Diotimos Library · Plato Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
Facing Pages · Branch 46 of 88
Symposium · 202d–203a
Ancient Greek
p. 86ἀγαθῶν καὶ καλῶν ἐπιθυμεῖν αὐτῶν τούτων ὧν ἐνδεής ἐστιν.
Ὡμολόγηκα γάρ.
Πῶς ἂν οὖν θεὸς εἴη ὅ γε τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἄμοιρος;
Οὐδαμῶς, ὥς γ’ ἔοικεν.
Ὁρᾷς οὖν, ἔφη, ὅτι καὶ σὺ Ἔρωτα οὐ θεὸν νομίζεις;
Τί οὖν ἄν, ἔφην, εἴη ὁ Ἔρως; θνητός;
Ἥκιστά γε.
Ἀλλὰ τί μήν;
Ὥσπερ τὰ πρότερα, ἔφη, μεταξὺ θνητοῦ καὶ ἀθανάτου.
Τί οὖν, ὦ Διοτίμα;
Δαίμων μέγας, ὦ Σώκρατες· καὶ γὰρ πᾶν τὸ δαιμόνιον 202e μεταξύ ἐστι θεοῦ τε καὶ θνητοῦ.
Τίνα, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, δύναμιν ἔχον;
Ἑρμηνεῦον καὶ διαπορθμεῦον θεοῖς τὰ παρ’ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀνθρώποις τὰ παρὰ θεῶν, τῶν μὲν τὰς δεήσεις καὶ θυσίας, τῶν δὲ τὰς ἐπιτάξεις τε καὶ ἀμοιβὰς τῶν θυσιῶν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ ὂν ἀμφοτέρων συμπληροῖ, ὥστε τὸ πᾶν αὐτὸ αὑτῷ συνδεδέσθαι. διὰ τούτου καὶ ἡ μαντικὴ πᾶσα χωρεῖ καὶ ἡ τῶν ἱερέων τέχνη τῶν τε περὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ τελετὰς 203a καὶ τὰς ἐπῳδὰς καὶ τὴν μαντείαν πᾶσαν καὶ γοητείαν. θεὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ μείγνυται, ἀλλὰ διὰ τούτου πᾶσά ἐστιν ἡ ὁμιλία καὶ ἡ διάλεκτος θεοῖς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἐγρηγορόσι καὶ καθεύδουσι· καὶ ὁ μὲν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σοφὸς δαιμόνιος ἀνήρ, ὁ δὲ ἄλλο τι σοφὸς ὢν ἢ περὶ τέχνας ἢ χειρουργίας τινὰς βάναυσος. οὗτοι δὴ οἱ δαίμονες
Symposium
p. 87good and beautiful things, desires these very things he lacks.’
“‘I have agreed it, yes.’
“‘How, then, could one be a god who is portionless in beautiful and good things?’
“‘In no way, it seems.’
“‘You see, then,’ she said, ‘that you too do not hold Love to be a god?’
“‘What, then,’ I said, ‘would Love be? Mortal?’
“‘Least of all.’
“‘But what, then?’
“‘As before,’ she said,1 ‘between mortal and immortal.’
“‘What, then, Diotima?’
“‘A great daimon, Socrates; for everything daimonic 202e is between god and mortal.’2
“‘Having what power?’ I said.
“’Interpreting and ferrying across to gods the things from human beings, and to human beings the things from gods: the petitions and sacrifices of the one, and the orders and the returns for the sacrifices of the other; and being in the middle of both, it fills in between, so that the all is bound together with itself. Through this goes all divination,3 and the craft of the priests concerned with sacrifices and rites 203a and charms and all prophecy and sorcery. A god does not mingle with a human being; but through this is all the company and conversation of gods with human beings, whether they are awake or asleep; and the man wise about such things is a daimonic man, while he who is wise in anything else, about crafts or some handiworks, is menial.4 These daimons, then,
Socrates
Reading Symposium · Symposium · 202d–203a
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