Plato Symposium

“A model of the kind of text one needs for lecture courses: the translation is extremely readable and made even more accessible by intelligent printing decisions (on dividing the text, spacing for clarification, etc.); the notes are kept to a minimum but appear when they are really needed for comprehension and are truly informative. And the introduction admirably presents both basic information and a sense of current scholarly opinion.” — S G Nugent, Princeton University

One of the most famous works of literature in the Western world, Plato’s Symposium is also one of the most entertaining. The scene is a dinner party in Athens in 416 B.C. at which the guests – including the comic poet Aristophanes and Plato’s mentor, Socrates – playfully discuss the nature of eros, or love. By turns earthly and sublime, the dialogue culminates with Socrates’s famous account of the “ladder of love,” an extended analysis of the many forms of eros. The evening ends with a speech by the drunken Alcibiades, the most popular and powerful Athenian of the day, who insists on praising Socrates rather than love, offering up a brilliant character sketch of the enigmatic philosopher.