Symposium

Name: Symposium
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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SymposiumSymposium · 197b–197e

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Symposium · 197b–197e

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p. 70

ὡς λέγεται, διὰ τὴν τῆς Ἀνάγκης βασιλείαν· ἐπειδὴ δ’ ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ἔφυ, ἐκ τοῦ ἐρᾶν τῶν καλῶν πάντ’ ἀγαθὰ γέγονεν καὶ θεοῖς καὶ ἀνθρώποις.

197cΟὕτως ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ὦ Φαῖδρε, Ἔρως πρῶτος αὐτὸς ὢν κάλλιστος καὶ ἄριστος μετὰ τοῦτο τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄλλων τοιούτων αἴτιος εἶναι. ἐπέρχεται δέ μοί τι καὶ ἔμμετρον εἰπεῖν, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν

εἰρήνην μὲν ἐν ἀνθρώποις, πελάγει δὲ γαλήνηννηνεμίαν, ἀνέμων κοίτην ὕπνον τ’ ἐνὶ κήδει.

197dοὗτος δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀλλοτριότητος μὲν κενοῖ, οἰκειότητος δὲ πληροῖ, τὰς τοιάσδε συνόδους μετ’ ἀλλήλων πάσας τιθεὶς συνιέναι, ἐν ἑορταῖς, ἐν χοροῖς, ἐν θυσίαισι γιγνόμενος ἡγεμών· πρᾳότητα μὲν πορίζων, ἀγριότητα δ’ ἐξορίζων· φιλόδωρος εὐμενείας, ἄδωρος δυσμενείας· ἵλεως ἀγαθός· θεατὸς σοφοῖς, ἀγαστὸς θεοῖς· ζηλωτὸς ἀμοίροις, κτητὸς εὐμοίροις· τρυφῆς, ἁβρότητος, χλιδῆς, χαρίτων, ἱμέρου, πόθου πατήρ· ἐπιμελὴς ἀγαθῶν, ἀμελὴς κακῶν· ἐν πόνῳ, ἐν φόβῳ, ἐν πόθῳ, ἐν 197e λόγῳ κυβερνήτης, ἐπιβάτης, παραστάτης τε καὶ σωτὴρ ἄριστος, συμπάντων τε θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων κόσμος, ἡγεμὼν κάλλιστος καὶ ἄριστος, ᾧ χρὴ ἕπεσθαι πάντα ἄνδρα ἐφυμνοῦντα καλῶς, ᾠδῆς μετέχοντα ἣν ᾄδει θέλγων πάντων θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων νόημα.

Οὗτος, ἔφη, ὁ παρ’ ἐμοῦ λόγος, ὦ Φαῖδρε, τῷ θεῷ ἀνακείσθω, τὰ μὲν παιδιᾶς, τὰ δὲ σπουδῆς μετρίας, καθ’ ὅσον ἐγὼ δύναμαι, μετέχων.

197c 3.Source editor’s annotationἔμμετρον B T W Stobaeus: ἐμμέτρως Hermogenes

197c 6.Source editor’s annotationἀνέμων B T W: τ’ ἀνέμων Stobaeus: δ’ ἀνέμοις Hermogenes

197c 6.Source editor’s annotationκοίτην B T W: κοίτην τ’ Stobaeus: κοίτῃ θ’ G. Dindorf

197c 6.Source editor’s annotationτ’ ἐνὶ κήδει Stobaeus Hermogenes: τε νικηδει B: τε νηκηδῆ T: τε νικήδει W (in marg. γρ. καὶ νηκηδεῖ)

197d 3.Source editor’s annotationθυσίαισι W: θυσίαις B T: εὐθυμίαις Stobaeus

197d 5.Source editor’s annotationἵλεως ἀγαθός B T W: ἵλεως ἀγαθοῖς Stobaeus: ἵλεως ἀγανός Usener

197d 7.Source editor’s annotationχλίδῆς (sic) T (sed ί ex ή): χληδης B: χληδῆς W

197d 7.Source editor’s annotationἱμέρου T W: ἡμέρου B

197d 7.Source editor’s annotationπόθου om. Stobaeus

197d 8.Source editor’s annotationἀμελὴς T W: ἀνελὴς B

197d 8.Source editor’s annotationἐν φόβῳ ἐν πόθῳ ἐν πόνῳ ἐν μόγῳ Schütz: ἐν πόνῳ ἐν φόβῳ ἐν μόθῳ ἐν μόγῳ Jahn: ἐν πόνῳ ἐν φόβῳ ἐν μόθῳ ἐν λόχῳ Rettig: alii alia

197e 2.Source editor’s annotationκαὶ B T: om. W

197e 4.Source editor’s annotationκαλῶς B T W: καλῆς Stobaeus: καλῶς καλῆς vulg.

Symposium

p. 71

as is told, through the kingship of Necessity; but since this god was born, from being in love with beautiful things every good thing has come to be for gods and human beings alike.

197c“Thus it seems to me, Phaedrus, that Love, being first himself most beautiful and best, is after this the cause of other such things for others. And it comes to me to say something in metre too, that it is he who makes

peace among human beings, and on the sea a calm, windlessness, a bed for the winds, and sleep in sorrow.¹

197dIt is he who empties us of alienness and fills us with affinity, appointing all such meetings as this for us to come together with one another, becoming leader in feasts, in choruses, in sacrifices; bringing in mildness, banishing wildness; generous with goodwill, ungenerous with ill will; gracious, good; beheld by the wise, admired by the gods; emulated by the portionless, possessed by the well-portioned; of luxury, delicacy, finery, graces, longing, yearning the father; heedful of the good, heedless of the bad; in toil, in fear, in yearning, in 197e speech, pilot, marine, comrade and saviour, the best; the adornment of all gods and human beings together; the most beautiful and best leader, whom every man must follow, hymning him well, sharing in the song he sings as he charms the mind of all gods and human beings.”²

“Let this speech of mine, Phaedrus,” he said, “be dedicated to the god, sharing partly in play and partly in measured earnestness, as far as I am able.”

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.