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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher <asschers@aia.net.au> + + + + + +SYMPOSIUM + +by Plato + + + +Translated by Benjamin Jowett + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Of all the works of Plato the Symposium is the most perfect in form, and +may be truly thought to contain more than any commentator has ever dreamed +of; or, as Goethe said of one of his own writings, more than the author +himself knew. For in philosophy as in prophecy glimpses of the future may +often be conveyed in words which could hardly have been understood or +interpreted at the time when they were uttered (compare Symp.)--which were +wiser than the writer of them meant, and could not have been expressed by +him if he had been interrogated about them. Yet Plato was not a mystic, +nor in any degree affected by the Eastern influences which afterwards +overspread the Alexandrian world. He was not an enthusiast or a +sentimentalist, but one who aspired only to see reasoned truth, and whose +thoughts are clearly explained in his language. There is no foreign +element either of Egypt or of Asia to be found in his writings. And more +than any other Platonic work the Symposium is Greek both in style and +subject, having a beauty 'as of a statue,' while the companion Dialogue of +the Phaedrus is marked by a sort of Gothic irregularity. More too than in +any other of his Dialogues, Plato is emancipated from former philosophies. +The genius of Greek art seems to triumph over the traditions of +Pythagorean, Eleatic, or Megarian systems, and 'the old quarrel of poetry +and philosophy' has at least a superficial reconcilement. (Rep.) + +An unknown person who had heard of the discourses in praise of love spoken +by Socrates and others at the banquet of Agathon is desirous of having an +authentic account of them, which he thinks that he can obtain from +Apollodorus, the same excitable, or rather 'mad' friend of Socrates, who is +afterwards introduced in the Phaedo. He had imagined that the discourses +were recent. There he is mistaken: but they are still fresh in the memory +of his informant, who had just been repeating them to Glaucon, and is quite +prepared to have another rehearsal of them in a walk from the Piraeus to +Athens. Although he had not been present himself, he had heard them from +the best authority. Aristodemus, who is described as having been in past +times a humble but inseparable attendant of Socrates, had reported them to +him (compare Xen. Mem.). + +The narrative which he had heard was as follows:-- + +Aristodemus meeting Socrates in holiday attire, is invited by him to a +banquet at the house of Agathon, who had been sacrificing in thanksgiving +for his tragic victory on the day previous. But no sooner has he entered +the house than he finds that he is alone; Socrates has stayed behind in a +fit of abstraction, and does not appear until the banquet is half over. On +his appearing he and the host jest a little; the question is then asked by +Pausanias, one of the guests, 'What shall they do about drinking? as they +had been all well drunk on the day before, and drinking on two successive +days is such a bad thing.' This is confirmed by the authority of +Eryximachus the physician, who further proposes that instead of listening +to the flute-girl and her 'noise' they shall make speeches in honour of +love, one after another, going from left to right in the order in which +they are reclining at the table. All of them agree to this proposal, and +Phaedrus, who is the 'father' of the idea, which he has previously +communicated to Eryximachus, begins as follows:-- + +He descants first of all upon the antiquity of love, which is proved by the +authority of the poets; secondly upon the benefits which love gives to man. +The greatest of these is the sense of honour and dishonour. The lover is +ashamed to be seen by the beloved doing or suffering any cowardly or mean +act. And a state or army which was made up only of lovers and their loves +would be invincible. For love will convert the veriest coward into an +inspired hero. + +And there have been true loves not only of men but of women also. Such was +the love of Alcestis, who dared to die for her husband, and in recompense +of her virtue was allowed to come again from the dead. But Orpheus, the +miserable harper, who went down to Hades alive, that he might bring back +his wife, was mocked with an apparition only, and the gods afterwards +contrived his death as the punishment of his cowardliness. The love of +Achilles, like that of Alcestis, was courageous and true; for he was +willing to avenge his lover Patroclus, although he knew that his own death +would immediately follow: and the gods, who honour the love of the beloved +above that of the lover, rewarded him, and sent him to the islands of the +blest. + +Pausanias, who was sitting next, then takes up the tale:--He says that +Phaedrus should have distinguished the heavenly love from the earthly, +before he praised either. For there are two loves, as there are two +Aphrodites--one the daughter of Uranus, who has no mother and is the elder +and wiser goddess, and the other, the daughter of Zeus and Dione, who is +popular and common. The first of the two loves has a noble purpose, and +delights only in the intelligent nature of man, and is faithful to the end, +and has no shadow of wantonness or lust. The second is the coarser kind of +love, which is a love of the body rather than of the soul, and is of women +and boys as well as of men. Now the actions of lovers vary, like every +other sort of action, according to the manner of their performance. And in +different countries there is a difference of opinion about male loves. +Some, like the Boeotians, approve of them; others, like the Ionians, and +most of the barbarians, disapprove of them; partly because they are aware +of the political dangers which ensue from them, as may be seen in the +instance of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. At Athens and Sparta there is an +apparent contradiction about them. For at times they are encouraged, and +then the lover is allowed to play all sorts of fantastic tricks; he may +swear and forswear himself (and 'at lovers' perjuries they say Jove +laughs'); he may be a servant, and lie on a mat at the door of his love, +without any loss of character; but there are also times when elders look +grave and guard their young relations, and personal remarks are made. The +truth is that some of these loves are disgraceful and others honourable. +The vulgar love of the body which takes wing and flies away when the bloom +of youth is over, is disgraceful, and so is the interested love of power or +wealth; but the love of the noble mind is lasting. The lover should be +tested, and the beloved should not be too ready to yield. The rule in our +country is that the beloved may do the same service to the lover in the way +of virtue which the lover may do to him. + +A voluntary service to be rendered for the sake of virtue and wisdom is +permitted among us; and when these two customs--one the love of youth, the +other the practice of virtue and philosophy--meet in one, then the lovers +may lawfully unite. Nor is there any disgrace to a disinterested lover in +being deceived: but the interested lover is doubly disgraced, for if he +loses his love he loses his character; whereas the noble love of the other +remains the same, although the object of his love is unworthy: for nothing +can be nobler than love for the sake of virtue. This is that love of the +heavenly goddess which is of great price to individuals and cities, making +them work together for their improvement. + +The turn of Aristophanes comes next; but he has the hiccough, and therefore +proposes that Eryximachus the physician shall cure him or speak in his +turn. Eryximachus is ready to do both, and after prescribing for the +hiccough, speaks as follows:-- + +He agrees with Pausanias in maintaining that there are two kinds of love; +but his art has led him to the further conclusion that the empire of this +double love extends over all things, and is to be found in animals and +plants as well as in man. In the human body also there are two loves; and +the art of medicine shows which is the good and which is the bad love, and +persuades the body to accept the good and reject the bad, and reconciles +conflicting elements and makes them friends. Every art, gymnastic and +husbandry as well as medicine, is the reconciliation of opposites; and this +is what Heracleitus meant, when he spoke of a harmony of opposites: but in +strictness he should rather have spoken of a harmony which succeeds +opposites, for an agreement of disagreements there cannot be. Music too is +concerned with the principles of love in their application to harmony and +rhythm. In the abstract, all is simple, and we are not troubled with the +twofold love; but when they are applied in education with their +accompaniments of song and metre, then the discord begins. Then the old +tale has to be repeated of fair Urania and the coarse Polyhymnia, who must +be indulged sparingly, just as in my own art of medicine care must be taken +that the taste of the epicure be gratified without inflicting upon him the +attendant penalty of disease. + +There is a similar harmony or disagreement in the course of the seasons and +in the relations of moist and dry, hot and cold, hoar frost and blight; and +diseases of all sorts spring from the excesses or disorders of the element +of love. The knowledge of these elements of love and discord in the +heavenly bodies is termed astronomy, in the relations of men towards gods +and parents is called divination. For divination is the peacemaker of gods +and men, and works by a knowledge of the tendencies of merely human loves +to piety and impiety. Such is the power of love; and that love which is +just and temperate has the greatest power, and is the source of all our +happiness and friendship with the gods and with one another. I dare say +that I have omitted to mention many things which you, Aristophanes, may +supply, as I perceive that you are cured of the hiccough. + +Aristophanes is the next speaker:-- + +He professes to open a new vein of discourse, in which he begins by +treating of the origin of human nature. The sexes were originally three, +men, women, and the union of the two; and they were made round--having four +hands, four feet, two faces on a round neck, and the rest to correspond. +Terrible was their strength and swiftness; and they were essaying to scale +heaven and attack the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils; the +gods were divided between the desire of quelling the pride of man and the +fear of losing the sacrifices. At last Zeus hit upon an expedient. Let us +cut them in two, he said; then they will only have half their strength, and +we shall have twice as many sacrifices. He spake, and split them as you +might split an egg with an hair; and when this was done, he told Apollo to +give their faces a twist and re-arrange their persons, taking out the +wrinkles and tying the skin in a knot about the navel. The two halves went +about looking for one another, and were ready to die of hunger in one +another's arms. Then Zeus invented an adjustment of the sexes, which +enabled them to marry and go their way to the business of life. Now the +characters of men differ accordingly as they are derived from the original +man or the original woman, or the original man-woman. Those who come from +the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman +form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the +male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre. The pair are +inseparable and live together in pure and manly affection; yet they cannot +tell what they want of one another. But if Hephaestus were to come to them +with his instruments and propose that they should be melted into one and +remain one here and hereafter, they would acknowledge that this was the +very expression of their want. For love is the desire of the whole, and +the pursuit of the whole is called love. There was a time when the two +sexes were only one, but now God has halved them,--much as the +Lacedaemonians have cut up the Arcadians,--and if they do not behave +themselves he will divide them again, and they will hop about with half a +nose and face in basso relievo. Wherefore let us exhort all men to piety, +that we may obtain the goods of which love is the author, and be reconciled +to God, and find our own true loves, which rarely happens in this world. +And now I must beg you not to suppose that I am alluding to Pausanias and +Agathon (compare Protag.), for my words refer to all mankind everywhere. + +Some raillery ensues first between Aristophanes and Eryximachus, and then +between Agathon, who fears a few select friends more than any number of +spectators at the theatre, and Socrates, who is disposed to begin an +argument. This is speedily repressed by Phaedrus, who reminds the +disputants of their tribute to the god. Agathon's speech follows:-- + +He will speak of the god first and then of his gifts: He is the fairest +and blessedest and best of the gods, and also the youngest, having had no +existence in the old days of Iapetus and Cronos when the gods were at war. +The things that were done then were done of necessity and not of love. For +love is young and dwells in soft places,--not like Ate in Homer, walking on +the skulls of men, but in their hearts and souls, which are soft enough. +He is all flexibility and grace, and his habitation is among the flowers, +and he cannot do or suffer wrong; for all men serve and obey him of their +own free will, and where there is love there is obedience, and where +obedience, there is justice; for none can be wronged of his own free will. +And he is temperate as well as just, for he is the ruler of the desires, +and if he rules them he must be temperate. Also he is courageous, for he +is the conqueror of the lord of war. And he is wise too; for he is a poet, +and the author of poesy in others. He created the animals; he is the +inventor of the arts; all the gods are his subjects; he is the fairest and +best himself, and the cause of what is fairest and best in others; he makes +men to be of one mind at a banquet, filling them with affection and +emptying them of disaffection; the pilot, helper, defender, saviour of men, +in whose footsteps let every man follow, chanting a strain of love. Such +is the discourse, half playful, half serious, which I dedicate to the god. + +The turn of Socrates comes next. He begins by remarking satirically that +he has not understood the terms of the original agreement, for he fancied +that they meant to speak the true praises of love, but now he finds that +they only say what is good of him, whether true or false. He begs to be +absolved from speaking falsely, but he is willing to speak the truth, and +proposes to begin by questioning Agathon. The result of his questions may +be summed up as follows:-- + +Love is of something, and that which love desires is not that which love is +or has; for no man desires that which he is or has. And love is of the +beautiful, and therefore has not the beautiful. And the beautiful is the +good, and therefore, in wanting and desiring the beautiful, love also wants +and desires the good. Socrates professes to have asked the same questions +and to have obtained the same answers from Diotima, a wise woman of +Mantinea, who, like Agathon, had spoken first of love and then of his +works. Socrates, like Agathon, had told her that Love is a mighty god and +also fair, and she had shown him in return that Love was neither, but in a +mean between fair and foul, good and evil, and not a god at all, but only a +great demon or intermediate power (compare the speech of Eryximachus) who +conveys to the gods the prayers of men, and to men the commands of the +gods. + +Socrates asks: Who are his father and mother? To this Diotima replies +that he is the son of Plenty and Poverty, and partakes of the nature of +both, and is full and starved by turns. Like his mother he is poor and +squalid, lying on mats at doors (compare the speech of Pausanias); like his +father he is bold and strong, and full of arts and resources. Further, he +is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge:--in this he resembles the +philosopher who is also in a mean between the wise and the ignorant. Such +is the nature of Love, who is not to be confused with the beloved. + +But Love desires the beautiful; and then arises the question, What does he +desire of the beautiful? He desires, of course, the possession of the +beautiful;--but what is given by that? For the beautiful let us substitute +the good, and we have no difficulty in seeing the possession of the good to +be happiness, and Love to be the desire of happiness, although the meaning +of the word has been too often confined to one kind of love. And Love +desires not only the good, but the everlasting possession of the good. Why +then is there all this flutter and excitement about love? Because all men +and women at a certain age are desirous of bringing to the birth. And love +is not of beauty only, but of birth in beauty; this is the principle of +immortality in a mortal creature. When beauty approaches, then the +conceiving power is benign and diffuse; when foulness, she is averted and +morose. + +But why again does this extend not only to men but also to animals? +Because they too have an instinct of immortality. Even in the same +individual there is a perpetual succession as well of the parts of the +material body as of the thoughts and desires of the mind; nay, even +knowledge comes and goes. There is no sameness of existence, but the new +mortality is always taking the place of the old. This is the reason why +parents love their children--for the sake of immortality; and this is why +men love the immortality of fame. For the creative soul creates not +children, but conceptions of wisdom and virtue, such as poets and other +creators have invented. And the noblest creations of all are those of +legislators, in honour of whom temples have been raised. Who would not +sooner have these children of the mind than the ordinary human ones? +(Compare Bacon's Essays, 8:--'Certainly the best works and of greatest +merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; +which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public.') + +I will now initiate you, she said, into the greater mysteries; for he who +would proceed in due course should love first one fair form, and then many, +and learn the connexion of them; and from beautiful bodies he should +proceed to beautiful minds, and the beauty of laws and institutions, until +he perceives that all beauty is of one kindred; and from institutions he +should go on to the sciences, until at last the vision is revealed to him +of a single science of universal beauty, and then he will behold the +everlasting nature which is the cause of all, and will be near the end. In +the contemplation of that supreme being of love he will be purified of +earthly leaven, and will behold beauty, not with the bodily eye, but with +the eye of the mind, and will bring forth true creations of virtue and +wisdom, and be the friend of God and heir of immortality. + +Such, Phaedrus, is the tale which I heard from the stranger of Mantinea, +and which you may call the encomium of love, or what you please. + +The company applaud the speech of Socrates, and Aristophanes is about to +say something, when suddenly a band of revellers breaks into the court, and +the voice of Alcibiades is heard asking for Agathon. He is led in drunk, +and welcomed by Agathon, whom he has come to crown with a garland. He is +placed on a couch at his side, but suddenly, on recognizing Socrates, he +starts up, and a sort of conflict is carried on between them, which Agathon +is requested to appease. Alcibiades then insists that they shall drink, +and has a large wine-cooler filled, which he first empties himself, and +then fills again and passes on to Socrates. He is informed of the nature +of the entertainment; and is ready to join, if only in the character of a +drunken and disappointed lover he may be allowed to sing the praises of +Socrates:-- + +He begins by comparing Socrates first to the busts of Silenus, which have +images of the gods inside them; and, secondly, to Marsyas the flute-player. +For Socrates produces the same effect with the voice which Marsyas did with +the flute. He is the great speaker and enchanter who ravishes the souls of +men; the convincer of hearts too, as he has convinced Alcibiades, and made +him ashamed of his mean and miserable life. Socrates at one time seemed +about to fall in love with him; and he thought that he would thereby gain a +wonderful opportunity of receiving lessons of wisdom. He narrates the +failure of his design. He has suffered agonies from him, and is at his +wit's end. He then proceeds to mention some other particulars of the life +of Socrates; how they were at Potidaea together, where Socrates showed his +superior powers of enduring cold and fatigue; how on one occasion he had +stood for an entire day and night absorbed in reflection amid the wonder of +the spectators; how on another occasion he had saved Alcibiades' life; how +at the battle of Delium, after the defeat, he might be seen stalking about +like a pelican, rolling his eyes as Aristophanes had described him in the +Clouds. He is the most wonderful of human beings, and absolutely unlike +anyone but a satyr. Like the satyr in his language too; for he uses the +commonest words as the outward mask of the divinest truths. + +When Alcibiades has done speaking, a dispute begins between him and Agathon +and Socrates. Socrates piques Alcibiades by a pretended affection for +Agathon. Presently a band of revellers appears, who introduce disorder +into the feast; the sober part of the company, Eryximachus, Phaedrus, and +others, withdraw; and Aristodemus, the follower of Socrates, sleeps during +the whole of a long winter's night. When he wakes at cockcrow the +revellers are nearly all asleep. Only Socrates, Aristophanes, and Agathon +hold out; they are drinking from a large