Symposium (Plato)

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The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue of Plato, written sometime after 385 BCE. It is a gathering of intellectually diverse, and apparently wise men who are of one mind about love, that the best kind is between an older man, the "erastes," and his beloved boy, the "eromenos." Love between men and women is disparaged as procreant and lewd, and love between men and boys is praised as conducive to courage and wisdom. This dialogue cannot be overestimated as the source of the notion that "educational pederasty" was respectable among the educated classes in fifth century BCE Athens.

1 The frame narrative and its purpose
2 Prelude to the Party
3 Interpretations
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] The frame narrative and its purpose

The setting of the Symposium is a drinking party given at the house of the tragedian Agathon. The participants agree that since they had drunk excessively the previous evening, they will drink only enough this night to quench their thirst, and will spend their time giving speeches in praise of love (eros). (176a-e) These speeches may be seen as a mock rhetorical competition, where each man gives the highest praise he can muster to what ordinary mortals consider shameful: man-boy love.

The reader hears this story third-hand from a current young disciple of Socrates, who was in the nursery when the party allegedly took place. This disciple, Apollodorus, is now "refreshing" his memory by retelling it some unspecified years after he first heard about it from Aristodemus. Apollodorus repeatedly says that he is telling it to the best of Aristodemus' memory (178a).

The setting is the home of Agathon, a minor poet who Aristophanes mocks as an effeminate and a transvestite in his play, "The Thesmophoriazusae." The occasion for the party is Agathon's self-congratulation: he is celebrating the receipt of a poetry prize. Aristophanes is in attendance at the party, but his participation is problematic: he develops an uncontrollable case of the hiccups after hearing Pausanias' speech (185d). Later, he takes recourse in sneezing (189a). The climax of the speeches is when Alcibiades bursts on the scene, fully drunk and uninvited, to describe how Socrates refused him sex one night(219d).

Like Agathon and Aristophanes, Alcibiades is a real historical character from ancient Athens. By his own confession, he is as handsome as handsome gets, but according to historical records, he was once exiled from Athens as a traitor. Socrates says that he is the older lover of Alcibiades, who is in turn the older lover of the upstart poet Agathon. After Alcibiades' mock eulogy to Socrates,who is ugly as a satyr but godlike within, the three men play a little grab-ass on the couch (222e-223b). The Symposium is easily Plato's wittiest dialog, but it is not his raunchiest.

[edit] Prelude to the Party

A fresco taken from the north wall of the Tomb of the Diver featuring an image of a symposium

Aristodemus tells how Apollodorus bumped into Socrates one day and was surprised to see him freshly bathed and wearing sandals. Socrates says that he fixed himself up for a party at Agathon's house. Socrates persuades Aristodemus to come along and crash the party. The two chat for a moment, but Socrates falls into some kind of trance, and Aristodemus has to go in alone. Socrates stumbles in when dinner is half over, and insults Agathon with a crack about how his youthful vigor was beaming through his cloak as he accepted his poetry prize in front of an audience of 30,000(175e).

[edit] How the Men at First Agreed to an Evening of Speechmaking

Eryximachus the doctor announces that his medical wisdom qualifies him to recommend that people whose heads are still splitting from the previous night's smash up should refrain from getting drunk (176d). After dropping a few literary names, the good doctor says that he once came across a lovely book that sang the praises of table salt and other commodities. He suggests that the men present should imitate it, and praise love (177 a-c). The men agree to take their doctor's advice. Socrates tells Phaedrus to proceed with his eulogy and good luck with it. What follows are six "formal" speeches, and a seventh unplanned speech by Alcibiades. Each man represents an intellectual discipline.

The Symposium appears to be a comedic example of an historic motif: the seven wise men at dinner. The ancient storyteller Herodotus tells a story of seven Persian envoys who come to Macedonia to demand concessions from the Greeks. (Book 5: 17-21) When the Persians try to grab at the wives of their Athenian guests, the Greeks play a trick on them and stab them to death.

