Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-01-15

ana training yourself WITH an eye 10
them, you have no need to look so high |
as the generals of the enemy.
AL. But who are they, Socrates?
Soc. Why, you surely know that our
city goes to war now and then with the
and with the great king?
Al. True enough.
Soc. And if you meant to be ruler of
this city, would you not be right in con-
sidering that the Lacedaemonian and Per-
sian kings are your true rivals?
AL. believe that you are right.
Soc. O, no, my friend, | am quite
wrong, and think that you ought rather
to turn your attention to Midas, the
quail-breeder. and others like him, who
manage our politics in whom, as the wo-
men would remark, you may still see the
slaves cut of hair cropping out in their
minds as well as on their pates; and they
come with their barbarous lingoe to flat
ter us and not to rule us. To these,
say, you should look, and then you will
have no need to take any heed of yourself
in this noble contest; you will not have
to trouble yourself either with learning
what has to be learned, or practice what
has to be practiced, or with any other
sort of preparation for political career.
AL. | think, Socrates, that you are
right in that; l do not suppose, however,
that the Spartan generals or the great
king are really different from anybody
else.
Soc. But, my dear friend, do consider
what this is which you are saying.
AL. What shall | consider?
SOC. In the first place, will you be
more likely to take care of yourself if
you are in wholesome fear and dread of
them, as if you are not?
AL. Clearly, if | have such a fear of
them.
Soc. And do you think that you will
sustain any injury if you take any care
of yourself?
AL. No, shall be greatly benefited
SOC. And this is one very important
respect in which that notion of yours is
bad
AL. True.
SOC. In the next place, consider thai
what you say is probably false.
AL. How is that?
Soc. Let me ask you whether better
natures are likely to be found in noble
races or not in noble races?
AL. Clearly in noble races.
Soc. Are not those who are well borl
and well bred most likely to be perfec
in nature?
AL. Certainly.
Soc. Then let us compare our ante
cedents with those of the LacedHmonial
and Persian kings; are they inferior t
us in descent? Have we not heard tina
the former are sprung from Ileracles ant
the latter from AchGmencs, and that tn
race of Ieraclcs and the race of AchG
menes 90 back to Perseus, son of Zeus?
AL. Why, so does mine go back t.
Eurysaces, and he to Zeus.
Soc. And mine, noble Alcibiades, t.
Dndalus, who, by the way of Hephas
tus, also goes back to Zeus. But for al
this, we are far inferior to them. Fo
they are descended ''from Ieus," through
line of kings-either kings of Argo
and LacedHmon, or kings of Persia
which they have always possessed, ant
at various times have been sOvereigns o
Asia, as they now are; whereas, we ant
our fathers were but private persons
How ridiculous would you be thought 70
making Il parade of your ancestors an
of Salamis. the island of Eurysaces or o
.Egina. the habitatiOn of the still NOR
ancient .Eacus, to ArtaXerXes son o
NerXcs. You should consider how in
feror we are to them both in the deriva
ton of our birth and in other particulars
Did you never observe how great is tn
property of the Spartan kings? An
their wives are under the guardianship @
the Ephori, who are public officers, an
watch over them, in order to preserv
!. the purity of IIeraclid blood. And tn
Persian king far surpasses them; for II
> one ever entertains suspicion that
, prince of Persia can have any other fl
, Their. Such is the awe which invests tn
, person of the queen that she needs n
, other guard. And when the heir of til
: kingdom is born, all the subjects of I'll
king feast; and the day of his birth
f forever afterwards kept as a holiday an
y time of sacrifice by all Asia; whereas
| when you and were born, Alcibiade
as the comic poet says, the neighbol
hardly knew of the important even
= After the birth of the royal child, he
tended, not by a good-for-nothing w
man nurse, but by the best of the royt
eunuchs, who are charged with the cal
f of the child, and especially with II
fashioning and formation of his limbs,
order that he may be as fair as possible
: and this being their calling, they are he
h in great honor. And when the youn
rrinna ic caynn Xnars old no is mt unou