Symposium by Plato
Symposium

Diotima Symposium

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[1]        
[2]        PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:
[3]        Apollodorus, who repeats to his companion the dialogue which he had heard
[4]        from Aristodemus, and had already once narrated to Glaucon.
[5]        Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates,
[6]        Alcibiades, A Troop of Revellers.
[7]        
[8]        SCENE: The House of Agathon.
[9]        
[10]       
[11]       Concerning the things about which you ask to be informed I believe that I
[12]       am not ill-prepared with an answer. For the day before yesterday I was
[13]       coming from my own home at Phalerum to the city, and one of my
[14]       acquaintance, who had caught a sight of me from behind, calling out
[15]       playfully in the distance, said: Apollodorus, O thou Phalerian (Probably a
[16]       play of words on (Greek), 'bald-headed.') man, halt! So I did as I was
[17]       bid; and then he said, I was looking for you, Apollodorus, only just now,
[18]       that I might ask you about the speeches in praise of love, which were
[19]       delivered by Socrates, Alcibiades, and others, at Agathon's supper.
[20]       Phoenix, the son of Philip, told another person who told me of them; his
[21]       narrative was very indistinct, but he said that you knew, and I wish that
[22]       you would give me an account of them. Who, if not you, should be the
[23]       reporter of the words of your friend? And first tell me, he said, were you
[24]       present at this meeting?
[25]       
[26]       Your informant, Glaucon, I said, must have been very indistinct indeed, if
[27]       you imagine that the occasion was recent; or that I could have been of the
[28]       party.
[29]       
[30]       Why, yes, he replied, I thought so.
[31]       
[32]       Impossible: I said. Are you ignorant that for many years Agathon has not
[33]       resided at Athens; and not three have elapsed since I became acquainted
[34]       with Socrates, and have made it my daily business to know all that he says
[35]       and does. There was a time when I was running about the world, fancying
[36]       myself to be well employed, but I was really a most wretched being, no
[37]       better than you are now. I thought that I ought to do anything rather than
[38]       be a philosopher.
[39]       
[40]       Well, he said, jesting apart, tell me when the meeting occurred.
[41]       
[42]       In our boyhood, I replied, when Agathon won the prize with his first
[43]       tragedy, on the day after that on which he and his chorus offered the
[44]       sacrifice of victory.
[45]       
[46]       Then it must have been a long while ago, he said; and who told you--did
[47]       Socrates?
[48]       
[49]       No indeed, I replied, but the same person who told Phoenix;--he was a
[50]       little fellow, who never wore any shoes, Aristodemus, of the deme of
[51]       Cydathenaeum. He had been at Agathon's feast; and I think that in those
[52]       days there was no one who was a more devoted admirer of Socrates.
[53]       Moreover, I have asked Socrates about the truth of some parts of his
[54]       narrative, and he confirmed them. Then, said Glaucon, let us have the tale
[55]       over again; is not the road to Athens just made for conversation? And so
[56]       we walked, and talked of the discourses on love; and therefore, as I said
[57]       at first, I am not ill-prepared to comply with your request, and will have
[58]       another rehearsal of them if you like. For to speak or to hear others
[59]       speak of philosophy always gives me the greatest pleasure, to say nothing
[60]       of the profit. But when I hear another strain, especially that of you rich
[61]       men and traders, such conversation displeases me; and I pity you who are my
[62]       companions, because you think that you are doing something when in reality
[63]       you are doing nothing. And I dare say that you pity me in return, whom you
[64]       regard as an unhappy creature, and very probably you are right. But I
[65]       certainly know of you what you only think of me--there is the difference.
[66]       
[67]       COMPANION: I see, Apollodorus, that you are just the same--always speaking
[68]       evil of yourself, and of others; and I do believe that you pity all
[69]       mankind, with the exception of Socrates, yourself first of all, true in
[70]       this to your old name, which, however deserved, I know not how you
[71]       acquired, of Apollodorus the madman; for you are always raging against
[72]       yourself and everybody but Socrates.
[73]       
[74]       APOLLODORUS: Yes, friend, and the reason why I am said to be mad, and out
[75]       of my wits, is just because I have these notions of myself and you; no
[76]       other evidence is required.
[77]       
[78]       COMPANION: No more of that, Apollodorus; but let me renew my request that
[79]       you would repeat the conversation.
[80]       
[81]       APOLLODORUS: Well, the tale of love was on this wise:--But perhaps I had
[82]       better begin at the beginning, and endeavour to give you the exact words of
[83]       Aristodemus:
[84]       
[85]       He said that he met Socrates fresh from the bath and sandalled; and as the
[86]       sight of the sandals was unusual, he asked him whither he was going that he
[87]       had been converted into such a beau:--
[88]       
[89]       To a banquet at Agathon's, he replied, whose invitation to his sacrifice of
[90]       victory I refused yesterday, fearing a crowd, but promising that I would
[91]       come to-day instead; and so I have put on my finery, because he is such a
[92]       fine man. What say you to going with me unasked?
[93]       
[94]       I will do as you bid me, I replied.
[95]       
[96]       Follow then, he said, and let us demolish the proverb:--
[97]       
[98]       'To the feasts of inferior men the good unbidden go;'
[99]       
[100]      instead of which our proverb will run:--
[101]      
[102]      'To the feasts of the good the good unbidden go;'
[103]      
[104]      and this alteration may be supported by the authority of Homer himself, who
[105]      not only demolishes but literally outrages the proverb. For, after
[106]      picturing Agamemnon as the most valiant of men, he makes Menelaus, who is
[107]      but a fainthearted warrior, come unbidden (Iliad) to the banquet of
[108]      Agamemnon, who is feasting and offering sacrifices, not the better to the
[109]      worse, but the worse to the better.
[110]      
[111]      I rather fear, Socrates, said Aristodemus, lest this may still be my case;
[112]      and that, like Menelaus in Homer, I shall be the inferior person, who
[113]      
[114]      'To the feasts of the wise unbidden goes.'
[115]      
[116]      But I shall say that I was bidden of you, and then you will have to make an
[117]      excuse.
[118]      
[119]      'Two going together,'
[120]      
[121]      he replied, in Homeric fashion, one or other of them may invent an excuse
[122]      by the way (Iliad).
[123]      
[124]      This was the style of their conversation as they went along. Socrates
[125]      dropped behind in a fit of abstraction, and desired Aristodemus, who was
[126]      waiting, to go on before him. When he reached the house of Agathon he
[127]      found the doors wide open, and a comical thing happened. A servant coming
[128]      out met him, and led him at once into the banqueting-hall in which the
[129]      guests were reclining, for the banquet was about to begin. Welcome,
[130]      Aristodemus, said Agathon, as soon as he appeared--you are just in time to
[131]      sup with us; if you come on any other matter put it off, and make one of
[132]      us, as I was looking for you yesterday and meant to have asked you, if I
[133]      could have found you. But what have you done with Socrates?
[134]      
[135]      I turned round, but Socrates was nowhere to be seen; and I had to explain
[136]      that he had been with me a moment before, and that I came by his invitation
[137]      to the supper.
[138]      
[139]      You were quite right in coming, said Agathon; but where is he himself?
[140]      
[141]      He was behind me just now, as I entered, he said, and I cannot think what
[142]      has become of him.
[143]      
[144]      Go and look for him, boy, said Agathon, and bring him in; and do you,
[145]      Aristodemus, meanwhile take the place by Eryximachus.
[146]      
[147]      The servant then assisted him to wash, and he lay down, and presently
[148]      another servant came in and reported that our friend Socrates had retired
[149]      into the portico of the neighbouring house. 'There he is fixed,' said he,
[150]      'and when I call to him he will not stir.'
[151]      
[152]      How strange, said Agathon; then you must call him again, and keep calling
[153]      him.
[154]      
[155]      Let him alone, said my informant; he has a way of stopping anywhere and
[156]      losing himself without any reason. I believe that he will soon appear; do
[157]      not therefore disturb him.
[158]      
[159]      Well, if you think so, I will leave him, said Agathon. And then, turning
[160]      to the servants, he added, 'Let us have supper without waiting for him.
[161]      Serve up whatever you please, for there is no one to give you orders;
[162]      hitherto I have never left you to yourselves. But on this occasion imagine
[163]      that you are our hosts, and that I and the company are your guests; treat
[164]      us well, and then we shall commend you.' After this, supper was served,
[165]      but still no Socrates; and during the meal Agathon several times expressed
[166]      a wish to send for him, but Aristodemus objected; and at last when the
[167]      feast was about half over--for the fit, as usual, was not of long duration
[168]      --Socrates entered. Agathon, who was reclining alone at the end of the
[169]      table, begged that he would take the place next to him; that 'I may touch
[170]      you,' he said, 'and have the benefit of that wise thought which came into
[171]      your mind in the portico, and is now in your possession; for I am certain
[172]      that you would not have come away until you had found what you sought.'
[173]      
[174]      How I wish, said Socrates, taking his place as he was desired, that wisdom
[175]      could be infused by touch, out of the fuller into the emptier man, as water
[176]      runs through wool out of a fuller cup into an emptier one; if that were so,
[177]      how greatly should I value the privilege of reclining at your side! For
[178]      you would have filled me full with a stream of wisdom plenteous and fair;
[179]      whereas my own is of a very mean and questionable sort, no better than a
[180]      dream. But yours is bright and full of promise, and was manifested forth
[181]      in all the splendour of youth the day before yesterday, in the presence of
[182]      more than thirty thousand Hellenes.
[183]      
[184]      You are mocking, Socrates, said Agathon, and ere long you and I will have
[185]      to determine who bears off the palm of wisdom--of this Dionysus shall be
[186]      the judge; but at present you are better occupied with supper.
[187]      
[188]      Socrates took his place on the couch, and supped with the rest; and then
[189]      libations were offered, and after a hymn had been sung to the god, and
[190]      there had been the usual ceremonies, they were about to commence drinking,
[191]      when Pausanias said, And now, my friends, how can we drink with least
[192]      injury to ourselves? I can assure you that I feel severely the effect of
[193]      yesterday's potations, and must have time to recover; and I suspect that
[194]      most of you are in the same predicament, for you were of the party
[195]      yesterday. Consider then: How can the drinking be made easiest?
[196]      
[197]      I entirely agree, said Aristophanes, that we should, by all means, avoid
[198]      hard drinking, for I was myself one of those who were yesterday drowned in
[199]      drink.
[200]      
[201]      I think that you are right, said Eryximachus, the son of Acumenus; but I
[202]      should still like to hear one other person speak: Is Agathon able to drink
[203]      hard?
[204]      
[205]      I am not equal to it, said Agathon.
[206]      
[207]      Then, said Eryximachus, the weak heads like myself, Aristodemus, Phaedrus,
[208]      and others who never can drink, are fortunate in finding that the stronger
[209]      ones are not in a drinking mood. (I do not include Socrates, who is able
[210]      either to drink or to abstain, and will not mind, whichever we do.) Well,
[211]      as of none of the company seem disposed to drink much, I may be forgiven
[212]      for saying, as a physician, that drinking deep is a bad practice, which I
[213]      never follow, if I can help, and certainly do not recommend to another,
[214]      least of all to any one who still feels the effects of yesterday's carouse.
[215]      
[216]      I always do what you advise, and especially what you prescribe as a
[217]      physician, rejoined Phaedrus the Myrrhinusian, and the rest of the company,
[218]      if they are wise, will do the same.
