Plato, Symposium 190a-b
Emmy Madden /
- Created on 2026-04-30 01:36:01
- Modified on 2026-04-30 02:17:47
- Translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818; Seth Benardete, 2001
- Aligned by Emmy Madden
Ἑλληνική
English
English
ἦν δὲ διὰ ταῦτα τρία τὰ γένη καὶ τοιαῦτα , ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν ἦν τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔκγονον , τὸ δὲ θῆλυ τῆς γῆς , τὸ δὲ ἀμφοτέρων μετέχον τῆς σελήνης , ὅτι καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἀμφοτέρων μετέχει · περιφερῆ δὲ δὴ ἦν καὶ αὐτὰ καὶ ἡ πορεία αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ τοῖς γονεῦσιν ὅμοια εἶναι .
We account for the production of three sexes by supposing that , at the beginning , the male was produced from the sun , the female from the earth ; and that sex which participated in both sexes , from the moon , by reason of the androgynous nature of the moon . They were round , and their mode of proceeding was round , from the similarity which must needs subsist between them and their parent .
It is for this reason that the races were three and of this
sort : because the male was in origin the offspring of the sun ; the
female , of the earth ; and the race that shared in both , of the
moon—since the moon also shares in both . And they themselves
were globular , as was their manner of walking , because they
were like their parents .
sort : because the male was in origin the offspring of the sun ; the
female , of the earth ; and the race that shared in both , of the
moon—since the moon also shares in both . And they themselves
were globular , as was their manner of walking , because they
were like their parents .