Symp.210e-212c

Sisk, Mercedes A. /
  • Created on 2017-05-11 19:19:02
  • Modified on 2017-05-11 20:16:21
  • Translated by Mercedes Sisk
  • Aligned by Sisk, Mercedes A.
Plato on Love. Edited by C. D. C. Reeve. Symposium. Translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff. 2006. Indianapolis. Hackett Publishing Company.
Ἑλληνική Transliterate
English
πειρῶ δέ μοι , ἔφη , τὸν νοῦν προσέχειν ὡς οἷόν τε μάλιστα . 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 .

( 149 ) 23% GRC
( 495 ) 77% GRC - ENG

( 652 ) 77% GRC - ENG
( 199 ) 23% ENG