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Beauty

Flowers, bloom and fragrance

ἄνθος (anthos); εὐανθής (euanthēs); εὐώδης (euōdēs); εὐσχημοσύνη (euschēmosynē)

The sensory terms combine bodily attractiveness with the language of flourishing and decay.

From the book

Symposium

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordThe sensory terms combine bodily attractiveness with the language of flourishing and decay.
  • In the SymposiumPausanias uses bodily bloom to expose an unstable attachment: when the flower fades, the merely bodily lover flies away.
  • In this editionThe English preserves “bloom” or “flower” according to the immediate construction.
  • A place to readThe fading body tests a lover’s constancy.

Meaning

The sensory terms combine bodily attractiveness with the language of flourishing and decay.

Use in the book

Pausanias uses bodily bloom to expose an unstable attachment: when the flower fades, the merely bodily lover flies away. Agathon instead makes flowering and fragrant surroundings evidence of Love’s beautiful complexion. Diotima later says a person with a worthy soul can suffice even with little bodily bloom, subordinating the image without erasing it. Thus the same attractive surface can signify transience, poetic perfection, or something outweighed by a soul’s value. The slight bodily bloom allowed at 210b is not a claim that the person has no physical attractiveness at all.

Places to read

  1. 183eThe fading body tests a lover’s constancy.
  2. 196a–bGraceful form, flowers and fragrance support Agathon’s praise.
  3. 210b–c2A worthy soul is sufficient despite little bodily bloom.

Translation in this edition

The English preserves “bloom” or “flower” according to the immediate construction. Agathon explicitly extends flowerlessness to body, soul or anything else; the metaphor is not limited to literal flowers.

ἄνθος (anthos)

anthos — A flower or bloom, figuratively the fleeting bloom of a body and, in Agathon, the flourishing quality of Love’s dwelling.

  • 183e — τοῦ σώματος ἄνθει. Pausanias’ bodily bloom fades.
  • 196a — κατ’ ἄνθη. Agathon’s Love lives among flowers.
  • 210b — σμικρὸν ἄνθος. A person fine in soul may have only slight bodily bloom.

Read: Flowers, bloom and fragrance.

εὐανθής (euanthēs)

euanthēs — In flower or flourishing, a favorable condition for Love’s resting-place in Agathon’s portrait.

  • 196b — εὐανθής. One quality of the place where Love alights.

Read: Flowers, bloom and fragrance.

εὐσχημοσύνη (euschēmosynē)

euschēmosynē — Gracefulness of shape or bearing, used as evidence for a proportionate, supple figure.

  • 196a — ἡ εὐσχημοσύνη. Agathon’s visible sign of Love’s pleasing form.

Read: Flowers, bloom and fragrance.

εὐώδης (euōdēs)

euōdēs — Fragrant; paired with flowering in the same sensory image.

  • 196b — εὐώδης. Fragrance marks the attractive dwelling.

Read: Flowers, bloom and fragrance.