beauty, which is not you,\nis fading away, just as your true self is beginning to bloom.",
      "And I will\nnever desert you, if you are not spoiled and deformed by the Athenian\npeople; for the danger which I most fear is that you will become a lover\nof the people and will be spoiled by them. Many a noble Athenian has\nbeen ruined in this way.",
      "For the demus of the great-hearted Erechteus is\nof a fair countenance, but you should see him naked; wherefore observe\nthe caution which I give you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What caution?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Practise yourself, sweet friend, in learning what you ought to\nknow, before you enter on politics; and then you will have an antidote\nwhich will keep you out of harm's way."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Good advice, Socrates, but I wish that you would explain to\nme in what way I am to take care of myself."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Have we not made an advance? for we are at any rate tolerably\nwell agreed as to what we are, and there is no longer any danger, as\nwe once feared, that we might be taking care not of ourselves, but of\nsomething which is not ourselves."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And the next step will be to take care of the soul, and look\nto that?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Leaving the care of our bodies and of our properties to\nothers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very good."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But how can we have a perfect knowledge of the things of the\nsoul?--For if we know them, then I suppose we shall know ourselves.\nCan we really be ignorant of the excellent meaning of the Delphian\ninscription, of which we were just now speaking?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What have you in your thoughts, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I will tell you what I suspect to be the meaning and lesson\nof that inscription. Let me take an illustration from sight, which I\nimagine to be the only one suitable to my purpose."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Consider; if some one were to say to the eye, 'See thyself,'\nas you might say to a man, 'Know thyself,' what is the nature and\nmeaning of this precept? Would not his meaning be:--That the eye should\nlook at that in which it would see itself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what are the objects in looking at which we see ourselves?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly, Socrates, in looking at mirrors and the like."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Very true; and is there not something of the nature of a\nmirror in our own eyes?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Did you ever observe that the face of the person looking into\nthe eye of another is reflected as in a mirror; and in the visual organ\nwhich is over against him, and which is called the pupil, there is a\nsort of image of the person looking?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is quite true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then the eye, looking at another eye, and at that in the eye\nwhich is most perfect, and which is the instrument of vision, will there\nsee itself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is evident."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But looking at anything else either in man or in the world,\nand not to what resembles this, it will not see itself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then if the eye is to see itself, it must look at the eye,\nand at that part of the eye where sight which is the virtue of the eye\nresides?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if the soul, my dear Alcibiades, is ever to know herself,\nmust she not look at the soul; and especially at that part of the soul\nin which her virtue resides, and to any other which is like this?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do we know of any part of our souls more divine than that\nwhich has to do with wisdom and knowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There is none."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then this is that part of the soul which resembles the divine;\nand he who looks at this and at the whole class of things divine, will\nbe most likely to know himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And self-knowledge we agree to be wisdom?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if we have no self-knowledge and no wisdom, can we ever\nknow our own good and evil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How can we, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You mean, that if you did not know Alcibiades, there would\nbe no possibility of your knowing that what belonged to Alcibiades was\nreally his?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It would be quite impossible."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor should we know that we were the persons to whom anything\nbelonged, if we did not know ourselves?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How could we?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if we did not know our own belongings, neither should we\nknow the belongings of our belongings?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then we were not altogether right in acknowledging just now\nthat a man may know what belongs to him and yet not know himself; nay,\nrather he cannot even know the belongings of his belongings;",
