FROM THE SYMPOSIUM:

"Now, as Love is the oldest of the gods, so also he confers upon us the greatest benefits, for I would maintain that there can be no greater benefit for a young man than to have a worthy lover from his earliest youth, nor for a lover to have a worthy object for his affection. The principal which ought to guide the whole life of those who intend to live nobly cannot be implanted either by family, or by position, or by wealth, or by anything else so effectively as by love. What principle? you ask. I mean the principle which inspires shame at what is disgraceful, and ambition for what is noble; without these feelings, neither a state nor an individual can accomplish anything great or fine. Suppose a lover to be detected in the performance of some dishonourable action, or in failing, through cowardice, to defend himself when dishonour is inflicted upon him by another; I assert that there is no one, neither his father nor his friends nor anyone else, whose observation would cause him so much pain in such circumstances as his beloved's. And conversely, we see with regard to the beloved, that he is peculiarly sensitive to dishonour in the presence of his lovers. If, then, one could contrive that a state or an army should entirely consist of lovers and loved, it would be impossible for it to have a better organization than that which it would then enjoy through their avoidance of all dishonour and their mutual emulation; moreover, a handful of such men, fighting side by side, would defeat practically the whole world. A lover would rather be seen by all his comrades leaving his post or throwing away his arms than by his beloved; rather than that, he would prefer a thousand times to die. And if it were a question of deserting his beloved or not standing by him in danger, no one is so base as not to be inspired on such an occasion by Love himself with a spirit which would make him the equal of men with the best natural endowment of courage. In short, when Homer spoke of God 'breathing might' into some of the heroes, he described exactly the effect which Love, of his very nature, produces in men who are in love." (Part of a speech by Phaedrus).

M

"I cannot agree, Phaedrus, with the condition laid down for our speeches, that they should be a simple and unqualified panegyric of Love. If Love had a single nature, it would be all very well, but not as it is, since Love is not single... We all know that Aphrodite is inseparably linked with Love. If there were a single Aphrodite there would be a single Love, but as there are two Aphrodites, it follows that there must be two Loves as well. Now what are the two Aphrodites? One is the elder, and is the daughter of Uranus, and had no mother; her we call Heavenly Aphrodite. The other is younger, the child of Zeus and Dione, and is called Common Aphrodite. It follows that the Love which is the partner of the latter should be called Common Love and the other Heavenly Love.

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