symposium   

sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but in every other

case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived. For he

who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich, and

is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is

disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would

give himself up to any one's "uses base" for the sake of money; but

this is not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself

to a lover because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be

improved by his company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the

object of his affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no

virtue; and if he is deceived he has committed a noble error. For he

has proved that for his part he will do anything for anybody with a

view to virtue and improvement, than which there can be nothing

nobler. Thus noble in every case is the acceptance of another for

the sake of virtue. This is that love which is the love of the

heavenly godess, and is heavenly, and of great price to individuals

and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the work

of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of the

other, who is the common goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my

contribution in praise of love, which is as good as I could make

extempore.

Pausanias came to a pause-this is the balanced way in which I have

been taught by the wise to speak; and Aristodemus said that the turn

of Aristophanes was next, but either he had eaten too much, or from

some other cause he had the hiccough, and was obliged to change

turns with Eryximachus the physician, who was reclining on the couch

below him. Eryximachus, he said, you ought either to stop my hiccough,

or to speak in my turn until I have left off.

I will do both, said Eryximachus: I will speak in your turn, and

do you speak in mine; and while I am speaking let me recommend you

to hold your breath, and if after you have done so for some time the

hiccough is no better, then gargle with a little water; and if it