      "for the\ndiscernment of the things of self, and of the things which belong to the\nthings of self, appear all to be the business of the same man, and of\nthe same art."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "So much may be supposed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And he who knows not the things which belong to himself, will\nin like manner be ignorant of the things which belong to others?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if he knows not the affairs of others, he will not know\nthe affairs of states?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then such a man can never be a statesman?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor an economist?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He will not know what he is doing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He will not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And will not he who is ignorant fall into error?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Assuredly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if he falls into error will he not fail both in his public\nand private capacity?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, indeed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And failing, will he not be miserable?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what will become of those for whom he is acting?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "They will be miserable also."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then he who is not wise and good cannot be happy?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "He cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The bad, then, are miserable?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, very."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if so, not he who has riches, but he who has wisdom, is\ndelivered from his misery?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Cities, then, if they are to be happy, do not want walls, or\ntriremes, or docks, or numbers, or size, Alcibiades, without virtue?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Indeed they do not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you must give the citizens virtue, if you mean to\nadminister their affairs rightly or nobly?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But can a man give that which he has not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Impossible."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then you or any one who means to govern and superintend, not\nonly himself and the things of himself, but the state and the things of\nthe state, must in the first place acquire virtue."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You have not therefore to obtain power or authority, in\norder to enable you to do what you wish for yourself and the state, but\njustice and wisdom."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Clearly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You and the state, if you act wisely and justly, will act\naccording to the will of God?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "As I was saying before, you will look only at what is bright\nand divine, and act with a view to them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In that mirror you will see and know yourselves and your own\ngood?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And so you will act rightly and well?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "In which case, I will be security for your happiness."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I accept the security."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But if you act unrighteously, your eye will turn to the dark\nand godless, and being in darkness and ignorance of yourselves, you will\nprobably do deeds of darkness."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Very possibly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "For if a man, my dear Alcibiades, has the power to do what he\nlikes, but has no understanding, what is likely to be the result, either\nto him as an individual or to the state--for example, if he be sick and\nis able to do what he likes,",
      "not having the mind of a physician--having\nmoreover tyrannical power, and no one daring to reprove him, what will\nhappen to him? Will he not be likely to have his constitution ruined?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Or again, in a ship, if a man having the power to do what he\nlikes, has no intelligence or skill in navigation, do you see what will\nhappen to him and to his fellow-sailors?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes; I see that they will all perish."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in like manner, in a state, and where there is any power\nand authority which is wanting in virtue, will not misfortune, in like\nmanner, ensue?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Not tyrannical power, then, my good Alcibiades, should be the\naim either of individuals or states, if they would be happy, but virtue."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And before they have virtue, to be commanded by a superior is\nbetter for men as well as for children? "
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is evident."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And that which is better is also nobler?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what is nobler is more becoming?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then to the bad man slavery is more becoming, because better?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then vice is only suited to a slave?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And virtue to a freeman?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And, O my friend, is not the condition of a slave to be\navoided?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And are you now conscious of your own state? And do you know\nwhether you are a freeman or not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I think that I am very conscious indeed of my own state."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And do you know how to escape out of a state which I do not\neven like to name to my beauty?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "How?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "By your help, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That is not well said, Alcibiades."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What ought I to have said?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "By the help of God."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree; and I further say, that our relations are likely\nto be reversed. From this day forward, I must and will follow you as you\nhave followed me; I will be the disciple, and you shall be my master."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "O that is rare! My love breeds another love: and so like the\nstork I shall be cherished by the bird whom I have hatched."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Strange, but true; and henceforward I shall begin to think\nabout justice."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And I hope that you will persist; although I have fears, not\nbecause I doubt you; but I see the power of the state, which may be too\nmuch for both of us."
