When the lamp was put out and the servants had gone away, I thought that I
must be plain with him and have no more ambiguity. So I gave him a shake,
and I said: 'Socrates, are you asleep?' 'No,' he said. 'Do you know what
I am meditating? 'What are you meditating?' he said. 'I think,' I
replied, 'that of all the lovers whom I have ever had you are the only one
who is worthy of me, and you appear to be too modest to speak. Now I feel
that I should be a fool to refuse you this or any other favour, and
therefore I come to lay at your feet all that I have and all that my
friends have, in the hope that you will assist me in the way of virtue,
which I desire above all things, and in which I believe that you can help
me better than any one else. And I should certainly have more reason to be
ashamed of what wise men would say if I were to refuse a favour to such as
you, than of what the world, who are mostly fools, would say of me if I
granted it.' To these words he replied in the ironical manner which is so
characteristic of him:--'Alcibiades, my friend, you have indeed an elevated
aim if what you say is true, and if there really is in me any power by
which you may become better; truly you must see in me some rare beauty of a
kind infinitely higher than any which I see in you.
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