goblet, which they pass round, and +Socrates is explaining to the two others, who are half-asleep, that the +genius of tragedy is the same as that of comedy, and that the writer of +tragedy ought to be a writer of comedy also. And first Aristophanes drops, +and then, as the day is dawning, Agathon. Socrates, having laid them to +rest, takes a bath and goes to his daily avocations until the evening. +Aristodemus follows. + +... + +If it be true that there are more things in the Symposium of Plato than any +commentator has dreamed of, it is also true that many things have been +imagined which are not really to be found there. Some writings hardly +admit of a more distinct interpretation than a musical composition; and +every reader may form his own accompaniment of thought or feeling to the +strain which he hears. The Symposium of Plato is a work of this character, +and can with difficulty be rendered in any words but the writer's own. +There are so many half-lights and cross-lights, so much of the colour of +mythology, and of the manner of sophistry adhering--rhetoric and poetry, +the playful and the serious, are so subtly intermingled in it, and vestiges +of old philosophy so curiously blend with germs of future knowledge, that +agreement among interpreters is not to be expected. The expression 'poema +magis putandum quam comicorum poetarum,' which has been applied to all the +writings of Plato, is especially applicable to the Symposium. + +The power of love is represented in the Symposium as running through all +nature and all being: at one end descending to animals and plants, and +attaining to the highest vision of truth at the other. In an age when man +was seeking for an expression of the world around him, the conception of +love greatly affected him. One of the first distinctions of language and +of mythology was that of gender; and at a later period the ancient +physicist, anticipating modern science, saw, or thought that he saw, a sex +in plants; there were elective affinities among the elements, marriages of +earth and heaven. (Aesch. Frag. Dan.) Love became a mythic personage whom +philosophy, borrowing from poetry, converted into an efficient cause of +creation. The traces of the existence of love, as of number and figure, +were everywhere discerned; and in the Pythagorean list of opposites male +and female were ranged side by side with odd and even, finite and infinite. + +But Plato seems also to be aware that there is a mystery of love in man as +well as in nature, extending beyond the mere immediate relation of the +sexes. He is conscious that the highest and noblest things in the world +are not easily severed from the sensual desires, or may even be regarded as +a spiritualized form of them. We may observe that Socrates himself is not +represented as originally unimpassioned, but as one who has overcome his +passions; the secret of his power over others partly lies in his passionate +but self-controlled nature. In the Phaedrus and Symposium love is not +merely the feeling usually so called, but the mystical contemplation of the +beautiful and the good. The same passion which may wallow in the mire is +capable of rising to the loftiest heights--of penetrating the inmost secret +of philosophy. The highest love is the love not of a person, but of the +highest and purest abstraction. This abstraction is the far-off heaven on +which the eye of the mind is fixed in fond amazement. The unity of truth, +the consistency of the warring elements of the world, the enthusiasm for +knowledge when first beaming upon mankind, the relativity of ideas to the +human mind, and of the human mind to ideas, the faith in the invisible, the +adoration of the eternal nature, are all included, consciously or +unconsciously, in Plato's doctrine of love. + +The successive speeches in praise of love are characteristic of the +speakers, and contribute in various degrees to the final result; they are +all designed to prepare the way for Socrates, who gathers up the threads +anew, and skims the highest points of each of them. But they are not to be +regarded as the stages of an idea, rising above one another to a climax. +They are fanciful, partly facetious performances, 'yet also having a +certain measure of seriousness,' which the successive speakers dedicate to +the god. All of them are rhetorical and poetical rather than dialectical, +but glimpses of truth appear in them. When Eryximachus says that the +principles of music are simple in themselves, but confused in their +application, he touches lightly upon a difficulty which has troubled the +moderns as well as the ancients in music, and may be extended to the other +applied sciences. That confusion begins in the concrete, was the natural +feeling of a mind dwelling in the world of ideas. When Pausanias remarks +that personal attachments are inimical to despots. The experience of Greek +history confirms the truth of his remark. When Aristophanes declares that +love is the desire of the whole, he expresses a feeling not unlike that of +the German philosopher, who says that 'philosophy is home sickness.' When +Agathon says that no man 'can be wronged of his own free will,' he is +alluding playfully to a serious problem of Greek philosophy (compare Arist. +Nic. Ethics). So naturally does Plato mingle jest and earnest, truth and +opinion in the same work. + +The characters--of Phaedrus, who has been the cause of more philosophical +discussions than any other man, with the exception of Simmias the Theban +(Phaedrus); of Aristophanes, who disguises under comic imagery a serious +purpose; of Agathon, who in later life is satirized by Aristophanes in the +Thesmophoriazusae, for his effeminate manners and the feeble rhythms of his +verse; of Alcibiades, who is the same strange contrast of great powers and +great vices, which meets us in history--are drawn to the life; and we may +suppose the less-known characters of Pausanias and Eryximachus to be also +true to the traditional recollection of them (compare Phaedr., Protag.; and +compare Sympos. with Phaedr.). We may also remark that Aristodemus is +called 'the little' in Xenophon's Memorabilia (compare Symp.). + +The speeches have been said to follow each other in pairs: Phaedrus and +Pausanias being the ethical, Eryximachus and Aristophanes the physical +speakers, while in Agathon and Socrates poetry and philosophy blend +together. The speech of Phaedrus is also described as the mythological, +that of Pausanias as the political, that of Eryximachus as the scientific, +that of Aristophanes as the artistic (!), that of Socrates as the +philosophical. But these and similar distinctions are not found in Plato; +--they are the points of view of his critics, and seem to impede rather +than to assist us in understanding him. + +When the turn of Socrates comes round he cannot be allowed to disturb the +arrangement made at first. With the leave of Phaedrus he asks a few +questions, and then he throws his argument into the form of a speech +(compare Gorg., Protag.). But his speech is really the narrative of a +dialogue between himself and Diotima. And as at a banquet good manners +would not allow him to win a victory either over his host or any of the +guests, the superiority which he gains over Agathon is ingeniously +represented as having been already gained over himself by her. The +artifice has the further advantage of maintaining his accustomed profession +of ignorance (compare Menex.). Even his knowledge of the mysteries of +love, to which he lays claim here and elsewhere (Lys.), is given by +Diotima. + +The speeches are attested to us by the very best authority. The madman +Apollodorus, who for three years past has made a daily study of the actions +of Socrates--to whom the world is summed up in the words 'Great is +Socrates'--he has heard them from another 'madman,' Aristodemus, who was +the 'shadow' of Socrates in days of old, like him going about barefooted, +and who had been present at the time. 'Would you desire better witness?' +The extraordinary narrative of Alcibiades is ingeniously represented as +admitted by Socrates, whose silence when he is invited to contradict gives +consent to the narrator. We may observe, by the way, (1) how the very +appearance of Aristodemus by himself is a sufficient indication to Agathon +that Socrates has been left behind; also, (2) how the courtesy of Agathon +anticipates the excuse which Socrates was to have made on Aristodemus' +behalf for coming uninvited; (3) how the story of the fit or trance of +Socrates is confirmed by the mention which Alcibiades makes of a similar +fit of abstraction occurring when he was serving with the army at Potidaea; +like (4) the drinking powers of Socrates and his love of the fair, which +receive a similar attestation in the concluding scene; or the attachment of +Aristodemus, who is not forgotten when Socrates takes his departure. (5) +We may notice the manner in which Socrates himself regards the first five +speeches, not as true, but as fanciful and exaggerated encomiums of the god +Love; (6) the satirical character of them, shown especially in the appeals +to mythology, in the reasons which are given by Zeus for reconstructing the +frame of man, or by the Boeotians and Eleans for encouraging male loves; +(7) the ruling passion of Socrates for dialectics, who will argue with +Agathon instead of making a speech, and will only speak at all upon the +condition that he is allowed to speak the truth. We may note also the +touch of Socratic irony, (8) which admits of a wide application and reveals +a deep insight into the world:--that in speaking of holy things and persons +there is a general understanding that you should praise them, not that you +should speak the truth about them--this is the sort of praise which +Socrates is unable to give. Lastly, (9) we may remark that the banquet is +a real banquet after all, at which love is the theme of discourse, and huge +quantities of wine are drunk. + +The discourse of Phaedrus is half-mythical, half-ethical; and he himself, +true to the character which is given him in the Dialogue bearing his name, +is half-sophist, half-enthusiast. He is the critic of poetry also, who +compares Homer and Aeschylus in the insipid and irrational manner of the +schools of the day, characteristically reasoning about the probability of +matters which do not admit of reasoning. He starts from a noble text: +'That without the sense of honour and dishonour neither states nor +individuals ever do any good or great work.' But he soon passes on to more +common-place topics. The antiquity of love, the blessing of having a +lover, the incentive which love offers to daring deeds, the examples of +Alcestis and Achilles, are the chief themes of his discourse. The love of +women is regarded by him as almost on an equality with that of men; and he +makes the singular remark that the gods favour the return of love which is +made by the beloved more than the original sentiment, because the lover is +of a nobler and diviner nature. + +There is something of a sophistical ring in the speech of Phaedrus, which +recalls the first speech in imitation of Lysias, occurring in the Dialogue +called the Phaedrus. This is still more marked in the speech of Pausanias +which follows; and which is at once hyperlogical in form and also extremely +confused and pedantic. Plato is attacking the logical feebleness of the +sophists and rhetoricians, through their pupils, not forgetting by the way +to satirize the monotonous and unmeaning rhythms which Prodicus and others +were introducing into Attic prose (compare Protag.). Of course, he is +'playing both sides of the game,' as in the Gorgias and Phaedrus; but it is +not necessary in order to understand him that we should discuss the +fairness of his mode of proceeding. The love of Pausanias for Agathon has +already been touched upon in the Protagoras, and is alluded to by +Aristophanes. Hence he is naturally the upholder of male loves, which, +like all the other affections or actions of men, he regards as varying +according to the manner of their performance. Like the sophists and like +Plato himself, though in a different sense, he begins his discussion by an +appeal to mythology, and distinguishes between the elder and younger love. +The value which he attributes to such loves as motives to virtue and +philosophy is at variance with modern and Christian notions, but is in +accordance with Hellenic sentiment. The opinion of Christendom has not +altogether condemned passionate friendships between persons of the same +sex, but has certainly not encouraged them, because though innocent in +themselves in a few temperaments they are liable to degenerate into fearful +evil. Pausanias is very earnest in the defence of such loves; and he +speaks of them as generally approved among Hellenes and disapproved by +barbarians. His speech is 'more words than matter,' and might have been +composed by a pupil of Lysias or of Prodicus, although there is no hint +given that Plato is specially referring to them. As Eryximachus says, 'he +makes a fair beginning, but a lame ending.' + +Plato transposes the two next speeches, as in the Republic he would +transpose the virtues and the mathematical sciences. This is done partly +to avoid monotony, partly for the sake of making Aristophanes 'the cause of +wit in others,' and also in order to bring the comic and tragic poet into +juxtaposition, as if by accident. A suitable 'expectation' of Aristophanes +is raised by the ludicrous circumstance of his having the hiccough, which +is appropriately cured by his substitute, the physician Eryximachus. To +Eryximachus Love is the good physician; he sees everything as an +intelligent physicist, and, like many professors of his art in modern +times, attempts to reduce the moral to the physical; or recognises one law +of love which pervades them both. There are loves and strifes of the body +as well as of the mind. Like Hippocrates the Asclepiad, he is a disciple +of Heracleitus, whose conception of the harmony of opposites he explains in +a new way as the harmony after discord; to his common sense, as to that of +many moderns as well as ancients, the identity of contradictories is an +absurdity. His notion of love may be summed up as the harmony of man with +himself in soul as well as body, and of all things in heaven and earth with +one another. + +Aristophanes is ready to laugh and make laugh before he opens his mouth, +just as Socrates, true to his character, is ready to argue before he begins +to speak. He expresses the very genius of the old comedy, its coarse and +forcible imagery, and the licence of its language in speaking about the +gods. He has no sophistical notions about love, which is brought back by +him to its common-sense meaning of love between intelligent beings. His +account of the origin of the sexes has the greatest (comic) probability and +verisimilitude. Nothing in Aristophanes is more truly Aristophanic than +the description of the human monster whirling round on four arms and four +legs, eight in all, with incredible rapidity. Yet there is a mixture of +earnestness in this jest; three serious principles seem to be insinuated:-- +first, that man cannot exist in isolation; he must be reunited if he is to +be perfected: secondly, that love is the mediator and reconciler of poor, +divided human nature: thirdly, that the loves of this world are an +indistinct anticipation of an ideal union which is not yet realized. + +The speech of Agathon is conceived in a higher strain, and receives the +real, if half-ironical, approval of Socrates. It is the speech of the +tragic poet and a sort of poem, like tragedy, moving among the gods of +Olympus, and not among the elder or Orphic deities. In the idea of the +antiquity of love he cannot agree; love is not of the olden time, but +present and youthful ever. The speech may be compared with that speech of +Socrates in the Phaedrus in which he describes himself as talking +dithyrambs. It is at once a preparation for Socrates and a foil to him. +The rhetoric of Agathon elevates the soul to 'sunlit heights,' but at the +same time contrasts with the natural and necessary eloquence of Socrates. +Agathon contributes the distinction between love and the works of love, and +also hints incidentally that love is always of beauty, which Socrates +afterwards raises into a principle. While the consciousness of discord is +stronger in the comic poet Aristophanes, Agathon, the tragic poet, has a +deeper sense of harmony and reconciliation, and speaks of Love as the +creator and artist. + +All the earlier speeches embody common opinions coloured with a tinge of +philosophy. They furnish the material out of which Socrates proceeds to +form his discourse, starting, as in other places, from mythology and the +opinions of men. From Phaedrus he takes the thought that love is stronger +than death; from Pausanias, that the true love is akin to intellect and +political activity; from Eryximachus, that love is a universal phenomenon +and the great power of nature; from Aristophanes, that love is the child of +want, and is not merely the love of the congenial or of the whole, but (as +he adds) of the good; from Agathon, that love is of beauty, not however of +beauty only, but of birth in beauty. As it would be out of character for +Socrates to make a lengthened harangue, the speech takes the form of a +dialogue between Socrates and a mysterious woman of foreign extraction. +She elicits the final truth from one who knows nothing, and who, speaking +by the lips of another, and himself a despiser of rhetoric, is proved also +to be the most consummate of rhetoricians (compare Menexenus). + +The last of the six discourses begins with a short argument which +overthrows not only Agathon but all the preceding speakers by the help of a +distinction which has escaped them. Extravagant praises have been ascribed +to Love as the author of every good; no sort of encomium was too high for +him, whether deserved and true or not. But Socrates has no talent for +speaking anything but the truth, and if he is to speak the truth of Love he +must honestly confess that he is not a good at all: for love is of the +good, and no man can desire that which he has. This piece of dialectics is +ascribed to Diotima, who has already urged upon Socrates the argument which +he urges against Agathon. That the distinction is a fallacy is obvious; it +is almost acknowledged to be so by Socrates himself. For he who has beauty +or good may desire more of them; and he who has beauty or good in himself +may desire beauty and good in others. The fallacy seems to arise out of a +confusion between the abstract ideas of good and beauty, which do not admit +of degrees, and their partial realization in individuals. + +But Diotima, the prophetess of Mantineia, whose sacred and superhuman +character raises her above the ordinary proprieties of women, has taught +Socrates far more than this about the art and mystery of love. She has +taught him that love is another aspect of philosophy. The same want in the +human soul which is satisfied in the vulgar by the procreation of children, +may become the highest aspiration of intellectual desire. As the Christian +might speak of hungering and thirsting after righteousness; or of divine +loves under the figure of human (compare Eph. 