    ]
  }
]

alcibiades2.json

[
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Are you going, Alcibiades, to offer prayer to Zeus?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, Socrates, I am."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "you seem to be troubled and to cast your eyes on the ground,\nas though you were thinking about something."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of what do you suppose that I am thinking?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Of the greatest of all things, as I believe. Tell me, do you\nnot suppose that the Gods sometimes partly grant and partly reject the\nrequests which we make in public and private, and favour some persons\nand not others?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you not imagine, then, that a man ought to be very careful,\nlest perchance without knowing it he implore great evils for himself,\ndeeming that he is asking for good, especially if the Gods are in the\nmood to grant whatever he may request?",
      "There is the story of Oedipus,\nfor instance, who prayed that his children might divide their\ninheritance between them by the sword: he did not, as he might have\ndone, beg that his present evils might be averted, but called down new\nones.",
      "And was not his prayer accomplished, and did not many and terrible\nevils thence arise, upon which I need not dilate?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, Socrates, but you are speaking of a madman: surely you\ndo not think that any one in his senses would venture to make such a\nprayer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Madness, then, you consider to be the opposite of discretion?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Of course."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And some men seem to you to be discreet, and others the\ncontrary?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "They do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, then, let us discuss who these are. We acknowledge that\nsome are discreet, some foolish, and that some are mad?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And again, there are some who are in health?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There are."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "While others are ailing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And they are not the same?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor are there any who are in neither state?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "A man must either be sick or be well?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is my opinion."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Very good: and do you think the same about discretion and want\nof discretion?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How do you mean?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you believe that a man must be either in or out of his\nsenses; or is there some third or intermediate condition, in which he is\nneither one nor the other?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Decidedly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He must be either sane or insane?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "So I suppose."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Did you not acknowledge that madness was the opposite of\ndiscretion?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And that there is no third or middle term between discretion\nand indiscretion?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And there cannot be two opposites to one thing?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "There cannot."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then madness and want of sense are the same?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That appears to be the case."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "We shall be in the right, therefore, Alcibiades, if we say\nthat all who are senseless are mad. For example, if among persons\nof your own age or older than yourself there are some who are\nsenseless,--as there certainly are,--they are mad.",
      "For tell me, by\nheaven, do you not think that in the city the wise are few, while the\nfoolish, whom you call mad, are many?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But how could we live in safety with so many crazy people?\nShould we not long since have paid the penalty at their hands, and have\nbeen struck and beaten and endured every other form of ill-usage which\nmadmen are wont to inflict?",
      "Consider, my dear friend: may it not be\nquite otherwise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Why, Socrates, how is that possible? I must have been\nmistaken."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "So it seems to me. But perhaps we may consider the matter\nthus:--"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I will tell you. We think that some are sick; do we not?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And must every sick person either have the gout, or be in\na fever, or suffer from ophthalmia? Or do you believe that a man may\nlabour under some other disease, even although he has none of these\ncomplaints? Surely, they are not the only maladies which exist?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And is every kind of ophthalmia a disease?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And every disease ophthalmia?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Surely not. But I scarcely understand what I mean myself."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Perhaps, if you give me your best attention, 'two of us'\nlooking together, we may find what we seek."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I am attending, Socrates, to the best of my power."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "We are agreed, then, that every form of ophthalmia is a\ndisease, but not every disease ophthalmia?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "We are."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And so far we seem to be right. For every one who suffers from\na fever is sick; but the sick, I conceive, do not all have fever or gout\nor ophthalmia, although each of these is a disease, which, according to\nthose whom we call physicians, may require a different treatment.",
