From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAklētos negates invitation; automatos marks coming without being summoned.
- In the SymposiumSocrates alters a proverb to justify Aristodemus’ company, then invokes Homer’s uninvited Menelaus.
- In this editionBurnet prints a conjectural form of Agathon’s name in the proverb where the manuscripts have “of the good.”
- A place to readProverb, Homeric comparison, protested invitation, and welcome are linked stages of the scene.
Meaning
Aklētos negates invitation; automatos marks coming without being summoned. Neither word by itself judges the guest’s character.
Use in the book
Socrates alters a proverb to justify Aristodemus’ company, then invokes Homer’s uninvited Menelaus. Aristodemus answers that he may be the inferior guest and insists that Socrates must defend his presence. At the house Agathon welcomes him and says he had already been seeking him to invite him. A possible social embarrassment is resolved by hospitality, while the joke opens questions about who is good, wise, or qualified to join.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
Burnet prints a conjectural form of Agathon’s name in the proverb where the manuscripts have “of the good.” The pun concerns the host’s name in either case; the translation makes the personal reference explicit.
ἄκλητος (aklētos)
aklētos — Uninvited; a social status disputed and playfully renegotiated on the way to dinner.
- 174b — ἄκλητος. Socrates asks whether Aristodemus will accompany him uninvited.
αὐτόματος (automatos)
automatos — Of one’s own accord, without an external summons; not here a technical theory of spontaneous generation.
καλέω (kaleō)
kaleō — To call or invite; Aristodemus distinguishes the host’s invitation from Socrates’ invitation.
- 174d — κεκλημένος. Aristodemus will say he has been invited by Socrates.