Diotimos Library · Plato Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
Ancient Greek Page · Branch 36 of 88
Symposium · 195e–196c
Ancient Greek
p. 66195eδὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς χρησόμεθα τεκμηρίῳ περὶ Ἔρωτα ὅτι ἁπαλός. οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ γῆς βαίνει οὐδ’ ἐπὶ κρανίων, ἅ ἐστιν οὐ πάνυ μαλακά, ἀλλ’ ἐν τοῖς μαλακωτάτοις τῶν ὄντων καὶ βαίνει καὶ οἰκεῖ. ἐν γὰρ ἤθεσι καὶ ψυχαῖς θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων τὴν οἴκησιν ἵδρυται, καὶ οὐκ αὖ ἑξῆς ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ἀλλ’ ᾗτινι ἂν σκληρὸν ἦθος ἐχούσῃ ἐντύχῃ, ἀπέρχεται, ᾗ δ’ ἂν μαλακόν, οἰκίζεται. ἁπτόμενον οὖν ἀεὶ καὶ ποσὶν καὶ πάντῃ ἐν μαλακωτάτοις τῶν μαλακωτάτων, ἁπαλώτατον ἀνάγκη 196a εἶναι. νεώτατος μὲν δή ἐστι καὶ ἁπαλώτατος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑγρὸς τὸ εἶδος. οὐ γὰρ ἂν οἷός τ’ ἦν πάντῃ περιπτύσσεσθαι οὐδὲ διὰ πάσης ψυχῆς καὶ εἰσιὼν τὸ πρῶτον λανθάνειν καὶ ἐξιών, εἰ σκληρὸς ἦν. συμμέτρου δὲ καὶ ὑγρᾶς ἰδέας μέγα τεκμήριον ἡ εὐσχημοσύνη, ὃ δὴ διαφερόντως ἐκ πάντων ὁμολογουμένως Ἔρως ἔχει· ἀσχημοσύνῃ γὰρ καὶ Ἔρωτι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀεὶ πόλεμος. χρόας δὲ κάλλος ἡ κατ’ ἄνθη δίαιτα τοῦ θεοῦ σημαίνει· ἀνανθεῖ γὰρ 196b καὶ ἀπηνθηκότι καὶ σώματι καὶ ψυχῇ καὶ ἄλλῳ ὁτῳοῦν οὐκ ἐνίζει Ἔρως, οὗ δ’ ἂν εὐανθής τε καὶ εὐώδης τόπος ᾖ, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἵζει καὶ μένει.
Περὶ μὲν οὖν κάλλους τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ταῦτα ἱκανὰ καὶ ἔτι πολλὰ λείπεται, περὶ δὲ ἀρετῆς Ἔρωτος μετὰ ταῦτα λεκτέον, τὸ μὲν μέγιστον ὅτι Ἔρως οὔτ’ ἀδικεῖ οὔτ’ ἀδικεῖται οὔτε ὑπὸ θεοῦ οὔτε θεόν, οὔτε ὑπ’ ἀνθρώπου οὔτε ἄνθρωπον. οὔτε γὰρ αὐτὸς βίᾳ πάσχει, εἴ τι πάσχει—βία γὰρ Ἔρωτος οὐχ 196c ἅπτεται· οὔτε ποιῶν ποιεῖ—πᾶς γὰρ ἑκὼν Ἔρωτι πᾶν ὑπηρετεῖ, ἃ δ’ ἂν ἑκὼν ἑκόντι ὁμολογήσῃ, φασὶν “οἱ πόλεως βασιλῆς νόμοι” δίκαια εἶναι. πρὸς δὲ τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ σωφροσύνης πλείστης μετέχει. εἶναι γὰρ ὁμολογεῖται σωφροσύνη τὸ κρατεῖν ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν, Ἔρωτος δὲ μηδεμίαν
Symposium
p. 67195epiece of evidence, then, we too shall use about Love, that he is tender. For he does not walk on the earth, nor on skulls, which are none too soft, but among the softest of the things that are he both walks and dwells. For in the characters and souls of gods and human beings he has set up his dwelling — and not, again, in all souls one after another; but whatever soul he meets that has a hard character, from that he goes away, and in one that has a soft character he makes his home. Touching, then, always with his feet and in every way, among the softest of the softest, he must 196a be most tender. Youngest, then, he is, and most tender, and besides these supple in form. For he would not be able to wrap himself round in every way, nor to escape notice as he first enters and leaves through every soul, if he were hard. Of his well-proportioned and supple figure a great piece of evidence is his gracefulness, which Love, as is agreed, has beyond all others; for between gracelessness and Love there is always war. The beauty of his complexion is shown by the god’s living among flowers; for on what is flowerless 196b and past its flower, whether body or soul or anything else whatever, Love does not alight, but where there is a place in flower and fragrant, there he both alights and stays.
“Of the god’s beauty, then, this is sufficient, and much is still left; but of Love’s virtue we must speak next. The greatest point is that Love neither does wrong nor suffers wrong, neither from a god nor to a god, neither from a human being nor to a human being. For neither does he himself suffer by force, if he suffers anything — for force does not 196c touch Love — nor does he act by force when he acts; for everyone serves Love willingly in everything, and what one willingly agrees with one who is willing, ‘the laws, kings of the city,’ say is just.1 And besides justice he has the greatest share of temperance. For it is agreed that temperance is the mastering of pleasures and desires, and that, compared with Love, no
Socrates
Reading Symposium · Symposium · 195e–196c
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
- supplied-bilingual-editionComplete Greek–English edition (PDF)
- supplied-reading-editionComplete edition (EPUB)
- supplied-editable-editionComplete edition (Word)
- supplied-markdown-editionComplete edition (Markdown)
- greek-sourcePerseus Digital Library · Burnet Greek text
- greek-transcription-licenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0