[219]      
[220]      It was agreed that drinking was not to be the order of the day, but that
[221]      they were all to drink only so much as they pleased.
[222]      
[223]      Then, said Eryximachus, as you are all agreed that drinking is to be
[224]      voluntary, and that there is to be no compulsion, I move, in the next
[225]      place, that the flute-girl, who has just made her appearance, be told to go
[226]      away and play to herself, or, if she likes, to the women who are within
[227]      (compare Prot.). To-day let us have conversation instead; and, if you will
[228]      allow me, I will tell you what sort of conversation. This proposal having
[229]      been accepted, Eryximachus proceeded as follows:--
[230]      
[231]      I will begin, he said, after the manner of Melanippe in Euripides,
[232]      
[233]      'Not mine the word'
[234]      
[235]      which I am about to speak, but that of Phaedrus. For often he says to me
[236]      in an indignant tone:--'What a strange thing it is, Eryximachus, that,
[237]      whereas other gods have poems and hymns made in their honour, the great and
[238]      glorious god, Love, has no encomiast among all the poets who are so many.
[239]      There are the worthy sophists too--the excellent Prodicus for example, who
[240]      have descanted in prose on the virtues of Heracles and other heroes; and,
[241]      what is still more extraordinary, I have met with a philosophical work in
[242]      which the utility of salt has been made the theme of an eloquent discourse;
[243]      and many other like things have had a like honour bestowed upon them. And
[244]      only to think that there should have been an eager interest created about
[245]      them, and yet that to this day no one has ever dared worthily to hymn
[246]      Love's praises! So entirely has this great deity been neglected.' Now in
[247]      this Phaedrus seems to me to be quite right, and therefore I want to offer
[248]      him a contribution; also I think that at the present moment we who are here
[249]      assembled cannot do better than honour the god Love. If you agree with me,
[250]      there will be no lack of conversation; for I mean to propose that each of
[251]      us in turn, going from left to right, shall make a speech in honour of
[252]      Love. Let him give us the best which he can; and Phaedrus, because he is
[253]      sitting first on the left hand, and because he is the father of the
[254]      thought, shall begin.
[255]      
[256]      No one will vote against you, Eryximachus, said Socrates. How can I oppose
[257]      your motion, who profess to understand nothing but matters of love; nor, I
[258]      presume, will Agathon and Pausanias; and there can be no doubt of
[259]      Aristophanes, whose whole concern is with Dionysus and Aphrodite; nor will
[260]      any one disagree of those whom I see around me. The proposal, as I am
[261]      aware, may seem rather hard upon us whose place is last; but we shall be
[262]      contented if we hear some good speeches first. Let Phaedrus begin the
[263]      praise of Love, and good luck to him. All the company expressed their
[264]      assent, and desired him to do as Socrates bade him.
[265]      
[266]      Aristodemus did not recollect all that was said, nor do I recollect all
[267]      that he related to me; but I will tell you what I thought most worthy of
[268]      remembrance, and what the chief speakers said.
[269]      
[270]      Phaedrus began by affirming that Love is a mighty god, and wonderful among
[271]      gods and men, but especially wonderful in his birth. For he is the eldest
[272]      of the gods, which is an honour to him; and a proof of his claim to this
[273]      honour is, that of his parents there is no memorial; neither poet nor
[274]      prose-writer has ever affirmed that he had any. As Hesiod says:--
[275]      
[276]      'First Chaos came, and then broad-bosomed Earth,
[277]      The everlasting seat of all that is,
[278]      And Love.'
[279]      
[280]      In other words, after Chaos, the Earth and Love, these two, came into
[281]      being. Also Parmenides sings of Generation:
[282]      
[283]      'First in the train of gods, he fashioned Love.'
[284]      
[285]      And Acusilaus agrees with Hesiod. Thus numerous are the witnesses who
[286]      acknowledge Love to be the eldest of the gods. And not only is he the
[287]      eldest, he is also the source of the greatest benefits to us. For I know
[288]      not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning life than a
[289]      virtuous lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle
[290]      which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that principle, I
[291]      say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any other motive is able
[292]      to implant so well as love. Of what am I speaking? Of the sense of honour
[293]      and dishonour, without which neither states nor individuals ever do any
[294]      good or great work. And I say that a lover who is detected in doing any
[295]      dishonourable act, or submitting through cowardice when any dishonour is
[296]      done to him by another, will be more pained at being detected by his
[297]      beloved than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any
[298]      one else. The beloved too, when he is found in any disgraceful situation,
[299]      has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were only some way of
[300]      contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their
[301]      loves (compare Rep.), they would be the very best governors of their own
[302]      city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour;
[303]      and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would
[304]      overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by
[305]      all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or
[306]      throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather
[307]      than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour
[308]      of danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to the
[309]      bravest, at such a time; Love would inspire him. That courage which, as
[310]      Homer says, the god breathes into the souls of some heroes, Love of his own
[311]      nature infuses into the lover.
[312]      
[313]      Love will make men dare to die for their beloved--love alone; and women as
[314]      well as men. Of this, Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, is a monument to
[315]      all Hellas; for she was willing to lay down her life on behalf of her
[316]      husband, when no one else would, although he had a father and mother; but
[317]      the tenderness of her love so far exceeded theirs, that she made them seem
[318]      to be strangers in blood to their own son, and in name only related to him;
[319]      and so noble did this action of hers appear to the gods, as well as to men,
[320]      that among the many who have done virtuously she is one of the very few to
[321]      whom, in admiration of her noble action, they have granted the privilege of
[322]      returning alive to earth; such exceeding honour is paid by the gods to the
[323]      devotion and virtue of love. But Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus, the harper,
[324]      they sent empty away, and presented to him an apparition only of her whom
[325]      he sought, but herself they would not give up, because he showed no spirit;
[326]      he was only a harp-player, and did not dare like Alcestis to die for love,
[327]      but was contriving how he might enter Hades alive; moreover, they
[328]      afterwards caused him to suffer death at the hands of women, as the
[329]      punishment of his cowardliness. Very different was the reward of the true
[330]      love of Achilles towards his lover Patroclus--his lover and not his love
[331]      (the notion that Patroclus was the beloved one is a foolish error into
[332]      which Aeschylus has fallen, for Achilles was surely the fairer of the two,
[333]      fairer also than all the other heroes; and, as Homer informs us, he was
[334]      still beardless, and younger far). And greatly as the gods honour the
[335]      virtue of love, still the return of love on the part of the beloved to the
[336]      lover is more admired and valued and rewarded by them, for the lover is
[337]      more divine; because he is inspired by God. Now Achilles was quite aware,
[338]      for he had been told by his mother, that he might avoid death and return
[339]      home, and live to a good old age, if he abstained from slaying Hector.
[340]      Nevertheless he gave his life to revenge his friend, and dared to die, not
[341]      only in his defence, but after he was dead. Wherefore the gods honoured
[342]      him even above Alcestis, and sent him to the Islands of the Blest. These
[343]      are my reasons for affirming that Love is the eldest and noblest and
[344]      mightiest of the gods; and the chiefest author and giver of virtue in life,
[345]      and of happiness after death.
[346]      
[347]      This, or something like this, was the speech of Phaedrus; and some other
[348]      speeches followed which Aristodemus did not remember; the next which he
[349]      repeated was that of Pausanias. Phaedrus, he said, the argument has not
[350]      been set before us, I think, quite in the right form;--we should not be
[351]      called upon to praise Love in such an indiscriminate manner. If there were
[352]      only one Love, then what you said would be well enough; but since there are
[353]      more Loves than one,--should have begun by determining which of them was to
[354]      be the theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I
[355]      will tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn the
[356]      praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that Love is
[357]      inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one Aphrodite there
[358]      would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses there must be two
[359]      Loves. And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The
[360]      elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphrodite--she is
[361]      the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the daughter of Zeus and Dione
[362]      --her we call common; and the Love who is her fellow-worker is rightly
[363]      named common, as the other love is called heavenly. All the gods ought to
[364]      have praise given to them, but not without distinction of their natures;
[365]      and therefore I must try to distinguish the characters of the two Loves.
[366]      Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for
[367]      example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talking--these
[368]      actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in
[369]      this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when well
[370]      done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil; and in like manner
[371]      not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and
[372]      worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is
[373]      essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the meaner
[374]      sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of
[375]      the body rather than of the soul--the most foolish beings are the objects
[376]      of this love which desires only to gain an end, but never thinks of
[377]      accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore does good and evil quite
[378]      indiscriminately. The goddess who is his mother is far younger than the
[379]      other, and she was born of the union of the male and female, and partakes
[380]      of both. But the offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a
[381]      mother in whose birth the female has no part,--she is from the male only;
[382]      this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, there is
[383]      nothing of wantonness in her. Those who are inspired by this love turn to
[384]      the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent
[385]      nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in the very character of
[386]      their attachments. For they love not boys, but intelligent beings whose
[387]      reason is beginning to be developed, much about the time at which their
[388]      beards begin to grow. And in choosing young men to be their companions,
[389]      they mean to be faithful to them, and pass their whole life in company with
[390]      them, not to take them in their inexperience, and deceive them, and play
[391]      the fool with them, or run away from one to another of them. But the love
[392]      of young boys should be forbidden by law, because their future is
[393]      uncertain; they may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much
[394]      noble enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good are
[395]      a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be restrained
[396]      by force; as we restrain or attempt to restrain them from fixing their
[397]      affections on women of free birth. These are the persons who bring a
[398]      reproach on love; and some have been led to deny the lawfulness of such
[399]      attachments because they see the impropriety and evil of them; for surely
[400]      nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Now
[401]      here and in Lacedaemon the rules about love are perplexing, but in most
[402]      cities they are simple and easily intelligible; in Elis and Boeotia, and in
[403]      countries having no gifts of eloquence, they are very straightforward; the
[404]      law is simply in favour of these connexions, and no one, whether young or
[405]      old, has anything to say to their discredit; the reason being, as I
[406]      suppose, that they are men of few words in those parts, and therefore the
[407]      lovers do not like the trouble of pleading their suit. In Ionia and other
[408]      places, and generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the
[409]      custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute
[410]      in which philosophy and gymnastics are held, because they are inimical to
[411]      tyranny; for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be
[412]      poor in spirit (compare Arist. Politics), and that there should be no
[413]      strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all
[414]      other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by
[415]      experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had
[416]      a strength which undid their power. And, therefore, the ill-repute into
[417]      which these attachments have fallen is to be ascribed to the evil condition
[418]      of those who make them to be ill-reputed; that is to say, to the self-
[419]      seeking of the governors and the cowardice of the governed; on the other
[420]      hand, the indiscriminate honour which is given to them in some countries is
[421]      attributable to the laziness of those who hold this opinion of them. In
[422]      our own country a far better principle prevails, but, as I was saying, the
[423]      explanation of it is rather perplexing. For, observe that open loves are
[424]      held to be more honourable than secret ones, and that the love of the
[425]      noblest and highest, even if their persons are less beautiful than others,
[426]      is especially honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement
[427]      which all the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing
[428]      anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he fail he
[429]      is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love the custom of mankind allows him
[430]      to do many strange things, which philosophy would bitterly censure if they
[431]      were done from any motive of interest, or wish for office or power. He may
[432]      pray, and entreat, and supplicate, and swear, and lie on a mat at the door,
[433]      and endure a slavery worse than that of any slave--in any other case
[434]      friends and enemies would be equally ready to prevent him, but now there is
[435]      no friend who will be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will
[436]      charge him with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace
[437]      which ennobles them; and custom has decided that they are highly
[438]      commendable and that there no loss of character in them; and, what is
[439]      strangest of all, he only may swear and forswear himself (so men say), and
[440]      the gods will forgive his transgression, for there is no such thing as a
[441]      lover's oath. Such is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed
[442]      the lover, according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world.
