symposium   

which he repeated was that of Pausanias. Phaedrus, he said, the

argument has not been set before us, I think, quite in the right

form;-we should not be called upon to praise Love in such an

indiscriminate manner. If there were only one Love, then what you said

would be well enough; but since there are more Loves than

one,-should have begun by determining which of them was to be the

theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I

would tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn

the praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that

Love is inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one

Aphrodite there would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses

there must be two Loves.

And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The

elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly

Aphrodite-she is the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the

daughter of Zeus and Dione-her we call common; and the Love who is her

fellow-worker is rightly named common, as the other love is called

heavenly. All the gods ought to have praise given to them, but not

without distinction of their natures; and therefore I must try to

distinguish the characters of the two Loves. Now actions vary

according to the manner of their performance. Take, for example,

that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talking these

actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out

in this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when

well done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil; and in

like manner not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose,

is noble and worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the

common Aphrodite is essentially common, and has no discrimination,

being such as the meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women

as well as of youths, and is of the body rather than of the soul-the

most foolish beings are the objects of this love which desires only to

gain an end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and