'This is a great mystery, but +I speak concerning Christ and the church'); as the mediaeval saint might +speak of the 'fruitio Dei;' as Dante saw all things contained in his love +of Beatrice, so Plato would have us absorb all other loves and desires in +the love of knowledge. Here is the beginning of Neoplatonism, or rather, +perhaps, a proof (of which there are many) that the so-called mysticism of +the East was not strange to the Greek of the fifth century before Christ. +The first tumult of the affections was not wholly subdued; there were +longings of a creature + +Moving about in worlds not realized, + +which no art could satisfy. To most men reason and passion appear to be +antagonistic both in idea and fact. The union of the greatest +comprehension of knowledge and the burning intensity of love is a +contradiction in nature, which may have existed in a far-off primeval age +in the mind of some Hebrew prophet or other Eastern sage, but has now +become an imagination only. Yet this 'passion of the reason' is the theme +of the Symposium of Plato. And as there is no impossibility in supposing +that 'one king, or son of a king, may be a philosopher,' so also there is a +probability that there may be some few--perhaps one or two in a whole +generation--in whom the light of truth may not lack the warmth of desire. +And if there be such natures, no one will be disposed to deny that 'from +them flow most of the benefits of individuals and states;' and even from +imperfect combinations of the two elements in teachers or statesmen great +good may often arise. + +Yet there is a higher region in which love is not only felt, but satisfied, +in the perfect beauty of eternal knowledge, beginning with the beauty of +earthly things, and at last reaching a beauty in which all existence is +seen to be harmonious and one. The limited affection is enlarged, and +enabled to behold the ideal of all things. And here the highest summit +which is reached in the Symposium is seen also to be the highest summit +which is attained in the Republic, but approached from another side; and +there is 'a way upwards and downwards,' which is the same and not the same +in both. The ideal beauty of the one is the ideal good of the other; +regarded not with the eye of knowledge, but of faith and desire; and they +are respectively the source of beauty and the source of good in all other +things. And by the steps of a 'ladder reaching to heaven' we pass from +images of visible beauty (Greek), and from the hypotheses of the +Mathematical sciences, which are not yet based upon the idea of good, +through the concrete to the abstract, and, by different paths arriving, +behold the vision of the eternal (compare Symp. (Greek) Republic (Greek) +also Phaedrus). Under one aspect 'the idea is love'; under another, +'truth.' In both the lover of wisdom is the 'spectator of all time and of +all existence.' This is a 'mystery' in which Plato also obscurely +intimates the union of the spiritual and fleshly, the interpenetration of +the moral and intellectual faculties. + +The divine image of beauty which resides within Socrates has been revealed; +the Silenus, or outward man, has now to be exhibited. The description of +Socrates follows immediately after the speech of Socrates; one is the +complement of the other. At the height of divine inspiration, when the +force of nature can no further go, by way of contrast to this extreme +idealism, Alcibiades, accompanied by a troop of revellers and a flute-girl, +staggers in, and being drunk is able to tell of things which he would have +been ashamed to make known if he had been sober. The state of his +affections towards Socrates, unintelligible to us and perverted as they +appear, affords an illustration of the power ascribed to the loves of man +in the speech of Pausanias. He does not suppose his feelings to be +peculiar to himself: there are several other persons in the company who +have been equally in love with Socrates, and like himself have been +deceived by him. The singular part of this confession is the combination +of the most degrading passion with the desire of virtue and improvement. +Such an union is not wholly untrue to human nature, which is capable of +combining good and evil in a degree beyond what we can easily conceive. In +imaginative persons, especially, the God and beast in man seem to part +asunder more than is natural in a well-regulated mind. The Platonic +Socrates (for of the real Socrates this may be doubted: compare his public +rebuke of Critias for his shameful love of Euthydemus in Xenophon, +Memorabilia) does not regard the greatest evil of Greek life as a thing not +to be spoken of; but it has a ridiculous element (Plato's Symp.), and is a +subject for irony, no less than for moral reprobation (compare Plato's +Symp.). It is also used as a figure of speech which no one interpreted +literally (compare Xen. Symp.). Nor does Plato feel any repugnance, such +as would be felt in modern times, at bringing his great master and hero +into connexion with nameless crimes. He is contented with representing him +as a saint, who has won 'the Olympian victory' over the temptations of +human nature. The fault of taste, which to us is so glaring and which was +recognized by the Greeks of a later age (Athenaeus), was not perceived by +Plato himself. We are still more surprised to find that the philosopher is +incited to take the first step in his upward progress (Symp.) by the beauty +of young men and boys, which was alone capable of inspiring the modern +feeling of romance in the Greek mind. The passion of love took the +spurious form of an enthusiasm for the ideal of beauty--a worship as of +some godlike image of an Apollo or Antinous. But the love of youth when +not depraved was a love of virtue and modesty as well as of beauty, the one +being the expression of the other; and in certain Greek states, especially +at Sparta and Thebes, the honourable attachment of a youth to an elder man +was a part of his education. The 'army of lovers and their beloved who +would be invincible if they could be united by such a tie' (Symp.), is not +a mere fiction of Plato's, but seems actually to have existed at Thebes in +the days of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, if we may believe writers cited +anonymously by Plutarch, Pelop. Vit. It is observable that Plato never in +the least degree excuses the depraved love of the body (compare Charm.; +Rep.; Laws; Symp.; and once more Xenophon, Mem.), nor is there any Greek +writer of mark who condones or approves such connexions. But owing partly +to the puzzling nature of the subject these friendships are spoken of by +Plato in a manner different from that customary among ourselves. To most +of them we should hesitate to ascribe, any more than to the attachment of +Achilles and Patroclus in Homer, an immoral or licentious character. There +were many, doubtless, to whom the love of the fair mind was the noblest +form of friendship (Rep.), and who deemed the friendship of man with man to +be higher than the love of woman, because altogether separated from the +bodily appetites. The existence of such attachments may be reasonably +attributed to the inferiority and seclusion of woman, and the want of a +real family or social life and parental influence in Hellenic cities; and +they were encouraged by the practice of gymnastic exercises, by the +meetings of political clubs, and by the tie of military companionship. +They were also an educational institution: a young person was specially +entrusted by his parents to some elder friend who was expected by them to +train their son in manly exercises and in virtue. It is not likely that a +Greek parent committed him to a lover, any more than we should to a +schoolmaster, in the expectation that he would be corrupted by him, but +rather in the hope that his morals would be better cared for than was +possible in a great household of slaves. + +It is difficult to adduce the authority of Plato either for or against such +practices or customs, because it is not always easy to determine whether he +is speaking of 'the heavenly and philosophical love, or of the coarse +Polyhymnia:' and he often refers to this (e.g. in the Symposium) half in +jest, yet 'with a certain degree of seriousness.' We observe that they +entered into one part of Greek literature, but not into another, and that +the larger part is free from such associations. Indecency was an element +of the ludicrous in the old Greek Comedy, as it has been in other ages and +countries. But effeminate love was always condemned as well as ridiculed +by the Comic poets; and in the New Comedy the allusions to such topics have +disappeared. They seem to have been no longer tolerated by the greater +refinement of the age. False sentiment is found in the Lyric and Elegiac +poets; and in mythology 'the greatest of the Gods' (Rep.) is not exempt +from evil imputations. But the morals of a nation are not to be judged of +wholly by its literature. Hellas was not necessarily more corrupted in the +days of the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, or of Plato and the Orators, +than England in the time of Fielding and Smollett, or France in the +nineteenth century. No one supposes certain French novels to be a +representation of ordinary French life. And the greater part of Greek +literature, beginning with Homer and including the tragedians, +philosophers, and, with the exception of the Comic poets (whose business +was to raise a laugh by whatever means), all the greater writers of Hellas +who have been preserved to us, are free from the taint of indecency. + +Some general considerations occur to our mind when we begin to reflect on +this subject. (1) That good and evil are linked together in human nature, +and have often existed side by side in the world and in man to an extent +hardly credible. We cannot distinguish them, and are therefore unable to +part them; as in the parable 'they grow together unto the harvest:' it is +only a rule of external decency by which society can divide them. Nor +should we be right in inferring from the prevalence of any one vice or +corruption that a state or individual was demoralized in their whole +character. Not only has the corruption of the best been sometimes thought +to be the worst, but it may be remarked that this very excess of evil has +been the stimulus to good (compare Plato, Laws, where he says that in the +most corrupt cities individuals are to be found beyond all praise). (2) It +may be observed that evils which admit of degrees can seldom be rightly +estimated, because under the same name actions of the most different +degrees of culpability may be included. No charge is more easily set going +than the imputation of secret wickedness (which cannot be either proved or +disproved and often cannot be defined) when directed against a person of +whom the world, or a section of it, is predisposed to think evil. And it +is quite possible that the malignity of Greek scandal, aroused by some +personal jealousy or party enmity, may have converted the innocent +friendship of a great man for a noble youth into a connexion of another +kind. Such accusations were brought against several of the leading men of +Hellas, e.g. Cimon, Alcibiades, Critias, Demosthenes, Epaminondas: several +of the Roman emperors were assailed by similar weapons which have been used +even in our own day against statesmen of the highest character. (3) While +we know that in this matter there is a great gulf fixed between Greek and +Christian Ethics, yet, if we would do justice to the Greeks, we must also +acknowledge that there was a greater outspokenness among them than among +ourselves about the things which nature hides, and that the more frequent +mention of such topics is not to be taken as the measure of the prevalence +of offences, or as a proof of the general corruption of society. It is +likely that every religion in the world has used words or practised rites +in one age, which have become distasteful or repugnant to another. We +cannot, though for different reasons, trust the representations either of +Comedy or Satire; and still less of Christian Apologists. (4) We observe +that at Thebes and Lacedemon the attachment of an elder friend to a beloved +youth was often deemed to be a part of his education; and was encouraged by +his parents--it was only shameful if it degenerated into licentiousness. +Such we may believe to have been the tie which united Asophychus and +Cephisodorus with the great Epaminondas in whose companionship they fell +(Plutarch, Amat.; Athenaeus on the authority of Theopompus). (5) A small +matter: there appears to be a difference of custom among the Greeks and +among ourselves, as between ourselves and continental nations at the +present time, in modes of salutation. We must not suspect evil in the +hearty kiss or embrace of a male friend 'returning from the army at +Potidaea' any more than in a similar salutation when practised by members +of the same family. But those who make these admissions, and who regard, +not without pity, the victims of such illusions in our own day, whose life +has been blasted by them, may be none the less resolved that the natural +and healthy instincts of mankind shall alone be tolerated (Greek); and that +the lesson of manliness which we have inherited from our fathers shall not +degenerate into sentimentalism or effeminacy. The possibility of an +honourable connexion of this kind seems to have died out with Greek +civilization. Among the Romans, and also among barbarians, such as the +Celts and Persians, there is no trace of such attachments existing in any +noble or virtuous form. + +(Compare Hoeck's Creta and the admirable and exhaustive article of Meier in +Ersch and Grueber's Cyclopedia on this subject; Plutarch, Amatores; +Athenaeus; Lysias contra Simonem; Aesch. c. Timarchum.) + +The character of Alcibiades in the Symposium is hardly less remarkable than +that of Socrates, and agrees with the picture given of him in the first of +the two Dialogues which are called by his name, and also with the slight +sketch of him in the Protagoras. He is the impersonation of lawlessness-- +'the lion's whelp, who ought not to be reared in the city,' yet not without +a certain generosity which gained the hearts of men,--strangely fascinated +by Socrates, and possessed of a genius which might have been either the +destruction or salvation of Athens. The dramatic interest of the character +is heightened by the recollection of his after history. He seems to have +been present to the mind of Plato in the description of the democratic man +of the Republic (compare also Alcibiades 1). + +There is no criterion of the date of the Symposium, except that which is +furnished by the allusion to the division of Arcadia after the destruction +of Mantinea. This took place in the year B.C. 384, which is the forty- +fourth year of Plato's life. The Symposium cannot therefore be regarded as +a youthful work. As Mantinea was restored in the year 369, the composition +of the Dialogue will probably fall between 384 and 369. Whether the +recollection of the event is more likely to have been renewed at the +destruction or restoration of the city, rather than at some intermediate +period, is a consideration not worth raising. + +The Symposium is connected with the Phaedrus both in style and subject; +they are the only Dialogues of Plato in which the theme of love is +discussed at length. In both of them philosophy is regarded as a sort of +enthusiasm or madness; Socrates is himself 'a prophet new inspired' with +Bacchanalian revelry, which, like his philosophy, he characteristically +pretends to have derived not from himself but from others. The Phaedo also +presents some points of comparison with the Symposium. For there, too, +philosophy might be described as 'dying for love;' and there are not +wanting many touches of humour and fancy, which remind us of the Symposium. +But while the Phaedo and Phaedrus look backwards and forwards to past and +future states of existence, in the Symposium there is no break between this +world and another; and we rise from one to the other by a regular series of +steps or stages, proceeding from the particulars of sense to the universal +of reason, and from one universal to many, which are finally reunited in a +single science (compare Rep.). At first immortality means only the +succession of existences; even knowledge comes and goes. Then follows, in +the language of the mysteries, a higher and a higher degree of initiation; +at last we arrive at the perfect vision of beauty, not relative or +changing, but eternal and absolute; not bounded by this world, or in or out +of this world, but an aspect of the divine, extending over all things, and +having no limit of space or time: this is the highest knowledge of which +the human mind is capable. Plato does not go on to ask whether the +individual is absorbed in the sea of light and beauty or retains his +personality. Enough for him to have attained the true beauty or good, +without enquiring precisely into the relation in which human beings stood +to it. That the soul has such a reach of thought, and is capable of +partaking of the eternal nature, seems to imply that she too is eternal +(compare Phaedrus). But Plato does not distinguish the eternal in man from +the eternal in the world or in God. He is willing to rest in the +contemplation of the idea, which to him is the cause of all things (Rep.), +and has no strength to go further. + +The Symposium of Xenophon, in which Socrates describes himself as a pander, +and also discourses of the difference between sensual and sentimental love, +likewise offers several interesting points of comparison. But the +suspicion which hangs over other writings of Xenophon, and the numerous +minute references to the Phaedrus and Symposium, as well as to some of the +other writings of Plato, throw a doubt on the genuineness of the work. The +Symposium of Xenophon, if written by him at all, would certainly show that +he wrote against Plato, and was acquainted with his works. Of this +hostility there is no trace in the Memorabilia. Such a rivalry is more +characteristic of an imitator than of an original writer. The (so-called) +Symposium of Xenophon may therefore have no more title to be regarded as +genuine than the confessedly spurious Apology. + +There are no means of determining the relative order in time of the +Phaedrus, Symposium, Phaedo. The order which has been adopted in this +translation rests on no other principle than the desire to bring together +in a series the memorials of the life of Socrates. + + +SYMPOSIUM + +by + +Plato + +Translated by Benjamin Jowett + + +PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: +Apollodorus, who repeats to his companion the dialogue which he had heard +from Aristodemus, and had already once narrated to Glaucon. +Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates, +Alcibiades, A Troop of Revellers. + +SCENE: The House of Agathon. + + +Concerning the things about which you ask to be informed I believe that I +am not ill-prepared with an answer. For the day before yesterday I was +coming from my own home at Phalerum to the city, and one of my +acquaintance, who had caught a sight of me from behind, calling out +playfully in the distance, said: Apollodorus, O thou Phalerian (Probably a +play of words on (Greek), 'bald-headed.') man, halt! So I did as I was +bid; and then he said, I was looking for you, Apollodorus, only just now, +that I might ask you about the speeches in praise of love, which were +delivered by Socrates, Alcibiades, and others, at Agathon's supper. +Phoenix, the son of Philip, told another person who told me of them; his +narrative was very indistinct, but he said that you knew, and I wish that +you would give me an account of them. Who, if not you, should be the +reporter of the words of your friend? And first tell me, he said, were you +present at this meeting? + +Your informant, Glaucon, I said, must have been very indistinct indeed, if +you imagine that the occasion was recent; or that I could have been of the +party. + +Why, yes, he replied, I thought so. + +Impossible: I said. Are you ignorant that for many years Agathon has not +resided at Athens; and not three have elapsed since I became acquainted +with Socrates, and have made it my daily business to know all that he says +and does. There was a time when I was running about the world, fancying +myself to be well employed, but I was really a most wretched being, no +better than you are now. I thought that I ought to do anything rather than +be a philosopher. + +Well, he said, jesting apart, tell me when the meeting occurred. + +In our boyhood, I replied, when Agathon won the prize with his first +tragedy, on the day after that on which he and his chorus offered the +sacrifice of victory. + +Then it must have been a long while ago, he said; and who told you--did +Socrates? + +No indeed, I replied, but the same person who told Phoenix;--he was a +little fellow, who never wore any shoes, Aristodemus, of the deme of +Cydathenaeum. He had been at Agathon's feast; and I think that in those +days there was no one who was a more devoted admirer of Socrates. +Moreover, I have asked Socrates about the truth of some parts of his +narrative, and he confirmed them. Then, said Glaucon, let us have the tale +over again; is not the road to Athens just made for conversation? And so +we walked, and talked of the discourses on love; and therefore, as I said +at first, I am not ill-prepared to comply with your request, and will have +another rehearsal of them if you like. For to speak or to hear others +speak of philosophy always gives me the greatest pleasure, to say nothing +of the profit. But when I hear another strain, especially that of you rich +men and traders, such conversation displeases me; and I pity you who are my +companions, because you think that you are doing something when in reality +you are doing nothing. And I dare say that you pity me in return, whom you +regard as an unhappy creature, and very probably you are right. But I +certainly know of you what you only think of me--there is the difference. + +COMPANION: I see, Apollodorus, that you are just the same--always speaking +evil of yourself, and of others; and I do believe that you pity all +mankind, with the exception of Socrates, yourself first of all, true in +this to your old name, which, however deserved, I know not how you +acquired, of Apollodorus the madman; for you are always raging against +yourself and everybody but Socrates. + +APOLLODORUS: Yes, friend, and the reason why I am said to be mad, and out +of my wits, is just because I have these notions of myself and you; no +other evidence is required. + +COMPANION: No more of that, Apollodorus; but let me renew my request that +you would repeat the conversation. + +APOLLODORUS: Well, the tale of love was on this wise:--But perhaps I had +better begin at the beginning, and endeavour to give you the exact words of +Aristodemus: + +He said that he met Socrates fresh from the bath and sandalled; and as the +sight of the sandals was unusual, he asked him whither he was going that he +had been converted into such a beau:-- + +To a banquet at Agathon's, he replied, whose invitation to his sacrifice of +victory I refused yesterday, fearing a crowd, but promising that I would +come to-day instead; and so I have put on my finery, because he is such a +fine man. What say you to going with me unasked? + +I will do as you bid me, I replied. + +Follow then, he said, and let us demolish the proverb:-- + +'To the feasts of inferior men the good unbidden go;' + +instead of which our proverb will run:-- + +'To the feasts of the good the good unbidden go;' + +and this alteration may be supported by the authority of Homer himself, who +not only demolishes but literally outrages the proverb. For, after +picturing Agamemnon as the most valiant of men, he makes Menelaus, who is +but a fainthearted warrior, come unbidden (Iliad) to the banquet of +Agamemnon, who is feasting and offering sacrifices, not the better to the +worse, but the worse to the better. + +I rather fear, Socrates, said Aristodemus, lest this may still be my case; +and that, like Menelaus in Homer, I shall be the inferior person, who + +'To the feasts of the wise unbidden goes.' + +But I shall say that I was bidden of you, and then you will have to make an +excuse. + +'Two going together,' + +he replied, in Homeric fashion, one or other of them may invent an excuse +by the way (Iliad). + +This was the style of their conversation as they went along. Socrates +dropped behind in a fit of abstraction, and desired Aristodemus, who was +waiting, to go on before him. When he reached the house of Agathon he +found the doors wide open, and a comical thing happened. A servant coming +out met him, and led him at once into the banqueting-hall in which the +guests were reclining, for the banquet was about to begin. Welcome, +Aristodemus, said Agathon, as soon as he appeared--you are just in time to +sup with us; if you come on any other matter put it off, and make one of +us, as I was looking for you yesterday and meant to have asked you, if I +could have found you. But what have you done with Socrates? + +I turned round, but Socrates was nowhere to be seen; and I had to explain +that he had been with me a moment before, and that I came by his invitation +to the supper. + +You were quite right in coming, said Agathon; but where is he himself? + +He was behind me just now, as I entered, he said, and I cannot think what +has become of him. + +Go and look for him, boy, said Agathon, and bring him in; and do you, +Aristodemus, meanwhile take the place by Eryximachus. + +The servant then assisted him to wash, and he lay down, and presently +another servant came in and reported that our friend Socrates had retired +into the portico of the neighbouring house. 