Qué aburrimiento, colega. 150 páginas para explicar que todos son gays.

Since I have the privilege of teaching a class again this fall, I thought to my self, "Self, what better time to teach one of the best kept secrets of narrative art in the western world?" The Symposium becomes vibrant when it is treated not as a work of philosophy or--even worse--political philosophy, but as a story, twice told, twice partly forgotten, in which the speeches weave in and out of one another as only good table-talk does. Framed by the comical beginning (with Aristodemus believing that the wisdom of Socrates can be gained through mimicry) and the darkly humorous end (with Alcibiades raging about the one love he has never had, and foreshadowing the farce of Syracuse in the process), the love of philosophy is made a means to an end. The chief irony of this reading, of course, is that Plato himself becomes that poetic figure that he would have banished from his own Utopia--a pagan Moses standing on the height of Pisgah, never to enter the world of wisdom of which he dreamed.

Not a bad pair of dialogues. I've heard Plato was an easy read compared to Aristotle, and this is my first good look at the Socratic method of Dialectic. I got the feel from reading this that it was an English translation of a Latin translation from the original Greek, but Plato's meaning was made quite clear.

I also got a good feel for Plato's arguments, but couldn't help but notice his apparent tendency to put words in Socrates' mouth...

Rather unfortunate that Socrates never wrote down anything himself, as it would have been interesting to read an objective record of what he had to say firsthand.

Still, Plato's works are the best-known records we have of his teacher so far, and I recommend this book for an insight into the mode of thinking of a prominent post-Socratic philosopher.

I'm just glad to be done.

Només m'he llegit El Banquet, no m'ha desagradat. El millor tros és quan arriba Alcibíades al final, m'agrada el xisme. Les reflexions que es fan sobre l'amor són precioses.

Good introductory translation but masks some of the beauty that makes Plato's work often worth reading.

I read this in a great class all about Ancient Greek Eroticism. I loved it.

this was my first introduction to the Greeks and i was hooked. the symposium is actually quoted a lot in all kinds of literature. i love Aristophanes commentary on the nature of love.

Two dialogues talking about love.

good to have both in one tiny book

RTC?

Reading ancient classics in their entirety is an interesting exercise. Not reading them from start to finish, and instead gaining one's classical education purely from secondary sources, is a sure way to reinforce modern prejudices. The standard "folk-style" (re)interpretations render one's thoughts on the classics, the Renaissance, ethics, and sexuality recast in modern fashions of morality. This is no laughing matter, and as recent as 2005, pointing out the obvious was less an exercise in self-flagellation (pardon the pun), and more an exercise in publicly shooting oneself in the foot. For example, the book Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West was not going to be published (according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 October 2005) following objections by "conservative activists". This is what leaves me shaking my head - if being a conservative is all about respect for the traditions of the past, where "Western" thought and the Hellenic tradition are one and the same (especially in opposition to "others"), then the veritable chink in the conservative armour is undoubtedly amour homosexuel. That is not to say that one shouldn't take the best bits of the past and reject those practices that were not simply actions between consenting adults (specifically pederasty, but bestiality and cannibalism probably count, for that matter), but to whitewash history so thoroughly dishonours George Santayana's legacy no end. In Symposium, it was a real treat to hear from Alcibiades (even if he did mention how he tried to seduce Socrates). Undoubtedly,
Steven Pressfield's depiction of Alcibiades' character in Tides of War was magnificently rendered. It is a challenge to deliberately reconfigure my "knowledge", which was invariably based on abridged and whitewashed versions of history, and taught by well-meaning but oppressive moral crusaders. As I write this I am experiencing waves of liberal education that are making me feel truly free. I will have to find all of the sources that have stated time and again that if you do not read, you are not free. This is true. I am fortunate to have read History of the Peloponnesian War and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Vale Robert Pirsig) beforehand, but whether a proper reading of Homer is better before or after I shall not know until I get through that tome. While Baz Luhrmann innocuously advises one to wear sunscreen, I would advise one to read. But don't blame me if taking the red pill destroys the prefabricated foundations to your intellectual existence.