Συμπόσιον

At a dinner party in Athens, a circle of guests — among them the comic poet Aristophanes, the tragedian Agathon, and Socrates — take turns delivering speeches in praise of Eros, the god of love. The speeches range from the comic to the metaphysical, including Aristophanes' well-known myth of love as the search for one's severed other half.

Socrates closes by recounting the teaching of the priestess Diotima, who describes love as an ascent from desire for a single body toward the contemplation of Beauty itself. The dialogue ends with the drunken arrival of Alcibiades, who delivers an admiring, unguarded account of Socrates. This edition presents the text in French translation.