'There he is fixed,' said he, +'and when I call to him he will not stir.' + +How strange, said Agathon; then you must call him again, and keep calling +him. + +Let him alone, said my informant; he has a way of stopping anywhere and +losing himself without any reason. I believe that he will soon appear; do +not therefore disturb him. + +Well, if you think so, I will leave him, said Agathon. And then, turning +to the servants, he added, 'Let us have supper without waiting for him. +Serve up whatever you please, for there is no one to give you orders; +hitherto I have never left you to yourselves. But on this occasion imagine +that you are our hosts, and that I and the company are your guests; treat +us well, and then we shall commend you.' After this, supper was served, +but still no Socrates; and during the meal Agathon several times expressed +a wish to send for him, but Aristodemus objected; and at last when the +feast was about half over--for the fit, as usual, was not of long duration +--Socrates entered. Agathon, who was reclining alone at the end of the +table, begged that he would take the place next to him; that 'I may touch +you,' he said, 'and have the benefit of that wise thought which came into +your mind in the portico, and is now in your possession; for I am certain +that you would not have come away until you had found what you sought.' + +How I wish, said Socrates, taking his place as he was desired, that wisdom +could be infused by touch, out of the fuller into the emptier man, as water +runs through wool out of a fuller cup into an emptier one; if that were so, +how greatly should I value the privilege of reclining at your side! For +you would have filled me full with a stream of wisdom plenteous and fair; +whereas my own is of a very mean and questionable sort, no better than a +dream. But yours is bright and full of promise, and was manifested forth +in all the splendour of youth the day before yesterday, in the presence of +more than thirty thousand Hellenes. + +You are mocking, Socrates, said Agathon, and ere long you and I will have +to determine who bears off the palm of wisdom--of this Dionysus shall be +the judge; but at present you are better occupied with supper. + +Socrates took his place on the couch, and supped with the rest; and then +libations were offered, and after a hymn had been sung to the god, and +there had been the usual ceremonies, they were about to commence drinking, +when Pausanias said, And now, my friends, how can we drink with least +injury to ourselves? I can assure you that I feel severely the effect of +yesterday's potations, and must have time to recover; and I suspect that +most of you are in the same predicament, for you were of the party +yesterday. Consider then: How can the drinking be made easiest? + +I entirely agree, said Aristophanes, that we should, by all means, avoid +hard drinking, for I was myself one of those who were yesterday drowned in +drink. + +I think that you are right, said Eryximachus, the son of Acumenus; but I +should still like to hear one other person speak: Is Agathon able to drink +hard? + +I am not equal to it, said Agathon. + +Then, said Eryximachus, the weak heads like myself, Aristodemus, Phaedrus, +and others who never can drink, are fortunate in finding that the stronger +ones are not in a drinking mood. (I do not include Socrates, who is able +either to drink or to abstain, and will not mind, whichever we do.) Well, +as of none of the company seem disposed to drink much, I may be forgiven +for saying, as a physician, that drinking deep is a bad practice, which I +never follow, if I can help, and certainly do not recommend to another, +least of all to any one who still feels the effects of yesterday's carouse. + +I always do what you advise, and especially what you prescribe as a +physician, rejoined Phaedrus the Myrrhinusian, and the rest of the company, +if they are wise, will do the same. + +It was agreed that drinking was not to be the order of the day, but that +they were all to drink only so much as they pleased. + +Then, said Eryximachus, as you are all agreed that drinking is to be +voluntary, and that there is to be no compulsion, I move, in the next +place, that the flute-girl, who has just made her appearance, be told to go +away and play to herself, or, if she likes, to the women who are within +(compare Prot.). To-day let us have conversation instead; and, if you will +allow me, I will tell you what sort of conversation. This proposal having +been accepted, Eryximachus proceeded as follows:-- + +I will begin, he said, after the manner of Melanippe in Euripides, + +'Not mine the word' + +which I am about to speak, but that of Phaedrus. For often he says to me +in an indignant tone:--'What a strange thing it is, Eryximachus, that, +whereas other gods have poems and hymns made in their honour, the great and +glorious god, Love, has no encomiast among all the poets who are so many. +There are the worthy sophists too--the excellent Prodicus for example, who +have descanted in prose on the virtues of Heracles and other heroes; and, +what is still more extraordinary, I have met with a philosophical work in +which the utility of salt has been made the theme of an eloquent discourse; +and many other like things have had a like honour bestowed upon them. And +only to think that there should have been an eager interest created about +them, and yet that to this day no one has ever dared worthily to hymn +Love's praises! So entirely has this great deity been neglected.' Now in +this Phaedrus seems to me to be quite right, and therefore I want to offer +him a contribution; also I think that at the present moment we who are here +assembled cannot do better than honour the god Love. If you agree with me, +there will be no lack of conversation; for I mean to propose that each of +us in turn, going from left to right, shall make a speech in honour of +Love. Let him give us the best which he can; and Phaedrus, because he is +sitting first on the left hand, and because he is the father of the +thought, shall begin. + +No one will vote against you, Eryximachus, said Socrates. How can I oppose +your motion, who profess to understand nothing but matters of love; nor, I +presume, will Agathon and Pausanias; and there can be no doubt of +Aristophanes, whose whole concern is with Dionysus and Aphrodite; nor will +any one disagree of those whom I see around me. The proposal, as I am +aware, may seem rather hard upon us whose place is last; but we shall be +contented if we hear some good speeches first. Let Phaedrus begin the +praise of Love, and good luck to him. All the company expressed their +assent, and desired him to do as Socrates bade him. + +Aristodemus did not recollect all that was said, nor do I recollect all +that he related to me; but I will tell you what I thought most worthy of +remembrance, and what the chief speakers said. + +Phaedrus began by affirming that Love is a mighty god, and wonderful among +gods and men, but especially wonderful in his birth. For he is the eldest +of the gods, which is an honour to him; and a proof of his claim to this +honour is, that of his parents there is no memorial; neither poet nor +prose-writer has ever affirmed that he had any. As Hesiod says:-- + +'First Chaos came, and then broad-bosomed Earth, +The everlasting seat of all that is, +And Love.' + +In other words, after Chaos, the Earth and Love, these two, came into +being. Also Parmenides sings of Generation: + +'First in the train of gods, he fashioned Love.' + +And Acusilaus agrees with Hesiod. Thus numerous are the witnesses who +acknowledge Love to be the eldest of the gods. And not only is he the +eldest, he is also the source of the greatest benefits to us. For I know +not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning life than a +virtuous lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle +which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that principle, I +say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any other motive is able +to implant so well as love. Of what am I speaking? Of the sense of honour +and dishonour, without which neither states nor individuals ever do any +good or great work. And I say that a lover who is detected in doing any +dishonourable act, or submitting through cowardice when any dishonour is +done to him by another, will be more pained at being detected by his +beloved than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any +one else. The beloved too, when he is found in any disgraceful situation, +has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were only some way of +contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their +loves (compare Rep.), they would be the very best governors of their own +city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; +and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would +overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by +all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or +throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather +than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour +of danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to the +bravest, at such a time; Love would inspire him. That courage which, as +Homer says, the god breathes into the souls of some heroes, Love of his own +nature infuses into the lover. + +Love will make men dare to die for their beloved--love alone; and women as +well as men. Of this, Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, is a monument to +all Hellas; for she was willing to lay down her life on behalf of her +husband, when no one else would, although he had a father and mother; but +the tenderness of her love so far exceeded theirs, that she made them seem +to be strangers in blood to their own son, and in name only related to him; +and so noble did this action of hers appear to the gods, as well as to men, +that among the many who have done virtuously she is one of the very few to +whom, in admiration of her noble action, they have granted the privilege of +returning alive to earth; such exceeding honour is paid by the gods to the +devotion and virtue of love. But Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus, the harper, +they sent empty away, and presented to him an apparition only of her whom +he sought, but herself they would not give up, because he showed no spirit; +he was only a harp-player, and did not dare like Alcestis to die for love, +but was contriving how he might enter Hades alive; moreover, they +afterwards caused him to suffer death at the hands of women, as the +punishment of his cowardliness. Very different was the reward of the true +love of Achilles towards his lover Patroclus--his lover and not his love +(the notion that Patroclus was the beloved one is a foolish error into +which Aeschylus has fallen, for Achilles was surely the fairer of the two, +fairer also than all the other heroes; and, as Homer informs us, he was +still beardless, and younger far). And greatly as the gods honour the +virtue of love, still the return of love on the part of the beloved to the +lover is more admired and valued and rewarded by them, for the lover is +more divine; because he is inspired by God. Now Achilles was quite aware, +for he had been told by his mother, that he might avoid death and return +home, and live to a good old age, if he abstained from slaying Hector. +Nevertheless he gave his life to revenge his friend, and dared to die, not +only in his defence, but after he was dead. Wherefore the gods honoured +him even above Alcestis, and sent him to the Islands of the Blest. These +are my reasons for affirming that Love is the eldest and noblest and +mightiest of the gods; and the chiefest author and giver of virtue in life, +and of happiness after death. + +This, or something like this, was the speech of Phaedrus; and some other +speeches followed which Aristodemus did not remember; the next which he +repeated was that of Pausanias. Phaedrus, he said, the argument has not +been set before us, I think, quite in the right form;--we should not be +called upon to praise Love in such an indiscriminate manner. If there were +only one Love, then what you said would be well enough; but since there are +more Loves than one,--should have begun by determining which of them was to +be the theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I +will tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn the +praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that Love is +inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one Aphrodite there +would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses there must be two +Loves. And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The +elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphrodite--she is +the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the daughter of Zeus and Dione +--her we call common; and the Love who is her fellow-worker is rightly +named common, as the other love is called heavenly. All the gods ought to +have praise given to them, but not without distinction of their natures; +and therefore I must try to distinguish the characters of the two Loves. +Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for +example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talking--these +actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in +this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when well +done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil; and in like manner +not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and +worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is +essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the meaner +sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of +the body rather than of the soul--the most foolish beings are the objects +of this love which desires only to gain an end, but never thinks of +accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore does good and evil quite +indiscriminately. The goddess who is his mother is far younger than the +other, and she was born of the union of the male and female, and partakes +of both. But the offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a +mother in whose birth the female has no part,--she is from the male only; +this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, there is +nothing of wantonness in her. Those who are inspired by this love turn to +the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent +nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in the very character of +their attachments. For they love not boys, but intelligent beings whose +reason is beginning to be developed, much about the time at which their +beards begin to grow. And in choosing young men to be their companions, +they mean to be faithful to them, and pass their whole life in company with +them, not to take them in their inexperience, and deceive them, and play +the fool with them, or run away from one to another of them. But the love +of young boys should be forbidden by law, because their future is +uncertain; they may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much +noble enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good are +a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be restrained +by force; as we restrain or attempt to restrain them from fixing their +affections on women of free birth. These are the persons who bring a +reproach on love; and some have been led to deny the lawfulness of such +attachments because they see the impropriety and evil of them; for surely +nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Now +here and in Lacedaemon the rules about love are perplexing, but in most +cities they are simple and easily intelligible; in Elis and Boeotia, and in +countries having no gifts of eloquence, they are very straightforward; the +law is simply in favour of these connexions, and no one, whether young or +old, has anything to say to their discredit; the reason being, as I +suppose, that they are men of few words in those parts, and therefore the +lovers do not like the trouble of pleading their suit. In Ionia and other +places, and generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the +custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute +in which philosophy and gymnastics are held, because they are inimical to +tyranny; for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be +poor in spirit (compare Arist. Politics), and that there should be no +strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all +other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by +experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had +a strength which undid their power. And, therefore, the ill-repute into +which these attachments have fallen is to be ascribed to the evil condition +of those who make them to be ill-reputed; that is to say, to the self- +seeking of the governors and the cowardice of the governed; on the other +hand, the indiscriminate honour which is given to them in some countries is +attributable to the laziness of those who hold this opinion of them. In +our own country a far better principle prevails, but, as I was saying, the +explanation of it is rather perplexing. For, observe that open loves are +held to be more honourable than secret ones, and that the love of the +noblest and highest, even if their persons are less beautiful than others, +is especially honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement +which all the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing +anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he fail he +is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love the custom of mankind allows him +to do many strange things, which philosophy would bitterly censure if they +were done from any motive of interest, or wish for office or power. He may +pray, and entreat, and supplicate, and swear, and lie on a mat at the door, +and endure a slavery worse than that of any slave--in any other case +friends and enemies would be equally ready to prevent him, but now there is +no friend who will be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will +charge him with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace +which ennobles them; and custom has decided that they are highly +commendable and that there no loss of character in them; and, what is +strangest of all, he only may swear and forswear himself (so men say), and +the gods will forgive his transgression, for there is no such thing as a +lover's oath. Such is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed +the lover, according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. +From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love and to +be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when parents forbid +their sons to talk with their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, +who is appointed to see to these things, and their companions and equals +cast in their teeth anything of the sort which they may observe, and their +elders refuse to silence the reprovers and do not rebuke them--any one who +reflects on all this will, on the contrary, think that we hold these +practices to be most disgraceful. But, as I was saying at first, the truth +as I imagine is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether they +are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are honourable to him who +follows them honourably, dishonourable to him who follows them +dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to the evil, or in an evil +manner; but there is honour in yielding to the good, or in an honourable +manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, +inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in +itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was +desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words +and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for +it becomes one with the everlasting. The custom of our country would have +both of them proven well and truly, and would have us yield to the one sort +of lover and avoid the other, and therefore encourages some to pursue, and +others to fly; testing both the lover and beloved in contests and trials, +until they show to which of the two classes they respectively belong. And +this is the reason why, in the first place, a hasty attachment is held to +be dishonourable, because time is the true test of this as of most other +things; and secondly there is a dishonour in being overcome by the love of +money, or of wealth, or of political power, whether a man is frightened +into surrender by the loss of them, or, having experienced the benefits of +money and political corruption, is unable to rise above the seductions of +them. For none of these things are of a permanent or lasting nature; not +to mention that no generous friendship ever sprang from them. There +remains, then, only one way of honourable attachment which custom allows in +the beloved, and this is the way of virtue; for as we admitted that any +service which the lover does to him is not to be accounted flattery or a +dishonour to himself, so the beloved has one way only of voluntary service +which is not dishonourable, and this is virtuous service. + +For we have a custom, and according to our custom any one who does service +to another under the idea that he will be improved by him either in wisdom, +or in some other particular of virtue--such a voluntary service, I say, is +not to be regarded as a dishonour, and is not open