Plato's Symposium

by Plato Narrated by Ray Childs

Overview

The dramatic nature of Plato's dialogues is delightfully evident in Symposium. The marriage between character and thought bursts forth as the guests gather at Agathon's house to celebrate the success of his first tragedy. With wit and insight, they all present their ideas about love - from Erixymachus' scientific naturalism to Aristophanes' comic fantasy. The unexpected arrival of Alcibiades breaks the spell cast by Diotima's ethereal climb up the staircase of love to beauty itself. Ecstasy and intoxication clash as Plato concludes with one of his most skillful displays of dialectic.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171685669
Publisher:	AB Publishing
Publication date:	09/07/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

[172] Apollodorus: Actually, I think I am well prepared to answer your question. The day before yesterday
I was going from my home in Phalerum to the city when a friend of mine saw me from behind at a distance.
He was in a jovial mood, so he shouted in an official voice.
Friend: You, the man from Phalerum, halt!
Apollodorus: I stopped and allowed him to catch up with me.
Friend: Apollodorus, I was just looking for you. I want to hear about the party at Agathon’s house. Tell me
about the speeches on love made by Socrates, Alcibiades, and the others who were there. I was talking to
someone who heard the story from Phoenix, the son of Philip, but his account was muddled. He said that
you might know the story, so I thought you would be the best one to report the words of your dear friend
Socrates. But first, tell me, were you really at the party?
Apollodorus: His account was certainly muddled if it led you to believe that the party was recent and that I
could have been there.
Friend: That’s the story I heard.
Apollodorus: Agathon has not been in Athens for several years. Also, it has been fewer than three years
since I have been following Socrates around and hanging on his every word and action. [173] Before that I
ran around aimlessly, thinking I was doing something important, but I was worse off than anyone else. In
those days I would have done anything rather than pursue philosophy. I was a lot like you are now!
Friend: Apollodorus, please stop making fun of me and tell me when the party actually took place.
Apollodorus: My friend, you and I were still children at the time — it was when Agathon won the prize for
his first tragedy— the day after he and members of his cast had already celebrated their victory.
Friend: That was a long time ago. But tell me, was it Socrates who told you the story?
Apollodorus: No, it was not Socrates but Aristodemus of Cydathenaeum. He was at the party. He is the
same person who told Phoenix. Aristodemus is the little guy who always went barefoot and seemed more
devoted to Socrates than anyone else in those days. Later, I was able to confirm some parts of his account
with Socrates.
Friend: Then please tell me the whole story while we walk to Athens. It is a good way to pass the time.
Apollodorus: If you want to hear it, I am well rehearsed to recount the speeches. I love to philosophize and
even hear others do so. It is both pleasurable and profitable — much more so than all the talk about making
money I hear from you rich people, which I find boring. I feel sorry for friends like you who believe you
are working hard when you are actually doing nothing. No doubt you also feel sorry for me, and I may be
in a bad way, as you think I am. But I don’t merely think that of you, I know it.
Friend: I see you are the same as ever, Apollodorus — always finding fault with yourself and with
everybody else. I think you pity yourself and every other human being, with the exception of Socrates. I’m
not sure how you came to be called “Apollodorus the madman,” but you deserve it when you are always
ranting and raving against yourself and everybody but Socrates.
Apollodorus: Well, my friend, then it’s obvious that I am out of my mind! Why else would I have such
ideas about myself as well as the rest of you?
Friend: It’s not worth arguing about that now, Apollodorus. We agreed that you would give me a full
report on those speeches about love.
Apollodorus: Well, they went something like this — but perhaps it would be best for me to begin at the
beginning and try to give you the whole story as it was told to me. [174] Aristodemus said he met Socrates,
who had just taken a bath and was wearing elegant sandals, which was unusual. He asked where he was
going all dressed up.
Socrates: I’m going to a dinner party at Agathon’s house. I missed the celebration yesterday, because I
dread crowds and avoid them when I can, so I promised I would come today instead. I dressed this way to
honor my handsome host. Wouldn’t you like to join me, even though you were not invited?
Aristodemus: I would, if you think it is all right.
Socrates: Follow me then, and we will challenge the proverb that says:
To the feasts of lesser men the good unbidden go.
We will replace it with a new saying:
