Symposium

Name: Symposium
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

SymposiumSymposium · 206c–207a

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Symposium · 206c–207a

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Ancient Greek

p. 98

τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἔν τινι ἡλικίᾳ γένωνται, τίκτειν ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις. τίκτειν δὲ ἐν μὲν αἰσχρῷ οὐ δύναται, ἐν δὲ τῷ καλῷ. ἡ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς συνουσία τόκος ἐστίν. ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο θεῖον τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ τοῦτο ἐν θνητῷ ὄντι τῷ ζῴῳ ἀθάνατον ἔνεστιν, ἡ κύησις καὶ ἡ γέννησις. τὰ δὲ ἐν τῷ ἀναρμόστῳ ἀδύνατον γενέ206dσθαι. ἀνάρμοστον δ’ ἐστὶ τὸ αἰσχρὸν παντὶ τῷ θείῳ, τὸ δὲ καλὸν ἁρμόττον. Μοῖρα οὖν καὶ Εἰλείθυια ἡ Καλλονή ἐστι τῇ γενέσει. διὰ ταῦτα ὅταν μὲν καλῷ προσπελάζῃ τὸ κυοῦν, ἵλεών τε γίγνεται καὶ εὐφραινόμενον διαχεῖται καὶ τίκτει τε καὶ γεννᾷ· ὅταν δὲ αἰσχρῷ, σκυθρωπόν τε καὶ λυπούμενον συσπειρᾶται καὶ ἀποτρέπεται καὶ ἀνείλλεται καὶ οὐ γεννᾷ, ἀλλὰ ἴσχον τὸ κύημα χαλεπῶς φέρει. ὅθεν δὴ τῷ κυοῦντί τε καὶ ἤδη σπαργῶντι πολλὴ ἡ πτοίησις γέγονε 206e περὶ τὸ καλὸν διὰ τὸ μεγάλης ὠδῖνος ἀπολύειν τὸν ἔχοντα. ἔστιν γάρ, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἔφη, οὐ τοῦ καλοῦ ὁ ἔρως, ὡς σὺ οἴει.

Ἀλλὰ τί μήν;

Τῆς γεννήσεως καὶ τοῦ τόκου ἐν τῷ καλῷ.

Εἶεν, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ.

Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη. τί δὴ οὖν τῆς γεννήσεως; ὅτι ἀειγενές ἐστι καὶ ἀθάνατον ὡς θνητῷ ἡ γέννησις. ἀθα207aνασίας δὲ ἀναγκαῖον ἐπιθυμεῖν μετὰ ἀγαθοῦ ἐκ τῶν ὡμολογημένων, εἴπερ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἑαυτῷ εἶναι ἀεὶ ἔρως ἐστίν. ἀναγκαῖον δὴ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας τὸν ἔρωτα εἶναι.

Ταῦτά τε οὖν πάντα ἐδίδασκέ με, ὁπότε περὶ τῶν ἐρω-

206c 3.Source editor’s annotationτὴν B W Oxy.: om. T

206c 5.Source editor’s annotationτῷ om. Oxy.

206c 7.Source editor’s annotationἔνεστιν B Oxy.: ἔστιν T W

206c 8.Source editor’s annotationτὰ B Oxy.: ταῦτα T W

206d 1.Source editor’s annotationαπαντι Oxy.

206d 1.Source editor’s annotationθείῳ T W: θεῷ B t Oxy.

206d 6.Source editor’s annotationσυσπειρᾶται T W: ξυ[ν]σπειραται Oxy.: συνσπείρεται B W² (ε s. v.)

206d 6.Source editor’s annotationἀνείλλεται B W: ἀνειλλεῖται T: ἀνειλεῖται t: ανιλλεται Oxy.

206d 8.Source editor’s annotationπτοίησις T W Oxy.: ποίησις B

206e 1.Source editor’s annotationἀπολύειν T W Oxy.: ἀπολαύειν B

206e 7.Source editor’s annotationγενεσεως Oxy.

206e 8.Source editor’s annotationἀειγενές] αει γενεσις Oxy.

Symposium

p. 99

soul, and when they come to a certain age, our nature desires to give birth. But it cannot give birth in what is ugly, but in the beautiful. For the intercourse of man and woman is a giving birth. And this is a divine thing, and this is something immortal in the animal, mortal as it is: pregnancy and begetting. And these cannot come to be in what is out of harmony; 206d and the ugly is out of harmony with everything divine,¹ while the beautiful is in harmony. Beauty, then, is Moira and Eileithyia at the birth.² For this reason, whenever what is pregnant draws near to something beautiful, it becomes gracious, and melts with gladness, and gives birth and begets; but whenever to something ugly, it coils up, sullen and pained, and turns away and shrinks back and does not beget, but, holding in what it has conceived, bears it with difficulty. Hence for one who is pregnant and already swelling there comes great excitement 206e about the beautiful, because it releases the one who has it from great birth-pains. For love, Socrates,’ she said, ‘is not of the beautiful, as you think.’

“‘But of what, then?’

“‘Of begetting and giving birth in the beautiful.’

“‘Very well,’ I said.

“‘Most certainly,’ she said. ‘And why of begetting? Because, for a mortal, begetting is everlasting and immortal. 207a And it is necessary to desire immortality along with the good, from what has been agreed, if love is of the good’s being one’s own always. It is necessary, then, from this account, that love be of immortality too.’

“All these things, then, she taught me, whenever on matters of love

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.