Platonic Dialogue Alcibiades 1, On Friendship, Leadership, and Love

What can we learn by reflecting on Alcibiades 1, the Platonic dialogue on
leadership, and on the friendship between Alcibiades and Socrates?
How successful was Socrates in turning the heart of his star pupil from carnal love to
the divine love of philosophy?
Why do many modern scholars debate whether Alcibiades 1 was written by Plato,
whereas the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance scholars regarded it as one of the
best of the Platonic dialogues?
To understand many of the main Platonic dialogues, you first need to understand
the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens, Sparta, and their allies. These wars were
the world wars of the ancient world. Like the modern world wars, these wars
spanned several generations, were fought in two phases, consisted of innumerable
battles and conflicts, and wrought deep changes among those who fought these
long wars.

Why did Alcibiades attract so many enemies,
enemies who sought his demise even when it
harmed Athens’ position in the war?
How was Alcibiades able, after his first exile from
Athens in the middle of the Sicilian Expedition, to
then switch to the Spartan side, then to the Persian
side, and then back to the Athenian side?

The Persians ordered that Alcibiades be executed at
the end of the war. Many Athenian citizens wrongly
blamed Alcibiades for their disastrous defeat to
Sparta. Since Alcibiades was known as one of the
star students of Socrates, was this association a
prominent reason for the Trial and Execution of
Socrates?

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint script we
uploaded to SlideShare.

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In antiquity through the Renaissance, Alcibiades I was a highly regarded
Platonic dialogue, and was often the first dialogue serious students of
philosophy studied. However, many modern scholars deprecate this
dialogue, arguing that it was not written by Plato. We demur, we tend to
side with the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance scholars in such
judgments, who tend to be inclusive, whereas modern scholars tend to
be exclusive, demanding absolute certainty of proof. Our translator
agrees with us, he says that the German scholar Schleiermacher first
doubted its authenticity based on scholarly taste and a superficial
reading. IMHO, although it does appear to differ from his other earlier
dialogues, Alcibiades I was likely either written by Plato, or maybe by one
of his brightest students, with his input.

We consider Alcibiades 1 to be a Platonic dialogue on love
and friendship, since in addition to discussing virtuous
leadership, it also explores the close friendship between
Socrates and Alcibiades. There are three other Platonic
dialogues on love and friendship, according to many
scholars. The early dialogue on love and friendship is Lysis,
which like many of his earlier dialogues, does not resolve
the philosophical questions, as Socrates prefers that we
examine and question how genuine our own friendships
are.

The two later dialogues that contrast romantic or
carnal love to divine love, were the Symposium,
where the dinner guests, then Socrates, compose
speeches on love, and the Phaedrus, with the famous
metaphor of the heavenly chariot pulled by two
steeds, one an immortal and divine steed, the other a
mortal and carnal steed. This struggle between these
two steeds represent the struggle between the base
and divine loves in each of our souls.

https://youtu.be/OIe5pn2S1Ls https://youtu.be/z6X3pwVTdrc
https://youtu.be/JFw5ThfwUAg https://youtu.be/BOtavup_N4g

We will also cut a video summarizing these four
dialogues on love and friendship, examining the
question of whether Socrates condones
homosexuality and pederasty, or men-boy love.

Platonic Dialogue, Alcibiades 1, & Socrates
Plato opens the dialogue:
SOCRATES: “Son of Cleinias, I
think you are wondering why I,
the first to love you, alone have
not stopped loving you when
the others have, and why, when
the others crowded you with
their conversation, I for so many
years never said a thing to you.”
Alcibades being taught by Socrates, by Marcello Bacciarelli, 1777

The footnote says that in aristocratic Athens, that in a
homosexual relationship, the younger boy would play
hard to get, as he seeks the virtuous benefits of the
relationship, how he can benefit and learn from an
older mentor, while the elder partner seeks more the
carnal pleasures. Alcibiades was in his twenties in
this dialogue, but then there were older homosexual
couples in ancient Greece.