[443]      From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love and to
[444]      be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when parents forbid
[445]      their sons to talk with their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care,
[446]      who is appointed to see to these things, and their companions and equals
[447]      cast in their teeth anything of the sort which they may observe, and their
[448]      elders refuse to silence the reprovers and do not rebuke them--any one who
[449]      reflects on all this will, on the contrary, think that we hold these
[450]      practices to be most disgraceful. But, as I was saying at first, the truth
[451]      as I imagine is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether they
[452]      are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are honourable to him who
[453]      follows them honourably, dishonourable to him who follows them
[454]      dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to the evil, or in an evil
[455]      manner; but there is honour in yielding to the good, or in an honourable
[456]      manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul,
[457]      inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in
[458]      itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was
[459]      desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words
[460]      and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for
[461]      it becomes one with the everlasting. The custom of our country would have
[462]      both of them proven well and truly, and would have us yield to the one sort
[463]      of lover and avoid the other, and therefore encourages some to pursue, and
[464]      others to fly; testing both the lover and beloved in contests and trials,
[465]      until they show to which of the two classes they respectively belong. And
[466]      this is the reason why, in the first place, a hasty attachment is held to
[467]      be dishonourable, because time is the true test of this as of most other
[468]      things; and secondly there is a dishonour in being overcome by the love of
[469]      money, or of wealth, or of political power, whether a man is frightened
[470]      into surrender by the loss of them, or, having experienced the benefits of
[471]      money and political corruption, is unable to rise above the seductions of
[472]      them. For none of these things are of a permanent or lasting nature; not
[473]      to mention that no generous friendship ever sprang from them. There
[474]      remains, then, only one way of honourable attachment which custom allows in
[475]      the beloved, and this is the way of virtue; for as we admitted that any
[476]      service which the lover does to him is not to be accounted flattery or a
[477]      dishonour to himself, so the beloved has one way only of voluntary service
[478]      which is not dishonourable, and this is virtuous service.
[479]      
[480]      For we have a custom, and according to our custom any one who does service
[481]      to another under the idea that he will be improved by him either in wisdom,
[482]      or in some other particular of virtue--such a voluntary service, I say, is
[483]      not to be regarded as a dishonour, and is not open to the charge of
[484]      flattery. And these two customs, one the love of youth, and the other the
[485]      practice of philosophy and virtue in general, ought to meet in one, and
[486]      then the beloved may honourably indulge the lover. For when the lover and
[487]      beloved come together, having each of them a law, and the lover thinks that
[488]      he is right in doing any service which he can to his gracious loving one;
[489]      and the other that he is right in showing any kindness which he can to him
[490]      who is making him wise and good; the one capable of communicating wisdom
[491]      and virtue, the other seeking to acquire them with a view to education and
[492]      wisdom, when the two laws of love are fulfilled and meet in one--then, and
[493]      then only, may the beloved yield with honour to the lover. Nor when love
[494]      is of this disinterested sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but
[495]      in every other case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived.
[496]      For he who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich,
[497]      and is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is
[498]      disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would
[499]      give himself up to any one's 'uses base' for the sake of money; but this is
[500]      not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover
[501]      because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his
[502]      company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his
[503]      affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no virtue; and if he is
[504]      deceived he has committed a noble error. For he has proved that for his
[505]      part he will do anything for anybody with a view to virtue and improvement,
[506]      than which there can be nothing nobler. Thus noble in every case is the
[507]      acceptance of another for the sake of virtue. This is that love which is
[508]      the love of the heavenly godess, and is heavenly, and of great price to
[509]      individuals and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the
[510]      work of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of
[511]      the other, who is the common goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my
[512]      contribution in praise of love, which is as good as I could make extempore.
[513]      
[514]      Pausanias came to a pause--this is the balanced way in which I have been
[515]      taught by the wise to speak; and Aristodemus said that the turn of
[516]      Aristophanes was next, but either he had eaten too much, or from some other
[517]      cause he had the hiccough, and was obliged to change turns with Eryximachus
[518]      the physician, who was reclining on the couch below him. Eryximachus, he
[519]      said, you ought either to stop my hiccough, or to speak in my turn until I
[520]      have left off.
[521]      
[522]      I will do both, said Eryximachus: I will speak in your turn, and do you
[523]      speak in mine; and while I am speaking let me recommend you to hold your
[524]      breath, and if after you have done so for some time the hiccough is no
[525]      better, then gargle with a little water; and if it still continues, tickle
[526]      your nose with something and sneeze; and if you sneeze once or twice, even
[527]      the most violent hiccough is sure to go. I will do as you prescribe, said
[528]      Aristophanes, and now get on.
[529]      
[530]      Eryximachus spoke as follows: Seeing that Pausanias made a fair beginning,
[531]      and but a lame ending, I must endeavour to supply his deficiency. I think
[532]      that he has rightly distinguished two kinds of love. But my art further
[533]      informs me that the double love is not merely an affection of the soul of
[534]      man towards the fair, or towards anything, but is to be found in the bodies
[535]      of all animals and in productions of the earth, and I may say in all that
[536]      is; such is the conclusion which I seem to have gathered from my own art of
[537]      medicine, whence I learn how great and wonderful and universal is the deity
[538]      of love, whose empire extends over all things, divine as well as human.
[539]      And from medicine I will begin that I may do honour to my art. There are
[540]      in the human body these two kinds of love, which are confessedly different
[541]      and unlike, and being unlike, they have loves and desires which are unlike;
[542]      and the desire of the healthy is one, and the desire of the diseased is
[543]      another; and as Pausanias was just now saying that to indulge good men is
[544]      honourable, and bad men dishonourable:--so too in the body the good and
[545]      healthy elements are to be indulged, and the bad elements and the elements
[546]      of disease are not to be indulged, but discouraged. And this is what the
[547]      physician has to do, and in this the art of medicine consists: for
[548]      medicine may be regarded generally as the knowledge of the loves and
[549]      desires of the body, and how to satisfy them or not; and the best physician
[550]      is he who is able to separate fair love from foul, or to convert one into
[551]      the other; and he who knows how to eradicate and how to implant love,
[552]      whichever is required, and can reconcile the most hostile elements in the
[553]      constitution and make them loving friends, is a skilful practitioner. Now
[554]      the most hostile are the most opposite, such as hot and cold, bitter and
[555]      sweet, moist and dry, and the like. And my ancestor, Asclepius, knowing
[556]      how to implant friendship and accord in these elements, was the creator of
[557]      our art, as our friends the poets here tell us, and I believe them; and not
[558]      only medicine in every branch but the arts of gymnastic and husbandry are
[559]      under his dominion. Any one who pays the least attention to the subject
[560]      will also perceive that in music there is the same reconciliation of
[561]      opposites; and I suppose that this must have been the meaning of
[562]      Heracleitus, although his words are not accurate; for he says that The One
[563]      is united by disunion, like the harmony of the bow and the lyre. Now there
[564]      is an absurdity saying that harmony is discord or is composed of elements
[565]      which are still in a state of discord. But what he probably meant was,
[566]      that harmony is composed of differing notes of higher or lower pitch which
[567]      disagreed once, but are now reconciled by the art of music; for if the
[568]      higher and lower notes still disagreed, there could be no harmony,--clearly
[569]      not. For harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an
[570]      agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot
[571]      harmonize that which disagrees. In like manner rhythm is compounded of
[572]      elements short and long, once differing and now in accord; which
[573]      accordance, as in the former instance, medicine, so in all these other
[574]      cases, music implants, making love and unison to grow up among them; and
[575]      thus music, too, is concerned with the principles of love in their
[576]      application to harmony and rhythm. Again, in the essential nature of
[577]      harmony and rhythm there is no difficulty in discerning love which has not
[578]      yet become double. But when you want to use them in actual life, either in
[579]      the composition of songs or in the correct performance of airs or metres
[580]      composed already, which latter is called education, then the difficulty
[581]      begins, and the good artist is needed. Then the old tale has to be
[582]      repeated of fair and heavenly love--the love of Urania the fair and
[583]      heavenly muse, and of the duty of accepting the temperate, and those who
[584]      are as yet intemperate only that they may become temperate, and of
[585]      preserving their love; and again, of the vulgar Polyhymnia, who must be
[586]      used with circumspection that the pleasure be enjoyed, but may not generate
[587]      licentiousness; just as in my own art it is a great matter so to regulate
[588]      the desires of the epicure that he may gratify his tastes without the
[589]      attendant evil of disease. Whence I infer that in music, in medicine, in
[590]      all other things human as well as divine, both loves ought to be noted as
[591]      far as may be, for they are both present.
[592]      
[593]      The course of the seasons is also full of both these principles; and when,
[594]      as I was saying, the elements of hot and cold, moist and dry, attain the
[595]      harmonious love of one another and blend in temperance and harmony, they
[596]      bring to men, animals, and plants health and plenty, and do them no harm;
[597]      whereas the wanton love, getting the upper hand and affecting the seasons
[598]      of the year, is very destructive and injurious, being the source of
[599]      pestilence, and bringing many other kinds of diseases on animals and
[600]      plants; for hoar-frost and hail and blight spring from the excesses and
[601]      disorders of these elements of love, which to know in relation to the
[602]      revolutions of the heavenly bodies and the seasons of the year is termed
[603]      astronomy. Furthermore all sacrifices and the whole province of
[604]      divination, which is the art of communion between gods and men--these, I
[605]      say, are concerned only with the preservation of the good and the cure of
[606]      the evil love. For all manner of impiety is likely to ensue if, instead of
[607]      accepting and honouring and reverencing the harmonious love in all his
[608]      actions, a man honours the other love, whether in his feelings towards gods
[609]      or parents, towards the living or the dead. Wherefore the business of
[610]      divination is to see to these loves and to heal them, and divination is the
[611]      peacemaker of gods and men, working by a knowledge of the religious or
[612]      irreligious tendencies which exist in human loves. Such is the great and
[613]      mighty, or rather omnipotent force of love in general. And the love, more
[614]      especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in
[615]      company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the
[616]      greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony, and
[617]      makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another. I
[618]      dare say that I too have omitted several things which might be said in
[619]      praise of Love, but this was not intentional, and you, Aristophanes, may
[620]      now supply the omission or take some other line of commendation; for I
[621]      perceive that you are rid of the hiccough.
[622]      
[623]      Yes, said Aristophanes, who followed, the hiccough is gone; not, however,
[624]      until I applied the sneezing; and I wonder whether the harmony of the body
[625]      has a love of such noises and ticklings, for I no sooner applied the
[626]      sneezing than I was cured.
[627]      
[628]      Eryximachus said: Beware, friend Aristophanes, although you are going to
[629]      speak, you are making fun of me; and I shall have to watch and see whether
[630]      I cannot have a laugh at your expense, when you might speak in peace.
[631]      
[632]      You are right, said Aristophanes, laughing. I will unsay my words; but do
[633]      you please not to watch me, as I fear that in the speech which I am about
[634]      to make, instead of others laughing with me, which is to the manner born of
[635]      our muse and would be all the better, I shall only be laughed at by them.
