Symposium 210e-212c

Jiyoung Song /
  • Modified on 2017-04-30 19:57:13
  • Translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff
  • Aligned by Jiyoung Song
Ἑλληνική Transliterate
English
ὃς γὰρ ἂν μέχρι ἐνταῦθα πρὸς τὰ ἐρωτικὰ παιδαγωγηθῇ , θεώμενος ἐφεξῆς τε καὶ ὀρθῶς τὰ καλά , πρὸς τέλος ἤδη ἰὼν τῶν ἐρωτικῶν ἐξαίφνης κατόψεταί τι θαυμαστὸν τὴν φύσιν καλόν , τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο , ὦ Σώκρατες , οὗ δὴ ἕνεκεν καὶ οἱ ἔμπροσθεν πάντες πόνοι ἦσαν , πρῶτον μὲν ἀεὶ ὂν καὶ οὔτε γιγνόμενον οὔτε ἀπολλύμενον , οὔτε αὐξανόμενον οὔτε φθίνον , ἔπειτα οὐ τῇ μὲν καλόν , τῇ δ᾽ αἰσχρόν , οὐδὲ τοτὲ μέν , τοτὲ δὲ οὔ , οὐδὲ πρὸς μὲν τὸ καλόν , πρὸς δὲ τὸ αἰσχρόν , οὐδ᾽ ἔνθα μὲν καλόν , ἔνθα δὲ αἰσχρόν , ὡς τισὶ μὲν ὂν καλόν , τισὶ δὲ αἰσχρόν : οὐδ᾽ αὖ φαντασθήσεται αὐτῷ τὸ καλὸν οἷον πρόσωπόν τι οὐδὲ χεῖρες οὐδὲ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ὧν σῶμα μετέχει , οὐδέ τις λόγος οὐδέ τις ἐπιστήμη , οὐδέ που ὂν ἐν ἑτέρῳ τινι , οἷον ἐν ζῴῳ ἢ ἐν γῇ ἢ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἢ ἔν τῳ ἄλλῳ , ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ μεθ᾽ αὑτοῦ μονοειδὲς ἀεὶ ὄν , τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πάντα καλὰ ἐκείνου μετέχοντα τρόπον τινὰ τοιοῦτον , οἷον γιγνομένων τε τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἀπολλυμένων μηδὲν ἐκεῖνο μήτε τι πλέον μήτε ἔλαττον γίγνεσθαι μηδὲ πάσχειν μηδέν . ὅταν δή τις ἀπὸ τῶνδε διὰ τὸ ὀρθῶς παιδεραστεῖν ἐπανιὼν ἐκεῖνο τὸ καλὸν ἄρχηται καθορᾶν , σχεδὸν ἄν τι ἅπτοιτο τοῦ τέλους . τοῦτο γὰρ δή ἐστι τὸ ὀρθῶς ἐπὶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ ἰέναι ἢ ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου ἄγεσθαι , ἀρχόμενον ἀπὸ τῶνδε τῶν καλῶν ἐκείνου ἕνεκα τοῦ καλοῦ ἀεὶ ἐπανιέναι , ὥσπερ ἐπαναβασμοῖς χρώμενον , ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ἐπὶ δύο καὶ ἀπὸ δυοῖν ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ καλὰ σώματα , καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν καλῶν σωμάτων ἐπὶ τὰ καλὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα , καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐπὶ τὰ καλὰ μαθήματα , καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν μαθημάτων ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μάθημα τελευτῆσαι , ὅ ἐστιν οὐκ ἄλλου ἢ αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου τοῦ καλοῦ μάθημα , καὶ γνῷ αὐτὸ τελευτῶν ὃ ἔστι καλόν . ἐνταῦθα τοῦ βίου , ὦ φίλε Σώκρατες , ἔφη ἡ Μαντινικὴ ξένη , εἴπερ που ἄλλοθι , βιωτὸν ἀνθρώπῳ , θεωμένῳ αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν . ὃ ἐάν ποτε ἴδῃς , οὐ κατὰ χρυσίον τε καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ τοὺς καλοὺς παῖδάς τε καὶ νεανίσκους δόξει σοι εἶναι , οὓς νῦν ὁρῶν ἐκπέπληξαι καὶ ἕτοιμος εἶ καὶ σὺ καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοί , ὁρῶντες τὰ παιδικὰ καὶ συνόντες ἀεὶ αὐτοῖς , εἴ πως οἷόν τ᾽ ἦν , μήτ᾽ ἐσθίειν μήτε πίνειν , ἀλλὰ θεᾶσθαι μόνον καὶ συνεῖναι . τί δῆτα , ἔφη , οἰόμεθα , εἴ τῳ γένοιτο αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν ἰδεῖν εἰλικρινές , καθαρόν , ἄμεικτον , ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀνάπλεων σαρκῶν τε ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ χρωμάτων καὶ ἄλλης πολλῆς φλυαρίας θνητῆς , ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον καλὸν δύναιτο μονοειδὲς κατιδεῖν ; ἆρ᾽ οἴει , ἔφη , φαῦλον βίον γίγνεσθαι ἐκεῖσε βλέποντος ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἐκεῖνο ᾧ δεῖ θεωμένου καὶ συνόντος αὐτῷ ; ἢ οὐκ ἐνθυμῇ , ἔφη , ὅτι ἐνταῦθα αὐτῷ μοναχοῦ γενήσεται , ὁρῶντι ᾧ ὁρατὸν τὸ καλόν , τίκτειν οὐκ εἴδωλα ἀρετῆς , ἅτε οὐκ εἰδώλου ἐφαπτομένῳ , ἀλλὰ ἀληθῆ , ἅτε τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ἐφαπτομένῳ : τεκόντι δὲ ἀρετὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ θρεψαμένῳ ὑπάρχει θεοφιλεῖ γενέσθαι , καὶ εἴπέρ τῳ ἄλλῳ ἀνθρώπων ἀθανάτῳ καὶ ἐκείνῳ ; ταῦτα δή , ὦ Φαῖδρέ τε καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι , ἔφη μὲν Διοτίμα , πέπεισμαι δ᾽ ἐγώ : πεπεισμένος δὲ πειρῶμαι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πείθειν ὅτι τούτου τοῦ κτήματος τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει συνεργὸν ἀμείνω Ἔρωτος οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως λάβοι . διὸ δὴ ἔγωγέ φημι χρῆναι πάντα ἄνδρα τὸν ἔρωτα τιμᾶν , καὶ αὐτὸς τιμῶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ καὶ διαφερόντως ἀσκῶ , καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις παρακελεύομαι , καὶ νῦν τε καὶ ἀεὶ ἐγκωμιάζω τὴν δύναμιν καὶ ἀνδρείαν τοῦ Ἔρωτος καθ᾽ ὅσον οἷός τ᾽ εἰμί . τοῦτον οὖν τὸν λόγον , ὦ Φαῖδρε , εἰ μὲν βούλει , ὡς ἐγκώμιον εἰς ἔρωτα νόμισον εἰρῆσθαι , εἰ δέ , ὅτι καὶ ὅπῃ χαίρεις ὀνομάζων , τοῦτο ὀνόμαζε .