A pederastic couple at a symposium / Zeus kissing Ganymede,copy of an original by Wilhelm Böttner, after 1780

Alcibiades being taught by Socrates, by François-André Vincent, 1776
From his youth,
Alcibiades was attracted
to the teaching of
Socrates. Plutarch
comments, “the fact that
Socrates was in love with
Alcibiades strongly
suggests that the boy
was endowed with a
natural aptitude for
virtue. Socrates saw
Alcibiades’ good looks as
the brilliant external
manifestation of this
excellence.”

Homosexuality and pederasty were so deeply imbedded in Greek
culture that there was a Greek myth where Zeus, in the form of
an eagle, kidnapped the young Ganymede, compelling him to be
his cupbearer. Zeus pacified his father by gifting him immortal
steeds.
Socrates addresses Alcibiades as son of Cleinias, and although
this would be a standard address, rarely is it used in the Platonic
dialogues, and suggests that Socrates is acquainted with his
family, and truly views him as a friend, and since he will likely be
included in the next generation of leaders in Athens, he is
someone who needs philosophical instruction.

The Abduction of
Ganymede By
Zeus as an Eagle,
by Bénigne
Gagneraux, 1782

The Rape of Ganymede, by Rembrandt, 1635, and Rubens, 1612

In this dialogue, Alcibiades shows that he is indeed fond of
Socrates, seeing him as a true friend. In the later dialogue, the
Symposium, Alcibiades crashes the dinner party after his
teacher, Socrates, has delivered his profound speech on divine
love. This was a was a Socratic dialogue within the Socratic
dialogue, where his friend Diotima instructed Socrates on the
nature of divine love. Alcibiades proclaims to the dinner guests
how, though he sought to be Socrates’ lover, Socrates rejected
his physical advances, seeking rather to improve his soul. Thus,
the Symposium elaborates on the sentiments expressed in
Alcibiades 1.

Our translator says, “According to
Diotima, the true lover ascends from
loving beautiful bodies, to loving
beautiful souls, to loving beautiful
ideas, and at last to loving one Idea,
or Form: Beauty itself.” “Passion
become philosophy, a passionate
philosophy. But Plato does not have
his Symposium end here.”
Jadwiga Łuszczewska, who used the
pen name Diotima, posing as the
ancient seer, by Józef Simmler, 1855

Plato's Symposium, by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869
Our translator
continues, “Suddenly
Alcibiades crashes the
party, drunk, colorful
and corporeal, full of
the very mortal
nonsense Diotima had
argued should be
overcome. And
Alcibiades, instead of
praising love, praises
Socrates, the one
unique man he has
found, the man he has
loved as no other.”

Plato's Symposium, by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869

Some of the Platonic dialogues may have been written in
the last years of the Peloponnesian Wars, most were
written afterwards. Socrates and Alcibiades both served as
Athenian hoplites, as did all able-bodied aristocratic men.
Socrates saved the life of Alcibiades in the Battle of
Potidaea, and the favor was returned.

Battle of Potidaea (432 BC): Socrates saving Alcibiades, 1700’s
Battle of Potidaea
(432 BC): Socrates
saving Alcibiades,
1700’s

Socrates in Battle Protecting Alcibiades, by PV Basin, circa 1828 In the Battle of
Potidaea, Plutarch tells
us that “a fierce
engagement took place
in which both men
displayed great bravery,
and when Alcibiades
fell wounded, Socrates
stood over him, kept
the enemy at bay, and
manifestly, in plain
view of everyone,
saved him along with
his arms and armor.”

The Platonic dialogues were written after the spectacularly unsuccessful
Sicilian Expedition. The first phase of the Peloponnesian Wars had
concluded with the Peace of Nicias, but Alcibiades, seeking glory, used his
oratorical gifts to persuade the Athenian Assembly to commit over a
hundred triremes and thousands of hoplite troops to conquer the Greek
colony and ally of Sparta, Syracuse in Italy. This force represented well
over half of the Athenian navy.
However, after the ships set sail, the political enemies of Alcibiades
recalled him to Athens to be tried under trumped-up charges. Fearing he
would lose the case, since the soldiers on the expedition would not be
voting, he fled, and was granted exile with the Spartans, the enemies of
Athens.