[636]      
[637]      Do you expect to shoot your bolt and escape, Aristophanes? Well, perhaps
[638]      if you are very careful and bear in mind that you will be called to
[639]      account, I may be induced to let you off.
[640]      
[641]      Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to
[642]      praise Love in another way, unlike that either of Pausanias or Eryximachus.
[643]      Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think,
[644]      at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they
[645]      would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn
[646]      sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to
[647]      be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper
[648]      and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness
[649]      of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach
[650]      the rest of the world what I am teaching you. In the first place, let me
[651]      treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it; for the original
[652]      human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not
[653]      two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman,
[654]      and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double
[655]      nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word
[656]      'Androgynous' is only preserved as a term of reproach. In the second
[657]      place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and
[658]      he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite
[659]      ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy
[660]      members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now
[661]      do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and
[662]      over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in
[663]      all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was
[664]      when he wanted to run fast. Now the sexes were three, and such as I have
[665]      described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was
[666]      originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman
[667]      of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and
[668]      moved round and round like their parents. Terrible was their might and
[669]      strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an
[670]      attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who,
[671]      as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the
[672]      gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and
[673]      annihilate the race with thunderbolts, as they had done the giants, then
[674]      there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to
[675]      them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to
[676]      be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered
[677]      a way. He said: 'Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and
[678]      improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in
[679]      two and then they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers;
[680]      this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. They
[681]      shall walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not
[682]      be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single
[683]      leg.' He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for
[684]      pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one
[685]      after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn
[686]      in order that the man might contemplate the section of himself: he would
[687]      thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also bidden to heal their
[688]      wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled
[689]      the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the
[690]      belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the centre,
[691]      which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also
[692]      moulded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker
[693]      might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few, however, in the region of
[694]      the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state. After the
[695]      division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together,
[696]      and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces,
[697]      longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and
[698]      self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one
[699]      of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another
[700]      mate, man or woman as we call them,--being the sections of entire men or
[701]      women,--and clung to that. They were being destroyed, when Zeus in pity of
[702]      them invented a new plan: he turned the parts of generation round to the
[703]      front, for this had not been always their position, and they sowed the seed
[704]      no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers in the ground, but in one another;
[705]      and after the transposition the male generated in the female in order that
[706]      by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race
[707]      might continue; or if man came to man they might be satisfied, and rest,
[708]      and go their ways to the business of life: so ancient is the desire of one
[709]      another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one
[710]      of two, and healing the state of man. Each of us when separated, having
[711]      one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is
[712]      always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double
[713]      nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women; adulterers
[714]      are generally of this breed, and also adulterous women who lust after men:
[715]      the women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have
[716]      female attachments; the female companions are of this sort. But they who
[717]      are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being
[718]      slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they
[719]      are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most
[720]      manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not
[721]      true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are
[722]      valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that
[723]      which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and
[724]      these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving. When
[725]      they reach manhood they are lovers of youth, and are not naturally inclined
[726]      to marry or beget children,--if at all, they do so only in obedience to the
[727]      law; but they are satisfied if they may be allowed to live with one another
[728]      unwedded; and such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love,
[729]      always embracing that which is akin to him. And when one of them meets
[730]      with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of
[731]      youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love
[732]      and friendship and intimacy, and one will not be out of the other's sight,
[733]      as I may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole
[734]      lives together; yet they could not explain what they desire of one another.
[735]      For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not
[736]      appear to be the desire of lover's intercourse, but of something else which
[737]      the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has
[738]      only a dark and doubtful presentiment. Suppose Hephaestus, with his
[739]      instruments, to come to the pair who are lying side by side and to say to
[740]      them, 'What do you people want of one another?' they would be unable to
[741]      explain. And suppose further, that when he saw their perplexity he said:
[742]      'Do you desire to be wholly one; always day and night to be in one
[743]      another's company? for if this is what you desire, I am ready to melt you
[744]      into one and let you grow together, so that being two you shall become one,
[745]      and while you live live a common life as if you were a single man, and
[746]      after your death in the world below still be one departed soul instead of
[747]      two--I ask whether this is what you lovingly desire, and whether you are
[748]      satisfied to attain this?'--there is not a man of them who when he heard
[749]      the proposal would deny or would not acknowledge that this meeting and
[750]      melting into one another, this becoming one instead of two, was the very
[751]      expression of his ancient need (compare Arist. Pol.). And the reason is
[752]      that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire
[753]      and pursuit of the whole is called love. There was a time, I say, when we
[754]      were one, but now because of the wickedness of mankind God has dispersed
[755]      us, as the Arcadians were dispersed into villages by the Lacedaemonians
[756]      (compare Arist. Pol.). And if we are not obedient to the gods, there is a
[757]      danger that we shall be split up again and go about in basso-relievo, like
[758]      the profile figures having only half a nose which are sculptured on
[759]      monuments, and that we shall be like tallies. Wherefore let us exhort all
[760]      men to piety, that we may avoid evil, and obtain the good, of which Love is
[761]      to us the lord and minister; and let no one oppose him--he is the enemy of
[762]      the gods who opposes him. For if we are friends of the God and at peace
[763]      with him we shall find our own true loves, which rarely happens in this
[764]      world at present. I am serious, and therefore I must beg Eryximachus not
[765]      to make fun or to find any allusion in what I am saying to Pausanias and
[766]      Agathon, who, as I suspect, are both of the manly nature, and belong to the
[767]      class which I have been describing. But my words have a wider application
[768]      --they include men and women everywhere; and I believe that if our loves
[769]      were perfectly accomplished, and each one returning to his primeval nature
[770]      had his original true love, then our race would be happy. And if this
[771]      would be best of all, the best in the next degree and under present
[772]      circumstances must be the nearest approach to such an union; and that will
[773]      be the attainment of a congenial love. Wherefore, if we would praise him
[774]      who has given to us the benefit, we must praise the god Love, who is our
[775]      greatest benefactor, both leading us in this life back to our own nature,
[776]      and giving us high hopes for the future, for he promises that if we are
[777]      pious, he will restore us to our original state, and heal us and make us
[778]      happy and blessed. This, Eryximachus, is my discourse of love, which,
[779]      although different to yours, I must beg you to leave unassailed by the
[780]      shafts of your ridicule, in order that each may have his turn; each, or
[781]      rather either, for Agathon and Socrates are the only ones left.
[782]      
[783]      Indeed, I am not going to attack you, said Eryximachus, for I thought your
[784]      speech charming, and did I not know that Agathon and Socrates are masters
[785]      in the art of love, I should be really afraid that they would have nothing
[786]      to say, after the world of things which have been said already. But, for
[787]      all that, I am not without hopes.
[788]      
[789]      Socrates said: You played your part well, Eryximachus; but if you were as
[790]      I am now, or rather as I shall be when Agathon has spoken, you would,
[791]      indeed, be in a great strait.
[792]      
[793]      You want to cast a spell over me, Socrates, said Agathon, in the hope that
[794]      I may be disconcerted at the expectation raised among the audience that I
[795]      shall speak well.
[796]      
[797]      I should be strangely forgetful, Agathon replied Socrates, of the courage
[798]      and magnanimity which you showed when your own compositions were about to
[799]      be exhibited, and you came upon the stage with the actors and faced the
[800]      vast theatre altogether undismayed, if I thought that your nerves could be
[801]      fluttered at a small party of friends.
[802]      
[803]      Do you think, Socrates, said Agathon, that my head is so full of the
[804]      theatre as not to know how much more formidable to a man of sense a few
[805]      good judges are than many fools?
[806]      
[807]      Nay, replied Socrates, I should be very wrong in attributing to you,
[808]      Agathon, that or any other want of refinement. And I am quite aware that
[809]      if you happened to meet with any whom you thought wise, you would care for
[810]      their opinion much more than for that of the many. But then we, having
[811]      been a part of the foolish many in the theatre, cannot be regarded as the
[812]      select wise; though I know that if you chanced to be in the presence, not
[813]      of one of ourselves, but of some really wise man, you would be ashamed of
[814]      disgracing yourself before him--would you not?
[815]      
[816]      Yes, said Agathon.
[817]      
[818]      But before the many you would not be ashamed, if you thought that you were
[819]      doing something disgraceful in their presence?
[820]      
[821]      Here Phaedrus interrupted them, saying: not answer him, my dear Agathon;
[822]      for if he can only get a partner with whom he can talk, especially a good-
[823]      looking one, he will no longer care about the completion of our plan. Now
[824]      I love to hear him talk; but just at present I must not forget the encomium
[825]      on Love which I ought to receive from him and from every one. When you and
[826]      he have paid your tribute to the god, then you may talk.
[827]      
[828]      Very good, Phaedrus, said Agathon; I see no reason why I should not proceed
[829]      with my speech, as I shall have many other opportunities of conversing with
[830]      Socrates. Let me say first how I ought to speak, and then speak:--
[831]      
[832]      The previous speakers, instead of praising the god Love, or unfolding his
[833]      nature, appear to have congratulated mankind on the benefits which he
[834]      confers upon them. But I would rather praise the god first, and then speak
[835]      of his gifts; this is always the right way of praising everything. May I
[836]      say without impiety or offence, that of all the blessed gods he is the most
[837]      blessed because he is the fairest and best? And he is the fairest: for,
[838]      in the first place, he is the youngest, and of his youth he is himself the
[839]      witness, fleeing out of the way of age, who is swift enough, swifter truly
[840]      than most of us like:--Love hates him and will not come near him; but youth
[841]      and love live and move together--like to like, as the proverb says. Many
[842]      things were said by Phaedrus about Love in which I agree with him; but I
[843]      cannot agree that he is older than Iapetus and Kronos:--not so; I maintain
[844]      him to be the youngest of the gods, and youthful ever. The ancient doings
[845]      among the gods of which Hesiod and Parmenides spoke, if the tradition of
[846]      them be true, were done of Necessity and not of Love; had Love been in
[847]      those days, there would have been no chaining or mutilation of the gods, or
[848]      other violence, but peace and sweetness, as there is now in heaven, since
[849]      the rule of Love began. Love is young and also tender; he ought to have a
[850]      poet like Homer to describe his tenderness, as Homer says of Ate, that she
[851]      is a goddess and tender:--
[852]      
[853]      'Her feet are tender, for she sets her steps,
[854]      Not on the ground but on the heads of men:'
[855]      
[856]      herein is an excellent proof of her tenderness,--that she walks not upon
[857]      the hard but upon the soft. Let us adduce a similar proof of the
[858]      tenderness of Love; for he walks not upon the earth, nor yet upon the
[859]      skulls of men, which are not so very soft, but in the hearts and souls of
[860]      both gods and men, which are of all things the softest: in them he walks
[861]      and dwells and makes his home. Not in every soul without exception, for
[862]      where there is hardness he departs, where there is softness there he
[863]      dwells; and nestling always with his feet and in all manner of ways in the
[864]      softest of soft places, how can he be other than the softest of all things?
[865]      Of a truth he is the tenderest as well as the youngest, and also he is of
[866]      flexile form; for if he were hard and without flexure he could not enfold
[867]      all things, or wind his way into and out of every soul of man undiscovered.