[edit] The Seven Speeches

Phaedrus (begins 178a) Literary - implies that Homer is advocate of pederasty, having depicted Achilles as the "beardless lover" of Patroclus
Pausanias- (begins 180c) Legal -argues that Athenian law "encourages" boys who submit to older men out of longing for wisdom, and judges them indecent when they submit for the sake of money or favors, or out of fear of being abused
Eryximachus- (begins 186a) Medical- argues that medicine (and gymnastics and agronomy) are under the direction of love
Aristophanes- (begins 189c) Mythic - offers an etiology of the three genders: homosexual, lesbian, and heterosexual
Agathon- (begins 195a) Poetic- waxes that Love is the youngest of gods, as well as tender and supple, dainty and elegant
Socrates- (begins 201d) Religious - says that he learned from a sorceress that the physical, heterosexual sex drive is a longing for immortality through the production of children and that intellectual love, including the love of boys, is the key to real immortality.
Alcibiades- (begins 214e)- The "Non-Intellectual" speech - eulogizes Socrates as ugly as a satyr, but having a godlike soul within. His speech, which is probably the most discussed of the seven, contains his complaint that Socrates refused him sex one night when they were huddled together under Socrates shabby cloak.

[edit] Phaedrus

Phaedrus claims that Love inspires great valor on the battlefield, as nothing shames a lover more than to be seen by his beloved committing some inglorious act (178d-179b). Phaedrus says that a few pairs of lovers fighting shoulder to shoulder could conquer the whole world in arms because of their added bravery. Phaedrus takes Aeschylus to task, saying he garbled the relation between Achilles and Patroclus (180a). Phaedrus, who must not have read the Iliad, says that Achilles was the handsome and much younger boy-lover of Patroclus. Homer actually says that they were about the same age (Iliad 23:102), and that Achilles had abandoned a son to go to Troy. Nine years into the war, Achilles cannot be as Phaedrus says, "beardless." No one calls Phaedrus on his literary mistake, either because the drinking was heavy at this point, or because the other guests had not read or heard the Iliad either.

There is another problem with Phaedrus' using the Achilles-Patroclus affair as evidence of his claim that man-boy lovers make the most effective fighters. Achilles never fights "shoulder to shoulder" with Patroclus. When Patroclus insists on going into battle, Achilles sends his lover in to fight alone (Iliad 16: 41-43), and Patroclus is soon killed. Achilles stages a gigantic funeral for Patroclus (Iliad 23: 296-7), but it cannot be said that his "love" for Patroclus advanced the war effort. The funeral games set it back for a full two weeks.

Besides his literary bloopers, Phaedrus turns out to be a little too indiscriminate in his praise of love. He makes the mistake of praising a woman's love for her husband. He says that Alcestis loved her husband so much she was willing to die for him. As soon as Phaedrus is finished, Pausanias catches him up short (180c), laying down the rule for the evening. The only love to be discussed at this party is the kind that has no taint of lewdness, the kind of love takes place between boys and men (181e). Men who like women, says Phaedrus are lewd, vulgar, and shallow, looking only to procreate. From here on, the only hint that females even exist in the world is made by Socrates,who says he learned from his sorceress friend Diotima, that having children is just a cheap bid for immortality.

Phaedrus concludes his short speech in proper rhetorical fashion, reiterating his statements that love is one of the most ancient gods, the most honored, and the most powerful in helping men gain honor and blessedness.

[edit] Pausanias

Pausanias is the legal expert of the group. He claims that Elis and Boeotia are inarticulate states that have nothing to say against pedophilia (182a,b). He says that Ionia and other countries think it is disgraceful (182b,c), but these states live under despots and think no more of philosophy and sport than they do of love. Pausanias then launches into a confusing discussion of Athenian law regarding pederasty. He says that Athens' code is not easy to understand, but claims that it cheers on the lover, so long as he does not pursue the boy in secret and does not rush him into it. He says you would never know that the law explicitly approves the lover's conduct by the way fathers behave when they get wind of the fact that some older man is sniffing around his son, or by the way the boys playmates tease him about having a lover. He says these "contradictions" are easily explained (183d).

