Plato : ALCIBIADES (I) Persons of the dialogue: Socrates - Alcibiades Translated by Benjamin Jowett - 50 Pages - Greek fonts Search Plato's works / Plato Anthology / The Greek Word Library = Note by Elpenor

Plato in print

50 Pages

Page 38

Soc.: But should we ever have known what art makes a shoe better, if we did not know a shoe?

Alc.: Impossible.

Soc.: Nor should we know what art makes a ring better, if we did not know a ring?

Alc.: That is true.

Soc.: And can we ever know what art makes a man better, if we do not know what we are ourselves?

Alc.: Impossible.

Soc.: And is self - knowledge such an easy thing, and was he to be lightly esteemed who inscribed the text on the temple at Delphi? Or is self - knowledge a difficult thing, which few are able to attain?

Alc.: At times I fancy, Socrates, that anybody can know himself; at other times the task appears to be very difficult.

Soc.: But whether easy or difficult, Alcibiades, still there is no other way; knowing what we are, we shall know how to take care of ourselves, and if we are ignorant we shall not know.

Alc.: That is true.

Soc.: Well, then, let us see in what way the self - existent can be discovered by us; that will give us a chance of discovering our own existence, which otherwise we can never know.

Alc.: You say truly.

Previous Page / First / Next

  Plato Home Page / Bilingual Anthology   Plato Search ||| Aristotle

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato/plato-alcibiades-i.asp?pg=38

Copyright : Elpenor 2006 -