      "They\nare not all alike, nor do they produce the same result, but each has\nits own effect, and yet they are all diseases. May we not take an\nillustration from the artizans?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "There are cobblers and carpenters and sculptors and others of\nall sorts and kinds, whom we need not stop to enumerate. All have their\ndistinct employments and all are workmen, although they are not all of\nthem cobblers or carpenters or sculptors."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No, indeed."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in like manner men differ in regard to want of sense.",
      "Those who are most out of their wits we call 'madmen,' while we term\nthose who are less far gone 'stupid' or 'idiotic,' or, if we prefer\ngentler language, describe them as 'romantic' or 'simple-minded,' or,\nagain, as 'innocent' or 'inexperienced' or 'foolish.",
      "' You may even find\nother names, if you seek for them; but by all of them lack of sense\nis intended. They only differ as one art appeared to us to differ from\nanother or one disease from another. Or what is your opinion?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree with you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Then let us return to the point at which we digressed. We said\nat first that we should have to consider who were the wise and who the\nfoolish. For we acknowledged that there are these two classes? Did we\nnot?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "To be sure."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you regard those as sensible who know what ought to be\ndone or said?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The senseless are those who do not know this?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The latter will say or do what they ought not without their\nown knowledge?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Exactly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Oedipus, as I was saying, Alcibiades, was a person of\nthis sort. And even now-a-days you will find many who (have offered\ninauspicious prayers), although, unlike him, they were not in anger nor\nthought that they were asking evil.",
      "He neither sought, nor supposed that\nhe sought for good, but others have had quite the contrary notion.",
      "I\nbelieve that if the God whom you are about to consult should appear to\nyou, and, in anticipation of your request, enquired whether you would be\ncontented to become tyrant of Athens, and if this seemed in your eyes a\nsmall and mean thing,",
      "should add to it the dominion of all Hellas;",
      "and\nseeing that even then you would not be satisfied unless you were ruler\nof the whole of Europe, should promise, not only that, but, if you so\ndesired, should proclaim to all mankind in one and the same day that\nAlcibiades, son of Cleinias, was tyrant:--in such a case,",
      "I imagine, you\nwould depart full of joy, as one who had obtained the greatest of goods."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "And not only I, Socrates, but any one else who should meet\nwith such luck."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Yet you would not accept the dominion and lordship of all the\nHellenes and all the barbarians in exchange for your life?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not: for then what use could I make of them?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And would you accept them if you were likely to use them to a\nbad and mischievous end?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I would not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You see that it is not safe for a man either rashly to accept\nwhatever is offered him, or himself to request a thing, if he is likely\nto suffer thereby or immediately to lose his life.",
      "And yet we could tell\nof many who, having long desired and diligently laboured to obtain\na tyranny, thinking that thus they would procure an advantage, have\nnevertheless fallen victims to designing enemies.",
      "You must have heard of\nwhat happened only the other day, how Archelaus of Macedonia was slain\nby his beloved , whose love for the tyranny was\nnot less than that of Archelaus for him.",
      "The tyrannicide expected by his\ncrime to become tyrant and afterwards to have a happy life; but when he\nhad held the tyranny three or four days, he was in his turn conspired\nagainst and slain.",
      "Or look at certain of our own citizens,--and of their\nactions we have been not hearers, but eyewitnesses,--who have desired to\nobtain military command: of those who have gained their object, some\nare even to this day exiles from the city, while others have lost their\nlives.",
      "And even they who seem to have fared best, have not only gone\nthrough many perils and terrors during their office, but after their\nreturn home they have been beset by informers worse than they once were\nby their foes,",
      "insomuch that several of them have wished that they\nhad remained in a private station rather than have had the glories\nof command. If, indeed, such perils and terrors were of profit to the\ncommonwealth, there would be reason in undergoing them; but the very\ncontrary is the case.",
      "Again, you will find persons who have prayed\nfor offspring, and when their prayers were heard, have fallen into the\ngreatest pains and sufferings.",
      "For some have begotten children who were\nutterly bad, and have therefore passed all their days in misery, while\nthe parents of good children have undergone the misfortune of losing\nthem,",
      "and have been so little happier than the others that they would\nhave preferred never to have had children rather than to have had\nthem and lost them.",