to the charge of +flattery. And these two customs, one the love of youth, and the other the +practice of philosophy and virtue in general, ought to meet in one, and +then the beloved may honourably indulge the lover. For when the lover and +beloved come together, having each of them a law, and the lover thinks that +he is right in doing any service which he can to his gracious loving one; +and the other that he is right in showing any kindness which he can to him +who is making him wise and good; the one capable of communicating wisdom +and virtue, the other seeking to acquire them with a view to education and +wisdom, when the two laws of love are fulfilled and meet in one--then, and +then only, may the beloved yield with honour to the lover. Nor when love +is of this disinterested sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but +in every other case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived. +For he who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich, +and is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is +disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would +give himself up to any one's 'uses base' for the sake of money; but this is +not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover +because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his +company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his +affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no virtue; and if he is +deceived he has committed a noble error. For he has proved that for his +part he will do anything for anybody with a view to virtue and improvement, +than which there can be nothing nobler. Thus noble in every case is the +acceptance of another for the sake of virtue. This is that love which is +the love of the heavenly godess, and is heavenly, and of great price to +individuals and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the +work of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of +the other, who is the common goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my +contribution in praise of love, which is as good as I could make extempore. + +Pausanias came to a pause--this is the balanced way in which I have been +taught by the wise to speak; and Aristodemus said that the turn of +Aristophanes was next, but either he had eaten too much, or from some other +cause he had the hiccough, and was obliged to change turns with Eryximachus +the physician, who was reclining on the couch below him. Eryximachus, he +said, you ought either to stop my hiccough, or to speak in my turn until I +have left off. + +I will do both, said Eryximachus: I will speak in your turn, and do you +speak in mine; and while I am speaking let me recommend you to hold your +breath, and if after you have done so for some time the hiccough is no +better, then gargle with a little water; and if it still continues, tickle +your nose with something and sneeze; and if you sneeze once or twice, even +the most violent hiccough is sure to go. I will do as you prescribe, said +Aristophanes, and now get on. + +Eryximachus spoke as follows: Seeing that Pausanias made a fair beginning, +and but a lame ending, I must endeavour to supply his deficiency. I think +that he has rightly distinguished two kinds of love. But my art further +informs me that the double love is not merely an affection of the soul of +man towards the fair, or towards anything, but is to be found in the bodies +of all animals and in productions of the earth, and I may say in all that +is; such is the conclusion which I seem to have gathered from my own art of +medicine, whence I learn how great and wonderful and universal is the deity +of love, whose empire extends over all things, divine as well as human. +And from medicine I will begin that I may do honour to my art. There are +in the human body these two kinds of love, which are confessedly different +and unlike, and being unlike, they have loves and desires which are unlike; +and the desire of the healthy is one, and the desire of the diseased is +another; and as Pausanias was just now saying that to indulge good men is +honourable, and bad men dishonourable:--so too in the body the good and +healthy elements are to be indulged, and the bad elements and the elements +of disease are not to be indulged, but discouraged. And this is what the +physician has to do, and in this the art of medicine consists: for +medicine may be regarded generally as the knowledge of the loves and +desires of the body, and how to satisfy them or not; and the best physician +is he who is able to separate fair love from foul, or to convert one into +the other; and he who knows how to eradicate and how to implant love, +whichever is required, and can reconcile the most hostile elements in the +constitution and make them loving friends, is a skilful practitioner. Now +the most hostile are the most opposite, such as hot and cold, bitter and +sweet, moist and dry, and the like. And my ancestor, Asclepius, knowing +how to implant friendship and accord in these elements, was the creator of +our art, as our friends the poets here tell us, and I believe them; and not +only medicine in every branch but the arts of gymnastic and husbandry are +under his dominion. Any one who pays the least attention to the subject +will also perceive that in music there is the same reconciliation of +opposites; and I suppose that this must have been the meaning of +Heracleitus, although his words are not accurate; for he says that The One +is united by disunion, like the harmony of the bow and the lyre. Now there +is an absurdity saying that harmony is discord or is composed of elements +which are still in a state of discord. But what he probably meant was, +that harmony is composed of differing notes of higher or lower pitch which +disagreed once, but are now reconciled by the art of music; for if the +higher and lower notes still disagreed, there could be no harmony,--clearly +not. For harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an +agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot +harmonize that which disagrees. In like manner rhythm is compounded of +elements short and long, once differing and now in accord; which +accordance, as in the former instance, medicine, so in all these other +cases, music implants, making love and unison to grow up among them; and +thus music, too, is concerned with the principles of love in their +application to harmony and rhythm. Again, in the essential nature of +harmony and rhythm there is no difficulty in discerning love which has not +yet become double. But when you want to use them in actual life, either in +the composition of songs or in the correct performance of airs or metres +composed already, which latter is called education, then the difficulty +begins, and the good artist is needed. Then the old tale has to be +repeated of fair and heavenly love--the love of Urania the fair and +heavenly muse, and of the duty of accepting the temperate, and those who +are as yet intemperate only that they may become temperate, and of +preserving their love; and again, of the vulgar Polyhymnia, who must be +used with circumspection that the pleasure be enjoyed, but may not generate +licentiousness; just as in my own art it is a great matter so to regulate +the desires of the epicure that he may gratify his tastes without the +attendant evil of disease. Whence I infer that in music, in medicine, in +all other things human as well as divine, both loves ought to be noted as +far as may be, for they are both present. + +The course of the seasons is also full of both these principles; and when, +as I was saying, the elements of hot and cold, moist and dry, attain the +harmonious love of one another and blend in temperance and harmony, they +bring to men, animals, and plants health and plenty, and do them no harm; +whereas the wanton love, getting the upper hand and affecting the seasons +of the year, is very destructive and injurious, being the source of +pestilence, and bringing many other kinds of diseases on animals and +plants; for hoar-frost and hail and blight spring from the excesses and +disorders of these elements of love, which to know in relation to the +revolutions of the heavenly bodies and the seasons of the year is termed +astronomy. Furthermore all sacrifices and the whole province of +divination, which is the art of communion between gods and men--these, I +say, are concerned only with the preservation of the good and the cure of +the evil love. For all manner of impiety is likely to ensue if, instead of +accepting and honouring and reverencing the harmonious love in all his +actions, a man honours the other love, whether in his feelings towards gods +or parents, towards the living or the dead. Wherefore the business of +divination is to see to these loves and to heal them, and divination is the +peacemaker of gods and men, working by a knowledge of the religious or +irreligious tendencies which exist in human loves. Such is the great and +mighty, or rather omnipotent force of love in general. And the love, more +especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in +company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the +greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony, and +makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another. I +dare say that I too have omitted several things which might be said in +praise of Love, but this was not intentional, and you, Aristophanes, may +now supply the omission or take some other line of commendation; for I +perceive that you are rid of the hiccough. + +Yes, said Aristophanes, who followed, the hiccough is gone; not, however, +until I applied the sneezing; and I wonder whether the harmony of the body +has a love of such noises and ticklings, for I no sooner applied the +sneezing than I was cured. + +Eryximachus said: Beware, friend Aristophanes, although you are going to +speak, you are making fun of me; and I shall have to watch and see whether +I cannot have a laugh at your expense, when you might speak in peace. + +You are right, said Aristophanes, laughing. I will unsay my words; but do +you please not to watch me, as I fear that in the speech which I am about +to make, instead of others laughing with me, which is to the manner born of +our muse and would be all the better, I shall only be laughed at by them. + +Do you expect to shoot your bolt and escape, Aristophanes? Well, perhaps +if you are very careful and bear in mind that you will be called to +account, I may be induced to let you off. + +Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to +praise Love in another way, unlike that either of Pausanias or Eryximachus. +Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, +at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they +would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn +sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to +be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper +and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness +of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach +the rest of the world what I am teaching you. In the first place, let me +treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it; for the original +human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not +two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, +and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double +nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word +'Androgynous' is only preserved as a term of reproach. In the second +place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and +he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite +ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy +members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now +do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and +over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in +all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was +when he wanted to run fast. Now the sexes were three, and such as I have +described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was +originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman +of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and +moved round and round like their parents. Terrible was their might and +strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an +attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who, +as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the +gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and +annihilate the race with thunderbolts, as they had done the giants, then +there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to +them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to +be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered +a way. He said: 'Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and +improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in +two and then they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers; +this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. They +shall walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not +be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single +leg.' He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for +pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one +after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn +in order that the man might contemplate the section of himself: he would +thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also bidden to heal their +wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled +the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the +belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the centre, +which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also +moulded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker +might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few, however, in the region of +the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state. After the +division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, +and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, +longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and +self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one +of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another +mate, man or woman as we call them,--being the sections of entire men or +women,--and clung to that. They were being destroyed, when Zeus in pity of +them invented a new plan: he turned the parts of generation round to the +front, for this had not been always their position, and they sowed the seed +no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers in the ground, but in one another; +and after the transposition the male generated in the female in order that +by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race +might continue; or if man came to man they might be satisfied, and rest, +and go their ways to the business of life: so ancient is the desire of one +another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one +of two, and healing the state of man. Each of us when separated, having +one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is +always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double +nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women; adulterers +are generally of this breed, and also adulterous women who lust after men: +the women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have +female attachments; the female companions are of this sort. But they who +are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being +slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they +are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most +manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not +true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are +valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that +which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and +these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving. When +they reach manhood they are lovers of youth, and are not naturally inclined +to marry or beget children,--if at all, they do so only in obedience to the +law; but they are satisfied if they may be allowed to live with one another +unwedded; and such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, +always embracing that which is akin to him. And when one of them meets +with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of +youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love +and friendship and intimacy, and one will not be out of the other's sight, +as I may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole +lives together; yet they could not explain what they desire of one another. +For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not +appear to be the desire of lover's intercourse, but of something else which +the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has +only a dark and doubtful presentiment. Suppose Hephaestus, with his +instruments, to come to the pair who are lying side by side and to say to +them, 'What do you people want of one another?' they would be unable to +explain. And suppose further, that when he saw their perplexity he said: +'Do you desire to be wholly one; always day and night to be in one +another's company? for if this is what you desire, I am ready to melt you +into one and let you grow together, so that being two you shall become one, +and while you live live a common life as if you were a single man, and +after your death in the world below still be one departed soul instead of +two--I ask whether this is what you lovingly desire, and whether you are +satisfied to attain this?'--there is not a man of them who when he heard +the proposal would deny or would not acknowledge that this meeting and +melting into one another, this becoming one instead of two, was the very +expression of his ancient need (compare Arist. Pol.). And the reason is +that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire +and pursuit of the whole is called love. There was a time, I say, when we +were one, but now because of the wickedness of mankind God has dispersed +us, as the Arcadians were dispersed into villages by the Lacedaemonians +(compare Arist. Pol.). And if we are not obedient to the gods, there is a +danger that we shall be split up again and go about in basso-relievo, like +the profile figures having only half a nose which are sculptured on +monuments, and that we shall be like tallies. Wherefore let us exhort all +men to piety, that we may avoid evil, and obtain the good, of which Love is +to us the lord and minister; and let no one oppose him--he is the enemy of +the gods who opposes him. For if we are friends of the God and at peace +with him we shall find our own true loves, which rarely happens in this +world at present. I am serious, and therefore I must beg Eryximachus not +to make fun or to find any allusion in what I am saying to Pausanias and +Agathon, who, as I suspect, are both of the manly nature, and belong to the +class which I have been describing. But my words have a wider application +--they include men and women everywhere; and I believe that if our loves +were perfectly accomplished, and each one returning to his primeval nature +had his original true love, then our race would be happy. And if this +would be best of all, the best in the next degree and under present +circumstances must be the nearest approach to such an union; and that will +be the attainment of a congenial love. Wherefore, if we would praise him +who has given to us the benefit, we must praise the god Love, who is our +greatest benefactor, both leading us in this life back to our own nature, +and giving us high hopes for the future, for he promises that if we are +pious, he will restore us to our original state, and heal us and make us +happy and blessed. This, Eryximachus, is my discourse of love, which, +although different to yours, I must beg you to leave unassailed by the +shafts of your ridicule, in order that each may have his turn; each, or +rather either, for Agathon and Socrates are the only ones left. + +Indeed, I am not going to attack you, said Eryximachus, for I thought your +speech charming, and did I not know that Agathon and Socrates are masters +in the art of love, I should be really afraid that they would have nothing +to say, after the world of things which have been said already. But, for +all that, I am not without hopes. + +Socrates said: You played your part well, Eryximachus; but if you were as +I am now, or rather as I shall be when Agathon has spoken, you would, +indeed, be in a great strait. + +You want to cast a spell over me, Socrates, said Agathon, in the hope that +I may be disconcerted at the expectation raised among the audience that I +shall speak well. + +I should be strangely forgetful, Agathon replied Socrates, of the courage +and magnanimity which you showed when your own compositions were about to +be exhibited, and you came upon the stage with the actors and faced the +vast theatre altogether undismayed, if I thought that your nerves could be +fluttered at a small party of friends. + +Do you think, Socrates, said Agathon, that my head is so full of the +theatre as not to know how much more formidable to a man of sense a few +good judges are than many fools? + +Nay, replied Socrates, I should be very wrong in attributing to you, +Agathon, that or any other want of refinement. And I am quite aware that +if you happened to meet with any whom you thought wise, you would care for +their opinion much more than for that of the many. But then we, having +been a part of the foolish many in the theatre, cannot be regarded as the +select wise; though I know that if you chanced to be in the presence, not +of one of ourselves, but of some really wise man, you would be ashamed of +disgracing yourself before him--would you not? + +Yes, said Agathon. + +But before the many you would not be ashamed, if you thought that you were +doing something disgraceful in their presence? + +Here Phaedrus interrupted them, saying: not answer him, my dear Agathon; +for if he can only get a partner with whom he can talk, especially a good- +looking one, he will no longer care about the