From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThese nouns characterize intensity and commitment before the correct object and mode of activity have been fully explained.
- In the SymposiumThe definition of love through lasting good still leaves open what people actually do.
- In this editionThe supplied text prints the noun exertion at 206b; the apparatus records a different related noun in T and W.
- A place to readThe activity behind desire’s earnestness must be identified.
Meaning
These nouns characterize intensity and commitment before the correct object and mode of activity have been fully explained.
Use in the book
The definition of love through lasting good still leaves open what people actually do. Diotima asks in which action their earnestness and exertion would count as love, then answers with birth in beauty. Animal struggle for offspring subsequently displays that strenuous commitment. Intensity alone is not treated as the criterion of a correct ascent: it must be educated and redirected.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The supplied text prints the noun exertion at 206b; the apparatus records a different related noun in T and W. This entry does not silently substitute that variant.
σπουδή (spoudē)
spoudē — Serious attention or earnest effort, rather than merely play.
- 206b — ἡ σπουδὴ. The earnestness of pursuit must be specified to identify love’s work.
- 208b — αὕτη ἡ σπουδὴ. Reproductive care’s earnestness is explained by immortality.
Read: Earnestness and exertion.
σύντασις (syntasis)
syntasis — Exertion or intense effort; the printed noun in Diotima’s question about love’s activity.
- 206b — ἡ σύντασις. Coordinated with earnestness when asking what pursuit is called love.
Read: Earnestness and exertion.