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Cornelius Nepos · Alcibiades §2.1-2.3

Alcibiades' Education, Marriage, and Youthful Loves

Passage 2 of 11 · Latin

Summary

This passage describes Alcibiades' early education under Pericles and Socrates, his marriage, his unique intellectual and pure relationship with Socrates as recorded in Plato's 'Symposium', and his subsequent passionate yet refined love affairs in his youth.

§2.1Educatus est in domo Pericli (privignus enim eius fuisse dicitur), eruditus a Socrate.
He was brought up in the house of Pericles (for he is said to have been his stepson) and educated by Socrates.
socerum habuit Hipponicum, omnium Graeca lingua loquentium ditissimum, ut, si ipse fingere vellet, neque plura bona eminisci neque maiora posset consequi, quam vel natura vel fortuna tribuerat.
He had Hipponicus as his father-in-law, the wealthiest of all who spoke the Greek tongue, so that, if he himself had wished to imagine it, he could neither have devised more blessings nor attained greater ones than either nature or fortune had already bestowed upon him.
§2.2ineunte adulescentia amatus est a multis more Graecorum, in eis a Socrate, de quo mentionem facit Plato in symposio.
At the beginning of his youth, he was loved by many after the custom of the Greeks, among them by Socrates, of whom Plato makes mention in the 'Symposium'.
namque eum induxit commemorantem se pernoctasse cum Socrate neque aliter ab eo surrexisse, ac filius a parente debuerit.
For he introduced him recalling that he had spent the night with Socrates and had risen from him no otherwise than a son ought to from a parent.
§2.3posteaquam robustior est factus, non minus multos amavit, in quorum amore, quoad licitum est odiosa, multa delicate iocoseque fecit: quae referremus, nisi maiora potiora haberemus.
After he grew stronger, he loved no fewer people, in his love for whom, as far as offensive things were permitted, he did many things with refinement and jest; these we would relate, did we not have greater and more important matters to attend to.

Notes

  1. §2.1Pericli — Genitive form of the Greek third-declension noun Pericles. Instead of the expected third-declension ending -clis, the second-declension ending -i is used, which is a common variation for Greek proper names in Latin.
  2. §2.2aliter... ac — A comparative idiom meaning 'otherwise than' or 'differently from.' 'Aliter' correlates with 'ac' (or 'atque') to introduce the standard of comparison.
  3. §2.3quoad licitum est odiosa — 'Quoad' is a conjunction expressing limit ('as far as'). 'Odiosa' is the nominative neuter plural of the adjective odiosus, used substantively to mean 'offensive/disreputable things.' The phrase means 'so far as shameful conduct was permitted,' humorously indicating the limits of his behavior.
  4. §2.3quae referremus, nisi maiora potiora haberemus — 'Quae' is a connecting relative (relative connection) referring to the content of the preceding clause (Alcibiades' elegant and playful acts). 'Referremus' and 'haberemus' are in the imperfect subjunctive, forming a present contrary-to-fact conditional sentence. Nepos uses this rhetorical device to excuse himself from relating minor anecdotes in order to focus on more significant matters.

Cite this passage

Cornelius Nepos, Alcibiades §2.1-2.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0588.abo007.humanitext-lat2:2.1-2.3

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