“You see , the man who has been thus far guided in matters of Love , who has beheld beautiful things in the right order and correctly , is coming now to the goal of Loving : all of a sudden he will catch sight of something wonderfully beautiful in its nature ; that , Socrates , is the reason for all his earlier labors : First , it always is and neither comes to be nor passes away , neither waxes nor wanes . Second , it is not beautiful this way and ugly that way , nor beautiful at one time and ugly at another , nor beautiful in relation to one thing and ugly in relation to another ; nor is it beautiful here but ugly there , as it would be if it were beautiful for some people and ugly for others . Nor will the beautiful appear to him in the guise of a face or hands or anything else that belongs to the body . It will not appear to him as a speech or a kind of knowledge does . It is not anywhere in another thing , as in an animal , or in earth , or in heaven , or in anything else , but itself by itself with itself , it is always one in form ; and all the other beautiful things share in that , in such a way that when those others come to be or pass away , this does not become the least bit smaller or greater nor suffer any change . So when someone rises by these stages , through loving boys correctly , and begins to see this beauty , he has almost grasped his goal . This is what it is to go aright , or be led by another , into the art of Love : one goes always upwards for the sake of this Beauty , starting out from beautiful things and using them like rising stairs : from one body to two and from two to all beautiful bodies , then from beautiful bodies to beautiful customs , and from customs to learning beautiful things , and from these lessons he arrives in the end at this lesson , which is learning of this very Beauty , so that in the end he comes to know just what it is to be beautiful . And there in life , Socrates , my friend , ” said the woman from Mantinea , “there if anywhere should a person live his life , beholding that Beauty . If you once see that , it won’t occur to you to measure beauty by gold or clothing or beautiful boys and youths — who , if you see them now , strike you out of your senses , and make you , you and many others , eager to be with the boys you love and look at them forever , if there were any way to do that , forgetting food and drink , everything but looking at them and being with them . But how would it be , in our view , ” she said , “if someone got to see the Beautiful itself , absolute , pure , unmixed , not polluted by human flesh or colors or any other great nonsense of mortality , but if he could see the divine Beauty itself in its one form ? Do you think it would be a poor life for a human being to look there and to behold it by that which he ought , and to be with it ? Or haven’t you remembered , ” she said , “that in that life alone , when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen — only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue ( because he’s in touch with no images ) , but to true virtue ( because he is in touch with the true Beauty ) . The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given birth to true virtue and nourished it , and if any human being could become immortal , it would be he . ” This , Phaedrus and the rest of you , was what Diotima told me . I was persuaded . And once persuaded , I try to persuade others too that human nature can find not better workmate for acquiring this than Love . That’s why I say that every man must honor Love , why I honor the rites of Love myself and practice them with special diligence , and why I commend them to others . Now and always I praise the power and courage of Love so far as I am able . Consider this speech , then , Phaedrus , if you wish , a speech in praise of Love . Or if not , call it whatever and however you please to call it .

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