Sicilian Expedition,
the Athenian fleet
before Syracuse,
wood engraving,
19th Century

Cimon takes command of the Greek Fleet, illustration
from 'Hutchinson's History of the Nations', 1915

Alcibiades could have been as famous as Caesar or Napoleon, known for
their military conquests. IMHO, if Alcibiades had not been charged, he
could have defeated and absorbed Syracuse into the Athenian Empire,
and perhaps conquered the rising Carthaginian Empire as well. Had he
been able to project Greek power further west, perhaps he would have
triumphed over Rome, and we would be inheritors of the Athenian
Empire rather than the Roman Empire.
The Syracuse Expedition was lost by the overly cautious and
procrastinating general Nicias. All of these triremes and hoplites and
leading generals were decimated by a complete Syracusan victory that
nearly caused Athens to lose the second phase of the Peloponnesian
Wars.

The naval battle
in the harbor of
Syracuse where
Sparta defeated
the Athenians
during Second
Peloponnesian
War.

This is the background for: (RPEAT) SOCRATES: “You say, Alcibiades, that
you have no need of anyone for anything, for your advantages are so
great that you lack nothing, beginning with your body and ending with
your soul.” “You are most beautiful and tall and” “a member of the most
influential family in Athens.” His father had died when he was young, he
was raised by the family of Pericles, the renowned founder of the radical
democracy of Athens.
Socrates continues, “I will also add that you are wealthy, but you seem to
me to pride yourself least on this. Boasting of all these things, you have
defeated your lovers,” making them feel inferior.” “You may wonder what
I have in mind in not giving up my love and what hope I have in remaining
after the others have fled.” And Alcibiades confirms that he is, indeed,
curious.

SOCRATES: “You say, Alcibiades, that you have
no need of anyone for anything, for your
advantages are so great that you lack nothing,
beginning with your body and ending with
your soul.” “You are most beautiful and tall
and” “a member of the most influential family
in Athens.” “I will also add that you are
wealthy, but you seem to me to pride yourself
least on this. Boasting of all these things, you
have defeated your lovers,” making them feel
inferior.” “You may wonder what I have in
mind in not giving up my love and what hope I
have in remaining after the others have fled.”
Alcibades with Socrates in bordello, by
Francesco Hayez, 1800’s

Our translator notes that “paradoxically
it may be precisely Alcibiades’ passion
for glory which make him a potential
philosopher, though this very passion
will ultimately destroy him.” “Socrates
puffs up Alcibiades’ ambition, only to
show that it is hollow and to attempt to
replace it with a philosophical ambition
every bit as grand. This is a dangerous
strategy, but perhaps the only likely to
have any success with such a man.
Alcibiades, by François-André Vincent, 1776

The theme of Socrates attempting to tamp down the
passions of Alcibiades is depicted by the many
paintings of Socrates tearing Alcibiades from the
arms of courtesans and lovers.

Socrates Tears
Alcibiades from the
Embrace of Sensual
Pleasure, by Jean-
Baptiste Regnault,
circa 1791

So, Alcibiades is not the typical interlocuter in the
Platonic dialogues, which could explain the difference
in style between this dialogue and the other earlier
and later Platonic dialogues. Alcibiades enjoys the
give and take, understanding how the Socratic
dialectic conversation evolves. He is not offended like
many of Socrates more ambivalent or mildly hostile
interlocuters, and neither is he as deferential as
Socrates’ admiring interlocuters.

Socrates
reproaching
Alcibiades, by
Anton Petter

Socrates Chiding Alcibiades in Home of a Courtesan, by
Germán Hernández Amores, 1857
Socrates Rescuing Alcibiades, by Pedro Américo, 1861

This is one of the few dialogues where before
Socrates begins his questioning, he asks Alcibiades
for a small favor, the small favor being that Alcibiades
ponder and answer his questions. Perhaps this also
reflects Socrates’ recognition of Alcibiades’
impulsiveness, a strength whose weakness often
prevents philosophical reflection, encouraging rash
decision making.

