Plato's Symposium 218a-b
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ἐγὼ οὖν δεδηγμένος τε ὑπὸ ἀλγεινοτέρου καὶ τὸ ἀλγεινότατον ὧν ἄν τις δηχθείη — τὴν καρδίαν γὰρ ἢ ψυχὴν ἢ ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸ ὀνομάσαι πληγείς τε καὶ δηχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ λόγων , οἳ ἔχονται ἐχίδνης ἀγριώτερον , νέου ψυχῆς μὴ ἀφυοῦς ὅταν λάβωνται , καὶ ποιοῦσι δρᾶν τε καὶ λέγειν ὁτιοῦν — καὶ ὁρῶν αὖ Φαίδρους , Ἀγάθωνας , Ἐρυξιμάχους , Παυσανίας , Ἀριστοδήμους τε καὶ Ἀριστοφάνας : Σωκράτη δὲ αὐτὸν τί δεῖ λέγειν , καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι ; πάντες γὰρ κεκοινωνήκατε τῆς φιλοσόφου μανίας τε καὶ βακχείας — διὸ πάντες ἀκούσεσθε :
Now I have been bitten by a more painful creature , in the most painful way that one can be bitten : in my heart , or my soul , or whatever one is to call it , I am stricken and stung by his philosophic discourses , which adhere more fiercely than any adder when once they lay hold of a young and not ungifted soul , and force it to do or say whatever they will ; I have only to look around me , and there is a Phaedrus , an Agathon , an Eryximachus , [ 218b ] a Pausanias , an Aristodemus , and an Aristophanes — I need not mention Socrates himself — and all the rest of them ; every one of you has had his share of philosophic frenzy and transport , so all of you shall hear .
For I have been bitten by a more than viper ' s tooth ; I have known in my soul , or in my heart , or in some other part , that worst of pangs , more violent in ingenuous youth than any serpent ' s tooth , the pang of philosophy , which will make a man say or do anything . And you whom I see around me , Phaedrus and Agathon and Eryximachus and Pausanias and Aristodemus and Aristophanes , all of you , and I need not say Socrates himself , have had experience of the same madness and passion in your longing after wisdom .