Symposium

Name: Symposium
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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SymposiumSymposium · 195a–195d

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English Page · Branch 35 of 88

Symposium · 195a–195d

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Ancient Greek

p. 64

τυγχάνει περὶ οὗ ἂν ὁ λόγος ᾖ. οὕτω δὴ τὸν Ἔρωτα καὶ ἡμᾶς δίκαιον ἐπαινέσαι πρῶτον αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν, ἔπειτα τὰς δόσεις. φημὶ οὖν ἐγὼ πάντων θεῶν εὐδαιμόνων ὄντων Ἔρωτα, εἰ θέμις καὶ ἀνεμέσητον εἰπεῖν, εὐδαιμονέστατον εἶναι αὐτῶν, κάλλιστον ὄντα καὶ ἄριστον. ἔστι δὲ κάλλιστος ὢν τοιόσδε. πρῶτον μὲν νεώτατος θεῶν, ὦ Φαῖδρε. μέγα 195b δὲ τεκμήριον τῷ λόγῳ αὐτὸς παρέχεται, φεύγων φυγῇ τὸ γῆρας, ταχὺ ὂν δῆλον ὅτι· θᾶττον γοῦν τοῦ δέοντος ἡμῖν προσέρχεται. ὃ δὴ πέφυκεν Ἔρως μισεῖν καὶ οὐδ’ ἐντὸς πολλοῦ πλησιάζειν. μετὰ δὲ νέων ἀεὶ σύνεστί τε καὶ ἔστιν· ὁ γὰρ παλαιὸς λόγος εὖ ἔχει, ὡς ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ἀεὶ πελάζει. ἐγὼ δὲ Φαίδρῳ πολλὰ ἄλλα ὁμολογῶν τοῦτο οὐχ ὁμολογῶ, ὡς Ἔρως Κρόνου καὶ Ἰαπετοῦ ἀρχαιότερός ἐστιν, ἀλλά 195c φημι νεώτατον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεῶν καὶ ἀεὶ νέον, τὰ δὲ παλαιὰ πράγματα περὶ θεούς, ἃ Ἡσίοδος καὶ Παρμενίδης λέγουσιν, Ἀνάγκῃ καὶ οὐκ Ἔρωτι γεγονέναι, εἰ ἐκεῖνοι ἀληθῆ ἔλεγον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐκτομαὶ οὐδὲ δεσμοὶ ἀλλήλων ἐγίγνοντο καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ βίαια, εἰ Ἔρως ἐν αὐτοῖς ἦν, ἀλλὰ φιλία καὶ εἰρήνη, ὥσπερ νῦν, ἐξ οὗ Ἔρως τῶν θεῶν βασιλεύει. νέος μὲν οὖν ἐστι, πρὸς δὲ τῷ νέῳ ἁπαλός· ποιητοῦ δ’ ἔστιν 195d ἐνδεὴς οἷος ἦν Ὅμηρος πρὸς τὸ ἐπιδεῖξαι θεοῦ ἁπαλότητα. Ὅμηρος γὰρ Ἄτην θεόν τέ φησιν εἶναι καὶ ἁπαλήν—τοὺς γοῦν πόδας αὐτῆς ἁπαλοὺς εἶναι—λέγων

τῆς μένθ’ ἁπαλοὶ πόδες· οὐ γὰρ ἐπ’ οὔδεοςπίλναται, ἀλλ’ ἄρα ἥ γε κατ’ ἀνδρῶν κράατα βαίνει.

καλῷ οὖν δοκεῖ μοι τεκμηρίῳ τὴν ἁπαλότητα ἀποφαίνειν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐπὶ σκληροῦ βαίνει, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ μαλθακοῦ. τῷ αὐτῷ

195b 2.Source editor’s annotationὂν B W: οὖν T

195b 3.Source editor’s annotationἔρως T W: ἔρωτος B

195b 3.Source editor’s annotationοὐδ’ ἐντὸς Stobaeus: οὐ δόντος B: οὐδ’ ὄντος T W

195b 4.Source editor’s annotationπλησιάζειν T W Stobaeus: πλησιάζει B

195b 4.Source editor’s annotationἔστιν] ἔστι νέος Sauppe: ἔσται Diels

195c 2.Source editor’s annotationπράγματα T W Stobaeus: γράμματα B

195c 2.Source editor’s annotationπαρμενίδης T W: παρμενείδης B

195d 3.Source editor’s annotationεἶναι B T W: φησιν εἶναι Stobaeus

195d 4.Source editor’s annotationτῆς B T W Stobaeus: τῇ Aristarchus Homeri codices (T 92)

195d 4.Source editor’s annotationοὔδεος B T: οὔδει W Homeri codices

195d 5.Source editor’s annotationπίλναται W et ex πίδναται T: πήδναται B

195d 7.Source editor’s annotationτῷ αὐτῷ T W Stobaeus: τὸ αὐτὸ B

Symposium

p. 65

whoever the speech may be about in fact is. So it is just that we too should praise Love in this way, first himself, of what kind he is, and then his gifts. I say, then, that though all the gods are happy, Love, if it is right and gives no offence to say so, is the happiest of them, being most beautiful and best. And he is most beautiful by being of this kind. First, he is the youngest of the gods, Phaedrus. 195b And he himself provides a great piece of evidence for this account, fleeing old age in flight, which is swift, plainly; at any rate it comes upon us faster than it should. This Love by nature hates, and does not come even within a long way of it. He is always with the young, and is one of them; for the old saying holds good, that like always draws near to like.¹ And I, who agree with Phaedrus in many other things, do not agree with this, that Love is older than Cronus and Iapetus;² but 195c I say that he is the youngest of the gods and always young, and that the old affairs³ concerning the gods of which Hesiod and Parmenides tell came about through Necessity and not through Love, if what they said was true. For there would not have been castrations and bindings of one another,⁴ and many other violent things, if Love had been among them, but friendship and peace, as now, since Love has been king of the gods. Young, then, he is, and besides being young, tender; but he 195d lacks a poet such as Homer was to display a god’s tenderness. For Homer says that Ate is a goddess, and tender — at least that her feet are tender — saying:

Her feet are tender; for not upon the ground does she tread, but she walks upon the heads of men.⁵

So he seems to me to show her tenderness by a beautiful piece of evidence: that she does not walk on what is hard, but on what is soft. This same

About This Reading Edition

The complete Symposium, 172a–223d: at Agathon’s banquet the guests praise Love, Socrates recounts Diotima’s teaching, and Alcibiades praises Socrates. Burnet’s Greek faces a new Diotimos Editions English translation, with an introduction, key words, outline, glossary, critical apparatus, and linked translator notes.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Plato, Symposium, in John Burnet, Platonis Opera, volume II (Oxford, 1901; second edition, 1910), in a later impression printed by John Johnson and issued by Humphrey Milford no earlier than January 1935, as described by the supplied edition. Its Greek was taken from the Perseus Digital Library transcription and checked against photographs of that impression; Burnet’s readings and critical apparatus are retained. The digital Greek transcription and its modifications are attributed to the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, under CC BY-SA 4.0. English translation and editorial matter: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The ancient Greek work and Burnet’s printed edition are in the public domain. The Perseus digital Greek transcription and its modifications are reused under CC BY-SA 4.0, as verified from the official Perseus repository license. The supplied edition reports checking its transcription against Burnet’s printed pages. The new English translation and editorial matter are credited to Diotimos Editions, 2026; no open license for those new contributions is stated in the supplied files.