The Symposium

Name: The Symposium
Author: Xenophon

by Xenophon

Pages: about 82
Category: Philosophy
Language: English
Reading time: 1.5 h at 250 wpm

Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 50 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

For myself, (1) I hold to the opinion that not alone are the serious transactions of "good and noble men" (2) most memorable, but that words and deeds distinctive of their lighter moods may claim some record. (3) In proof of which contention, I will here describe a set of incidents within the scope of my experience. (4)
(3) Cf. Plut. "Ages." 29 (Clough, iv. 35): "And indeed if, as Xenophon says, in conversation good men, even in their sports and at their wine, let fall many sayings that are worth preserving." See Grote, "Plato," ii. 228 foll. as to the sportive character of the work.
(4) Or, "let me describe a scene which I was witness of." See Hug. "Plat. Symp." p. xv. foll.
The occasion was a horse-race (5) at the great Panathenaic festival. (6) Callias, (7) the son of Hipponicus, being a friend and lover of the boy Autolycus, (8) had brought the lad, himself the winner of the pankration, (9) to see the spectacle.
(6) "Held towards the end of July (Hecatombaeon) every year, and with greater pomp every four years (the third of each Olympiad)."--Gow, 84, 129, n.
(7) Callias. Cobet, "Pros. X." p. 67 foll.; Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 481.
(8) See Cobet, op. cit. p. 54; Plut. "Lysand." 15 (Clough, iii. 120); Grote, "H. G." ix. 261.
(9) 420 B.C., al. 421. The date is fixed by the "Autolycus" of Eupolis. See Athen. v. 216. For the pankration, which comprised wrestling and boxing, see Aristot. "Rhet." i. S. 14.
As soon as the horse race was over, (10) Callias proceeded to escort Autolycus and his father, Lycon, to his house in the Piraeus, being attended also by Niceratus. (11) But catching sight of Socrates along with certain others (Critobulus, (12) Hermogenes, Antisthenes, and Charmides), he bade an attendant conduct the party with Autolycus, whilst he himself approached the group, exclaiming:

A short sample. Read the whole book

The Symposium

From the opening

More to read