Symposium

Block II: 178b–186a (Burnet pages 10–19)

How it was made. Burnet pages 10–19 (scan pp. 174–183), 277 lines, from the end of Phaedrus’ speech, with the lines of Hesiod’s and Parmenides’ genealogies, Alcestis, Orpheus and Achilles, through Pausanias’ speech on the two Aphrodites and the two Loves, Heavenly and Common, and on the Athenian law about lovers, to Aristophanes’ hiccup and the first lines of Eryximachus’ speech, ending at 186a3. The Greek was set line for line from the photographs of Burnet’s page, with his apparatus, and the English written and annotated in the voice approved for Block I; independent reviewers then checked the Greek and the apparatus against the photographs letter by letter, the English against the Greek clause by clause, and every note, the Introduction’s account of the marks and the extended Editorial Note against their sources.

What the reviewers caught. The Greek text was confirmed letter by letter on all ten pages, with its capitals for the god’s name restored against the transcription, its blank lines, its dagger, its quotation marks and its two supplements; every doubtful point the draft had left open was measured and found to be a speck, among them the point after ὢν at 178c2, which has half the ink of a printed point and no place in the sentence. In the apparatus, the lemma αὐτὼν] at 183b2 is printed with Burnet’s grave accent, an apparent misprint that is kept; the small γ’ written over W’s δ’ at 179a1 now stands clear above it, with the word space after it restored; and the asterisks of 175c4 and 185d6 stand within the line, as Burnet’s do. In the English, three places had followed readings Burnet does not print: “which one we must praise” (Hermann’s ὁπότερον) is now “what kind” (ὁποῖον, 180d1); “ashamed on his behalf” (Orelli’s αὐτοῦ) is now “on their behalf” (183b2); and “all the heroes together” is now “at the same time than all the heroes too”, Burnet’s own ἀλλ’ ἅμα καί (180a5). The participle ὁ ἐρῶν is now “the one in love”, kept apart from ἐραστής “lover”, as in the Lysis; σύμφημι is “concur”, apart from ὁμολογεῖν “agree”; διηγεῖσθαι is “tell”, as in Block I; ἄνθρωποι are “human beings”, νενομοθέτηται is “laid down by law”, ὥρισται “defined”, δεινός “dreadful”, and αὐτὸ καθ’ αὑτό, which returns in Diotima’s speech, “itself by itself” (183d5). Small words were restored (καί six times, γε twice, the δὲ καί of 179b5), a Stephanus marker was moved (178d1), the speaker at 180c3 is named, as the Greek’s change of subject requires, and eleven phrases that followed Lamb’s Loeb translation were reworded. In the notes, the Parmenides line is said to have no subject in the Greek, with Simplicius’ reading; Thucydides is cited for what he says, that the murder of Hipparchus did not end the tyranny; Nestor, not Patroclus’ father, speaks at Iliad 11.786–787; and two notes were added, on the dual “these two laws”, from later copies, at 184c7, and on Baiter’s supplement at 184d7. In the Introduction and the Editorial Note, the slave’s message is placed at 175a7–9; the account of the square bracket and of the asterisks is corrected and the angle brackets of the apparatus are explained; Johann Friedrich Fischer is identified, and Hertz, Schütz and Vermehren are left by surname until they can be identified securely.