Alcibiades II

Recommended translations:

  • "Alcibiades II," trans. C. Lord in The Roots of Political Philosophy, ed. Thomas L. Pangle (Cornell, 1987).
  • "Alcibiades II," trans. A. Kenny in Plato: Complete Works, ed. J. M. Cooper (Hackett, 1997).
  • Socrates and Alcibiades: Four Texts, ed. David Johnson (Focus, 2003).

Excerpt:

Socrates
Alcibiades, are you on your way to offer a prayer to the god?

Alcibiades
I am, certainly, Socrates.

Socrates
You seem, let me say, to have a gloomy look, and to keep your eyes on the ground, as though you were pondering something.

Alcibiades
And what might one ponder, Socrates?

Socrates
The greatest of questions, Alcibiades, as I believe. For tell me, in Heaven’s name, do you not think that the gods sometimes grant in part, but in part refuse, what we ask of them in our private and public prayers, and gratify some people, but not others?

Online:
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Lord)
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Kenny)
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Johnson)
Project Perseus (English, Free Access)
Project Perseus (Greek, Free Access)