completion of our plan. Now +I love to hear him talk; but just at present I must not forget the encomium +on Love which I ought to receive from him and from every one. When you and +he have paid your tribute to the god, then you may talk. + +Very good, Phaedrus, said Agathon; I see no reason why I should not proceed +with my speech, as I shall have many other opportunities of conversing with +Socrates. Let me say first how I ought to speak, and then speak:-- + +The previous speakers, instead of praising the god Love, or unfolding his +nature, appear to have congratulated mankind on the benefits which he +confers upon them. But I would rather praise the god first, and then speak +of his gifts; this is always the right way of praising everything. May I +say without impiety or offence, that of all the blessed gods he is the most +blessed because he is the fairest and best? And he is the fairest: for, +in the first place, he is the youngest, and of his youth he is himself the +witness, fleeing out of the way of age, who is swift enough, swifter truly +than most of us like:--Love hates him and will not come near him; but youth +and love live and move together--like to like, as the proverb says. Many +things were said by Phaedrus about Love in which I agree with him; but I +cannot agree that he is older than Iapetus and Kronos:--not so; I maintain +him to be the youngest of the gods, and youthful ever. The ancient doings +among the gods of which Hesiod and Parmenides spoke, if the tradition of +them be true, were done of Necessity and not of Love; had Love been in +those days, there would have been no chaining or mutilation of the gods, or +other violence, but peace and sweetness, as there is now in heaven, since +the rule of Love began. Love is young and also tender; he ought to have a +poet like Homer to describe his tenderness, as Homer says of Ate, that she +is a goddess and tender:-- + +'Her feet are tender, for she sets her steps, +Not on the ground but on the heads of men:' + +herein is an excellent proof of her tenderness,--that she walks not upon +the hard but upon the soft. Let us adduce a similar proof of the +tenderness of Love; for he walks not upon the earth, nor yet upon the +skulls of men, which are not so very soft, but in the hearts and souls of +both gods and men, which are of all things the softest: in them he walks +and dwells and makes his home. Not in every soul without exception, for +where there is hardness he departs, where there is softness there he +dwells; and nestling always with his feet and in all manner of ways in the +softest of soft places, how can he be other than the softest of all things? +Of a truth he is the tenderest as well as the youngest, and also he is of +flexile form; for if he were hard and without flexure he could not enfold +all things, or wind his way into and out of every soul of man undiscovered. +And a proof of his flexibility and symmetry of form is his grace, which is +universally admitted to be in an especial manner the attribute of Love; +ungrace and love are always at war with one another. The fairness of his +complexion is revealed by his habitation among the flowers; for he dwells +not amid bloomless or fading beauties, whether of body or soul or aught +else, but in the place of flowers and scents, there he sits and abides. +Concerning the beauty of the god I have said enough; and yet there remains +much more which I might say. Of his virtue I have now to speak: his +greatest glory is that he can neither do nor suffer wrong to or from any +god or any man; for he suffers not by force if he suffers; force comes not +near him, neither when he acts does he act by force. For all men in all +things serve him of their own free will, and where there is voluntary +agreement, there, as the laws which are the lords of the city say, is +justice. And not only is he just but exceedingly temperate, for Temperance +is the acknowledged ruler of the pleasures and desires, and no pleasure +ever masters Love; he is their master and they are his servants; and if he +conquers them he must be temperate indeed. As to courage, even the God of +War is no match for him; he is the captive and Love is the lord, for love, +the love of Aphrodite, masters him, as the tale runs; and the master is +stronger than the servant. And if he conquers the bravest of all others, +he must be himself the bravest. Of his courage and justice and temperance +I have spoken, but I have yet to speak of his wisdom; and according to the +measure of my ability I must try to do my best. In the first place he is a +poet (and here, like Eryximachus, I magnify my art), and he is also the +source of poesy in others, which he could not be if he were not himself a +poet. And at the touch of him every one becomes a poet, even though he had +no music in him before (A fragment of the Sthenoaoea of Euripides.); this +also is a proof that Love is a good poet and accomplished in all the fine +arts; for no one can give to another that which he has not himself, or +teach that of which he has no knowledge. Who will deny that the creation +of the animals is his doing? Are they not all the works of his wisdom, +born and begotten of him? And as to the artists, do we not know that he +only of them whom love inspires has the light of fame?--he whom Love +touches not walks in darkness. The arts of medicine and archery and +divination were discovered by Apollo, under the guidance of love and +desire; so that he too is a disciple of Love. Also the melody of the +Muses, the metallurgy of Hephaestus, the weaving of Athene, the empire of +Zeus over gods and men, are all due to Love, who was the inventor of them. +And so Love set in order the empire of the gods--the love of beauty, as is +evident, for with deformity Love has no concern. In the days of old, as I +began by saying, dreadful deeds were done among the gods, for they were +ruled by Necessity; but now since the birth of Love, and from the Love of +the beautiful, has sprung every good in heaven and earth. Therefore, +Phaedrus, I say of Love that he is the fairest and best in himself, and the +cause of what is fairest and best in all other things. And there comes +into my mind a line of poetry in which he is said to be the god who + +'Gives peace on earth and calms the stormy deep, +Who stills the winds and bids the sufferer sleep.' + +This is he who empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection, +who makes them to meet together at banquets such as these: in sacrifices, +feasts, dances, he is our lord--who sends courtesy and sends away +discourtesy, who gives kindness ever and never gives unkindness; the friend +of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods; desired by +those who have no part in him, and precious to those who have the better +part in him; parent of delicacy, luxury, desire, fondness, softness, grace; +regardful of the good, regardless of the evil: in every word, work, wish, +fear--saviour, pilot, comrade, helper; glory of gods and men, leader best +and brightest: in whose footsteps let every man follow, sweetly singing in +his honour and joining in that sweet strain with which love charms the +souls of gods and men. Such is the speech, Phaedrus, half-playful, yet +having a certain measure of seriousness, which, according to my ability, I +dedicate to the god. + +When Agathon had done speaking, Aristodemus said that there was a general +cheer; the young man was thought to have spoken in a manner worthy of +himself, and of the god. And Socrates, looking at Eryximachus, said: Tell +me, son of Acumenus, was there not reason in my fears? and was I not a true +prophet when I said that Agathon would make a wonderful oration, and that I +should be in a strait? + +The part of the prophecy which concerns Agathon, replied Eryximachus, +appears to me to be true; but not the other part--that you will be in a +strait. + +Why, my dear friend, said Socrates, must not I or any one be in a strait +who has to speak after he has heard such a rich and varied discourse? I am +especially struck with the beauty of the concluding words--who could listen +to them without amazement? When I reflected on the immeasurable +inferiority of my own powers, I was ready to run away for shame, if there +had been a possibility of escape. For I was reminded of Gorgias, and at +the end of his speech I fancied that Agathon was shaking at me the +Gorginian or Gorgonian head of the great master of rhetoric, which was +simply to turn me and my speech into stone, as Homer says (Odyssey), and +strike me dumb. And then I perceived how foolish I had been in consenting +to take my turn with you in praising love, and saying that I too was a +master of the art, when I really had no conception how anything ought to be +praised. For in my simplicity I imagined that the topics of praise should +be true, and that this being presupposed, out of the true the speaker was +to choose the best and set them forth in the best manner. And I felt quite +proud, thinking that I knew the nature of true praise, and should speak +well. Whereas I now see that the intention was to attribute to Love every +species of greatness and glory, whether really belonging to him or not, +without regard to truth or falsehood--that was no matter; for the original +proposal seems to have been not that each of you should really praise Love, +but only that you should appear to praise him. And so you attribute to +Love every imaginable form of praise which can be gathered anywhere; and +you say that 'he is all this,' and 'the cause of all that,' making him +appear the fairest and best of all to those who know him not, for you +cannot impose upon those who know him. And a noble and solemn hymn of +praise have you rehearsed. But as I misunderstood the nature of the praise +when I said that I would take my turn, I must beg to be absolved from the +promise which I made in ignorance, and which (as Euripides would say +(Eurip. Hyppolytus)) was a promise of the lips and not of the mind. +Farewell then to such a strain: for I do not praise in that way; no, +indeed, I cannot. But if you like to hear the truth about love, I am ready +to speak in my own manner, though I will not make myself ridiculous by +entering into any rivalry with you. Say then, Phaedrus, whether you would +like to have the truth about love, spoken in any words and in any order +which may happen to come into my mind at the time. Will that be agreeable +to you? + +Aristodemus said that Phaedrus and the company bid him speak in any manner +which he thought best. Then, he added, let me have your permission first +to ask Agathon a few more questions, in order that I may take his +admissions as the premisses of my discourse. + +I grant the permission, said Phaedrus: put your questions. Socrates then +proceeded as follows:-- + +In the magnificent oration which you have just uttered, I think that you +were right, my dear Agathon, in proposing to speak of the nature of Love +first and afterwards of his works--that is a way of beginning which I very +much approve. And as you have spoken so eloquently of his nature, may I +ask you further, Whether love is the love of something or of nothing? And +here I must explain myself: I do not want you to say that love is the love +of a father or the love of a mother--that would be ridiculous; but to +answer as you would, if I asked is a father a father of something? to which +you would find no difficulty in replying, of a son or daughter: and the +answer would be right. + +Very true, said Agathon. + +And you would say the same of a mother? + +He assented. + +Yet let me ask you one more question in order to illustrate my meaning: Is +not a brother to be regarded essentially as a brother of something? + +Certainly, he replied. + +That is, of a brother or sister? + +Yes, he said. + +And now, said Socrates, I will ask about Love:--Is Love of something or of +nothing? + +Of something, surely, he replied. + +Keep in mind what this is, and tell me what I want to know--whether Love +desires that of which love is. + +Yes, surely. + +And does he possess, or does he not possess, that which he loves and +desires? + +Probably not, I should say. + +Nay, replied Socrates, I would have you consider whether 'necessarily' is +not rather the word. The inference that he who desires something is in +want of something, and that he who desires nothing is in want of nothing, +is in my judgment, Agathon, absolutely and necessarily true. What do you +think? + +I agree with you, said Agathon. + +Very good. Would he who is great, desire to be great, or he who is strong, +desire to be strong? + +That would be inconsistent with our previous admissions. + +True. For he who is anything cannot want to be that which he is? + +Very true. + +And yet, added Socrates, if a man being strong desired to be strong, or +being swift desired to be swift, or being healthy desired to be healthy, in +that case he might be thought to desire something which he already has or +is. I give the example in order that we may avoid misconception. For the +possessors of these qualities, Agathon, must be supposed to have their +respective advantages at the time, whether they choose or not; and who can +desire that which he has? Therefore, when a person says, I am well and +wish to be well, or I am rich and wish to be rich, and I desire simply to +have what I have--to him we shall reply: 'You, my friend, having wealth +and health and strength, want to have the continuance of them; for at this +moment, whether you choose or no, you have them. And when you say, I +desire that which I have and nothing else, is not your meaning that you +want to have what you now have in the future?' He must agree with us--must +he not? + +He must, replied Agathon. + +Then, said Socrates, he desires that what he has at present may be +preserved to him in the future, which is equivalent to saying that he +desires something which is non-existent to him, and which as yet he has not +got: + +Very true, he said. + +Then he and every one who desires, desires that which he has not already, +and which is future and not present, and which he has not, and is not, and +of which he is in want;--these are the sort of things which love and desire +seek? + +Very true, he said. + +Then now, said Socrates, let us recapitulate the argument. First, is not +love of something, and of something too which is wanting to a man? + +Yes, he replied. + +Remember further what you said in your speech, or if you do not remember I +will remind you: you said that the love of the beautiful set in order the +empire of the gods, for that of deformed things there is no love--did you +not say something of that kind? + +Yes, said Agathon. + +Yes, my friend, and the remark was a just one. And if this is true, Love +is the love of beauty and not of deformity? + +He assented. + +And the admission has been already made that Love is of something which a +man wants and has not? + +True, he said. + +Then Love wants and has not beauty? + +Certainly, he replied. + +And would you call that beautiful which wants and does not possess beauty? + +Certainly not. + +Then would you still say that love is beautiful? + +Agathon replied: I fear that I did not understand what I was saying. + +You made a very good speech, Agathon, replied Socrates; but there is yet +one small question which I would fain ask:--Is not the good also the +beautiful? + +Yes. + +Then in wanting the beautiful, love wants also the good? + +I cannot refute you, Socrates, said Agathon:--Let us assume that what you +say is true. + +Say rather, beloved Agathon, that you cannot refute the truth; for Socrates +is easily refuted. + +And now, taking my leave of you, I would rehearse a tale of love which I +heard from Diotima of Mantineia (compare 1 Alcibiades), a woman wise in +this and in many other kinds of knowledge, who in the days of old, when the +Athenians offered sacrifice before the coming of the plague, delayed the +disease ten years. She was my instructress in the art of love, and I shall +repeat to you what she said to me, beginning with the admissions made by +Agathon, which are nearly if not quite the same which I made to the wise +woman when she questioned me: I think that this will be the easiest way, +and I shall take both parts myself as well as I can (compare Gorgias). As +you, Agathon, suggested (supra), I must speak first of the being and nature +of Love, and then of his works. First I said to her in nearly the same +words which he used to me, that Love was a mighty god, and likewise fair; +and she proved to me as I proved to him that, by my own showing, Love was +neither fair nor good. 'What do you mean, Diotima,' I said, 'is love then +evil and foul?' 'Hush,' she cried; 'must that be foul which is not fair?' +'Certainly,' I said. 'And is that which is not wise, ignorant? do you not +see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance?' 'And what may that +be?' I said. 'Right opinion,' she replied; 'which, as you know, being +incapable of giving a reason, is not knowledge (for how can knowledge be +devoid of reason? nor again, ignorance, for neither can ignorance attain +the truth), but is clearly something which is a mean between ignorance and +wisdom.' 'Quite true,' I replied. 'Do not then insist,' she said, 'that +what is not fair is of necessity foul, or what is not good evil; or infer +that because love is not fair and good he is therefore foul and evil; for +he is in a mean between them.' 'Well,' I said, 'Love is surely admitted by +all to be a great god.' 'By those who know or by those who do not know?' +'By all.' 'And how, Socrates,' she said with a smile, 'can Love be +acknowledged to be a great god by those who say that he is not a god at +all?' 'And who are they?' I said. 'You and I are two of them,' she +replied. 'How can that be?' I said. 'It is quite intelligible,' she +replied; 'for you yourself would acknowledge that the gods are happy and +fair--of course you would--would you dare to say that any god was not?' +'Certainly not,' I replied. 'And you mean by the happy, those who are the +possessors of things good or fair?' 'Yes.' 'And you admitted that Love, +because he was in want, desires those good and fair things of which he is +in want?' 'Yes, I did.' 'But how can he be a god who has no portion in +what is either good or fair?' 'Impossible.' 'Then you see that you also +deny the divinity of Love.' + +'What then is Love?' I asked; 'Is he mortal?' 'No.' 'What then?' 'As in +the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean +between the two.' 'What is he, Diotima?' 'He is a great spirit (daimon), +and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal.' +'And what,' I said, 'is his power?' 'He interprets,' she replied, 'between +gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and +sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods; he is +the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him +all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet and the +priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all prophecy and +incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man; but through +Love all the intercourse and converse of God with man, whether awake or +asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual; all +other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar. +Now these spirits or intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of +them is Love.' 'And who,' I said, 'was his father, and who his mother?' +'The tale,' she said, 'will take time; nevertheless I will tell you. On +the birthday of Aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god +Poros or Plenty, who is the son of Metis or Discretion, was one of the +guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty, as the manner is on +such occasions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse +for nectar (there was no wine in those days), went into the garden of Zeus +and fell into a heavy sleep, and Poverty considering her own straitened +circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down +at his side and conceived Love, who partly because he is naturally a lover +of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful, and also +because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant. And as +his parentage is, so also are his fortunes. In the first place he is +always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him; and +he is rough and squalid, and has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in; on the +bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in the streets, or at the +doors of houses, taking his rest; and like his mother he is always in +distress. Like his father too, whom he also partly resembles, he is always +plotting against the fair and good; he is bold, enterprising, strong, a +mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or other, keen in the pursuit +of wisdom, fertile in resources; a philosopher at all times, terrible as an +enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal, +but alive and flourishing at one moment when he is in plenty, and dead at +another moment, and again alive by reason of his father's nature. But that +which is always flowing in is always flowing out, and so he is never in +want and never in wealth; and, further, he is in a mean between ignorance +and knowledge. The truth of the matter is this: No god is a philosopher +or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is +wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For +herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is +nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for that of which he +feels no want.' 'But who then, Diotima,' I said, 'are the lovers of +wisdom, if they are neither the wise nor the foolish?' 'A child may answer +that question,' she replied; 'they are those who are in a mean between the +two; Love is one of them. For wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love +is of the beautiful; and therefore Love is also a philosopher or lover of +wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the +ignorant. And of this too his birth is the cause; for his father is +wealthy and wise, and his mother poor and foolish. Such, my dear Socrates, +is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was +very natural, and as I imagine from what you say, has arisen out of a +confusion of love and the beloved, which made you think that love was all +beautiful. For the beloved is the truly beautiful, and delicate, and +perfect, and blessed; but the principle of love is of another nature, and +is such as I have described.' + +I said, 'O thou stranger woman, thou sayest well; but, assuming Love to be +such as you say, what is the use of him to men?' 