Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato (Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk.5.27)

of such things. Therefore, the scope is to know oneself politically, if indeed the body becomes a hindrance to the purgative and the contemplative. And the purgative is recognized by moderation of passions. Thus says Damascius. But if we must also plead in favor of Proclus, to bring Damascius into agreement with him, he says that the scope is primarily about knowing oneself politically; and this must reasonably be said. Since Socrates saw that Alcibiades was inclined toward political matters, he perceived that he would not readily endure the inquiry about knowing the soul and oneself, unless he also made an argument about the desire present in him. For such is the philosophy of Plato, having much superiority over the others. For Socratic admonitions resemble painless purifications and medicines mixed with honey. For he does not rectify souls through opposites, as Hippocrates commands for bodies, saying that opposites are the remedies for opposites; nor as Aristotle exhorts: to stop anger with desire, and desire with anger—that is, through opposites.