Socrates
Tears
Alcibiades
from the
Embrace of
Sensual
Pleasure,
by Felix
Auvers,
circa 1830

Primary Query: Politics: Who Leads Whom?

The primary question in politics is always, Who leads
whom? Do informed leaders lead the polis, or
citizens, in their wisdom? Or does public opinion, the
majority of the citizens, lead the state in reckless
ignorance?

Thus, SOCRATES asks,
“Alcibiades, what is it
that the Athenians
intend to deliberate
about that leads you
to rise up to advise
them? Is it because it
is something you
understand better
than they do?” Plato's Academy mosaic, 1st century BC from Pompeii

After some back and forth, after patient questioning, Socrates elicits from Alcibiades
the primary reason for political deliberations in the Athenian Assembly:
ALCIBIADES: (REPEAT) “When they are deliberating about war, Socrates, or peace, or
some other of the affairs of the city.”
This is clearly Alcibiades’ order of preference, the Peace of Nicias was eagerly
sought by both sides, as both sides were exhausted by the constant raids by both
sides, by the annual Spartan destruction of the Athenian farms and homes, and by
the constant raids by the Athenian navy on the outlying settlements of Sparta and
her allies.
SOCRATES: “Do you mean when they are deliberating about whom they should
make peace with, and whom they should war against, and in what way?” But in the
restatement of Socrates, he mentions peace before war, but to Alcibiades, there is
only glory in war, not peace.

ALCIBIADES: “When they are
deliberating about war,
Socrates, or peace, or some
other of the affairs of the city.”
SOCRATES: “Do you mean
when they are deliberating
about whom they should make
peace with, and whom they
should war against, and in
what way?”
Socrates teaches a youth, José Aparicio, 1811

Socrates has many questions on which is
the better time to wage war, and for how
long, and what “better” really means,
prompting ALCIBIADES to admit that
Athenians declare war when “we say they
are being cheated of something, or being
done some violence, or being deprived of
something.”
SOCRATES: “How is it we have suffered
each of these things?
ALCIBIADES: “Do you mean, Socrates,
whether we feel we suffer justly or
unjustly?” Socrates, by Luca Giordano, 1600’s

This is the ideal objective of the Socratic method, prompt
the student to deduce the key moral issue in question,
which is always more effective than lecturing morality.
Perhaps the Socratic method would be more effective
when parents seek to influence the actions of their
teenagers.
After patiently enduring the probing of the important
question of what is just and unjust when determining the
wise choice of war or peace, Alcibiades finally cuts to the
chase, admitting a harsh political reality:

Alcibiades
being taught
by Socrates, by
Marcello
Bacciarelli,
1777

ALCIBIADES: “I think, Socrates, that the
Athenians and the rest of the Greeks
rarely deliberate about whether
something is more just or more unjust.
This sort of thing they believe to be clear,”
they would rather debate what is most
advantageous for them. “What is just is
not the same as what is advantageous,
and many have profited from having
unjustly done great injustice; while
others, I think, have gotten no political
advantage from doing what is just.”

Which then leads to another line of questioning: What is and is not advantageous?
Would just actions be more likely to be advantageous in the long run? When
Socrates challenges Alcibiades to show him “that the just is sometimes not
advantageous,” Alcibiades accuses him of hubris. But Socrates does not fall into this
trap, warriors and generals can be guilty of hubris, but how can a philosopher be
guilty of hubris? Of course, anyone can be guilty of hubris, but those who accuse an
honest philosopher of hubris tell us more about themselves, how they do not wish
to learn the lessons an honest philosopher has to offer. In this context, those who
are honest seek the two-fold love of God, or truth, and love of neighbor.
Socrates asks Alcibiades if it is possible that an action be both disgraceful and just,
and Alcibiades says this is not possible, and that “the just is also admirable.” But
sometimes that which is disgraceful is also good, as death is deemed disgraceful,
and sometimes the good soldier loses his life trying to save the life of his comrade,
while others who witness the death of their comrades sometimes survive the battle.