      "And yet, although these and the like examples are\nmanifest and known of all, it is rare to find any one who has refused\nwhat has been offered him, or, if he were likely to gain aught by\nprayer, has refrained from making his petition.",
      "The mass of mankind\nwould not decline to accept a tyranny, or the command of an army, or any\nof the numerous things which cause more harm than good: but rather,\nif they had them not, would have prayed to obtain them.",
      "And often in a\nshort space of time they change their tone, and wish their old prayers\nunsaid.",
      "Wherefore also I suspect that men are entirely wrong when they\nblame the gods as the authors of the ills which befall them : 'their own presumption,' or folly (whichever is the right\nword)--\n\n'Has brought these unmeasured woes upon them.' (Homer. Odyss.",
      ")\n\nHe must have been a wise poet, Alcibiades, who, seeing as I believe, his\nfriends foolishly praying for and doing things which would not really\nprofit them, offered up a common prayer in behalf of them all:--\n\n'King Zeus, grant us good whether prayed for or unsought by us;",
      "But that\nwhich we ask amiss, do thou avert.' (The author of these lines, which\nare probably of Pythagorean origin, is unknown. They are found also in\nthe Anthology (Anth. Pal.).",
      ")\n\nIn my opinion, I say, the poet spoke both well and prudently; but if you\nhave anything to say in answer to him, speak out."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It is difficult, Socrates, to oppose what has been well\nsaid. And I perceive how many are the ills of which ignorance is the\ncause, since, as would appear, through ignorance we not only do, but\nwhat is worse, pray for the greatest evils.",
      "No man would imagine that\nhe would do so; he would rather suppose that he was quite capable of\npraying for what was best: to call down evils seems more like a curse\nthan a prayer."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But perhaps, my good friend, some one who is wiser than either\nyou or I will say that we have no right to blame ignorance thus rashly,\nunless we can add what ignorance we mean and of what, and also to whom\nand how it is respectively a good or an evil?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How do you mean? Can ignorance possibly be better than\nknowledge for any person in any conceivable case?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "So I believe:--you do not think so?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And yet surely I may not suppose that you would ever wish to\nact towards your mother as they say that Orestes and Alcmeon and others\nhave done towards their parent."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Good words, Socrates, prithee."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You ought not to bid him use auspicious words, who says that\nyou would not be willing to commit so horrible a deed, but rather him\nwho affirms the contrary, if the act appear to you unfit even to be\nmentioned.",
      "Or do you think that Orestes, had he been in his senses and\nknew what was best for him to do, would ever have dared to venture on\nsuch a crime?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor would any one else, I fancy?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "That ignorance is bad then, it would appear, which is of the\nbest and does not know what is best?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "So I think, at least."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And both to the person who is ignorant and everybody else?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Let us take another case.",
      "Suppose that you were suddenly to\nget into your head that it would be a good thing to kill Pericles, your\nkinsman and guardian, and were to seize a sword and, going to the doors\nof his house, were to enquire if he were at home,",
      "meaning to slay only\nhim and no one else:--the servants reply, 'Yes': (Mind, I do not mean\nthat you would really do such a thing; but there is nothing, you think,\nto prevent a man who is ignorant of the best, having occasionally the\nwhim that what is worst is best?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No.)"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "--If, then, you went indoors, and seeing him, did not know him,\nbut thought that he was some one else, would you venture to slay him?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Most decidedly not (it seems to me). (These words are\nomitted in several MSS.)"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "For you designed to kill, not the first who offered, but\nPericles himself?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if you made many attempts, and each time failed to\nrecognize Pericles, you would never attack him?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Never."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, but if Orestes in like manner had not known his mother,\ndo you think that he would ever have laid hands upon her?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "He did not intend to slay the first woman he came across, nor\nany one else's mother, but only his own?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Ignorance, then, is better for those who are in such a frame\nof mind, and have such ideas?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Obviously."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You acknowledge that for some persons in certain cases the\nignorance of some things is a good and not an evil, as you formerly\nsupposed?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And there is still another case which will also perhaps\nappear strange to you, if you will consider it? (The reading is here\nuncertain.)"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What is that, Socrates?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "It may be, in short, that the possession of all the sciences,\nif unaccompanied by the knowledge of the best, will more often than not\ninjure the possessor.",
