Commentary on Plato's Alcibiades

as the one who has known himself, beginning from himself, is thus able to know the nature of the whole, both that which is manifest and that which is the leader of the purifying life. And he who has known himself acts as a guide to truth, participating in the providence of Apollo, who has granted it to him. This, therefore, is the beginning of philosophy and the teaching of Plato and the knowledge of oneself. For I think it is appropriate for one to be released by Apollo, starting from those things in Delphi, for his own liberation, from which the god Apollo himself exhorts us. Socrates praises those who are fellow slaves of the swans a reference to those dedicated to Apollo, saying that he received his divinations not from his own silence. He is said to have begun his impulse toward philosophy from the time he encountered the writings before him. And he considered the exhortation not so much to be from a spirit as to be for himself. From there, therefore, we shall begin our course and our explanation of the subject of all the dialogues: the aim is the contemplation of our own essence, so that we may make it our starting point for the Platonic writings. Therefore, let us first ascend to everything before the Alcibiades and the association of Socrates handed down in it. And where shall we say, therefore, that we must demonstrate what our essence is? What is it to know oneself, and what is one's own? For the Delphic inscription, whatever it may contain, is most certain, and how could we know our own things before knowing ourselves, or hear from Socrates himself, who came from that place?