[868]      And a proof of his flexibility and symmetry of form is his grace, which is
[869]      universally admitted to be in an especial manner the attribute of Love;
[870]      ungrace and love are always at war with one another. The fairness of his
[871]      complexion is revealed by his habitation among the flowers; for he dwells
[872]      not amid bloomless or fading beauties, whether of body or soul or aught
[873]      else, but in the place of flowers and scents, there he sits and abides.
[874]      Concerning the beauty of the god I have said enough; and yet there remains
[875]      much more which I might say. Of his virtue I have now to speak: his
[876]      greatest glory is that he can neither do nor suffer wrong to or from any
[877]      god or any man; for he suffers not by force if he suffers; force comes not
[878]      near him, neither when he acts does he act by force. For all men in all
[879]      things serve him of their own free will, and where there is voluntary
[880]      agreement, there, as the laws which are the lords of the city say, is
[881]      justice. And not only is he just but exceedingly temperate, for Temperance
[882]      is the acknowledged ruler of the pleasures and desires, and no pleasure
[883]      ever masters Love; he is their master and they are his servants; and if he
[884]      conquers them he must be temperate indeed. As to courage, even the God of
[885]      War is no match for him; he is the captive and Love is the lord, for love,
[886]      the love of Aphrodite, masters him, as the tale runs; and the master is
[887]      stronger than the servant. And if he conquers the bravest of all others,
[888]      he must be himself the bravest. Of his courage and justice and temperance
[889]      I have spoken, but I have yet to speak of his wisdom; and according to the
[890]      measure of my ability I must try to do my best. In the first place he is a
[891]      poet (and here, like Eryximachus, I magnify my art), and he is also the
[892]      source of poesy in others, which he could not be if he were not himself a
[893]      poet. And at the touch of him every one becomes a poet, even though he had
[894]      no music in him before (A fragment of the Sthenoaoea of Euripides.); this
[895]      also is a proof that Love is a good poet and accomplished in all the fine
[896]      arts; for no one can give to another that which he has not himself, or
[897]      teach that of which he has no knowledge. Who will deny that the creation
[898]      of the animals is his doing? Are they not all the works of his wisdom,
[899]      born and begotten of him? And as to the artists, do we not know that he
[900]      only of them whom love inspires has the light of fame?--he whom Love
[901]      touches not walks in darkness. The arts of medicine and archery and
[902]      divination were discovered by Apollo, under the guidance of love and
[903]      desire; so that he too is a disciple of Love. Also the melody of the
[904]      Muses, the metallurgy of Hephaestus, the weaving of Athene, the empire of
[905]      Zeus over gods and men, are all due to Love, who was the inventor of them.
[906]      And so Love set in order the empire of the gods--the love of beauty, as is
[907]      evident, for with deformity Love has no concern. In the days of old, as I
[908]      began by saying, dreadful deeds were done among the gods, for they were
[909]      ruled by Necessity; but now since the birth of Love, and from the Love of
[910]      the beautiful, has sprung every good in heaven and earth. Therefore,
[911]      Phaedrus, I say of Love that he is the fairest and best in himself, and the
[912]      cause of what is fairest and best in all other things. And there comes
[913]      into my mind a line of poetry in which he is said to be the god who
[914]      
[915]      'Gives peace on earth and calms the stormy deep,
[916]      Who stills the winds and bids the sufferer sleep.'
[917]      
[918]      This is he who empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection,
[919]      who makes them to meet together at banquets such as these: in sacrifices,
[920]      feasts, dances, he is our lord--who sends courtesy and sends away
[921]      discourtesy, who gives kindness ever and never gives unkindness; the friend
[922]      of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods; desired by
[923]      those who have no part in him, and precious to those who have the better
[924]      part in him; parent of delicacy, luxury, desire, fondness, softness, grace;
[925]      regardful of the good, regardless of the evil: in every word, work, wish,
[926]      fear--saviour, pilot, comrade, helper; glory of gods and men, leader best
[927]      and brightest: in whose footsteps let every man follow, sweetly singing in
[928]      his honour and joining in that sweet strain with which love charms the
[929]      souls of gods and men. Such is the speech, Phaedrus, half-playful, yet
[930]      having a certain measure of seriousness, which, according to my ability, I
[931]      dedicate to the god.
[932]      
[933]      When Agathon had done speaking, Aristodemus said that there was a general
[934]      cheer; the young man was thought to have spoken in a manner worthy of
[935]      himself, and of the god. And Socrates, looking at Eryximachus, said: Tell
[936]      me, son of Acumenus, was there not reason in my fears? and was I not a true
[937]      prophet when I said that Agathon would make a wonderful oration, and that I
[938]      should be in a strait?
[939]      
[940]      The part of the prophecy which concerns Agathon, replied Eryximachus,
[941]      appears to me to be true; but not the other part--that you will be in a
[942]      strait.
[943]      
[944]      Why, my dear friend, said Socrates, must not I or any one be in a strait
[945]      who has to speak after he has heard such a rich and varied discourse? I am
[946]      especially struck with the beauty of the concluding words--who could listen
[947]      to them without amazement? When I reflected on the immeasurable
[948]      inferiority of my own powers, I was ready to run away for shame, if there
[949]      had been a possibility of escape. For I was reminded of Gorgias, and at
[950]      the end of his speech I fancied that Agathon was shaking at me the
[951]      Gorginian or Gorgonian head of the great master of rhetoric, which was
[952]      simply to turn me and my speech into stone, as Homer says (Odyssey), and
[953]      strike me dumb. And then I perceived how foolish I had been in consenting
[954]      to take my turn with you in praising love, and saying that I too was a
[955]      master of the art, when I really had no conception how anything ought to be
[956]      praised. For in my simplicity I imagined that the topics of praise should
[957]      be true, and that this being presupposed, out of the true the speaker was
[958]      to choose the best and set them forth in the best manner. And I felt quite
[959]      proud, thinking that I knew the nature of true praise, and should speak
[960]      well. Whereas I now see that the intention was to attribute to Love every
[961]      species of greatness and glory, whether really belonging to him or not,
[962]      without regard to truth or falsehood--that was no matter; for the original
[963]      proposal seems to have been not that each of you should really praise Love,
[964]      but only that you should appear to praise him. And so you attribute to
[965]      Love every imaginable form of praise which can be gathered anywhere; and
[966]      you say that 'he is all this,' and 'the cause of all that,' making him
[967]      appear the fairest and best of all to those who know him not, for you
[968]      cannot impose upon those who know him. And a noble and solemn hymn of
[969]      praise have you rehearsed. But as I misunderstood the nature of the praise
[970]      when I said that I would take my turn, I must beg to be absolved from the
[971]      promise which I made in ignorance, and which (as Euripides would say
[972]      (Eurip. Hyppolytus)) was a promise of the lips and not of the mind.
[973]      Farewell then to such a strain: for I do not praise in that way; no,
[974]      indeed, I cannot. But if you like to hear the truth about love, I am ready
[975]      to speak in my own manner, though I will not make myself ridiculous by
[976]      entering into any rivalry with you. Say then, Phaedrus, whether you would
[977]      like to have the truth about love, spoken in any words and in any order
[978]      which may happen to come into my mind at the time. Will that be agreeable
[979]      to you?
[980]      
[981]      Aristodemus said that Phaedrus and the company bid him speak in any manner
[982]      which he thought best. Then, he added, let me have your permission first
[983]      to ask Agathon a few more questions, in order that I may take his
[984]      admissions as the premisses of my discourse.
[985]      
[986]      I grant the permission, said Phaedrus: put your questions. Socrates then
[987]      proceeded as follows:--
[988]      
[989]      In the magnificent oration which you have just uttered, I think that you
[990]      were right, my dear Agathon, in proposing to speak of the nature of Love
[991]      first and afterwards of his works--that is a way of beginning which I very
[992]      much approve. And as you have spoken so eloquently of his nature, may I
[993]      ask you further, Whether love is the love of something or of nothing? And
[994]      here I must explain myself: I do not want you to say that love is the love
[995]      of a father or the love of a mother--that would be ridiculous; but to
[996]      answer as you would, if I asked is a father a father of something? to which
[997]      you would find no difficulty in replying, of a son or daughter: and the
[998]      answer would be right.
[999]      
[1000]     Very true, said Agathon.
[1001]     
[1002]     And you would say the same of a mother?
[1003]     
[1004]     He assented.
[1005]     
[1006]     Yet let me ask you one more question in order to illustrate my meaning: Is
[1007]     not a brother to be regarded essentially as a brother of something?
[1008]     
[1009]     Certainly, he replied.
[1010]     
[1011]     That is, of a brother or sister?
[1012]     
[1013]     Yes, he said.
[1014]     
[1015]     And now, said Socrates, I will ask about Love:--Is Love of something or of
[1016]     nothing?
[1017]     
[1018]     Of something, surely, he replied.
[1019]     
[1020]     Keep in mind what this is, and tell me what I want to know--whether Love
[1021]     desires that of which love is.
[1022]     
[1023]     Yes, surely.
[1024]     
[1025]     And does he possess, or does he not possess, that which he loves and
[1026]     desires?
[1027]     
[1028]     Probably not, I should say.
[1029]     
[1030]     Nay, replied Socrates, I would have you consider whether 'necessarily' is
[1031]     not rather the word. The inference that he who desires something is in
[1032]     want of something, and that he who desires nothing is in want of nothing,
[1033]     is in my judgment, Agathon, absolutely and necessarily true. What do you
[1034]     think?
[1035]     
[1036]     I agree with you, said Agathon.
[1037]     
[1038]     Very good. Would he who is great, desire to be great, or he who is strong,
[1039]     desire to be strong?
[1040]     
[1041]     That would be inconsistent with our previous admissions.
[1042]     
[1043]     True. For he who is anything cannot want to be that which he is?
[1044]     
[1045]     Very true.
[1046]     
[1047]     And yet, added Socrates, if a man being strong desired to be strong, or
[1048]     being swift desired to be swift, or being healthy desired to be healthy, in
[1049]     that case he might be thought to desire something which he already has or
[1050]     is. I give the example in order that we may avoid misconception. For the
[1051]     possessors of these qualities, Agathon, must be supposed to have their
[1052]     respective advantages at the time, whether they choose or not; and who can
[1053]     desire that which he has? Therefore, when a person says, I am well and
[1054]     wish to be well, or I am rich and wish to be rich, and I desire simply to
[1055]     have what I have--to him we shall reply: 'You, my friend, having wealth
[1056]     and health and strength, want to have the continuance of them; for at this
[1057]     moment, whether you choose or no, you have them. And when you say, I
[1058]     desire that which I have and nothing else, is not your meaning that you
[1059]     want to have what you now have in the future?' He must agree with us--must
[1060]     he not?
[1061]     
[1062]     He must, replied Agathon.
[1063]     
[1064]     Then, said Socrates, he desires that what he has at present may be
[1065]     preserved to him in the future, which is equivalent to saying that he
[1066]     desires something which is non-existent to him, and which as yet he has not
[1067]     got:
[1068]     
[1069]     Very true, he said.
[1070]     
[1071]     Then he and every one who desires, desires that which he has not already,
[1072]     and which is future and not present, and which he has not, and is not, and
[1073]     of which he is in want;--these are the sort of things which love and desire
[1074]     seek?
[1075]     
[1076]     Very true, he said.
[1077]     
[1078]     Then now, said Socrates, let us recapitulate the argument. First, is not
[1079]     love of something, and of something too which is wanting to a man?
[1080]     
[1081]     Yes, he replied.
