Richly Endowed
This chapter provides a background of Alcibiades. One quality is immediately apparent about Alcibiades: he is exceptionally gorgeous. All the sources speak of his beauty and describe all the love affairs in which he figures. It should be remembered that at that time beauty was a virtue, widely recognized and celebrated. Along with beauty, Alcibiades had charm and the power of seduction. He was a celebrity, the spoiled child of Athens, allowed to do whatever he pleased and admired for everything he did. Indeed, Alcibiades came from an aristocratic family, a fact not to be ignored even in the egalitarian democracy that governed Athens at the time. Around the middle of the fifth century BCE, powerful families were highly regarded and enjoyed considerable authority. Alcibiades came from the two largest of these families. He was thus born with every advantage, everything money could buy to advance his career, from an excellent education among the greatest minds to the means of achieving fame throughout the democracy. The chapter then describes the friendship between Alcibiades and Socrates.