opeful a plant from perishing in the flower,
before its fruit came to perfection. For never did fortune surround a
man with so many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so
protect him from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every
access of free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the
beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely
his gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to
listen to any real adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of
his genius, that he selected Socrates from the rest, and admitted him,
while he drove away the wealthy and the noble who made court to him.
In a little time, they grew intimate and Alcibiades, listening now to
language entirely free from every thought of unmanly fondness and silly
displays of affection, found himself with one who sought to la open
to him the deficiencies of his mind and repress his vain and foolish
arrogance, and "Dropped like the craven cock his conquered wing." He
esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means which the
gods made use of for the care and preservation of youth, and it was a
matter of general wonder, when people saw him joining Socrates in his
meals and his exercises, living with him in the same tent, while he was
reserved and rough to all others who made their addresses to him.

He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him, except one
stranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small estate, sold it
all for about a hundred staters, which he presented to Alcibiades, and
besought him to accept. Alcibiades, smiling and well pleased at the
thing, invited him to supper, and, after a very kind entertainment, gave
him his gold again, requiring him, moreover, not to fail to be present
the next day, when the public revenue was offered to farm, and to outbid
all others. The man would have excused himself, because the contract was
so large, and would cost many talents; but Alcibiades, who at that time
a private pique against the existing farmers of the revenue threatened
to have him beaten if he refused. The next morning, the stranger, coming
to the market-place, offered a talent more that the existing rate; upon
which the farmers, enraged and consulting together, called upon him to
name his sureties, concluding that he could find none. The poor man,
being startled at the proposal, began to retire; but ALCIBAIDES,
standing at a distance,