[1082]     
[1083]     Remember further what you said in your speech, or if you do not remember I
[1084]     will remind you: you said that the love of the beautiful set in order the
[1085]     empire of the gods, for that of deformed things there is no love--did you
[1086]     not say something of that kind?
[1087]     
[1088]     Yes, said Agathon.
[1089]     
[1090]     Yes, my friend, and the remark was a just one. And if this is true, Love
[1091]     is the love of beauty and not of deformity?
[1092]     
[1093]     He assented.
[1094]     
[1095]     And the admission has been already made that Love is of something which a
[1096]     man wants and has not?
[1097]     
[1098]     True, he said.
[1099]     
[1100]     Then Love wants and has not beauty?
[1101]     
[1102]     Certainly, he replied.
[1103]     
[1104]     And would you call that beautiful which wants and does not possess beauty?
[1105]     
[1106]     Certainly not.
[1107]     
[1108]     Then would you still say that love is beautiful?
[1109]     
[1110]     Agathon replied: I fear that I did not understand what I was saying.
[1111]     
[1112]     You made a very good speech, Agathon, replied Socrates; but there is yet
[1113]     one small question which I would fain ask:--Is not the good also the
[1114]     beautiful?
[1115]     
[1116]     Yes.
[1117]     
[1118]     Then in wanting the beautiful, love wants also the good?
[1119]     
[1120]     I cannot refute you, Socrates, said Agathon:--Let us assume that what you
[1121]     say is true.
[1122]     
[1123]     Say rather, beloved Agathon, that you cannot refute the truth; for Socrates
[1124]     is easily refuted.
[1125]     
[1126]     And now, taking my leave of you, I would rehearse a tale of love which I
[1127]     heard from Diotima of Mantineia (compare 1 Alcibiades), a woman wise in
[1128]     this and in many other kinds of knowledge, who in the days of old, when the
[1129]     Athenians offered sacrifice before the coming of the plague, delayed the
[1130]     disease ten years. She was my instructress in the art of love, and I shall
[1131]     repeat to you what she said to me, beginning with the admissions made by
[1132]     Agathon, which are nearly if not quite the same which I made to the wise
[1133]     woman when she questioned me: I think that this will be the easiest way,
[1134]     and I shall take both parts myself as well as I can (compare Gorgias). As
[1135]     you, Agathon, suggested (supra), I must speak first of the being and nature
[1136]     of Love, and then of his works. First I said to her in nearly the same
[1137]     words which he used to me, that Love was a mighty god, and likewise fair;
[1138]     and she proved to me as I proved to him that, by my own showing, Love was
[1139]     neither fair nor good. 'What do you mean, Diotima,' I said, 'is love then
[1140]     evil and foul?' 'Hush,' she cried; 'must that be foul which is not fair?'
[1141]     'Certainly,' I said. 'And is that which is not wise, ignorant? do you not
[1142]     see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance?' 'And what may that
[1143]     be?' I said. 'Right opinion,' she replied; 'which, as you know, being
[1144]     incapable of giving a reason, is not knowledge (for how can knowledge be
[1145]     devoid of reason? nor again, ignorance, for neither can ignorance attain
[1146]     the truth), but is clearly something which is a mean between ignorance and
[1147]     wisdom.' 'Quite true,' I replied. 'Do not then insist,' she said, 'that
[1148]     what is not fair is of necessity foul, or what is not good evil; or infer
[1149]     that because love is not fair and good he is therefore foul and evil; for
[1150]     he is in a mean between them.' 'Well,' I said, 'Love is surely admitted by
[1151]     all to be a great god.' 'By those who know or by those who do not know?'
[1152]     'By all.' 'And how, Socrates,' she said with a smile, 'can Love be
[1153]     acknowledged to be a great god by those who say that he is not a god at
[1154]     all?' 'And who are they?' I said. 'You and I are two of them,' she
[1155]     replied. 'How can that be?' I said. 'It is quite intelligible,' she
[1156]     replied; 'for you yourself would acknowledge that the gods are happy and
[1157]     fair--of course you would--would you dare to say that any god was not?'
[1158]     'Certainly not,' I replied. 'And you mean by the happy, those who are the
[1159]     possessors of things good or fair?' 'Yes.' 'And you admitted that Love,
[1160]     because he was in want, desires those good and fair things of which he is
[1161]     in want?' 'Yes, I did.' 'But how can he be a god who has no portion in
[1162]     what is either good or fair?' 'Impossible.' 'Then you see that you also
[1163]     deny the divinity of Love.'
[1164]     
[1165]     'What then is Love?' I asked; 'Is he mortal?' 'No.' 'What then?' 'As in
[1166]     the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean
[1167]     between the two.' 'What is he, Diotima?' 'He is a great spirit (daimon),
[1168]     and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal.'
[1169]     'And what,' I said, 'is his power?' 'He interprets,' she replied, 'between
[1170]     gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and
[1171]     sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods; he is
[1172]     the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him
[1173]     all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet and the
[1174]     priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all prophecy and
[1175]     incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man; but through
[1176]     Love all the intercourse and converse of God with man, whether awake or
[1177]     asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual; all
[1178]     other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar.
[1179]     Now these spirits or intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of
[1180]     them is Love.' 'And who,' I said, 'was his father, and who his mother?'
[1181]     'The tale,' she said, 'will take time; nevertheless I will tell you. On
[1182]     the birthday of Aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god
[1183]     Poros or Plenty, who is the son of Metis or Discretion, was one of the
[1184]     guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty, as the manner is on
[1185]     such occasions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse
[1186]     for nectar (there was no wine in those days), went into the garden of Zeus
[1187]     and fell into a heavy sleep, and Poverty considering her own straitened
[1188]     circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down
[1189]     at his side and conceived Love, who partly because he is naturally a lover
[1190]     of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful, and also
[1191]     because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant. And as
[1192]     his parentage is, so also are his fortunes. In the first place he is
[1193]     always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him; and
[1194]     he is rough and squalid, and has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in; on the
[1195]     bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in the streets, or at the
[1196]     doors of houses, taking his rest; and like his mother he is always in
[1197]     distress. Like his father too, whom he also partly resembles, he is always
[1198]     plotting against the fair and good; he is bold, enterprising, strong, a
[1199]     mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or other, keen in the pursuit
[1200]     of wisdom, fertile in resources; a philosopher at all times, terrible as an
[1201]     enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal,
[1202]     but alive and flourishing at one moment when he is in plenty, and dead at
[1203]     another moment, and again alive by reason of his father's nature. But that
[1204]     which is always flowing in is always flowing out, and so he is never in
[1205]     want and never in wealth; and, further, he is in a mean between ignorance
[1206]     and knowledge. The truth of the matter is this: No god is a philosopher
[1207]     or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is
[1208]     wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For
[1209]     herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is
[1210]     nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for that of which he
[1211]     feels no want.' 'But who then, Diotima,' I said, 'are the lovers of
[1212]     wisdom, if they are neither the wise nor the foolish?' 'A child may answer
[1213]     that question,' she replied; 'they are those who are in a mean between the
[1214]     two; Love is one of them. For wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love
[1215]     is of the beautiful; and therefore Love is also a philosopher or lover of
[1216]     wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the
[1217]     ignorant. And of this too his birth is the cause; for his father is
[1218]     wealthy and wise, and his mother poor and foolish. Such, my dear Socrates,
[1219]     is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was
[1220]     very natural, and as I imagine from what you say, has arisen out of a
[1221]     confusion of love and the beloved, which made you think that love was all
[1222]     beautiful. For the beloved is the truly beautiful, and delicate, and
[1223]     perfect, and blessed; but the principle of love is of another nature, and
[1224]     is such as I have described.'
[1225]     
[1226]     I said, 'O thou stranger woman, thou sayest well; but, assuming Love to be
[1227]     such as you say, what is the use of him to men?' 'That, Socrates,' she
[1228]     replied, 'I will attempt to unfold: of his nature and birth I have already
[1229]     spoken; and you acknowledge that love is of the beautiful. But some one
[1230]     will say: Of the beautiful in what, Socrates and Diotima?--or rather let
[1231]     me put the question more clearly, and ask: When a man loves the beautiful,
[1232]     what does he desire?' I answered her 'That the beautiful may be his.'
[1233]     'Still,' she said, 'the answer suggests a further question: What is given
[1234]     by the possession of beauty?' 'To what you have asked,' I replied, 'I have
[1235]     no answer ready.' 'Then,' she said, 'let me put the word "good" in the
[1236]     place of the beautiful, and repeat the question once more: If he who loves
[1237]     loves the good, what is it then that he loves?' 'The possession of the
[1238]     good,' I said. 'And what does he gain who possesses the good?'
[1239]     'Happiness,' I replied; 'there is less difficulty in answering that
[1240]     question.' 'Yes,' she said, 'the happy are made happy by the acquisition
[1241]     of good things. Nor is there any need to ask why a man desires happiness;
[1242]     the answer is already final.' 'You are right.' I said. 'And is this wish
[1243]     and this desire common to all? and do all men always desire their own good,
[1244]     or only some men?--what say you?' 'All men,' I replied; 'the desire is
[1245]     common to all.' 'Why, then,' she rejoined, 'are not all men, Socrates,
[1246]     said to love, but only some of them? whereas you say that all men are
[1247]     always loving the same things.' 'I myself wonder,' I said, 'why this is.'
[1248]     'There is nothing to wonder at,' she replied; 'the reason is that one part
[1249]     of love is separated off and receives the name of the whole, but the other
[1250]     parts have other names.' 'Give an illustration,' I said. She answered me
[1251]     as follows: 'There is poetry, which, as you know, is complex and manifold.
[1252]     All creation or passage of non-being into being is poetry or making, and
[1253]     the processes of all art are creative; and the masters of arts are all
[1254]     poets or makers.' 'Very true.' 'Still,' she said, 'you know that they are
[1255]     not called poets, but have other names; only that portion of the art which
[1256]     is separated off from the rest, and is concerned with music and metre, is
[1257]     termed poetry, and they who possess poetry in this sense of the word are
[1258]     called poets.' 'Very true,' I said. 'And the same holds of love. For you
[1259]     may say generally that all desire of good and happiness is only the great
[1260]     and subtle power of love; but they who are drawn towards him by any other
[1261]     path, whether the path of money-making or gymnastics or philosophy, are not
[1262]     called lovers--the name of the whole is appropriated to those whose
[1263]     affection takes one form only--they alone are said to love, or to be
[1264]     lovers.' 'I dare say,' I replied, 'that you are right.' 'Yes,' she added,
[1265]     'and you hear people say that lovers are seeking for their other half; but
[1266]     I say that they are seeking neither for the half of themselves, nor for the
[1267]     whole, unless the half or the whole be also a good. And they will cut off
[1268]     their own hands and feet and cast them away, if they are evil; for they
[1269]     love not what is their own, unless perchance there be some one who calls
[1270]     what belongs to him the good, and what belongs to another the evil. For
[1271]     there is nothing which men love but the good. Is there anything?'
[1272]     'Certainly, I should say, that there is nothing.' 'Then,' she said, 'the
[1273]     simple truth is, that men love the good.' 'Yes,' I said. 'To which must
[1274]     be added that they love the possession of the good?' 'Yes, that must be
[1275]     added.' 'And not only the possession, but the everlasting possession of
[1276]     the good?' 'That must be added too.' 'Then love,' she said, 'may be
[1277]     described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?'
[1278]     'That is most true.'
