From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThese particles guide emphasis and the local force of an assertion.
- In the SymposiumPausanias’ closing phrase gives virtue focused prominence as the end that makes gratification beautiful.
- In this editionThe edition preserves “at least” in both local contexts, though ge and goun are not identical particles.
- A place to readFocused insistence on virtue as the end.
Meaning
These particles guide emphasis and the local force of an assertion. They do not always have one mechanical English equivalent.
Use in the book
Pausanias’ closing phrase gives virtue focused prominence as the end that makes gratification beautiful. Aristophanes’ goun marks the practical result of satiation even where procreation is not the outcome of the embrace. The qualification matters because the myth subsequently distinguishes sexual satisfaction from the deeper desire for union. These small words are useful signs of how much the speaker claims at that moment.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The edition preserves “at least” in both local contexts, though ge and goun are not identical particles. The elided form g’ in the printed phrase is retained as an attestation rather than silently expanded.
γε (ge)
ge — An enclitic focusing particle; it can emphasize or limit the item on which the speaker presently insists.
- 185b — ἀρετῆς γ’ ἕνεκα. The focus falls on virtue as the relevant purpose.
γοῦν (goun)
goun — At any rate or at least, marking a point offered as sufficient or secure within the present reasoning.
- 191c — πλησμονὴ γοῦν. At least satiation is produced in the male-male case of the myth.