Symposium

Name: Symposium
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

SymposiumSymposium · 220d–221c

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Symposium · 220d–221c

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Ancient Greek

p. 136

καὶ τἀριστεῖα ἔδοσαν οἱ στρατηγοί, οὐδεὶς ἄλλος ἐμὲ ἔσωσεν 220e ἀνθρώπων ἢ οὗτος, τετρωμένον οὐκ ἐθέλων ἀπολιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ συνδιέσωσε καὶ τὰ ὅπλα καὶ αὐτὸν ἐμέ. καὶ ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ Σώκρατες, καὶ τότε ἐκέλευον σοὶ διδόναι τἀριστεῖα τοὺς στρατηγούς, καὶ τοῦτό γέ μοι οὔτε μέμψῃ οὔτε ἐρεῖς ὅτι ψεύδομαι· ἀλλὰ γὰρ τῶν στρατηγῶν πρὸς τὸ ἐμὸν ἀξίωμα ἀποβλεπόντων καὶ βουλομένων ἐμοὶ διδόναι τἀριστεῖα, αὐτὸς προθυμότερος ἐγένου τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐμὲ λαβεῖν ἢ σαυτόν. ἔτι τοίνυν, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἄξιον ἦν θεάσασθαι Σωκράτη, ὅτε ἀπὸ Δηλίου 221a φυγῇ ἀνεχώρει τὸ στρατόπεδον· ἔτυχον γὰρ παραγενόμενος ἵππον ἔχων, οὗτος δὲ ὅπλα. ἀνεχώρει οὖν ἐσκεδασμένων ἤδη τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὗτός τε ἅμα καὶ Λάχης· καὶ ἐγὼ περιτυγχάνω, καὶ ἰδὼν εὐθὺς παρακελεύομαί τε αὐτοῖν θαρρεῖν, καὶ ἔλεγον ὅτι οὐκ ἀπολείψω αὐτώ. ἐνταῦθα δὴ καὶ κάλλιον ἐθεασάμην Σωκράτη ἢ ἐν Ποτειδαίᾳ—αὐτὸς γὰρ ἧττον ἐν φόβῳ ἦ διὰ τὸ ἐφ’ ἵππου εἶναι—πρῶτον μὲν ὅσον περιῆν 221b Λάχητος τῷ ἔμφρων εἶναι· ἔπειτα ἔμοιγ’ ἐδόκει, ὦ Ἀριστόφανες, τὸ σὸν δὴ τοῦτο, καὶ ἐκεῖ διαπορεύεσθαι ὥσπερ καὶ ἐνθάδε, βρενθυόμενος καὶ τὠφθαλμὼ παραβάλλων, ἠρέμα παρασκοπῶν καὶ τοὺς φιλίους καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, δῆλος ὢν παντὶ καὶ πάνυ πόρρωθεν ὅτι εἴ τις ἅψεται τούτου τοῦ ἀνδρός, μάλα ἐρρωμένως ἀμυνεῖται. διὸ καὶ ἀσφαλῶς ἀπῄει καὶ οὗτος καὶ ὁ ἑταῖρος· σχεδὸν γάρ τι τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ οὐδὲ ἅπτονται, ἀλλὰ τοὺς προ221cτροπάδην φεύγοντας διώκουσιν.

Πολλὰ μὲν οὖν ἄν τις καὶ ἄλλα ἔχοι Σωκράτη ἐπαινέσαι καὶ θαυμάσια· ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδευμάτων τάχ’ ἄν τις καὶ περὶ ἄλλου τοιαῦτα εἴποι, τὸ δὲ μηδενὶ ἀνθρώπων ὅμοιον εἶναι, μήτε τῶν παλαιῶν μήτε τῶν νῦν ὄντων, τοῦτο

220e 1.Source editor’s annotationτετρωμένον οὐκ ἐθέλων B W Oxy.: οὐκ ἐθέλων τετρωμένον T

221a 7.Source editor’s annotationἦ B: ἢ T W: η Oxy.

221b 3.Source editor’s annotationτὼ ὀφθαλμὼ T Oxy.: τῶ φθαλμῷ B: τ’ ὀφθαλμὼ W

221b 4.Source editor’s annotationπερισκοπῶν Ast

221b 4.Source editor’s annotationφιλίους B T W: φιλους Oxy.

221b 5.Source editor’s annotationαψαιτο Oxy.

221b 6.Source editor’s annotationἀμυνεῖται T W Oxy.: ἀμύνηται B

221b 7.Source editor’s annotationοὗτος B T W: αυτος Oxy.

221b 7.Source editor’s annotationἑταῖρος Aristides: ἕτερος B T W Oxy.

221c 4.Source editor’s annotationδὲ B T W: δε δη Oxy.

221c 5.Source editor’s annotationεἶναι μήτε T W Oxy.: εἶναί με B

Symposium

p. 137

the generals even gave me the prize for valour,¹ no one else kept me safe 220e among human beings but this man: he was not willing to leave me behind wounded, but brought both my arms and me myself safely through. And I, Socrates, even then told the generals to give the prize to you; and for this, at least, you will neither blame me nor say that I lie. But when the generals looked to my rank and wanted to give the prize to me, you yourself were more eager than the generals that I should take it rather than you. Further, gentlemen, it was worth beholding Socrates when 221a the army was retreating in flight from Delium; for I was in fact there, with a horse, and this man with arms.² So, the people being already scattered, he was retreating together with Laches; and I come upon them, and on seeing them I at once urge the two of them to take heart, and I told them that I would not leave them behind. There I beheld Socrates even better than at Potidaea — for I myself was less in fear, because I was on horseback — first, how far he surpassed 221b Laches in having his wits about him;³ and then, it seemed to me, Aristophanes — in those very words of yours — he made his way there just as he does here, ‘swaggering and casting his eyes sideways’, calmly glancing sideways at friends and enemies,⁴ making it plain to everyone, even from very far off, that if anyone lays a hand on this man, he will defend himself very stoutly. That is why both he and his companion got away safely;⁵ for, more or less, those who are so disposed in war they do not even lay a hand on, but those in headlong 221c flight they pursue.

“Now there are many other things for which one could praise Socrates, and marvellous ones; but of his other ways of life one might perhaps say such things about someone else too, whereas his being like no one among human beings, either of the ancients or of those living now, this

1.The battle: probably the one before Potidaea in 432 BC (Thucydides 1.62–63), though Isocrates puts Alcibiades’ prize in Phormio’s later campaign (16.29). Plutarch retells the prize and Delium after this speech (Alcibiades 7.3–4).

2.Delium: the Athenians were routed by the Boeotians at Delium in 424 BC (Thucydides 4.89–101). Alcibiades served in the cavalry, Socrates as a hoplite, a heavy-armed foot soldier.

3.Laches: the general, killed at Mantinea in 418 BC (Thucydides 5.61.1, 5.74.3); in Plato’s Laches he praises Socrates’ conduct in the retreat from Delium (181a–b).

4.Aristophanes, Clouds 362–363: the Clouds favour Socrates “because you swagger in the streets and cast your eyes sideways, and barefoot you endure many hardships, and put on a solemn face for us”. Burnet letterspaces the words as a quotation.

5.His companion: hetairos, which Burnet prints from Aelius Aristides’ quotation of the passage (Or. 45 Dindorf); B, T, W and the papyrus have heteros, “the other”.

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.