The speech by Aristophanes comes from Plato’s Symposium, where Aristophanes presents a humorous and touching myth about love. He explains that humans were originally spherical beings with two sets of limbs, two sets of genitalia, and a head with two faces. However, these original humans were very powerful, and Zeus, fearing their strength, split them in half. Each person now spends their life searching for their other half to feel complete again. Here’s a word-for-word translation from Plato’s Symposium, 189c–193d:
“In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it. For the original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two, as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word ‘androgynous’ is only preserved as a term of reproach.”
“In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck, and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast. Now the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and moved round and round like their parents.”
“Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods; and of them is told the tale of Otus and Ephialtes, who, as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and annihilate the race with thunderbolts as they had done the giants, then there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to be unrestrained.”
“At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered a way. He said: ‘Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in two and they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers; this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. They shall walk upright on two legs, and if they are insolent and will not be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single leg.’ He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn in order that the man might contemplate the section of himself: he would thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also bidden to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like purses, and he made one mouth at the centre, which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also smoothed the other folds and moulded the breast, taking out the most of the wrinkles, much as shoemakers do when they are making up the upper leather of a shoe; he left a few only, in the region of the belly and the navel, as a memorial of the primeval state.”
“After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another mate, man or woman, as we call them, being the sections of entire men or women, and clung to that. They were being destroyed, when Zeus in pity of them invented a new plan: he turned their privy parts round to the front, for this had not been always their position, and they sowed the seed no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers, in the ground, but in one another; and after the transposition the male generated in the female, in order that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race might continue; or if man came to man, they might be satisfied, and rest, and go their ways to the business of life; so ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of man.”
“Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women; adulterers are generally of this breed, and also adulterous and lascivious women who are lovers of men. The women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have female attachments; the female companions are of this sort. But they who are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most manly nature.”
Aristophanes’ myth suggests that love is the pursuit of wholeness, a yearning to find our missing half to feel complete again.
In Plato’s Symposium, a group of notable men, including Socrates, Aristophanes, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Agathon, and Alcibiades, give speeches in praise of Eros (the god of love). Each presents a different perspective on the nature of love. Here’s a summary of what the other speakers say about love before and after Aristophanes’ speech:
1. Phaedrus (The First Speaker):
Phaedrus begins by praising Eros as the oldest of the gods and the most powerful force in human life. He argues that love inspires great acts of heroism and self-sacrifice, especially in battle. According to him, a lover would rather die than be seen as a coward in the eyes of their beloved, and this mutual devotion can lead to great deeds. Love fosters courage and honor because people want to live up to the expectations of those they love.
Key Idea: Love motivates individuals to act virtuously and with courage, especially for the sake of the beloved.
2. Pausanias (The Second Speaker):
Pausanias distinguishes between two kinds of love: Common Love and Heavenly Love.
• Common Love (pandemos) is purely physical and based on sexual attraction without concern for the intellect or soul. It is often fleeting and superficial.
• Heavenly Love (ouranios), by contrast, is a deeper connection between two people, aimed at cultivating the soul and moral virtues. It is associated with intellectual and emotional companionship, not just physical pleasure.
Pausanias argues that true love should involve a union that transcends mere physical desire and focuses on the mind and character.
Key Idea: There are two types of love: a lower, physical form and a higher, spiritual form focused on moral and intellectual development.
3. Eryximachus (The Third Speaker):
Eryximachus, a physician, expands the concept of love beyond just human relationships to the entire cosmos. He describes love as a universal principle of harmony and order that governs all things, including the human body, nature, and even the universe. Eryximachus believes that good health depends on the balance of opposites (such as hot and cold, dry and wet), and similarly, love brings balance and harmony to life.
His speech is more scientific, and he suggests that love governs not only human relationships but also the physical world and natural phenomena.
Key Idea: Love is a force of balance and harmony that affects everything in the universe, including human health and the natural world.
4. Aristophanes (The Fourth Speaker):
This is the speech you’ve already seen, where Aristophanes presents his comic and mythological tale about how humans were originally spherical beings, split in half by Zeus, and how love is the search for our missing half. According to him, love is the longing to become whole again by finding that other half.
Key Idea: Love is the pursuit of wholeness, as humans seek to reunite with their other half.
5. Agathon (The Fifth Speaker):
Agathon, a tragic poet, speaks next and gives a more literary and idealized view of love. He praises Eros as the youngest and most beautiful of the gods, representing youth and delicacy. According to Agathon, Eros brings beauty and virtue to everything he touches. Love is the source of all goodness, creativity, and harmony, and it instills qualities such as justice, moderation, and wisdom in people. Agathon’s speech is full of poetic flourishes, focusing on the beauty of love itself.
Key Idea: Love is young, beautiful, and a source of all virtue, inspiring justice, wisdom, and creativity in individuals.
6. Socrates (The Sixth Speaker):
Socrates begins by teasing Agathon for his overly poetic speech and claims he will speak the truth about love, based on what he learned from Diotima, a wise woman. Socrates recounts a conversation with Diotima, who teaches him that Eros is not a god at all but rather a daimon, a being between gods and mortals. Love is the desire for something we lack, and since we lack wisdom and beauty, love is the pursuit of these qualities.
Diotima explains that love manifests itself in different stages, which Socrates calls the Ladder of Love:
• At first, we are attracted to physical beauty in a person.
• Next, we appreciate beauty in all physical bodies.
• We then progress to valuing the beauty of minds and souls.
• Finally, we seek the ultimate beauty, which is the Form of Beauty—an eternal and unchanging ideal that transcends the material world.
In Socrates’ view, love is the pursuit of wisdom and beauty, and through love, we can reach higher truths and the ultimate form of beauty.
Key Idea: Love is the desire for beauty and wisdom, and the pursuit of love leads to higher forms of truth and understanding.
7. Alcibiades (The Seventh Speaker):
After Socrates finishes, Alcibiades, a handsome and flamboyant politician, interrupts the proceedings. He praises Socrates rather than giving a formal speech on love. Alcibiades describes how he was captivated by Socrates’ wisdom and beauty, despite Socrates’ physical appearance. Alcibiades is frustrated that Socrates is immune to physical attraction and recounts his failed attempts to seduce him. He praises Socrates’ wisdom and self-discipline, portraying him as someone who embodies the highest form of love—love of wisdom and virtue—rather than physical attraction.
Key Idea: Socrates represents the ideal of a philosopher who is more concerned with wisdom and virtue than with physical love or worldly desires.
Summary of All the Views:
• Phaedrus: Love inspires heroic deeds and self-sacrifice.
• Pausanias: Love can be either physical or spiritual; true love is based on intellect and virtue.
• Eryximachus: Love is a universal force of harmony that governs all things, including the human body and nature.
• Aristophanes: Love is the search for our missing half, seeking wholeness.
• Agathon: Love is beautiful, young, and the source of all virtue.
• Socrates/Diotima: Love is the desire for beauty and wisdom, leading to higher truths and the contemplation of the Form of Beauty.
• Alcibiades: Socrates exemplifies the ideal of love for wisdom and virtue rather than physical or worldly desires.
Each speaker gives a unique perspective on love, contributing to a rich and diverse philosophical dialogue about its nature.