To the feasts of the good unbidden go the good.
Homer’s authority supports this change. He not only challenges but actually contradicts the old proverb.
After presenting Agamemnon as the most courageous of people, he has Menelaus, a “cowardly spearman,”
come uninvited to the sacrificial feast of Agamemnon — the worse to the better.i
Aristodemus: Socrates, I’m afraid I will be the inferior person who, like Menelaus in Homer,
To the feasts of the wise unbidden goes.
I will say that you invited me, so you will have to explain my presence.
Socrates: “Two going together,” as Homer puts it, can invent an excuse on the way.ii
Apollodorus: Following that conversation, they headed for the party. But along the way, Socrates became
absorbed in his own thoughts and fell behind. When Aristodemus tried to wait for him, Socrates
encouraged him to go on ahead. When he reached Agathon’s house, the doors were wide open. To his
amazement, a servant came out to meet him and led him into the dining room where the guests where lying
on couches and the banquet was about to begin. Then Agathon greeted him.
Agathon: Welcome, Aristodemus! You are just in time to dine with us. If you came on some other business,
it will have to wait. I looked for you yesterday so I could invite you, but you were nowhere to be found. I’m
surprised — why are you not with Socrates?
Aristodemus: He was actually the one who invited me. But he seems to have disappeared along the way.
Agathon: You were quite right to come. But where is he now? [175]
Aristodemus: He was right behind me, but I have no idea where he is.
Agathon: I’ll send a servant to look for him. Boy, go find Socrates and bring him here. Now, Aristodemus,
take that place next to Eryximachus.
Apollodorus: Aristodemus said that another servant helped him wash up, and he took his place at the table.
Then the first servant returned to report that Socrates was standing on the neighbor’s porch. He had called
to Socrates several times, but he wouldn’t stir.
Agathon: How strange. Go back and keep calling him until he responds!
Aristodemus: No, Agathon, leave him alone. He has a habit of stopping anywhere and losing himself in
thought. Don’t disturb him, and I’m sure he will come in soon.
Agathon: Well, if you say so, we will let him be. All right, boys, put on the table whatever you think best.
Do it as you do when there is nobody to give you orders, which I never do. Imagine that you are the hosts
and that we are your guests. Treat us well, and we will praise you.
Apollodorus: They went ahead with the meal, and several times Agathon said that he would like to send for
Socrates, but Aristodemus would not allow it. When they were about halfway through the dinner, Socrates
came in.
Agathon: Socrates, I’m all alone at this end of the table. Please come sit next to me, so I can touch you and
share the wisdom that entered your mind on my neighbor’s porch. I’m sure you discovered what you were
seeking, or you would still be there.
Socrates: Agathon, I am happy to join you, and I do wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that could be
shared by touching — from one of us who is full to the other who is empty, the way a wick sucks water
from one cup into another. If that were true, I would be especially delighted to sit next to you, because you
would soon fill me with your beautiful and plentiful wisdom. My own, by contrast, is meager and
questionable, no better than a dream. But yours is bright and promising and radiates powerfully in spite of
your youth, as was evident the day before yesterday in the presence of more than thirty thousand Greeks.
Agathon: Socrates, you are embarrassing me! Later on you and I will take the case of our wisdom to court,
and Dionysus will be the judge. Right now you should pay attention to your dinner. [176]
Apollodorus: Socrates took his place on the couch, and when the meal was over, they offered libations and
sang a hymn to the god and performed the usual ceremonies. When they were about to start drinking,
Pausanias intervened.
Pausanias: Gentlemen, I think we should talk about how to manage our drinking tonight. We had quite a
day of it yesterday, and I think most us are all still suffering. Perhaps we should take it easy so that we can
recover.
Aristophanes: I second the motion, Pausanias! Speaking as one who got soaked yesterday. I think we need
a plan for tonight.
Eryximachus: I agree with you, Aristophanes, but I would like to hear from one more person. What about
you, Agathon, are you up for heavy drinking?
Agathon: Not me. I have to take it easy.
Eryximachus: That’s good news for me, for Aristodemus, for Phaedrus, and for a few others who always
have to take it easy. If the serious drinkers are being cautious, you can imagine where that leaves us after
last night’s celebration. Of course, I’m not talking about Socrates who is in a class by himself; he will be
content either way. Since nobody is inclined to drink much today, this give me a good opportunity to speak