      "Consider the matter thus:--Must we not, when we\nintend either to do or say anything, suppose that we know or ought to\nknow that which we propose so confidently to do or say?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes, in my opinion."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "We may take the orators for an example, who from time to\ntime advise us about war and peace, or the building of walls and the\nconstruction of harbours, whether they understand the business in\nhand, or only think that they do.",
      "Whatever the city, in a word, does to\nanother city, or in the management of her own affairs, all happens by\nthe counsel of the orators."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But now see what follows, if I can (make it clear to you).\n(Some words appear to have dropped out here.) You would distinguish the\nwise from the foolish?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The many are foolish, the few wise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you use both the terms, 'wise' and 'foolish,' in reference\nto something?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Would you call a person wise who can give advice, but does not\nknow whether or when it is better to carry out the advice?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Decidedly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor again, I suppose, a person who knows the art of war, but\ndoes not know whether it is better to go to war or for how long?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "No."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Nor, once more, a person who knows how to kill another or to\ntake away his property or to drive him from his native land, but not\nwhen it is better to do so or for whom it is better?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Certainly not."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But he who understands anything of the kind and has at the\nsame time the knowledge of the best course of action:--and the best and\nthe useful are surely the same?--"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "--Such an one, I say, we should call wise and a useful adviser\nboth of himself and of the city. What do you think?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if any one knows how to ride or to shoot with the bow or\nto box or to wrestle, or to engage in any other sort of contest or to\ndo anything whatever which is in the nature of an art,--what do you call\nhim who knows what is best according to that art?",
      "Do you not speak of\none who knows what is best in riding as a good rider?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And in a similar way you speak of a good boxer or a good\nflute-player or a good performer in any other art?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But is it necessary that the man who is clever in any of these\narts should be wise also in general? Or is there a difference between\nthe clever artist and the wise man?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "All the difference in the world."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And what sort of a state do you think that would be which was\ncomposed of good archers and flute-players and athletes and masters in\nother arts, and besides them of those others about whom we spoke, who\nknew how to go to war and how to kill,",
      "as well as of orators puffed\nup with political pride, but in which not one of them all had this\nknowledge of the best, and there was no one who could tell when it was\nbetter to apply any of these arts or in regard to whom?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I should call such a state bad, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You certainly would when you saw each of them rivalling the\nother and esteeming that of the greatest importance in the state,\n\n'Wherein he himself most excelled.' (Euripides, Antiope.",
      ") --I mean that\nwhich was best in any art, while he was entirely ignorant of what was\nbest for himself and for the state, because, as I think, he trusts to\nopinion which is devoid of intelligence.",
      "In such a case should we not\nbe right if we said that the state would be full of anarchy and\nlawlessness?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Decidedly."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But ought we not then, think you, either to fancy that we know\nor really to know, what we confidently propose to do or say?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if a person does that which he knows or supposes that he\nknows, and the result is beneficial, he will act advantageously both for\nhimself and for the state?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "True."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And if he do the contrary, both he and the state will suffer?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Yes."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Well, and are you of the same mind, as before?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I am."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But were you not saying that you would call the many unwise\nand the few wise?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I was."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And have we not come back to our old assertion that the many\nfail to obtain the best because they trust to opinion which is devoid of\nintelligence?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "That is the case."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "It is good, then, for the many, if they particularly desire to\ndo that which they know or suppose that they know, neither to know nor\nto suppose that they know, in cases where if they carry out their ideas\nin action they will be losers rather than gainers?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "What you say is very true."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you not see that I was really speaking the truth when I\naffirmed that the possession of any other kind of knowledge was more\nlikely to injure than to benefit the possessor, unless he had also the\nknowledge of the best?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do now, if I did not before, Socrates."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The state or the soul, therefore, which wishes to have a\nright existence must hold firmly to this knowledge, just as the sick\nman clings to the physician, or the passenger depends for safety on the\npilot.",