Socrates Address,
by Louis Joseph
Lebrun, 1867

Socrates then inquires whether
courage is good.”
ALCIBIADES: “I would not choose
even to live as a coward.”
SOCRATES: “Then cowardice seems
to you to be the most extreme of
bad things?”
ALCIBIADES: “To me it does.”
SOCRATES: “Cowardice is equal to
being dead, it seems.” “Courage is
among the best of things, and death
among the worst.”
Statues of Plato and Socrates by Leonidas Drosis at the
Academy of Athens

Although these statements on courage are true in all
cultures, their primary emphasis is a reminder that
all ancient cultures are, by necessity, warrior
cultures, as we learn in our studies of the Iliad and
Torah. Ancient citizens lived in fear that if their polis
were ever conquered and pillaged by a hostile force,
all military age men would be slaughtered, and the
women and children would be enslaved.

https://youtu.be/DpmuhZJUJn0
https://youtu.be/7lI2ZQ50wRc
https://youtu.be/bGHHD7XTvr0
https://youtu.be/ynIx-AVI2f8

As Socrates ponders what is good and bad, what is
advantageous or disadvantageous, what is just or unjust,
what is courageous or cowardly, what is admirable or
disgraceful, and how these pairs of opposites interrelate
with each other, ALCIBIADES throws up his hands, like
many whom Socrates traps in these unending questions,
objecting: (REPEAT) “By the gods, Socrates, I don’t know
what I am saying myself, and I seem just like someone in a
strange state. As you question me, at one time things seem
one way, but at another time they seem different.”

Aspasia
conversing with
Pericles,
Alcibiades,
Isocrates,
Socrates, Plato
and Xenophon,
Euripides and
Sophocles,
Phidias and
Parrhasius.
Nicolas-André
Monsiau, 1800’s

ALCIABIDES
exclaims,
“By the gods,
Socrates, I don’t
know what I am
saying myself, and
I seem just like
someone in a
strange state. As
you question me,
at one time things
seem one way,
but at another
time they seem
different.”

Usually when the target of Socrates’ relentless
questions reaches this impasse, they find a reason to
leave the discussion, but Alcibiades remains.

SOCRATES: “Now concerning
what is just and unjust,
admirable and disgraceful,
good and bad, and
advantageous and
disadvantageous, don’t you say
that you are confused as you
give your answers? And isn’t it
clear that it is because you
don’t know about these things
that you are confused?”
Alcibiades agrees.
Socrates by Leonidas Drosis, Academy of Athens, 1800’s

Then Socrates’ questions ponder confusion and
understanding. Plato introduces an historically
interesting metaphor about a helmsman on a ship:

SOCRATES: “What if you were sailing in a ship? Would
you have an opinion about whether the tiller should
be moved in or out, and, since you do not know,
would you be confused, or would you turn this over to
the helmsman and keep your peace?”
ALCIBIADES: “I would turn it over to the helmsman.”
SOCRATES: “So you are not confused about the things
you don’t know, so long as you know that you don’t
know them?”
ALCIBIADES: “I likely am not.”
SOCRATES: “Now are you aware that mistakes in
action come through this sort of ignorance, that of the
person who doesn’t know but thinks he does know?”

The translator’s footnote wonders whether this refers to the minor military defeat
where Alcibiades left the fleet seeking further supplies and funding when Lysander
was evading his efforts to force a naval action. Alcibiades put his friend and
helmsman, or second-in-command, Antiochus, in charge with strict orders not to
engage the naval forces of Lysander. But Antiochus was Greek, and like all Greeks
sought glory, so he disobeyed orders, he attacked, and was defeated. This led to
Alcibiades’ fall from grace and his last voluntary exile from Athens, leading to his
eventual death.
Ironically, in this incident it was the Athenian citizens who thought they knew what
they did not know. Professor Kenneth Harl of the Teaching Company comments that
the Athenians were so accustomed to the inevitable successes by Alcibiades that
any defeats they ascribed to his inattentiveness, judging him far too harshly, driving
away the general that could have guaranteed them eventual victory.

The Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1868)

Roman Battle
of Actium, by
Laureys a
Castro, 1672

Socrates Reflects on Spartan & Persian Kings
At this point of the dialogue,
Socrates reflects on the rulers of
Sparta and Persia. We agree with
the translator, who sees irony in
the comment that the “wives of
the kings of the Lacedaemonians
are publicly guarded by the
ephors so that, as far as possible,
no one escapes their notice and
become king who has been born
to someone other than a
descendant of Heracles.”
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, from Four Illustrious Rulers of Antiquity, 1590’s

Why were these reflections on Spartan and Persian rulers
inserted here? To answer this question, we need to
consider the further adventures of Alcibiades.
After fleeing into exile to Sparta after he was recalled to
Athens during the Sicilian Expedition, he provided good
advice to the Spartans. But Alcibiades being Alcibiades, he
could not help himself, he seduced the queen and
impregnated her. Some ancient sources say he hoped his
son could sit on the throne of Sparta.

Socrates finds
his student
Alcibiades at
heterai, by
Henryk
Siemiradzki,
circa 1873

Next, Alcibiades traveled to Ionia, the coast of Turkey
today, where he offered his services as advisor to the
Persian satrap Tissaphernes. His good advice was to
fund the Spartan war effort as economically as
possible, so the Athenians and Spartans would wear
each other out, so Persia could take advantage of
their weakness.

In Alcibiades 1, Plato describes the ideal
education for Persian kings. Four royal tutors of
excellence are chosen: “the wisest man, the most
just man, the most moderate man, and the most
courageous man.” “The most just man teaches
him to tell the truth throughout his life; the most
moderate man teaches him not to be ruled by
any pleasure, so that he may be accustomed to
be free and truly royal, since he rules first of all
over” his emotions, “and is no slave to them. The
most courageous man teaches by preparing him
to be fearless and without dread, since to be
afraid is to be a slave.” Courage is a primary
virtue for the ruler in a warrior culture. Statue of Cyrus the Great in the garden of the
National Museum of Tajikistan

This echoes Xenophon’s description of the education
of the kings and nobles of Persia in his Cyropaedia,
the biography of Cyrus the Great. His addition is that
hunting dangerous beasts practices skills used in
battle.

Surprisingly, Alcibiades manages to get elected leader of
the Athenian fleet at Samos, winning several battles. After
a few years, he was on the path to winning the
Peloponnesian Wars for Athens, until he was forced to
resign again after a minor defeat and went into voluntary
exile once again. At the end of the war, the Persian satrap
Pharnabazus orders his archers to execute the mighty
Alcibiades. One famous painting shows him, shot full of
arrows, in the arms of his last lady lover, who desperately
attempts to rescue him from his fate.

The questioning by Socrates is again directed by Alcibiades towards the
Realpolitik as he once against discusses the good:
(REPEAT) SOCRATES: “Who do you say is good?”
ALCIBIADES: “I say it is those who are able to rule in the city.”
This is analogous to the discussion in the Republic of whether the just are
those who are politically powerful, that might makes right.
SOCRATES: “So you are talking about ruling people who make use of
other people?” Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So just what do you mean by being able to rule people who
make use of people?”
ALCIBIADES: “I mean those who have a share in citizenship and who do
business with each other.”

SOCRATES: “Who do you say is good?”
ALCIBIADES: “I say it is those who are able to rule
in the city.”
SOCRATES: “So you are talking about ruling
people who make use of other people?”
Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So just what do you mean by being
able to rule people who make use of people?”
ALCIBIADES: “I mean those who have a share in
citizenship and who do business with each other.”
Alcibiades, by Agostino Veneziano, 1500’s
Socrates Reflects: Who is the Good Ruler?

And SOCRATES returns to this metaphor:
“So what is this?” Is this like the art of
“ruling those who have a share in sailing?”
ALCIBIADES: “That of the helmsman.”
Socrates asks what advice the helmsman
of the city, or its director, the good
politician, should offer the citizens.
ALCIBIADES: Advice “for running the city
better and keeping it safe.”
Through further questions, SOCRATES asks
whether “a city becomes better and is
better tended and run when whenever
WHAT is present or absent?”