'That, Socrates,' she +replied, 'I will attempt to unfold: of his nature and birth I have already +spoken; and you acknowledge that love is of the beautiful. But some one +will say: Of the beautiful in what, Socrates and Diotima?--or rather let +me put the question more clearly, and ask: When a man loves the beautiful, +what does he desire?' I answered her 'That the beautiful may be his.' +'Still,' she said, 'the answer suggests a further question: What is given +by the possession of beauty?' 'To what you have asked,' I replied, 'I have +no answer ready.' 'Then,' she said, 'let me put the word "good" in the +place of the beautiful, and repeat the question once more: If he who loves +loves the good, what is it then that he loves?' 'The possession of the +good,' I said. 'And what does he gain who possesses the good?' +'Happiness,' I replied; 'there is less difficulty in answering that +question.' 'Yes,' she said, 'the happy are made happy by the acquisition +of good things. Nor is there any need to ask why a man desires happiness; +the answer is already final.' 'You are right.' I said. 'And is this wish +and this desire common to all? and do all men always desire their own good, +or only some men?--what say you?' 'All men,' I replied; 'the desire is +common to all.' 'Why, then,' she rejoined, 'are not all men, Socrates, +said to love, but only some of them? whereas you say that all men are +always loving the same things.' 'I myself wonder,' I said, 'why this is.' +'There is nothing to wonder at,' she replied; 'the reason is that one part +of love is separated off and receives the name of the whole, but the other +parts have other names.' 'Give an illustration,' I said. She answered me +as follows: 'There is poetry, which, as you know, is complex and manifold. +All creation or passage of non-being into being is poetry or making, and +the processes of all art are creative; and the masters of arts are all +poets or makers.' 'Very true.' 'Still,' she said, 'you know that they are +not called poets, but have other names; only that portion of the art which +is separated off from the rest, and is concerned with music and metre, is +termed poetry, and they who possess poetry in this sense of the word are +called poets.' 'Very true,' I said. 'And the same holds of love. For you +may say generally that all desire of good and happiness is only the great +and subtle power of love; but they who are drawn towards him by any other +path, whether the path of money-making or gymnastics or philosophy, are not +called lovers--the name of the whole is appropriated to those whose +affection takes one form only--they alone are said to love, or to be +lovers.' 'I dare say,' I replied, 'that you are right.' 'Yes,' she added, +'and you hear people say that lovers are seeking for their other half; but +I say that they are seeking neither for the half of themselves, nor for the +whole, unless the half or the whole be also a good. And they will cut off +their own hands and feet and cast them away, if they are evil; for they +love not what is their own, unless perchance there be some one who calls +what belongs to him the good, and what belongs to another the evil. For +there is nothing which men love but the good. Is there anything?' +'Certainly, I should say, that there is nothing.' 'Then,' she said, 'the +simple truth is, that men love the good.' 'Yes,' I said. 'To which must +be added that they love the possession of the good?' 'Yes, that must be +added.' 'And not only the possession, but the everlasting possession of +the good?' 'That must be added too.' 'Then love,' she said, 'may be +described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?' +'That is most true.' + +'Then if this be the nature of love, can you tell me further,' she said, +'what is the manner of the pursuit? what are they doing who show all this +eagerness and heat which is called love? and what is the object which they +have in view? Answer me.' 'Nay, Diotima,' I replied, 'if I had known, I +should not have wondered at your wisdom, neither should I have come to +learn from you about this very matter.' 'Well,' she said, 'I will teach +you:--The object which they have in view is birth in beauty, whether of +body or soul.' 'I do not understand you,' I said; 'the oracle requires an +explanation.' 'I will make my meaning clearer,' she replied. 'I mean to +say, that all men are bringing to the birth in their bodies and in their +souls. There is a certain age at which human nature is desirous of +procreation--procreation which must be in beauty and not in deformity; and +this procreation is the union of man and woman, and is a divine thing; for +conception and generation are an immortal principle in the mortal creature, +and in the inharmonious they can never be. But the deformed is always +inharmonious with the divine, and the beautiful harmonious. Beauty, then, +is the destiny or goddess of parturition who presides at birth, and +therefore, when approaching beauty, the conceiving power is propitious, and +diffusive, and benign, and begets and bears fruit: at the sight of +ugliness she frowns and contracts and has a sense of pain, and turns away, +and shrivels up, and not without a pang refrains from conception. And this +is the reason why, when the hour of conception arrives, and the teeming +nature is full, there is such a flutter and ecstasy about beauty whose +approach is the alleviation of the pain of travail. For love, Socrates, is +not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only.' 'What then?' 'The +love of generation and of birth in beauty.' 'Yes,' I said. 'Yes, indeed,' +she replied. 'But why of generation?' 'Because to the mortal creature, +generation is a sort of eternity and immortality,' she replied; 'and if, as +has been already admitted, love is of the everlasting possession of the +good, all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good: +Wherefore love is of immortality.' + +All this she taught me at various times when she spoke of love. And I +remember her once saying to me, 'What is the cause, Socrates, of love, and +the attendant desire? See you not how all animals, birds, as well as +beasts, in their desire of procreation, are in agony when they take the +infection of love, which begins with the desire of union; whereto is added +the care of offspring, on whose behalf the weakest are ready to battle +against the strongest even to the uttermost, and to die for them, and will +let themselves be tormented with hunger or suffer anything in order to +maintain their young. Man may be supposed to act thus from reason; but why +should animals have these passionate feelings? Can you tell me why?' +Again I replied that I did not know. She said to me: 'And do you expect +ever to become a master in the art of love, if you do not know this?' 'But +I have told you already, Diotima, that my ignorance is the reason why I +come to you; for I am conscious that I want a teacher; tell me then the +cause of this and of the other mysteries of love.' 'Marvel not,' she said, +'if you believe that love is of the immortal, as we have several times +acknowledged; for here again, and on the same principle too, the mortal +nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal: +and this is only to be attained by generation, because generation always +leaves behind a new existence in the place of the old. Nay even in the +life of the same individual there is succession and not absolute unity: a +man is called the same, and yet in the short interval which elapses between +youth and age, and in which every animal is said to have life and identity, +he is undergoing a perpetual process of loss and reparation--hair, flesh, +bones, blood, and the whole body are always changing. Which is true not +only of the body, but also of the soul, whose habits, tempers, opinions, +desires, pleasures, pains, fears, never remain the same in any one of us, +but are always coming and going; and equally true of knowledge, and what is +still more surprising to us mortals, not only do the sciences in general +spring up and decay, so that in respect of them we are never the same; but +each of them individually experiences a like change. For what is implied +in the word "recollection," but the departure of knowledge, which is ever +being forgotten, and is renewed and preserved by recollection, and appears +to be the same although in reality new, according to that law of succession +by which all mortal things are preserved, not absolutely the same, but by +substitution, the old worn-out mortality leaving another new and similar +existence behind--unlike the divine, which is always the same and not +another? And in this way, Socrates, the mortal body, or mortal anything, +partakes of immortality; but the immortal in another way. Marvel not then +at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love +and interest is for the sake of immortality.' + +I was astonished at her words, and said: 'Is this really true, O thou wise +Diotima?' And she answered with all the authority of an accomplished +sophist: 'Of that, Socrates, you may be assured;--think only of the +ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways, +unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of +fame. They are ready to run all risks greater far than they would have run +for their children, and to spend money and undergo any sort of toil, and +even to die, for the sake of leaving behind them a name which shall be +eternal. Do you imagine that Alcestis would have died to save Admetus, or +Achilles to avenge Patroclus, or your own Codrus in order to preserve the +kingdom for his sons, if they had not imagined that the memory of their +virtues, which still survives among us, would be immortal? Nay,' she said, +'I am persuaded that all men do all things, and the better they are the +more they do them, in hope of the glorious fame of immortal virtue; for +they desire the immortal. + +'Those who are pregnant in the body only, betake themselves to women and +beget children--this is the character of their love; their offspring, as +they hope, will preserve their memory and giving them the blessedness and +immortality which they desire in the future. But souls which are pregnant +--for there certainly are men who are more creative in their souls than in +their bodies--conceive that which is proper for the soul to conceive or +contain. And what are these conceptions?--wisdom and virtue in general. +And such creators are poets and all artists who are deserving of the name +inventor. But the greatest and fairest sort of wisdom by far is that which +is concerned with the ordering of states and families, and which is called +temperance and justice. And he who in youth has the seed of these +implanted in him and is himself inspired, when he comes to maturity desires +to beget and generate. He wanders about seeking beauty that he may beget +offspring--for in deformity he will beget nothing--and naturally embraces +the beautiful rather than the deformed body; above all when he finds a fair +and noble and well-nurtured soul, he embraces the two in one person, and to +such an one he is full of speech about virtue and the nature and pursuits +of a good man; and he tries to educate him; and at the touch of the +beautiful which is ever present to his memory, even when absent, he brings +forth that which he had conceived long before, and in company with him +tends that which he brings forth; and they are married by a far nearer tie +and have a closer friendship than those who beget mortal children, for the +children who are their common offspring are fairer and more immortal. Who, +when he thinks of Homer and Hesiod and other great poets, would not rather +have their children than ordinary human ones? Who would not emulate them +in the creation of children such as theirs, which have preserved their +memory and given them everlasting glory? Or who would not have such +children as Lycurgus left behind him to be the saviours, not only of +Lacedaemon, but of Hellas, as one may say? There is Solon, too, who is the +revered father of Athenian laws; and many others there are in many other +places, both among Hellenes and barbarians, who have given to the world +many noble works, and have been the parents of virtue of every kind; and +many temples have been raised in their honour for the sake of children such +as theirs; which were never raised in honour of any one, for the sake of +his mortal children. + +'These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may +enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these, +and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will lead, I know +not whether you will be able to attain. But I will do my utmost to inform +you, and do you follow if you can. For he who would proceed aright in this +matter should begin in youth to visit beautiful forms; and first, if he be +guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only--out of that he +should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the +beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of +form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognize +that the beauty in every form is and the same! And when he perceives this +he will abate his violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a +small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next +stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than +the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a +little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search +out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he +is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of institutions and laws, +and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that +personal beauty is a trifle; and after laws and institutions he will go on +to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in +love with the beauty of one youth or man or institution, himself a slave +mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea +of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in +boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, +and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the +science of beauty everywhere. To this I will proceed; please to give me +your very best attention: + +'He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has +learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes +toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and +this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)--a nature which +in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and +waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at +one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in +another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and foul to +others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the +bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any +other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven, or in earth, or in +any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, +which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted +to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who +from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive +that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or +being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties +of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these +as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair +forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to +fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute +beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. This, my dear +Socrates,' said the stranger of Mantineia, 'is that life above all others +which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty +which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of +gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances +you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and +conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible--you only +want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see +the true beauty--the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, +not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and +vanities of human life--thither looking, and holding converse with the true +beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding +beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not +images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a +reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the +friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble +life?' + +Such, Phaedrus--and I speak not only to you, but to all of you--were the +words of Diotima; and I am persuaded of their truth. And being persuaded +of them, I try to persuade others, that in the attainment of this end human +nature will not easily find a helper better than love: And therefore, +also, I say that every man ought to honour him as I myself honour him, and +walk in his ways, and exhort others to do the same, and praise the power +and spirit of love according to the measure of my ability now and ever. + +The words which I have spoken, you, Phaedrus, may call an encomium of love, +or anything else which you please. + +When Socrates had done speaking, the company applauded, and Aristophanes +was beginning to say something in answer to the allusion which Socrates had +made to his own speech, when suddenly there was a great knocking at the +door of the house, as of revellers, and the sound of a flute-girl was +heard. Agathon told the attendants to go and see who were the intruders. +'If they are friends of ours,' he said, 'invite them in, but if not, say +that the drinking is over.' A little while afterwards they heard the voice +of Alcibiades resounding in the court; he was in a great state of +intoxication, and kept roaring and shouting 'Where is Agathon? Lead me to +Agathon,' and at length, supported by the flute-girl and some of his +attendants, he found his way to them. 'Hail, friends,' he said, appearing +at the door crowned with a massive garland of ivy and violets, his head +flowing with ribands. 'Will you have a very drunken man as a companion of +your revels? Or shall I crown Agathon, which was my intention in coming, +and go away? For I was unable to come yesterday, and therefore I am here +to-day, carrying on my head these ribands, that taking them from my own +head, I may crown the head of this fairest and wisest of men, as I may be +allowed to call him. Will you laugh at me because I am drunk? Yet I know +very well that I am speaking the truth, although you may laugh. But first +tell me; if I come in shall we have the understanding of which I spoke +(supra Will you have a very drunken man? etc.)