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It’s probably significant that Classical Greek has no exact equivalent for our word ‘love’. English gets by with a single, overworked monosyllable, but the Greeks subcontracted out the various nuances to three or four different words. So there’s agapē, for one, which connotes a higher, more ethereal sort of affection; not surprisingly, it turns up a lot in the New Testament. Another is philia, which is what you feel for a friend, say, or a favourite TV show. And finally there’s the notorious ero...
3½ out of 5 starsI can hardly suppose that you will affirm a man to be a good poet who injures himself by his poetry. (from Lysis)
Absolutely brilliant—Plato is famous for his condemnation of the poets in 'The Republic’—'The Symposium' is what, for me, refines his point. Plato is not some vulgar crank who can’t afford an appreciation for anything but the practical. Plato may have burned all of his plays upon meeting Socrates, but, let’s keep in mind, his dialogues are an everlasting achievement which serve as testimony to to what art can achieve. If there were an aesthetic treatise composed by Plato, ‘The Symposium’ is it—a...
very nice
The symposium is Greek for "kegger", and Gorgias is my favorite Plato. Callicles is arguably his best character. You'll find Plato hilarious if you catch his subtle jokes. The Greek text is included in this edition, should you aspire to become a scholar.
Loeb Classical Library No. 166