Pausanias says that Athenian law makes a firm distinction between the lover who should be encouraged by the boy and the lover who should be discouraged. He says that when a boy surrenders to sex out of hope for money , political favors, or in a cowering fear that he will suffer abuse (a beating?) from the lover, his surrender is contemptible (184b). It is only when the boy is hoping to become wise and virtuous is his surrender to the older man not offensive to human decency. Pausanias thinks that the law addresses itself to children and their "motives" for surrendering to adults. He says that a boy who is duped is no fool, but has shown himself to be one "who will do anything for the sake of virtue" (184e-185b).

This speech causes Aristophanes to burst into a fit of hiccups, and Eryximachus comes to the rescue with a remedy. He suggests that Aristophanes hold his breath, or if that doesn't work, he should try gargling with a little water. He says that if that fails, he could try forcing a sneeze by tickling his nostrils (185c-e).

[edit] Eryximachus

Eryximachus ends up speaking instead of Aristophanes, who does not recover from his hiccups soon enough to take his place in the lineup of speeches. Eryximachus' speech is high-sounding hooey that could be taken seriously only by an audience that was well into its cups. For example, he claims that love "governs" medicine, gymnastics and agronomy(187a), says that its principle "regulates" hot and cold and wet and dry and that this results in health (188a). It is the least discussed of the seven speeches, and with good reason.

[edit] Aristophanes

Aristophanes was the comedic poet of Athens, a brilliant and beloved comedian who ruled the comic stage in the late fifth and early fourth century in BCE Athens. He had rivals in the comic theatre, but none of their plays have survived. His is the only comic voice that remains. The fact that Plato places him among Socrates and his friends is one of the most curious things about the Symposium. As noted above, Aristophanes ridiculed Agathon, the host of the party, in a play. As is well-known, he also has ridiculed Socrates, the most notorious guest at the party. "The Clouds," which was staged in approximately 423 BCE, presents Socrates as a cult master and director of a ridiculous "thinkery" wherein one learns "immoral logic." Aristophanes mentions Socrates disparagingly in at least two other plays as well. The antagonism is not benign.

Not only did Aristophanes have nothing good to say about Socrates, Socrates has nothing good to say about Aristophanes. In the Apology, Socrates specifically blames Aristophanes for starting the slander (Apology 19c) that led to his death (Apology 18,19). In what seems to be a complex literary "tit-for-tat," Socrates outlaws the likes of Aristophanes in the Republic. In Plato's greatest and most important dialog, Socrates scowls on the enjoyment of laughter ("philogelatos")and condemns playwrights (like Aristophanes) who write things that cause people to bust a gut laughing.(Republic 3:388e). In what would put a big crimp in a favorite Athenian ritual, attending the annual competition of comic plays, Socrates would also forbid actors to imitate drunks who revile and lampoon each other (Republic.3:396).

Before launching his speech, Aristophanes warns the group that his eulogy to man-on-man love may be more absurd than funny. His speech is an explanation of why people in love say they feel "whole" when they have found their love partner. It is, he says, because in primal times people were globular spheres who wheeled around like clowns doing cartwheels (190a. There were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the hermaphrodite, who was half man, half woman. The creatures tried to scale the heights of heaven and planned to set upon the gods (190b-c). Zeus thought about just blasting them to death with thunderbolts, but did not want to deprive himself or their devotions and offerings, so he decided to cripple them by chopping them in half.

After chopping the people in half, Zeus turned their faces around and pulled the skin tight and stitched it up to form the belly button. Aristophanes says that people run around saying they are looking for their other half because they are really trying to recover their primal nature. He says some people think homosexuals are shameless, but he thinks they are the bravest, most manly of all(192a), and that heterosexuals are mostly adulterous men and unfaithful wives (191e).

