Plato, Alcibiades 1, section 133d

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[133d]

Socrates
For I expect it seems impossible to you that without knowing Alcibiades you should know that the belongings of Alcibiades are in fact his.

Alcibiades
Impossible indeed, upon my word.

Socrates
Nor could we know that our belongings are ours if we did not even know ourselves?

Alcibiades
How could we?

Socrates
And so, if we did not so much as know our belongings, we could not know the belongings of our belongings either?

Alcibiades
Apparently not.

Socrates
Then we were not quite correct in admitting just now that there are people who, without knowing themselves, know their belongings, while others know their belongings' belongings. For it seems to be the function of one man and one art to discern all three—

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 8 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1955.

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