[1279]     
[1280]     'Then if this be the nature of love, can you tell me further,' she said,
[1281]     'what is the manner of the pursuit? what are they doing who show all this
[1282]     eagerness and heat which is called love? and what is the object which they
[1283]     have in view? Answer me.' 'Nay, Diotima,' I replied, 'if I had known, I
[1284]     should not have wondered at your wisdom, neither should I have come to
[1285]     learn from you about this very matter.' 'Well,' she said, 'I will teach
[1286]     you:--The object which they have in view is birth in beauty, whether of
[1287]     body or soul.' 'I do not understand you,' I said; 'the oracle requires an
[1288]     explanation.' 'I will make my meaning clearer,' she replied. 'I mean to
[1289]     say, that all men are bringing to the birth in their bodies and in their
[1290]     souls. There is a certain age at which human nature is desirous of
[1291]     procreation--procreation which must be in beauty and not in deformity; and
[1292]     this procreation is the union of man and woman, and is a divine thing; for
[1293]     conception and generation are an immortal principle in the mortal creature,
[1294]     and in the inharmonious they can never be. But the deformed is always
[1295]     inharmonious with the divine, and the beautiful harmonious. Beauty, then,
[1296]     is the destiny or goddess of parturition who presides at birth, and
[1297]     therefore, when approaching beauty, the conceiving power is propitious, and
[1298]     diffusive, and benign, and begets and bears fruit: at the sight of
[1299]     ugliness she frowns and contracts and has a sense of pain, and turns away,
[1300]     and shrivels up, and not without a pang refrains from conception. And this
[1301]     is the reason why, when the hour of conception arrives, and the teeming
[1302]     nature is full, there is such a flutter and ecstasy about beauty whose
[1303]     approach is the alleviation of the pain of travail. For love, Socrates, is
[1304]     not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only.' 'What then?' 'The
[1305]     love of generation and of birth in beauty.' 'Yes,' I said. 'Yes, indeed,'
[1306]     she replied. 'But why of generation?' 'Because to the mortal creature,
[1307]     generation is a sort of eternity and immortality,' she replied; 'and if, as
[1308]     has been already admitted, love is of the everlasting possession of the
[1309]     good, all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good:
[1310]     Wherefore love is of immortality.'
[1311]     
[1312]     All this she taught me at various times when she spoke of love. And I
[1313]     remember her once saying to me, 'What is the cause, Socrates, of love, and
[1314]     the attendant desire? See you not how all animals, birds, as well as
[1315]     beasts, in their desire of procreation, are in agony when they take the
[1316]     infection of love, which begins with the desire of union; whereto is added
[1317]     the care of offspring, on whose behalf the weakest are ready to battle
[1318]     against the strongest even to the uttermost, and to die for them, and will
[1319]     let themselves be tormented with hunger or suffer anything in order to
[1320]     maintain their young. Man may be supposed to act thus from reason; but why
[1321]     should animals have these passionate feelings? Can you tell me why?'
[1322]     Again I replied that I did not know. She said to me: 'And do you expect
[1323]     ever to become a master in the art of love, if you do not know this?' 'But
[1324]     I have told you already, Diotima, that my ignorance is the reason why I
[1325]     come to you; for I am conscious that I want a teacher; tell me then the
[1326]     cause of this and of the other mysteries of love.' 'Marvel not,' she said,
[1327]     'if you believe that love is of the immortal, as we have several times
[1328]     acknowledged; for here again, and on the same principle too, the mortal
[1329]     nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal:
[1330]     and this is only to be attained by generation, because generation always
[1331]     leaves behind a new existence in the place of the old. Nay even in the
[1332]     life of the same individual there is succession and not absolute unity: a
[1333]     man is called the same, and yet in the short interval which elapses between
[1334]     youth and age, and in which every animal is said to have life and identity,
[1335]     he is undergoing a perpetual process of loss and reparation--hair, flesh,
[1336]     bones, blood, and the whole body are always changing. Which is true not
[1337]     only of the body, but also of the soul, whose habits, tempers, opinions,
[1338]     desires, pleasures, pains, fears, never remain the same in any one of us,
[1339]     but are always coming and going; and equally true of knowledge, and what is
[1340]     still more surprising to us mortals, not only do the sciences in general
[1341]     spring up and decay, so that in respect of them we are never the same; but
[1342]     each of them individually experiences a like change. For what is implied
[1343]     in the word "recollection," but the departure of knowledge, which is ever
[1344]     being forgotten, and is renewed and preserved by recollection, and appears
[1345]     to be the same although in reality new, according to that law of succession
[1346]     by which all mortal things are preserved, not absolutely the same, but by
[1347]     substitution, the old worn-out mortality leaving another new and similar
[1348]     existence behind--unlike the divine, which is always the same and not
[1349]     another? And in this way, Socrates, the mortal body, or mortal anything,
[1350]     partakes of immortality; but the immortal in another way. Marvel not then
[1351]     at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love
[1352]     and interest is for the sake of immortality.'
[1353]     
[1354]     I was astonished at her words, and said: 'Is this really true, O thou wise
[1355]     Diotima?' And she answered with all the authority of an accomplished
[1356]     sophist: 'Of that, Socrates, you may be assured;--think only of the
[1357]     ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways,
[1358]     unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of
[1359]     fame. They are ready to run all risks greater far than they would have run
[1360]     for their children, and to spend money and undergo any sort of toil, and
[1361]     even to die, for the sake of leaving behind them a name which shall be
[1362]     eternal. Do you imagine that Alcestis would have died to save Admetus, or
[1363]     Achilles to avenge Patroclus, or your own Codrus in order to preserve the
[1364]     kingdom for his sons, if they had not imagined that the memory of their
[1365]     virtues, which still survives among us, would be immortal? Nay,' she said,
[1366]     'I am persuaded that all men do all things, and the better they are the
[1367]     more they do them, in hope of the glorious fame of immortal virtue; for
[1368]     they desire the immortal.
[1369]     
[1370]     'Those who are pregnant in the body only, betake themselves to women and
[1371]     beget children--this is the character of their love; their offspring, as
[1372]     they hope, will preserve their memory and giving them the blessedness and
[1373]     immortality which they desire in the future. But souls which are pregnant
[1374]     --for there certainly are men who are more creative in their souls than in
[1375]     their bodies--conceive that which is proper for the soul to conceive or
[1376]     contain. And what are these conceptions?--wisdom and virtue in general.
[1377]     And such creators are poets and all artists who are deserving of the name
[1378]     inventor. But the greatest and fairest sort of wisdom by far is that which
[1379]     is concerned with the ordering of states and families, and which is called
[1380]     temperance and justice. And he who in youth has the seed of these
[1381]     implanted in him and is himself inspired, when he comes to maturity desires
[1382]     to beget and generate. He wanders about seeking beauty that he may beget
[1383]     offspring--for in deformity he will beget nothing--and naturally embraces
[1384]     the beautiful rather than the deformed body; above all when he finds a fair
[1385]     and noble and well-nurtured soul, he embraces the two in one person, and to
[1386]     such an one he is full of speech about virtue and the nature and pursuits
[1387]     of a good man; and he tries to educate him; and at the touch of the
[1388]     beautiful which is ever present to his memory, even when absent, he brings
[1389]     forth that which he had conceived long before, and in company with him
[1390]     tends that which he brings forth; and they are married by a far nearer tie
[1391]     and have a closer friendship than those who beget mortal children, for the
[1392]     children who are their common offspring are fairer and more immortal. Who,
[1393]     when he thinks of Homer and Hesiod and other great poets, would not rather
[1394]     have their children than ordinary human ones? Who would not emulate them
[1395]     in the creation of children such as theirs, which have preserved their
[1396]     memory and given them everlasting glory? Or who would not have such
[1397]     children as Lycurgus left behind him to be the saviours, not only of
[1398]     Lacedaemon, but of Hellas, as one may say? There is Solon, too, who is the
[1399]     revered father of Athenian laws; and many others there are in many other
[1400]     places, both among Hellenes and barbarians, who have given to the world
[1401]     many noble works, and have been the parents of virtue of every kind; and
[1402]     many temples have been raised in their honour for the sake of children such
[1403]     as theirs; which were never raised in honour of any one, for the sake of
[1404]     his mortal children.
[1405]     
[1406]     'These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may
[1407]     enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these,
[1408]     and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will lead, I know
[1409]     not whether you will be able to attain. But I will do my utmost to inform
[1410]     you, and do you follow if you can. For he who would proceed aright in this
[1411]     matter should begin in youth to visit beautiful forms; and first, if he be
[1412]     guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only--out of that he
[1413]     should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the
[1414]     beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of
[1415]     form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognize
[1416]     that the beauty in every form is and the same! And when he perceives this
[1417]     he will abate his violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a
[1418]     small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next
[1419]     stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than
[1420]     the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a
[1421]     little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search
[1422]     out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he
[1423]     is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of institutions and laws,
[1424]     and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that
[1425]     personal beauty is a trifle; and after laws and institutions he will go on
[1426]     to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in
[1427]     love with the beauty of one youth or man or institution, himself a slave
[1428]     mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea
[1429]     of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in
[1430]     boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong,
[1431]     and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the
[1432]     science of beauty everywhere. To this I will proceed; please to give me
[1433]     your very best attention:
[1434]     
[1435]     'He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has
[1436]     learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes
[1437]     toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and
[1438]     this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)--a nature which
[1439]     in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and
[1440]     waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at
[1441]     one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in
[1442]     another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and foul to
[1443]     others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the
[1444]     bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any
[1445]     other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven, or in earth, or in
[1446]     any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting,
[1447]     which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted
[1448]     to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who
[1449]     from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive
[1450]     that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or
[1451]     being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties
[1452]     of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these
[1453]     as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair
[1454]     forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to
[1455]     fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute
[1456]     beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. This, my dear
[1457]     Socrates,' said the stranger of Mantineia, 'is that life above all others
[1458]     which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty
[1459]     which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of
[1460]     gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances
[1461]     you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and
[1462]     conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible--you only
[1463]     want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see
[1464]     the true beauty--the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed,
[1465]     not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and
[1466]     vanities of human life--thither looking, and holding converse with the true
[1467]     beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding
[1468]     beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not
[1469]     images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a
[1470]     reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the
[1471]     friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble
[1472]     life?'
[1473]     
[1474]     Such, Phaedrus--and I speak not only to you, but to all of you--were the
[1475]     words of Diotima; and I am persuaded of their truth. And being persuaded
[1476]     of them, I try to persuade others, that in the attainment of this end human
[1477]     nature will not easily find a helper better than love: And therefore,
[1478]     also, I say that every man ought to honour him as I myself honour him, and
[1479]     walk in his ways, and exhort others to do the same, and praise the power
[1480]     and spirit of love according to the measure of my ability now and ever.
[1481]     
[1482]     The words which I have spoken, you, Phaedrus, may call an encomium of love,
[1483]     or anything else which you please.
[1484]     
[1485]     When Socrates had done speaking, the company applauded, and Aristophanes
[1486]     was beginning to say something in answer to the allusion which Socrates had
[1487]     made to his own speech, when suddenly there was a great knocking at the
[1488]     door of the house, as of revellers, and the sound of a flute-girl was
[1489]     heard. Agathon told the attendants to go and see who were the intruders.