Aristophanes ends on a cautionary note. He says that men should fear the gods, and not neglect to worship them, lest they split us again, and we have to go about with our noses split apart.(193a)

[edit] Agathon

Agathon complains that the previous speakers have made the mistake of congratulating mankind on the blessing of love, that they have failed to give due praise to the god himself (194e). He says that love is the youngest of gods and is an enemy of old age (195b). He says that the god of love shuns the very sight of senility and and clings to youth. Agathon says love is dainty, and likes to tiptoe through the flowers and never settles where there is no "bud to bloom"(196b). It would seem that none of the characters at the party, with the possible exception of Agathon himself, would be candidates for love's companionship. Socrates, probably the oldest member of the party, seems particularly to be ruled out of Love's datebook.

[edit] Socrates

Socrates begins his speech by complaining that Agathon's speech was at first nothing special, but that he soon launched into a poetic flight that caught him spellbound. Before beginning his own talk, Socrates grills Agathon with a bit of his dialectic. He asks him such penetrating questions as " Is love of somebody or nobody?" (199d).

Socrates says that he learned his love-lessons from Diotima (lit. "honored by god") from Mantinea (lit. "prophetland" ?), He says that this woman was deeply versed in the deep truths about love, and besides this, through her magic brought about a postponement of the plague in Athens for ten years (201d. She gives Socrates a genealogy of love, that he is the son of "resource and need." In her view, love is not delicate and lovely, as Agathon just averred, but beggarly and harsh. He sleeps in doorways, and and is a master of artifice and deception (203d). The beloved boy is delicate, she says, but the old lover looking for the boy is poor but resourceful and manipulative (204c).

Diotima's most important thesis about love is that it is really a longing for immortality (207a,b). The instinct to breed that you observe in animals and men who are attracted to women is an expression of this. In full professorial style (208c) she said that every one of us longs for endless fame, but that wise people know the difference between bodily and spiritual procreancy (209a). Socrates learns from a woman, then, that it is far better for men and boys to give birth to ideas than for men and women to give birth to children. Men and boys have a stronger, better bonds than men and women, and that the fruit of their union, ideas,will bring them immortality.

Socrates takes his seat amid applause from everyone from Aristophanes, who had some issue to take up with him, but just then Alcibiades crashes the party for the climactic scene.

[edit] Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Just as Socrates finishes explaining the proper path of love and its great importance, a drunken Alcibiades shows up to the party. Finding himself seated on a couch with Socrates and Agathon, Alcibiades exclaims that Socrates, again, has managed to sit next to the most handsome man in the room, Agathon; that he is always doing such things (213c). Socrates asks Agathon to protect him from the jealous rage of Alcibiades, asking Alcibiades to forgive him (213d). Alcibiades says he will never do such a thing (213e).

Wondering why everyone seems sober, Alcibiades is informed of the night's agreement (213e, c); after saying his drunken ramblings should not be placed next to the sober orations of the rest, and that he hope no one believed a word Socrates said, it is decided that Alcibiades will offer an encomium to Socrates (214c-e).

Alcibiades begins by comparing Socrates to a statue of Silenus; the statue is ugly and hollow, and inside is full of tiny golden statues of the gods (215a-b). He then compares Socrates to the satyr Marsyas- satyrs often portrayed with the sexual appetite, manners, and features of wild beasts, and often with a large erection. Socrates, however, needs no flute to "cast his spells" upon people as Marsyas did- he needs only his words (215b-d).

Alcibiades states that when he hears Socrates speak, he is beside himself; the words of Socrates are the only words that have ever upset him so deeply that his soul started to protest that his own aristocratic life was no better than a slave's (215e). Socrates is the only man who has ever made Alcibiades feel shame (216b).

Yet, he says, all this is the least of it (216c)- he's crazy about beautiful boys, following them around in a daze (216d). Most, he says, don't know what Socrates is like on the inside:

But once i caught him when he was open like Silenus' statues, and i had a glimpse of the figures he keeps hidden within: they were so godlike- so bright and beautiful, so utterly amazing- that i no longer had a choice- i just had to do whatever he told me.

