DiotimosReading Desk

Companionship

Jealousy and reconciliation

ζηλοτυπέω (zēlotypeō); φθονέω (phthoneō); διαλλάσσω (diallassō)

The verbs describe contested access to people and praise.

From the book

Symposium

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordThe verbs describe contested access to people and praise.
  • In the SymposiumSocrates complains that Alcibiades prevents him from even looking at or speaking to another beautiful person.
  • In this editionThe assertions of jealousy are spoken within a comic dispute, not independently certified descriptions of every past interaction.
  • A place to readAccusation, counteraccusation, and refused reconciliation prepare the praise.

Meaning

The verbs describe contested access to people and praise. Reconciliation would restore relations without conceding the exclusive possession that the jealous speaker seeks.

Use in the book

Socrates complains that Alcibiades prevents him from even looking at or speaking to another beautiful person. Alcibiades answers with a counterclaim: Socrates will not tolerate his praising anyone else. The ensuing encomium apparently confirms continued attachment but ends as a warning to Agathon. Socrates identifies its purpose as making himself love only Alcibiades and Agathon be loved only by Alcibiades. The couch becomes a physical map of that attempted control.

Places to read

  1. 213c–eAccusation, counteraccusation, and refused reconciliation prepare the praise.
  2. 222b–223a23The warning to Agathon becomes a rivalry about who will sit beside and praise whom.

Translation in this edition

The assertions of jealousy are spoken within a comic dispute, not independently certified descriptions of every past interaction. The initial narrative says ribbons prevented Alcibiades from seeing Socrates before he sat between the two men.

διαλλάσσω (diallassō)

diallassō — To reconcile parties in conflict.

  • 213d — διάλλαξον. Socrates asks Agathon to reconcile him and Alcibiades.

Read: Jealousy and reconciliation.

ζηλοτυπέω (zēlotypeō)

zēlotypeō — To be jealous of a rival or of another person’s attention.

  • 213d — ζηλοτυπῶν. Socrates accuses Alcibiades of jealous interference.

Read: Jealousy and reconciliation.

φθονέω (phthoneō)

phthoneō — To begrudge or envy another’s access to something valued.

  • 213d — φθονῶν. Socrates couples jealousy with begrudging conduct.
  • 223a — φθονήσῃς. Socrates asks Alcibiades not to begrudge Agathon his praise.

Read: Jealousy and reconciliation.