symposium   

Very true.

And yet, added Socrates, if a man being strong desired to be strong,

or being swift desired to be swift, or being healthy desired to be

healthy, in that case he might be thought to desire something which he

already has or is. I give the example in order that we may avoid

misconception. For the possessors of these qualities, Agathon, must be

supposed to have their respective advantages at the time, whether they

choose or not; and who can desire that which he has? Therefore when

a person says, I am well and wish to be well, or I am rich and wish to

be rich, and I desire simply to have what I have-to him we shall

reply: "You, my friend, having wealth and health and strength, want to

have the continuance of them; for at this moment, whether you choose

or no, you have them. And when you say, I desire that which I have and

nothing else, is not your meaning that you want to have what you now

have in the future? "He must agree with us-must he not?

He must, replied Agathon.

Then, said Socrates, he desires that what he has at present may be

preserved to him in the future, which is equivalent to saying that

he desires something which is non-existent to him, and which as yet he

has not got.

Very true, he said.

Then he and every one who desires, desires that which he has not

already, and which is future and not present, and which he has not,

and is not, and of which he is in want;-these are the sort of things

which love and desire seek?

Very true, he said.

Then now, said Socrates, let us recapitulate the argument. First, is

not love of something, and of something too which is wanting to a man?

Yes, he replied.

Remember further what you said in your speech, or if you do not

remember I will remind you: you said that the love of the beautiful

set in order the empire of the gods, for that of deformed things there