Symposium, 216e-217a

Alcibiades thought at the time that what Socrates really wanted was him, and by letting Socrates have his way with him, he would teach Alcibiades everything he knew (217a). Yet Socrates made no moves, and Alcibiades began to pursue Socrates- as he says, "as if I were the lover and he my young prey!" (217c). When Socrates continually rebuffs this pursuit, Alcibiades explains to Socrates that he is the only worthy lover he has ever had; that nothing is more important to him than becoming the best man he can be, and Socrates is better fit to help him reach that aim than anyone else (219c-d). Socrates responds that if he does have this power to make Alcibiades a better man inside of him, why would he exchange his true beauty for the image of beauty that Alcibiades would provide, and furthermore, Alcibiades may be wrong, and Socrates may be of no use to him (218e-219a). He then slipped under Socrates' cloak and spent the night beside him- yet, to the deep humiliation of Alcibiades, Socrates makes no response (219b-d).

He goes on to detail the virtue of Socrates- his valor in battle being uncomparable, unaffected by the cold or by fear, and even saving Alcibiades' life once and then refusing to be given honors for it (219e-221c). However, he continues, it is not just this- that Socrates is completely unique in his ideas and accomplishments, unrivaled by any man from the past or present (221c). His arguments and ideas seem ridiculous on the surface, but are in fact truly worthy of a god and bursting with virtue inside, and are of utmost importance for anyone who wants to become a truly good man (221d-222a).

He concludes by giving a warning- that Socrates present himself as your lover, but before you know it, you have fallen in love with him.

[edit] Conclusion

Despite this speech, Agathon then lies down next to Socrates, much to the chagrin of Alcibiades. The symposium dissolves as a large drunken group shows up and comes in, with many characters leaving; Socrates, however, stayed up till dawn, proclaiming to Agathon and Aristophanes that a skillful playwright should be able to write comedy as well as tragedy as Aristodemus awoke and left the house (223d). When Agathon and Aristophanes fall asleep, Socrates leaves, walks to the Lyceum to wash up, and spends the rest of the day as he always did, not sleeping until that evening (223d).

[edit] Interpretations

The guests at Plato's Symposium think of themselves as Athenian intellectuals. The reader must be the judge of whether they are genuinely wise men of letters or impostors, psuedo-intellectuals justifying their sexual tastes in lofty language.

Alcibiades, an Athenian general and politician, is best known today both for being tried and convicted for desecration of the hermai, after he vandalized numerous statues of Hermes by breaking off their genitals, and his conviction for having profaned the Eleusinian mysteries, initiates of the mysteries being forbidden on the pain of death from revealing what went on at the mysteries. Tried in absence and hearing about his death sentence while at sea, he jumped ship during the Sicilian Expedition and committed treason by joining Sparta and giving away Athenian war plans. Alcibiades is often mentioned in Plato's dialogues as Socrates' most promising student, and the fact that Socrates found him an unworthy recipient of his "love" throws both him and Socrates under a cloud of suspicion.

The constant interplay between lover and beloved and the role reversal executed by Alcibiades in his pursuit of Socrates, the relation of lover to beloved is not altogether clear. The numerous convoluted relationships of the characters also must be examined- Phaedrus and Eryximachus are lovers, as are Agathon and Pausanias; the relationship of Alcibiades and Socrates is examined in detail, and they both seem to be pursuing Agathon (Cooper, 457). It does seem, however, that Plato regards love as the essential ingredient of the philosophic path and the search for wisdom; that despite the importance of loving and helping those younger than you, it is in coming to the form of beauty that one finds wisdom, and no one, not even Socrates, can give you wisdom.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

Plato, The Symposium, trans. by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff. From Plato: Complete Works, ed. by John M. Cooper, pp. 457-506. ISBN 0-87220-349-2

[edit] See also

Platonic love
Xenophon's Symposium
Erik Satie's Socrate
The Origin of Love, a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Symposion (in Greek)

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