Plato · c. 428/427-348/347 BC
Symposium
ΣυμπόσιονThe Symposium is Plato's dialogue on love. Apollodorus retells, from Aristodemus, a drinking party at the house of the tragic poet Agathon in 416 BC, where Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon and Socrates in turn praise Eros. Socrates gives the teaching of the priestess Diotima of Mantineia on Eros as the child of Poros and Penia and on the ladder that leads from one beautiful body to Beauty itself. The drunken Alcibiades then bursts in and praises Socrates, comparing him to the statues of Silenus. The speeches bring in Hesiod's first gods, Alcestis, Orpheus, Achilles and Patroclus, the heavenly and the common Aphrodite, and the round human beings of the speech of Aristophanes.
Contents · 14 passages
- 172a–174eApollodorus is asked about the speeches on love; Aristodemus and Socrates go to Agathon's1191 words
- 175a–177eSocrates arrives late at Agathon's supper; the company agrees to praise Love1290 words
- 178b–180ePhaedrus: Love the eldest of the gods, and the courage of lovers1212 words
- 181a–185ePausanias: the heavenly and the common Aphrodite, and the customs of cities2168 words
- 186a–188eEryximachus: love in medicine, music, the seasons and divination1172 words
- 189a–193eAristophanes: the three sexes, the round people and the search for the lost half2197 words
- 194a–197eAgathon: the nature and gifts of Love, youngest and best of the gods1715 words
- 198a–201eSocrates questions Agathon: Love is the desire for what one lacks1764 words
- 202a–204eDiotima: Love as a spirit between gods and men; the birth of Love from Poros and Penia1291 words
- 205a–208eDiotima: love of the good, birth in beauty, and the desire for immortality1686 words
- 209a–212eDiotima: the lesser and the greater mysteries; the ladder to the Beautiful itself1670 words
- 213a–214eAlcibiades arrives drunk and joins the party1010 words
- 215a–219eAlcibiades praises Socrates: the Silenus, the pipes of Marsyas and the failed seduction2169 words
- 220a–223dAlcibiades on Socrates in the army; the end of the party1582 words
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English translation by Benjamin Jowett (1892). Original text: Greek text: John Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford Classical Texts (as digitised by Perseus); English: Benjamin Jowett (trans.), The Dialogues of Plato, 3rd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.
Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library, Greek text); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.
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