as a physician. Through my medical work I have come to the conclusion that heavy drinking is a bad
practice, which I always try to avoid and never recommend to other people, especially anyone who is still
suffering from previous excess.
Phaedrus: Eryximachus, I always do what you say, especially when you are giving medical advice. If the
rest of you are wise, you will do the same.
Apollodorus: When Phaedrus finished speaking, everyone agreed that they should drink only as much as
they pleased and not be forced to take more. Eryximachus then proposed a different agenda.
Eryximachus: Now that we have agreed that tonight drinking will be voluntary, I move that the flute girl
who has just performed be sent away. She can play to herself or to the women of the house. But today let’s
agree to have conversation instead, and if you permit, I will suggest a topic. [177]
[All agree.]
Eryximachus: I begin by following Euripides’ Melanippe in saying, “not mine the word” which I am about
to speak but that of Phaedrus. He has often complained that other gods have many poems and hymns made
in their honor, but the great and glorious god of love has none offered by the poets nor by the professional
educators such as the great Prodicus, who have written endlessly about the virtues of Heracles and other
great heroes. Recently I even found a book written in eloquent prose by a wise man praising the utility of
salt — and that’s only one example from many. People spend much time and interest on such trivia yet, as
Phaedrus rightly reminds us, nobody has written a proper hymn in praise of Eros. This mighty god has been
completely ignored. So, I would like to contribute by honoring this god and by inviting the rest of you to do
the same. If you agree, we will have plenty of conversation to fill the evening. I propose that each of us
give a speech in praise of love. Let’s all do our best, beginning on my left with Phaedrus, who is at the head
of the table and the father of these words.
Socrates: Eryximachus, nobody will vote against your proposal. I for one, could not refuse to speak on the
only subject I claim to know. Agathon and Pausanias will surely agree, and there is no doubt about
Aristophanes, who spends all his time with Dionysus and Aphrodite. As I look around the room, there is
not one of us who would disagree. It will be difficult for those of us whose turn is last, but we won’t
complain as long as the others before us make some good speeches. So I say good luck to you Phaedrus as
you begin our praise of love! [178]
[All agree.]
Apollodorus: Aristodemus did not remember everything that was said, and I don’t remember everything he
told me; but I will recount the speeches that were particularly worthwhile and what was especially
memorable about them. Phaedrus was the first.
Phaedrus: Eros is a great god, admirable both among gods and human beings, especially because of his
birth. That he is among the oldest of the gods is evident from the lack of poetry or myth naming his parents
or indicating that he had any. As Hesiod says:
First Chaos came, and then broad-bosomed Earth,
The everlasting seat of all that is,
And Eros.iii
And Acusilaus is in full agreement with Hesiod, saying that after Chaos, Earth and Eros were born.
Parmenides also sings of the generation of the gods:
First of all gods, Eros was conceived.
Therefore, many sources speak with a single voice to affirm that love is ancient among gods, and is also the
source of the greatest benefits to us. I cannot imagine a greater good than having a youth to love, or for a
youth to have a proper lover. What ought to guide those who want to live a beautiful life will not be family
ties, high honors, or wealth, nor anything else but will be most perfectly provided by love. What do I mean
by that? I mean the sense of shame for the disgraceful and the desire for beauty. Without these neither
republics nor individuals can ever achieve great or noble work. I say that if someone who loves is observed
doing something disgraceful or submitting through cowardice when subjected to a shameful act, neither
being seen by one’s father, friends, or anyone else will be as painful as being seen by one’s lover. The same
is true of the person who is loved, who would be equally shamed by the gaze of the lover when caught in a
disgraceful act. If it were possible for a republic or an army to be comprised of lovers and the people they
love, they would be the best citizens, abstaining from everything disgraceful and competing with each other
in noble deeds. Fighting at each other’s side, even only a handful of them could conquer the world. [179] A
man would rather have anyone but the one he loves see him abandon his post or throw away his arms — he
would rather die a thousand deaths. Who would desert a lover or fail to defend the loved one in danger?
Inspired by love, even the most abject coward would become a hero and stand alongside the most brave. As
Homer says, the courage that the god breaths into the soul of heroes, love infuses into the lover."

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