meric word
margos is said to be here employed in allusion to the quotation from the
'Margites' which Socrates has just made; but it is not used in the
sense which it has in Homer.) to make such a request; a man must be very
careful lest he pray for evil under the idea that he is asking for good,
when shortly after he may have to recall his prayer, and, as you were
saying, demand the opposite of what he at first requested.

SOCRATES: And was not the poet whose words I originally quoted wiser
than we are, when he bade us (pray God) to defend us from evil even
though we asked for it?

ALCIBIADES: I believe that you are right.

SOCRATES: The Lacedaemonians, too, whether from admiration of the poet
or because they have discovered the idea for themselves, are wont to
offer the prayer alike in public and private, that the Gods will give
unto them the beautiful as well as the good:--no one is likely to hear
them make any further petition. And yet up to the present time they have
not been less fortunate than other men; or if they have sometimes met
with misfortune, the fault has not been due to their prayer. For surely,
as I conceive, the Gods have power either to grant our requests, or to
send us the contrary of what we ask.

And now I will relate to you a story which I have heard from certain of
our elders. It chanced that when the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were
at war, our city lost every battle by land and sea and never gained a
victory. The Athenians being annoyed and perplexed how to find a remedy
for their troubles, decided to send and enquire at the shrine of Ammon.
Their envoys were also to ask, 'Why the Gods always granted the victory
to the Lacedaemonians?' 'We,' (they were to say,) 'offer them more and
finer sacrifices than any other Hellenic state, and adorn their temples
with gifts, as nobody else does; moreover, we make the most solemn and
costly processions to them every year, and spend more money in their
service than all the rest of the Hellenes put together. But the
Lacedaemonians take no thought of such matters, and pay so little
respect to the Gods that they have a habit of sacrificing blemished
animals to them, and in various ways are less zealous than we are,
although their wealth is quite equal to ours.' When they had thus
spoken, and had made their request to know what remedy they could
find against the evils which troubled them, the prophet made no direct
answer,--clearly because he was not allow