      "And if the soul does not set sail until she have obtained this\nshe will be all the safer in the voyage through life.",
      "But when she\nrushes in pursuit of wealth or bodily strength or anything else, not\nhaving the knowledge of the best, so much the more is she likely to\nmeet with misfortune. And he who has the love of learning (Or, reading\npolumatheian, 'abundant learning.",
      "'), and is skilful in many arts, and\ndoes not possess the knowledge of the best, but is under some other\nguidance, will make, as he deserves, a sorry voyage:--he will, I\nbelieve, hurry through the brief space of human life, pilotless in\nmid-ocean,",
      "and the words will apply to him in which the poet blamed his\nenemy:--\n\n'...Full many a thing he knew; But knew them all badly.' (A fragment\nfrom the pseudo-Homeric poem, 'Margites.')"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "How in the world, Socrates, do the words of the poet apply\nto him? They seem to me to have no bearing on the point whatever."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Quite the contrary, my sweet friend: only the poet is talking\nin riddles after the fashion of his tribe. For all poetry has by nature\nan enigmatical character, and it is by no means everybody who can\ninterpret it.",
      "And if, moreover, the spirit of poetry happen to seize on\na man who is of a begrudging temper and does not care to manifest his\nwisdom but keeps it to himself as far as he can, it does indeed require\nan almost superhuman wisdom to discover what the poet would be at.",
      "You\nsurely do not suppose that Homer, the wisest and most divine of poets,\nwas unaware of the impossibility of knowing a thing badly: for it was\nno less a person than he who said of Margites that 'he knew many\nthings, but knew them all badly.",
      "' The solution of the riddle is this, I\nimagine:--By 'badly' Homer meant 'bad' and 'knew' stands for 'to know.'\nPut the words together;--the metre will suffer, but the poet's meaning\nis clear;--'Margites knew all these things, but it was bad for him\nto know them.",
      "' And, obviously, if it was bad for him to know so many\nthings, he must have been a good-for-nothing, unless the argument has\nplayed us false."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But I do not think that it has, Socrates: at least, if the\nargument is fallacious, it would be difficult for me to find another\nwhich I could trust."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And you are right in thinking so."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Well, that is my opinion."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "But tell me, by Heaven:--you must see now the nature and\ngreatness of the difficulty in which you, like others, have your part.",
      "For you change about in all directions, and never come to rest anywhere:\nwhat you once most strongly inclined to suppose, you put aside again and\nquite alter your mind.",
      "If the God to whose shrine you are going should\nappear at this moment, and ask before you made your prayer, 'Whether you\nwould desire to have one of the things which we mentioned at first, or\nwhether he should leave you to make your own request:'--what in\neither case, think you,",
      "would be the best way to take advantage of the\nopportunity?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Indeed, Socrates, I could not answer you without\nconsideration.",
      "It seems to me to be a wild thing (The Homeric word\nmargos is said to be here employed in allusion to the quotation from the\n'Margites' which Socrates has just made; but it is not used in the\nsense which it has in Homer.",
      ") to make such a request; a man must be very\ncareful lest he pray for evil under the idea that he is asking for good,\nwhen shortly after he may have to recall his prayer, and, as you were\nsaying, demand the opposite of what he at first requested."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And was not the poet whose words I originally quoted wiser\nthan we are, when he bade us (pray God) to defend us from evil even\nthough we asked for it?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I believe that you are right."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "The Lacedaemonians, too, whether from admiration of the poet\nor because they have discovered the idea for themselves, are wont to\noffer the prayer alike in public and private,",
      "that the Gods will give\nunto them the beautiful as well as the good:--no one is likely to hear\nthem make any further petition.",
      "And yet up to the present time they have\nnot been less fortunate than other men; or if they have sometimes met\nwith misfortune, the fault has not been due to their prayer.",
      "For surely,\nas I conceive, the Gods have power either to grant our requests, or to\nsend us the contrary of what we ask.\n\nAnd now I will relate to you a story which I have heard from certain of\nour elders.",
      "It chanced that when the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were\nat war, our city lost every battle by land and sea and never gained a\nvictory. The Athenians being annoyed and perplexed how to find a remedy\nfor their troubles, decided to send and enquire at the shrine of Ammon.",
      "Their envoys were also to ask, 'Why the Gods always granted the victory\nto the Lacedaemonians?",
      "' 'We,' (they were to say,) 'offer them more and\nfiner sacrifices than any other Hellenic state, and adorn their temples\nwith gifts, as nobody else does;",
      "moreover, we make the most solemn and\ncostly processions to them every year, and spend more money in their\nservice than all the rest of the Hellenes put together.",
