"You must be a very sharp fellow, my dear Alcibiades, if what you say about me is true, and I really have a power which might help you to improve yourself. You must see in me a beauty which is incomparable and far superior to your own physical good looks, and if, having made this discovery, you are trying to get a share of it by exchanging your beauty for mine, you obviously mean to get much the better of the bargain; you are trying to get true beauty in return for sham; in fact, what you are proposing is to exchange dross for gold. But look more closely, my good friend, and make quite sure that you are not mistaken in your estimate of my worth. A man's mental vision does not begin to be keen until his physical vision is past its prime, and you are far from having reached that point."

"... From this answer which he made, I judged that I had wounded him; so, without allowing him to say anything further, I got up and covered him with my own clothesfor it was winter-and then laid myself down under his worn cloak, and threw my arms around this truly superhuman and wonderful man, and remained thus the whole night long... But in spite of all my efforts he proved completely superior to my charms and triumphed over them and put them to scorn, insulting me in the very point on which I piqued myself, gentlemen of the juryI may as well call you that. since you have the case of Socrates' disdainful behaviour before you. I swear by all the gods in heaven that for anything that had happened between us when I got up after sleeping with Socrates, I might have been sleeping with my father or elder brother.'

Here, Alcibiades follows with many descriptions of Socrates' mental and physical strength, his cour-

age, his fortitude, his endurance, his powers of mental concentration -all drawn from his observations of Socrates when they served together in the army campaign against Potidaea.

"One might find many other remarkable qualities to praise in Socrates," he concluded, "which singly might be equally applicable to other people... But our friend here is so extraordinary, both in his person and in his conversation, that you will never be able to find anyone remotely resembling him either in antiquity or in the present generation... Anyone who sets out to listen to Socrates' talk will probably find his conversation utterly ridiculous at first, it is clothed in such curious words and phrases, the hide, so to speak, of a hectoring Satyr. He will talk of pack-asses and blacksmiths, cobblers and tanners, and appear to express the same ideas in the same language over and over again, so that any inexperienced or foolish person is bound to laugh at his way of speaking. But if a man penetrates within and sees the content of Socrates' talk exposed, he will find that there is nothing but sound sense inside, and that this talk is almost the talk of a god, and enshrines countless representations of ideal excellence, and is of the widest possible application; in fact, that it extends over all the subjects with which a man who means to turn out a gentleman needs to concern himself."

There was general laughter after Alcibiades had finished, partly because of the frankness of his expression and partly because he still seemed to be amorously inclined towards Socrates. The latter then took up the conversation, and when Alcibiades moved to resume his place at table, there was a humorous exchange of remarks as to who should sit next to Agathon.

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