Phaedrus — Plato
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THE SYMPOSIUM II3 poems and hymns made in their honor by the poets, who are so many, the great and glorious god. Love, has not a single panegyrist or encomiast.
Many Sophists also, as for example the excellent Prodicus,® have descanted in prose on the virtues of Heracles ^^ and other heroes; and, what is still more extraordinary, I have met with a philosophical work in which the utility of salt has been made the theme of an eloquent discourse; and many other like things have had a like honor bestowed upon them.
And only to think that there should have been an eager interest created about them, and yet that to this day, as Phaedrus well and truly says, no one has ever dared worthily to hymn Love*s praises. This mighty deity has been neglected wholly ! Now I want to offer Phaedrus a contribution to his feast; nor do I see how the present company can, at this moment, do anything better than honor the god Love.
And if you agree to this, there will be no lack of conversation ; for I mean to propose that each of us in turn shall make a discourse in honor of Love. Let us have the best which he can make; and Phaedrus, who is sitting first on the left hand, and is the father of the thought, shall begin.
No one will oppose that, Eryximachus, said Socrates; I certainly cannot refuse to speak on the only subject of which I profess to have any knowledge, and Agathon and Pausanias will surely assent ; and there can be no doubt of Aristophanes, who is always in the company of Dionysus ^^ and Aphrodite ^2. nor will any one disagree of those whom I see around me.
The proposal, as I am aware, may seem hard upon us whose place is last; but that does not matter if we hear some good speeches first. Let Phaedrus begin the praise of ^ Love, and good luck to him.
All the company ex- ^r pressed their assent, and desired him to do as Socrates bade him. [** Phaedrus began by affinning that Love is a mighty god, and wonderful among gods and men, but especially won- • See Protagoras, note i. >• See Euthydemus. note aa i» God of wine — the Roman Bacchus. "Aphrodite (afro-di'te): goddess of love and beauty, corresponding to the Roman Venus. 8 p. 114derful in his birth. * ' H^ ig the oldest of the gods and without parentage. As Hesiod says : *' First Chaos came, and then broad-bosomcd Earth, The everlasting seat of all that is, And Love. Parmenides ^^ agrees with Hesiod. Love is not only the oldest but also the most beneficent of the gods. The greatest blessing to any youth is to love and be loved. Love iniT plants in the youth the sense of honor.
The veriest coward becomes an inspired hero when the god breathes love into his soul. An army of lovers, though a mere handful, would overcome the world.
For love a man will surrender his life as Alcestis^* did for her husband, and as Achilles ^^ did to avenge the death of his friend.] Now Achilles was quite aware, for he had been told by his mother, that he might avoid death and return home, and live to a good old age, if he abstained from slaying Hector. Nevertheless he gave his life to revenge his friend, and dared to die, not only on his behalf, but after his death.
Wherefore the gods honored him even above Alcestis, and sent him to the Islands of the Blest. These are my reasons for affirming that Love is the eldest and noblest and mightiest of the gods, and the chiefest author and giver of happiness and virtue, in life and after death.
This, or something like this, was the speech of Phaedrus ; and some other speeches followed which Aristodemus did not remember ; the next which he repeated was that of Pausanias. [Pausanias said that the speech of Phaedrus had assumed that there was only one love, whereas there are really two — one a heavenly, the other a common.
Pausanias characterized these two kinds of love as follows :] ' Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, and who is inconstant because he is a lover of the incon- " Parmenides (par-mln'i-dez, 520? B.C.): a Greek philosopher and poet. "Alcestis (ai-sSs'tis): the beautiful young wife of Admetus (5d-me'tus), a mythical king of Thessaly.
She sacrificed her own life to save that of her husband when the Fates decreed that he could live only on condition that some one die in his stead. " See Apology, note 21.
THE SYMPOSIUM Il5 stant ; and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wings and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises ; whereas the love of the noble mind, which is in union with the unchangeable, is everlasting. .
This is that love which is the love of the heavenly goddess, and is heavenly, and of great price to individuals and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the work of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of the common or vulgar goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my encomium of love, which is as good as I could make on the sudden.
When Pausanias came to a pause (this is the balanced way in which I have been taught by the wise to speak), Aristodemus said that the turn of Aristophanes was next, but that either he had eaten too much, or from some other cause he had the hiccough, and was obliged to change with Eryximachus the pHysician, who was reclining on the couch below him.
Eryximachus, he said, you ought either to stop my hiccough, or to speak in my turn until I am better.
I will do both, said Eryximachus : I will speak in your turn, and do you speak in mine ; and w^hile I am speaking let me recommend you to hold your breath, and if this fails, then to gargle with a little water ; arid if the hiccough still continues, tickle your nose with something and sneeze ; and if you sneeze once or twice, even the most violent hiccough is sure to go. In the mean time I will take your turn, and you shall take mine.
I will do as you prescribe, said Aristophanes, and now get on. [Eryximachus constructed a myth whose purpose was to show that love is the principle of unity and health in body and soul and in all nature.
He concluded as follows :] And that love, especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony and friendship with the gods which are above us, and with one another.
I dare say that I have omitted several things which might be said in praise of Love, but this was not intentional, and you, Aristophanes, may now supply the omission or take some
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