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309 Where are you from, Socrates? But I need hardly ask,—fresh from the chase of the young Alcibiades, of course. Well, I must confess that I too, when I saw him the other day, thought him handsome still, but a handsome man,—for between ourselves, Socrates, a man he is now;$1$ his beard is already beginning to grow.

And what of that? Do you, then, not agree with Homer, who says that the most charming age is when the beard first appears,$2$ which is now just the age of Alcibiades?

Well, how stand matters now? Have you just left the youth? and on what terms are you with him?

On excellent terms, I should say, and never better than this very day. He came to my rescue, and has been doing a great deal of talking for me; I have only just parted from him, But I must tell you an amazing thing: Rh