[1490]     'If they are friends of ours,' he said, 'invite them in, but if not, say
[1491]     that the drinking is over.' A little while afterwards they heard the voice
[1492]     of Alcibiades resounding in the court; he was in a great state of
[1493]     intoxication, and kept roaring and shouting 'Where is Agathon? Lead me to
[1494]     Agathon,' and at length, supported by the flute-girl and some of his
[1495]     attendants, he found his way to them. 'Hail, friends,' he said, appearing
[1496]     at the door crowned with a massive garland of ivy and violets, his head
[1497]     flowing with ribands. 'Will you have a very drunken man as a companion of
[1498]     your revels? Or shall I crown Agathon, which was my intention in coming,
[1499]     and go away? For I was unable to come yesterday, and therefore I am here
[1500]     to-day, carrying on my head these ribands, that taking them from my own
[1501]     head, I may crown the head of this fairest and wisest of men, as I may be
[1502]     allowed to call him. Will you laugh at me because I am drunk? Yet I know
[1503]     very well that I am speaking the truth, although you may laugh. But first
[1504]     tell me; if I come in shall we have the understanding of which I spoke
[1505]     (supra Will you have a very drunken man? etc.)? Will you drink with me or
[1506]     not?'
[1507]     
[1508]     The company were vociferous in begging that he would take his place among
[1509]     them, and Agathon specially invited him. Thereupon he was led in by the
[1510]     people who were with him; and as he was being led, intending to crown
[1511]     Agathon, he took the ribands from his own head and held them in front of
[1512]     his eyes; he was thus prevented from seeing Socrates, who made way for him,
[1513]     and Alcibiades took the vacant place between Agathon and Socrates, and in
[1514]     taking the place he embraced Agathon and crowned him. Take off his
[1515]     sandals, said Agathon, and let him make a third on the same couch.
[1516]     
[1517]     By all means; but who makes the third partner in our revels? said
[1518]     Alcibiades, turning round and starting up as he caught sight of Socrates.
[1519]     By Heracles, he said, what is this? here is Socrates always lying in wait
[1520]     for me, and always, as his way is, coming out at all sorts of unsuspected
[1521]     places: and now, what have you to say for yourself, and why are you lying
[1522]     here, where I perceive that you have contrived to find a place, not by a
[1523]     joker or lover of jokes, like Aristophanes, but by the fairest of the
[1524]     company?
[1525]     
[1526]     Socrates turned to Agathon and said: I must ask you to protect me,
[1527]     Agathon; for the passion of this man has grown quite a serious matter to
[1528]     me. Since I became his admirer I have never been allowed to speak to any
[1529]     other fair one, or so much as to look at them. If I do, he goes wild with
[1530]     envy and jealousy, and not only abuses me but can hardly keep his hands off
[1531]     me, and at this moment he may do me some harm. Please to see to this, and
[1532]     either reconcile me to him, or, if he attempts violence, protect me, as I
[1533]     am in bodily fear of his mad and passionate attempts.
[1534]     
[1535]     There can never be reconciliation between you and me, said Alcibiades; but
[1536]     for the present I will defer your chastisement. And I must beg you,
[1537]     Agathon, to give me back some of the ribands that I may crown the
[1538]     marvellous head of this universal despot--I would not have him complain of
[1539]     me for crowning you, and neglecting him, who in conversation is the
[1540]     conqueror of all mankind; and this not only once, as you were the day
[1541]     before yesterday, but always. Whereupon, taking some of the ribands, he
[1542]     crowned Socrates, and again reclined.
[1543]     
[1544]     Then he said: You seem, my friends, to be sober, which is a thing not to
[1545]     be endured; you must drink--for that was the agreement under which I was
[1546]     admitted--and I elect myself master of the feast until you are well drunk.
[1547]     Let us have a large goblet, Agathon, or rather, he said, addressing the
[1548]     attendant, bring me that wine-cooler. The wine-cooler which had caught his
[1549]     eye was a vessel holding more than two quarts--this he filled and emptied,
[1550]     and bade the attendant fill it again for Socrates. Observe, my friends,
[1551]     said Alcibiades, that this ingenious trick of mine will have no effect on
[1552]     Socrates, for he can drink any quantity of wine and not be at all nearer
[1553]     being drunk. Socrates drank the cup which the attendant filled for him.
[1554]     
[1555]     Eryximachus said: What is this, Alcibiades? Are we to have neither
[1556]     conversation nor singing over our cups; but simply to drink as if we were
[1557]     thirsty?
[1558]     
[1559]     Alcibiades replied: Hail, worthy son of a most wise and worthy sire!
[1560]     
[1561]     The same to you, said Eryximachus; but what shall we do?
[1562]     
[1563]     That I leave to you, said Alcibiades.
[1564]     
[1565]     'The wise physician skilled our wounds to heal (from Pope's Homer, Il.)'
[1566]     
[1567]     shall prescribe and we will obey. What do you want?
[1568]     
[1569]     Well, said Eryximachus, before you appeared we had passed a resolution that
[1570]     each one of us in turn should make a speech in praise of love, and as good
[1571]     a one as he could: the turn was passed round from left to right; and as
[1572]     all of us have spoken, and you have not spoken but have well drunken, you
[1573]     ought to speak, and then impose upon Socrates any task which you please,
[1574]     and he on his right hand neighbour, and so on.
[1575]     
[1576]     That is good, Eryximachus, said Alcibiades; and yet the comparison of a
[1577]     drunken man's speech with those of sober men is hardly fair; and I should
[1578]     like to know, sweet friend, whether you really believe what Socrates was
[1579]     just now saying; for I can assure you that the very reverse is the fact,
[1580]     and that if I praise any one but himself in his presence, whether God or
[1581]     man, he will hardly keep his hands off me.
[1582]     
[1583]     For shame, said Socrates.
[1584]     
[1585]     Hold your tongue, said Alcibiades, for by Poseidon, there is no one else
[1586]     whom I will praise when you are of the company.
[1587]     
[1588]     Well then, said Eryximachus, if you like praise Socrates.
[1589]     
[1590]     What do you think, Eryximachus? said Alcibiades: shall I attack him and
[1591]     inflict the punishment before you all?
[1592]     
[1593]     What are you about? said Socrates; are you going to raise a laugh at my
[1594]     expense? Is that the meaning of your praise?
[1595]     
[1596]     I am going to speak the truth, if you will permit me.
[1597]     
[1598]     I not only permit, but exhort you to speak the truth.
[1599]     
[1600]     Then I will begin at once, said Alcibiades, and if I say anything which is
[1601]     not true, you may interrupt me if you will, and say 'that is a lie,' though
[1602]     my intention is to speak the truth. But you must not wonder if I speak any
[1603]     how as things come into my mind; for the fluent and orderly enumeration of
[1604]     all your singularities is not a task which is easy to a man in my
[1605]     condition.
[1606]     
[1607]     And now, my boys, I shall praise Socrates in a figure which will appear to
[1608]     him to be a caricature, and yet I speak, not to make fun of him, but only
[1609]     for the truth's sake. I say, that he is exactly like the busts of Silenus,
[1610]     which are set up in the statuaries' shops, holding pipes and flutes in
[1611]     their mouths; and they are made to open in the middle, and have images of
[1612]     gods inside them. I say also that he is like Marsyas the satyr. You
[1613]     yourself will not deny, Socrates, that your face is like that of a satyr.
[1614]     Aye, and there is a resemblance in other points too. For example, you are
[1615]     a bully, as I can prove by witnesses, if you will not confess. And are you
[1616]     not a flute-player? That you are, and a performer far more wonderful than
[1617]     Marsyas. He indeed with instruments used to charm the souls of men by the
[1618]     power of his breath, and the players of his music do so still: for the
[1619]     melodies of Olympus (compare Arist. Pol.) are derived from Marsyas who
[1620]     taught them, and these, whether they are played by a great master or by a
[1621]     miserable flute-girl, have a power which no others have; they alone possess
[1622]     the soul and reveal the wants of those who have need of gods and mysteries,
[1623]     because they are divine. But you produce the same effect with your words
[1624]     only, and do not require the flute: that is the difference between you and
[1625]     him. When we hear any other speaker, even a very good one, he produces
[1626]     absolutely no effect upon us, or not much, whereas the mere fragments of
[1627]     you and your words, even at second-hand, and however imperfectly repeated,
[1628]     amaze and possess the souls of every man, woman, and child who comes within
[1629]     hearing of them. And if I were not afraid that you would think me
[1630]     hopelessly drunk, I would have sworn as well as spoken to the influence
[1631]     which they have always had and still have over me. For my heart leaps
[1632]     within me more than that of any Corybantian reveller, and my eyes rain
[1633]     tears when I hear them. And I observe that many others are affected in the
[1634]     same manner. I have heard Pericles and other great orators, and I thought
[1635]     that they spoke well, but I never had any similar feeling; my soul was not
[1636]     stirred by them, nor was I angry at the thought of my own slavish state.
[1637]     But this Marsyas has often brought me to such a pass, that I have felt as
[1638]     if I could hardly endure the life which I am leading (this, Socrates, you
[1639]     will admit); and I am conscious that if I did not shut my ears against him,
[1640]     and fly as from the voice of the siren, my fate would be like that of
[1641]     others,--he would transfix me, and I should grow old sitting at his feet.
[1642]     For he makes me confess that I ought not to live as I do, neglecting the
[1643]     wants of my own soul, and busying myself with the concerns of the
[1644]     Athenians; therefore I hold my ears and tear myself away from him. And he
[1645]     is the only person who ever made me ashamed, which you might think not to
[1646]     be in my nature, and there is no one else who does the same. For I know
[1647]     that I cannot answer him or say that I ought not to do as he bids, but when
[1648]     I leave his presence the love of popularity gets the better of me. And
[1649]     therefore I run away and fly from him, and when I see him I am ashamed of
[1650]     what I have confessed to him. Many a time have I wished that he were dead,
[1651]     and yet I know that I should be much more sorry than glad, if he were to
[1652]     die: so that I am at my wit's end.
[1653]     
[1654]     And this is what I and many others have suffered from the flute-playing of
[1655]     this satyr. Yet hear me once more while I show you how exact the image is,
[1656]     and how marvellous his power. For let me tell you; none of you know him;
[1657]     but I will reveal him to you; having begun, I must go on. See you how fond
[1658]     he is of the fair? He is always with them and is always being smitten by
[1659]     them, and then again he knows nothing and is ignorant of all things--such
[1660]     is the appearance which he puts on. Is he not like a Silenus in this? To
[1661]     be sure he is: his outer mask is the carved head of the Silenus; but, O my
[1662]     companions in drink, when he is opened, what temperance there is residing
[1663]     within! Know you that beauty and wealth and honour, at which the many
[1664]     wonder, are of no account with him, and are utterly despised by him: he
[1665]     regards not at all the persons who are gifted with them; mankind are
[1666]     nothing to him; all his life is spent in mocking and flouting at them. But
[1667]     when I opened him, and looked within at his serious purpose, I saw in him
[1668]     divine and golden images of such fascinating beauty that I was ready to do
[1669]     in a moment whatever Socrates commanded: they may have escaped the
[1670]     observation of others, but I saw them. Now I fancied that he was seriously
[1671]     enamoured of my beauty, and I thought that I should therefore have a grand
[1672]     opportunity of hearing him tell what he knew, for I had a wonderful opinion
[1673]     of the attractions of my youth. In the prosecution of this design, when I
[1674]     next went to him, I sent away the attendant who usually accompanied me (I
[1675]     will confess the whole truth, and beg