      "But the\nLacedaemonians take no thought of such matters, and pay so little\nrespect to the Gods that they have a habit of sacrificing blemished\nanimals to them, and in various ways are less zealous than we are,\nalthough their wealth is quite equal to ours.",
      "' When they had thus\nspoken, and had made their request to know what remedy they could\nfind against the evils which troubled them, the prophet made no direct\nanswer,--clearly because he was not allowed by the God to do so;",
      "--but he\nsummoned them to him and said: 'Thus saith Ammon to the Athenians: \"The\nsilent worship of the Lacedaemonians pleaseth me better than all the\nofferings of the other Hellenes.\"' Such were the words of the God, and\nnothing more.",
      "He seems to have meant by 'silent worship' the prayer\nof the Lacedaemonians, which is indeed widely different from the usual\nrequests of the Hellenes.",
      "For they either bring to the altar bulls with\ngilded horns or make offerings to the Gods, and beg at random for what\nthey need, good or bad. When, therefore, the Gods hear them using words\nof ill omen they reject these costly processions and sacrifices of\ntheirs.",
      "And we ought, I think, to be very careful and consider well what\nwe should say and what leave unsaid. Homer, too, will furnish us\nwith similar stories.",
      "For he tells us how the Trojans in making their\nencampment,\n\n'Offered up whole hecatombs to the immortals,'\n\nand how the 'sweet savour' was borne 'to the heavens by the winds;\n\n     'But the blessed Gods were averse and received it not.",
      "For exceedingly did they hate the holy Ilium,\n     Both Priam and the people of the spear-skilled king.'\n\nSo that it was in vain for them to sacrifice and offer gifts, seeing\nthat they were hateful to the Gods, who are not, like vile usurers, to\nbe gained over by bribes.",
      "And it is foolish for us to boast that we are\nsuperior to the Lacedaemonians by reason of our much worship.",
      "The idea\nis inconceivable that the Gods have regard, not to the justice and\npurity of our souls, but to costly processions and sacrifices, which men\nmay celebrate year after year,",
      "although they have committed innumerable\ncrimes against the Gods or against their fellow-men or the state. For\nthe Gods, as Ammon and his prophet declare, are no receivers of gifts,\nand they scorn such unworthy service.",
      "Wherefore also it would seem that\nwisdom and justice are especially honoured both by the Gods and by men\nof sense; and they are the wisest and most just who know how to speak\nand act towards Gods and men. But I should like to hear what your\nopinion is about these matters."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I agree, Socrates, with you and with the God, whom, indeed,\nit would be unbecoming for me to oppose."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "Do you not remember saying that you were in great perplexity,\nlest perchance you should ask for evil, supposing that you were asking\nfor good?"
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "I do."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You see, then, that there is a risk in your approaching the\nGod in prayer, lest haply he should refuse your sacrifice when he hears\nthe blasphemy which you utter, and make you partake of other evils\nas well.",
      "The wisest plan, therefore, seems to me that you should keep\nsilence; for your 'highmindedness'--to use the mildest term which men\napply to folly--will most likely prevent you from using the prayer of\nthe Lacedaemonians.",
      "You had better wait until we find out how we should\nbehave towards the Gods and towards men."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "And how long must I wait, Socrates, and who will be my\nteacher? I should be very glad to see the man."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "It is he who takes an especial interest in you. But first of\nall, I think, the darkness must be taken away in which your soul is now\nenveloped, just as Athene in Homer removes the mist from the eyes of\nDiomede that\n\n'He may distinguish between God and mortal man.",
      "'\n\nAfterwards the means may be given to you whereby you may distinguish\nbetween good and evil. At present, I fear, this is beyond your power."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "Only let my instructor take away the impediment, whether it\npleases him to call it mist or anything else! I care not who he is; but\nI am resolved to disobey none of his commands, if I am likely to be the\nbetter for them."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "And surely he has a wondrous care for you."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "It seems to be altogether advisable to put off the sacrifice\nuntil he is found."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "You are right: that will be safer than running such a\ntremendous risk."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "ALCIBIADES",
    "text": [
      "But how shall we manage, Socrates?",
      "--At any rate I will set\nthis crown of mine upon your head, as you have given me such excellent\nadvice, and to the Gods we will offer crowns and perform the other\ncustomary rites when I see that day approaching: nor will it be long\nhence, if they so will."
    ]
  },
  {
    "author": "SOCRATES",
    "text": [
      "I accept your gift, and shall be ready and willing to receive\nwhatever else you may proffer.",
      "Euripides makes Creon say in the play,\nwhen he beholds Teiresias with his crown and hears that he has gained it\nby his skill as the first-fruits of the spoil:--\n\n'An auspicious omen I deem thy victor's wreath: For well thou knowest\nthat wave and storm oppress us.",
      "'\n\nAnd so I count your gift to be a token of good-fortune; for I am in no\nless stress than Creon, and would fain carry off the victory over your\nlovers.\n"
    ]
  }
]

process.js

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