ALCIBIADES: “It seems to me,
Socrates, that whenever there
is friendship among the
people for each other, and
hatred and factional strife are
absent.”
SOCRATES: “By friendship do
you mean agreement or
disagreement?”
ALCIBIADES: “Agreement.”
Here the translator notes that
the Greek word can refer to
either intellectual agreement
or emotional concord. Cyrus the Younger (left), Achaemenid, satrap of Asia Minor, and
Spartan general Lysander (right), by Francesco Antonio Grue, 1600's

Saying from Temple at Delphi: Know Thyself

Alcibiades admits to Socrates that a leader must be a
student of philosophy, which in Greek means love of
wisdom, so he acts wisely in governing the state.
Through philosophical reflection we come to know
ourselves, we know our strengths and weaknesses,
and we realize what we need to study to become
more effective citizens or rulers.

Priestess of Delphi, by John Collier, 1891
Heinrich Leutemann's The Oracle of Delphi Entranced

SOCRATES: “Is it easy to know oneself, or
did some simpleton inscribe this on the
temple at Delphi? Or is it difficult, and not
a matter for just anyone,” to know thyself?
ALCIBIADES: “To me, Socrates, it has often
seemed to be a matter for anyone but has
often seemed most difficult.”
SOCRATES: “Well, Alcibiades, whether it is
easy or not, nevertheless that is how it
stands for us: if we knew this, we could
perhaps recognize what care of ourselves
is, but in ignorance of this we never
could.”
Socrates, his two wives, and Alcibiades, by Reyer Jacobsz van Blommendael, 1675

When exploring these questions,
Socrates wonders whether man is body
or soul, or both, and whether the soul
rules the body. SOCRATES wonders
whether “it would be admirable to
believe that they were communicating
with each other, making use of words,
by soul towards soul.” Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So he who commands that
one know oneself bids us to know our
souls.”

SOCRATES steers the questioning to the personal,
which demonstrates that this dialogue is also about
love and friendship:

Divine Friendship of Socrates for Alcibiades
SOCRATES: “If someone was a lover of
Alcibiades’ body, did he love
Alcibiades, or something that belonged
to Alcibiades?” Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So he who loves your soul
is who truly loves you?”
ALCIBIADES: “This is where your
argument leads.”
SOCRATES: “Now, the one who loves
your body is going to depart, since its
bloom is fading?” Alcibiades agrees.

This reminds me of a church acquaintance from many
decades ago, who was married to a loving fourth
wife, a truly godly woman, who was relating the
mistakes and hurts of his youth. He divorced his
pretty first wife when she started looking older, and a
decade or so later found this happened to his second
wife. She was bitter, she ruined his third marriage,
and he had to warn his fourth wife of the impending
attempted sabotage.

SOCRATES: “But the one who loves your soul
will not depart, so long as it is getting better.”
ALCIBIADES: “That is likely,” playing the part of
the passive responder. But is it wise to qualify
for this, as long as the soul is improving? There
are times in our lives where we either
backslide morally or financially, or become
discouraged, and we need those who love us
to show us unconditional love, at least for a
time, to help us back on our feet emotionally
and spiritually.
ALCIBIADES: “That is likely,” which sounds
tentative. Since this is not affirmative, perhaps
he is not committed to the relationship.

(REPEAT) SOCRATES: “Then I am the one who does not leave but
remains as your body is fading, now that the others have
departed.” But the problem with close friendships, especially
marriages, is that you cannot work to improve them alone. But
Alcibiades does redeem himself:
ALCIBIADES: “You have done well, Socrates, and may you not
leave me.”
SOCRATES: “Well, make the effort to be as beautiful as you can
be,” and here Socrates must mean to be beautiful in the soul.

SOCRATES: “Then I am the one
who does not leave but remains
as your body is fading, now that
the others have departed.”
ALCIBIADES: “You have done
well, Socrates, and may you not
leave me.”
SOCRATES: “Well, make the
effort to be as beautiful as you
can be,” and here Socrates must
mean to be beautiful in the soul.
Socrates driving Alcibiades away from vice, by Jules Le Chevrel, 1865

ALCIBIADES: “I will make the effort,” which is the
first time Alcibiades commits to selflessness rather
than selfishness in this relationship.
SOCRATES: “I alone loved you, while the others
loved what belonged to you. What belongs to you
is passing its prime, but you are beginning to
bloom. And now, unless you are corrupted by the
Athenian people and become uglier, I shall not
leave you.” Again, there is a qualifier, could
Socrates be hinting that close friendships between
men are always more conditional than marriages
should be?

