Symposium

Name: Symposium
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

SymposiumSymposium · 213b–213e

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Symposium · 213b–213e

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Ancient Greek

p. 116

τὸν Σωκράτη, ἰδόντα δὲ ἀναπηδῆσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν Ὦ Ἡράκλεις, τουτὶ τί ἦν; Σωκράτης οὗτος; ἐλλοχῶν αὖ με ἐνταῦθα κατέ213cκεισο, ὥσπερ εἰώθεις ἐξαίφνης ἀναφαίνεσθαι ὅπου ἐγὼ ᾤμην ἥκιστά σε ἔσεσθαι. καὶ νῦν τί ἥκεις; καὶ τί αὖ ἐνταῦθα κατεκλίνης; ὡς οὐ παρὰ Ἀριστοφάνει οὐδὲ εἴ τις ἄλλος γελοῖος ἔστι τε καὶ βούλεται, ἀλλὰ διεμηχανήσω ὅπως παρὰ τῷ καλλίστῳ τῶν ἔνδον κατακείσῃ.

Καὶ τὸν Σωκράτη, Ἀγάθων, φάναι, ὅρα εἴ μοι ἐπαμύνεις· ὡς ἐμοὶ ὁ τούτου ἔρως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐ φαῦλον πρᾶγμα γέγονεν. ἀπ’ ἐκείνου γὰρ τοῦ χρόνου, ἀφ’ οὗ τούτου 213d ἠράσθην, οὐκέτι ἔξεστίν μοι οὔτε προσβλέψαι οὔτε διαλεχθῆναι καλῷ οὐδ’ ἑνί, ἢ οὑτοσὶ ζηλοτυπῶν με καὶ φθονῶν θαυμαστὰ ἐργάζεται καὶ λοιδορεῖταί τε καὶ τὼ χεῖρε μόγις ἀπέχεται. ὅρα οὖν μή τι καὶ νῦν ἐργάσηται, ἀλλὰ διάλλαξον ἡμᾶς, ἢ ἐὰν ἐπιχειρῇ βιάζεσθαι, ἐπάμυνε, ὡς ἐγὼ τὴν τούτου μανίαν τε καὶ φιλεραστίαν πάνυ ὀρρωδῶ.

Ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἔστι, φάναι τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, ἐμοὶ καὶ σοὶ διαλλαγή. ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν εἰς αὖθίς σε τιμωρήσομαι· νῦν 213e δέ μοι, Ἀγάθων, φάναι, μετάδος τῶν ταινιῶν, ἵνα ἀναδήσω καὶ τὴν τούτου ταυτηνὶ τὴν θαυμαστὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ μή μοι μέμφηται ὅτι σὲ μὲν ἀνέδησα, αὐτὸν δὲ νικῶντα ἐν λόγοις πάντας ἀνθρώπους, οὐ μόνον πρῴην ὥσπερ σύ, ἀλλ’ ἀεί, ἔπειτα οὐκ ἀνέδησα. καὶ ἅμ’ αὐτὸν λαβόντα τῶν ταινιῶν ἀναδεῖν τὸν Σωκράτη καὶ κατακλίνεσθαι.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατεκλίνη, εἰπεῖν· Εἶεν δή, ἄνδρες· δοκεῖτε γάρ μοι νήφειν. οὐκ ἐπιτρεπτέον οὖν ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ ποτέον· ὡμολόγηται γὰρ ταῦθ’ ἡμῖν. ἄρχοντα οὖν αἱροῦμαι τῆς πόσεως, ἕως ἂν ὑμεῖς ἱκανῶς πίητε, ἐμαυτόν. ἀλλὰ φερέτω,

213b 9.Source editor’s annotationτουτὶ τί ἦν T W Oxy.: τοῦτ’ εἰπεῖν B et γρ. W

213b 9.Source editor’s annotationἐλλοχῶν T W Oxy.: ἐνλοχῶν B

213c 3.Source editor’s annotationὡς B T W (deest Oxy.): καὶ Hermann

213c 3.Source editor’s annotationοὐδὲ B Oxy.: οὔτε T W

213c 4.Source editor’s annotationτ[ι]εμηχανησω Oxy.

213c 7.Source editor’s annotationὁ B: οὐ T W

213d 2.Source editor’s annotationοὑτοσὶ B W (sed ω supra ο) Oxy.: οὑτοσὶ *** T (οὑτοσί πως Coisl.)

213d 3.Source editor’s annotationθαυμαστὰ B Oxy.: θαυμάσια T W

213d 5.Source editor’s annotationἐπάμυναι B

213e 1.Source editor’s annotationἀναδήσω καὶ T W Oxy.: ἀναδησώμεθα B

213e 8.Source editor’s annotationοὖν T W Oxy.: om. B

213e 10.Source editor’s annotationpost φερέτω distinxi

Symposium

p. 117

Socrates, and on seeing him leapt up and said, “Heracles! What’s this here? Is this Socrates? Lying in ambush for me here again you were reclining, 213c just as you were accustomed to appear suddenly where I thought you least likely to be. And now why have you come? And why, again, have you lain down here? For not beside Aristophanes, nor beside anyone else who is laughable and wants to be, but you contrived to recline beside the most beautiful of those inside.”

And Socrates said, “Agathon, see whether you will defend me; for the love of this person has become no paltry matter for me. For since that time when I 213d fell in love with him, I am no longer allowed either to look at or to converse with a single beautiful person, or this man here, jealous and envious of me, does marvellous things, and reviles me, and barely keeps his two hands off me. So see that he does not do something now too; but reconcile us, or, if he tries to use force, defend me, since I am quite terrified of his madness and his love of lovers.”

“But there is no reconciliation,” said Alcibiades, “for me and you. But for this I shall take vengeance on you another time; 213e but now, Agathon,” he said, “give me some of the ribbons, so that I may wreathe this marvellous head of his here too, and he may not blame me that I wreathed you, but him, who defeats all human beings in speeches, not just the day before yesterday, as you did, but always, I then did not wreathe.” And at the same time, taking some of the ribbons, he wreathed Socrates and lay down.

When he had lain down, he said, “Very well, then, gentlemen; for you seem to me to be sober. This, then, must not be permitted you; you must drink; for that has been agreed between us.¹ So I choose as ruler of the drinking,² until you have drunk sufficiently, myself. But let him bring,³

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.