? Will you drink with me or +not?' + +The company were vociferous in begging that he would take his place among +them, and Agathon specially invited him. Thereupon he was led in by the +people who were with him; and as he was being led, intending to crown +Agathon, he took the ribands from his own head and held them in front of +his eyes; he was thus prevented from seeing Socrates, who made way for him, +and Alcibiades took the vacant place between Agathon and Socrates, and in +taking the place he embraced Agathon and crowned him. Take off his +sandals, said Agathon, and let him make a third on the same couch. + +By all means; but who makes the third partner in our revels? said +Alcibiades, turning round and starting up as he caught sight of Socrates. +By Heracles, he said, what is this? here is Socrates always lying in wait +for me, and always, as his way is, coming out at all sorts of unsuspected +places: and now, what have you to say for yourself, and why are you lying +here, where I perceive that you have contrived to find a place, not by a +joker or lover of jokes, like Aristophanes, but by the fairest of the +company? + +Socrates turned to Agathon and said: I must ask you to protect me, +Agathon; for the passion of this man has grown quite a serious matter to +me. Since I became his admirer I have never been allowed to speak to any +other fair one, or so much as to look at them. If I do, he goes wild with +envy and jealousy, and not only abuses me but can hardly keep his hands off +me, and at this moment he may do me some harm. Please to see to this, and +either reconcile me to him, or, if he attempts violence, protect me, as I +am in bodily fear of his mad and passionate attempts. + +There can never be reconciliation between you and me, said Alcibiades; but +for the present I will defer your chastisement. And I must beg you, +Agathon, to give me back some of the ribands that I may crown the +marvellous head of this universal despot--I would not have him complain of +me for crowning you, and neglecting him, who in conversation is the +conqueror of all mankind; and this not only once, as you were the day +before yesterday, but always. Whereupon, taking some of the ribands, he +crowned Socrates, and again reclined. + +Then he said: You seem, my friends, to be sober, which is a thing not to +be endured; you must drink--for that was the agreement under which I was +admitted--and I elect myself master of the feast until you are well drunk. +Let us have a large goblet, Agathon, or rather, he said, addressing the +attendant, bring me that wine-cooler. The wine-cooler which had caught his +eye was a vessel holding more than two quarts--this he filled and emptied, +and bade the attendant fill it again for Socrates. Observe, my friends, +said Alcibiades, that this ingenious trick of mine will have no effect on +Socrates, for he can drink any quantity of wine and not be at all nearer +being drunk. Socrates drank the cup which the attendant filled for him. + +Eryximachus said: What is this, Alcibiades? Are we to have neither +conversation nor singing over our cups; but simply to drink as if we were +thirsty? + +Alcibiades replied: Hail, worthy son of a most wise and worthy sire! + +The same to you, said Eryximachus; but what shall we do? + +That I leave to you, said Alcibiades. + +'The wise physician skilled our wounds to heal (from Pope's Homer, Il.)' + +shall prescribe and we will obey. What do you want? + +Well, said Eryximachus, before you appeared we had passed a resolution that +each one of us in turn should make a speech in praise of love, and as good +a one as he could: the turn was passed round from left to right; and as +all of us have spoken, and you have not spoken but have well drunken, you +ought to speak, and then impose upon Socrates any task which you please, +and he on his right hand neighbour, and so on. + +That is good, Eryximachus, said Alcibiades; and yet the comparison of a +drunken man's speech with those of sober men is hardly fair; and I should +like to know, sweet friend, whether you really believe what Socrates was +just now saying; for I can assure you that the very reverse is the fact, +and that if I praise any one but himself in his presence, whether God or +man, he will hardly keep his hands off me. + +For shame, said Socrates. + +Hold your tongue, said Alcibiades, for by Poseidon, there is no one else +whom I will praise when you are of the company. + +Well then, said Eryximachus, if you like praise Socrates. + +What do you think, Eryximachus? said Alcibiades: shall I attack him and +inflict the punishment before you all? + +What are you about? said Socrates; are you going to raise a laugh at my +expense? Is that the meaning of your praise? + +I am going to speak the truth, if you will permit me. + +I not only permit, but exhort you to speak the truth. + +Then I will begin at once, said Alcibiades, and if I say anything which is +not true, you may interrupt me if you will, and say 'that is a lie,' though +my intention is to speak the truth. But you must not wonder if I speak any +how as things come into my mind; for the fluent and orderly enumeration of +all your singularities is not a task which is easy to a man in my +condition. + +And now, my boys, I shall praise Socrates in a figure which will appear to +him to be a caricature, and yet I speak, not to make fun of him, but only +for the truth's sake. I say, that he is exactly like the busts of Silenus, +which are set up in the statuaries' shops, holding pipes and flutes in +their mouths; and they are made to open in the middle, and have images of +gods inside them. I say also that he is like Marsyas the satyr. You +yourself will not deny, Socrates, that your face is like that of a satyr. +Aye, and there is a resemblance in other points too. For example, you are +a bully, as I can prove by witnesses, if you will not confess. And are you +not a flute-player? That you are, and a performer far more wonderful than +Marsyas. He indeed with instruments used to charm the souls of men by the +power of his breath, and the players of his music do so still: for the +melodies of Olympus (compare Arist. Pol.) are derived from Marsyas who +taught them, and these, whether they are played by a great master or by a +miserable flute-girl, have a power which no others have; they alone possess +the soul and reveal the wants of those who have need of gods and mysteries, +because they are divine. But you produce the same effect with your words +only, and do not require the flute: that is the difference between you and +him. When we hear any other speaker, even a very good one, he produces +absolutely no effect upon us, or not much, whereas the mere fragments of +you and your words, even at second-hand, and however imperfectly repeated, +amaze and possess the souls of every man, woman, and child who comes within +hearing of them. And if I were not afraid that you would think me +hopelessly drunk, I would have sworn as well as spoken to the influence +which they have always had and still have over me. For my heart leaps +within me more than that of any Corybantian reveller, and my eyes rain +tears when I hear them. And I observe that many others are affected in the +same manner. I have heard Pericles and other great orators, and I thought +that they spoke well, but I never had any similar feeling; my soul was not +stirred by them, nor was I angry at the thought of my own slavish state. +But this Marsyas has often brought me to such a pass, that I have felt as +if I could hardly endure the life which I am leading (this, Socrates, you +will admit); and I am conscious that if I did not shut my ears against him, +and fly as from the voice of the siren, my fate would be like that of +others,--he would transfix me, and I should grow old sitting at his feet. +For he makes me confess that I ought not to live as I do, neglecting the +wants of my own soul, and busying myself with the concerns of the +Athenians; therefore I hold my ears and tear myself away from him. And he +is the only person who ever made me ashamed, which you might think not to +be in my nature, and there is no one else who does the same. For I know +that I cannot answer him or say that I ought not to do as he bids, but when +I leave his presence the love of popularity gets the better of me. And +therefore I run away and fly from him, and when I see him I am ashamed of +what I have confessed to him. Many a time have I wished that he were dead, +and yet I know that I should be much more sorry than glad, if he were to +die: so that I am at my wit's end. + +And this is what I and many others have suffered from the flute-playing of +this satyr. Yet hear me once more while I show you how exact the image is, +and how marvellous his power. For let me tell you; none of you know him; +but I will reveal him to you; having begun, I must go on. See you how fond +he is of the fair? He is always with them and is always being smitten by +them, and then again he knows nothing and is ignorant of all things--such +is the appearance which he puts on. Is he not like a Silenus in this? To +be sure he is: his outer mask is the carved head of the Silenus; but, O my +companions in drink, when he is opened, what temperance there is residing +within! Know you that beauty and wealth and honour, at which the many +wonder, are of no account with him, and are utterly despised by him: he +regards not at all the persons who are gifted with them; mankind are +nothing to him; all his life is spent in mocking and flouting at them. But +when I opened him, and looked within at his serious purpose, I saw in him +divine and golden images of such fascinating beauty that I was ready to do +in a moment whatever Socrates commanded: they may have escaped the +observation of others, but I saw them. Now I fancied that he was seriously +enamoured of my beauty, and I thought that I should therefore have a grand +opportunity of hearing him tell what he knew, for I had a wonderful opinion +of the attractions of my youth. In the prosecution of this design, when I +next went to him, I sent away the attendant who usually accompanied me (I +will confess the whole truth, and beg you to listen; and if I speak +falsely, do you, Socrates, expose the falsehood). Well, he and I were +alone together, and I thought that when there was nobody with us, I should +hear him speak the language which lovers use to their loves when they are +by themselves, and I was delighted. Nothing of the sort; he conversed as +usual, and spent the day with me and then went away. Afterwards I +challenged him to the palaestra; and he wrestled and closed with me several +times when there was no one present; I fancied that I might succeed in this +manner. Not a bit; I made no way with him. Lastly, as I had failed +hitherto, I thought that I must take stronger measures and attack him +boldly, and, as I had begun, not give him up, but see how matters stood +between him and me. So I invited him to sup with me, just as if he were a +fair youth, and I a designing lover. He was not easily persuaded to come; +he did, however, after a while accept the invitation, and when he came the +first time, he wanted to go away at once as soon as supper was over, and I +had not the face to detain him. The second time, still in pursuance of my +design, after we had supped, I went on conversing far into the night, and +when he wanted to go away, I pretended that the hour was late and that he +had much better remain. So he lay down on the couch next to me, the same +on which he had supped, and there was no one but ourselves sleeping in the +apartment. All this may be told without shame to any one. But what +follows I could hardly tell you if I were sober. Yet as the proverb says, +'In vino veritas,' whether with boys, or without them (In allusion to two +proverbs.); and therefore I must speak. Nor, again, should I be justified +in concealing the lofty actions of Socrates when I come to praise him. +Moreover I have felt the serpent's sting; and he who has suffered, as they +say, is willing to tell his fellow-sufferers only, as they alone will be +likely to understand him, and will not be extreme in judging of the sayings +or doings which have been wrung from his agony. For I have been bitten by +a more than viper's tooth; I have known in my soul, or in my heart, or in +some other part, that worst of pangs, more violent in ingenuous youth than +any serpent's tooth, the pang of philosophy, which will make a man say or +do anything. And you whom I see around me, Phaedrus and Agathon and +Eryximachus and Pausanias and Aristodemus and Aristophanes, all of you, and +I need not say Socrates himself, have had experience of the same madness +and passion in your longing after wisdom. Therefore listen and excuse my +doings then and my sayings now. But let the attendants and other profane +and unmannered persons close up the doors of their ears. + +When the lamp was put out and the servants had gone away, I thought that I +must be plain with him and have no more ambiguity. So I gave him a shake, +and I said: 'Socrates, are you asleep?' 'No,' he said. 'Do you know what +I am meditating? 'What are you meditating?' he said. 'I think,' I +replied, 'that of all the lovers whom I have ever had you are the only one +who is worthy of me, and you appear to be too modest to speak. Now I feel +that I should be a fool to refuse you this or any other favour, and +therefore I come to lay at your feet all that I have and all that my +friends have, in the hope that you will assist me in the way of virtue, +which I desire above all things, and in which I believe that you can help +me better than any one else. And I should certainly have more reason to be +ashamed of what wise men would say if I were to refuse a favour to such as +you, than of what the world, who are mostly fools, would say of me if I +granted it.' To these words he replied in the ironical manner which is so +characteristic of him:--'Alcibiades, my friend, you have indeed an elevated +aim if what you say is true, and if there really is in me any power by +which you may become better; truly you must see in me some rare beauty of a +kind infinitely higher than any which I see in you. And therefore, if you +mean to share with me and to exchange beauty for beauty, you will have +greatly the advantage of me; you will gain true beauty in return for +appearance--like Diomede, gold in exchange for brass. But look again, +sweet friend, and see whether you are not deceived in me. The mind begins +to grow critical when the bodily eye fails, and it will be a long time +before you get old.' Hearing this, I said: 'I have told you my purpose, +which is quite serious, and do you consider what you think best for you and +me.' 'That is good,' he said; 'at some other time then we will consider +and act as seems best about this and about other matters.' Whereupon, I +fancied that he was smitten, and that the words which I had uttered like +arrows had wounded him, and so without waiting to hear more I got up, and +throwing my coat about him crept under his threadbare cloak, as the time of +year was winter, and there I lay during the whole night having this +wonderful monster in my arms. This again, Socrates, will not be denied by +you. And yet, notwithstanding all, he was so superior to my solicitations, +so contemptuous and derisive and disdainful of my beauty--which really, as +I fancied, had some attractions--hear, O judges; for judges you shall be of +the haughty virtue of Socrates--nothing more happened, but in the morning +when I awoke (let all the gods and goddesses be my witnesses) I arose as +from the couch of a father or an elder brother. + +What do you suppose must have been my feelings, after this rejection, at +the thought of my own dishonour? And yet I could not help wondering at his +natural temperance and self-restraint and manliness. I never imagined that +I could have met with a man such as he is in wisdom and endurance. And +therefore I could not be angry with him or renounce his company, any more +than I could hope to win him. For I well knew that if Ajax could not be +wounded by steel, much less he by money; and my only chance of captivating +him by my personal attractions had failed. So I was at my wit's end; no +one was ever more hopelessly enslaved by another. All this happened before +he and I went on the expedition to Potidaea; there we messed together, and +I had the opportunity of observing his extraordinary power of sustaining +fatigue. His endurance was simply marvellous when, being cut off from our +supplies, we were compelled to go without food--on such occasions, which +often happen in time of war, he was superior not only to me but to +everybody; there was no one to be compared to him. Yet at a festival he +was the only person who had any real powers of enjoyment; though not +willing to drink, he could if compelled beat us all at that,--wonderful to +relate! no human being had ever seen Socrates drunk; and his powers, if I +am not mistaken, will be tested before long. His fortitude in enduring +cold was also surprising. There was a severe frost, for the winter in that +region is really tremendous, and everybody else either remained indoors, or +if they went out had on an amazing quantity of clothes, and were well shod, +and had their feet swathed in felt and fleeces: in the midst of this, +Socrates with his bare feet on the ice and in his ordinary dress marched +better than the other soldiers who had shoes, and they looked daggers at +him because he seemed to despise them. + +I have told you one tale, and now I must tell you another, which is worth +hearing, + +'Of the doings and sufferings of the enduring man' + +while he was on the expedition. One morning he was thinking about +something which he could not resolve; he would not give it up, but +continued thinking from early dawn until noon--there he stood fixed in +thought; and at noon attention was drawn to him, and the rumour ran through +the wondering crowd that Socrates had been standing and thinking about +something ever since the break of day. At last, in the evening after +supper, some Ionians out of curiosity (I should explain that this was not +in winter but in summer), brought out their mats and slept in the open air +that they might watch him and see whether he would stand all night. There +he stood until the following morning; and with the return of light he +offered up a prayer to the sun, and went his way (compare supra). I will +also tell, if you please--and indeed I am bound to tell--of his courage in +battle; for who but he saved my life? Now this was the engagement in which +I received the prize of valour: for I was wounded and he would not leave +me, but he rescued me and my arms; and he ought to have received the prize +of valour which the generals wanted to confer on me partly on account of my +rank, and I told them so, (this, again, Socrates will not impeach or deny), +but he was more eager than the generals that I and not he should have the +prize. There was another occasion on which his behaviour was very +remarkable--in the flight of the army after the battle of Delium, where he +served among the heavy-armed,--I had a better opportunity of seeing him +than at Potidaea, for I was myself on horseback, and therefore +comparatively out of danger. He and Laches were retreating, for the troops +were in flight, and I met them and told them not to be discouraged, and +promised to remain with them; and there you might see him, Aristophanes, as +you describe (Aristoph. Clouds), just as he is in the streets of Athens, +stalking like a pelican, and rolling his eyes, calmly contemplating enemies +as well as friends, and making very intelligible to anybody, even from a +distance, that whoever attacked him would be likely to meet with a stout +resistance; and in this way he and his companion escaped--for this is the +sort of man who is never touched in war; those only are pursued who are +running away headlong. I particularly observed how superior he was to +Laches in presence of mind. Many are the marvels which I might narrate in +praise of Socrates; most of his ways might perhaps be paralleled in another +man, but his absolute unlikeness to any human being that is or ever has +been is perfectly astonishing. You may imagine Brasidas and others to have +been like Achilles; or you may imagine Nestor and Antenor to have been like +Pericles; and the same may be said of other famous men, but of this strange +being you will never be able to find any likeness, however remote, either +among men who now are or who ever have been--other than that which I have +already suggested of Silenus and the satyrs; and they represent in a figure +not only himself, but his words. For, although I forgot to mention this to +you before, his words are like the images of Silenus which open; they are +ridiculous when you first hear them; he clothes himself in language that is +like the skin of the wanton satyr--for his talk is of pack-asses and smiths +and cobblers and curriers, and he is always repeating the same things in +the same words (compare Gorg.), so that any ignorant or inexperienced +person might feel disposed to laugh at him; but he who opens the bust and +sees what is within will find that they are the only words which have a +meaning in them, and also the most divine, abounding in fair images of +virtue, and of the widest comprehension, or rather extending to the whole +duty of a good and honourable man. + +This, friends, is my praise of Socrates. I have added my blame of him for +his ill-treatment of me; and he has ill-treated not only me, but Charmides +the son of Glaucon, and Euthydemus the son of Diocles, and many others in +the same way--beginning as their lover he has ended by making them pay +their addresses to him. Wherefore I say to you, Agathon, 'Be not deceived +by him; learn from me and take warning, and do not be a fool and learn by +experience, as the proverb says.' + +When Alcibiades had finished, there was a laugh at his outspokenness; for +he seemed to be still in love with Socrates. You are sober, Alcibiades, +said Socrates, or you would never have gone so far about to hide the +purpose of your satyr's praises, for all this long story is only an +ingenious circumlocution, of which the point comes in by the way at the +end; you want to get up a quarrel between me and Agathon, and your notion +is that I ought to love you and nobody else, and that you and you only +ought to love Agathon. But the plot of this Satyric or Silenic drama has +been detected, and you must not allow him, Agathon, to set us at variance. + +I believe you are right, said Agathon, and I am disposed to think that his +intention in placing himself between you and me was only to divide us; but +he shall gain nothing by that move; for I will go and lie on the couch next +to you. + +Yes, yes, replied Socrates, by all means come here and lie on the couch +below me. + +Alas, said Alcibiades, how I am fooled by this man; he is determined to get +the better of me at every turn. I do beseech you, allow Agathon to lie +between us. + +Certainly not, said Socrates, as you praised me, and I in turn ought to +praise my neighbour on the right, he will be out of order in praising me +again when he ought rather to be praised by me, and I must entreat you to +consent to this, and not be jealous, for I have a great desire to praise +the youth. + +Hurrah! cried Agathon, I will rise instantly, that I may be praised by +Socrates. + +The usual way, said Alcibiades; where Socrates is, no one else has any +chance with the fair; and now how readily has he invented a specious reason +for attracting Agathon to himself. + +Agathon arose in order that he might take his place on the couch by +Socrates, when suddenly a band of revellers entered, and spoiled the order +of the banquet. Some one who was going out having left the door open, they +had found their way in, and made themselves at home; great confusion +ensued, and every one was compelled to drink large quantities of wine. +Aristodemus said that Eryximachus, Phaedrus, and others went away--he +himself fell asleep, and as the nights were long took a good rest: he was +awakened towards daybreak by a crowing of cocks, and when he awoke, the +others were either asleep, or had gone away; there remained only Socrates, +Aristophanes, and Agathon, who were drinking out of a large goblet which +they passed round, and Socrates was discoursing to them. Aristodemus was +only half awake, and he did not hear the beginning of the discourse; the +chief thing which he remembered was Socrates compelling the other two to +acknowledge that the genius of comedy was the same with that of tragedy, +and that the true artist in tragedy was an artist in comedy also. To this +they were constrained to assent, being drowsy, and not quite following the +argument. And first of all Aristophanes dropped off, then, when the day +was already dawning, Agathon. Socrates, having laid them to sleep, rose to +depart; Aristodemus, as his manner was, following him. At the Lyceum he +took a bath, and passed the day as usual. In the evening he retired to +rest at his own home. + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Symposium, by Plato + diff --git a/old/sympo10.zip b/old/sympo10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd39a9a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sympo10.zip |