SOCRATES continues, “For this is what I most
fear, that you will be corrupted by becoming a
people lover.”
SOCRATES then warns Alcibiades, lest he
become corrupted, that he “should take care
of his soul and look after it.” Our translator
notes that he translates the Greek word as
“care,” but that the original Greek refers to
“effort, diligence, and attention rather than
emotional attachment, and that taking care of
something does not merely mean to keep it
safe, but to improve it.”

SOCRATES queries, “if a soul is to know
itself,” must it look into itself for the
excellence that blooms from wisdom?
Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “Can we say that anything in the
soul is more divine than that which is
concerned with knowing and thought?” We
must remember that to Socrates knowledge
is virtue.
ALCIBIADES: “We cannot.”
SOCRATES: “So it is to God that this aspect
of soul is similar, and one looking to this
and knowing all that is divine, both God and
thought, would in this way know himself.”
Socrates, by Leonidas Drosis,
Academy of Athens, 1800’s

The translator has this footnote:
“The Greeks sometimes used the
singular for god, theos, in contexts
that show that neither ‘the god’ or
‘a god’ is meant, leaving us with
‘God.’ But no commitment to
monotheism is implied; rather,
theos refers to the qualities all
gods share,” which is called
henotheism, “and often
approaches ‘the gods’ in meaning.”

I agree with our translator. The stoic philosophers constantly
refer to God and Zeus interchangeably, but since the Church
Fathers, and in particular the Eastern Church Fathers, are
influenced so deeply by Greek and Roman moral philosophy,
especially stoicism, that they do view theos as inferring a
monotheism theologically.

Copy after the Painting by Rubens, The Council of Gods, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1861

https://youtu.be/Dhd543kov-E https://youtu.be/zAAal5p8AX8
https://youtu.be/-uQxq1O9xSY https://youtu.be/wgD8skYi3I0

SOCRATES adds, “And we agreed
that knowing oneself is
moderation?” Alcibiades agrees.
The translator’s footnotes
indicates that the Greek term
for moderation suggests being
of sound mind, or self-control
and self-knowledge.

SOCRATES proffers that “unless one is
moderate and good, it is not possible to be
happy,” and that “bad people are
wretched.” Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So it’s not the rich who will
avoid being wretched, but the one who
becomes moderate?” Alcibiades agrees.
SOCRATES: “So the ruler must not be
tyrannical, my excellent Alcibiades,” if both
ruler and ruled “are to be happy, with
excellence.”
Death of Alcibiades, by Michele De Napoli, 1839
Socrates Reflects: What is Happiness?

But SOCRATES is not
hopeful for the future of
Athens under Alcibiades.
“I am filled with dread,
not because I do not trust
in your nature, but
because I see the force of
the city and fear that it
will overcome both me
and you.”
Alcibiades Death, Yakov Fyodorovich Kapkov, 1842

Indeed, Alcibiades will fail in his efforts to advise the
Athenian generals to move the Greek triremes to a safe
harbor, which would have prevented their destruction
which led to Athens losing the Peloponnesian Wars,
turning the Athenians against the memory of Alcibiades.
Socrates will also fail in his defense in his trial and
execution by the Athenian Assembly, he could not
overcome the suspicion that many citizens felt towards
Socrates, friend and teacher of Alcibiades and several
enemies of the radical democracy.

David Johnson’s translation of the Alcibiades
dialogues is readable, with an excellent introduction
with great footnotes, and we quoted several of the
footnotes.
Since many of our videos on ancient Greece use
many of the same sources, we have a video on Book
Reviews of Ancient Greek History and Philosophy.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
YouTube Description has links for:
• Script PDF file
• Blog
• Amazon Bookstore
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Platonic Dialogue Alcibiades 1, On Friendship, Leadership, and Love

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