(Symposium, 37)" Love inspires people to do great things, and is the greatest source of pleasure there is. ... This is why the Symposium is considered one of the great works of philosophy, even though Socrates is the only real philosopher in the group. ... The people in Plato's Symposium are truly great and wise men. ... (Symposium, 20)" The moral value of this sentence is questionable. ... Pausanias does, however, say, "But the love of young boys should be forbidden by law because their future is uncertain (Symposium, 23)." ...

• Word Count: 1657
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

1 Eros, or love, is the topic for discussion in Plato's Symposium. ... This is ironic because from the beginning of the Symposium it is made explicitly clear that women are not wise enough to know and discuss eros. ... There is a distinction made between love's creation being beautiful and love itself being beautiful. ... Here Socrates admires Diotima in the same way that everyone in the Symposium admires Socrates. Throughout the Symposium, eros is constantly used in conjunction with homosexuality. ...

• Word Count: 925
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In reading Horace's Satires and Epistles and Plato The Symposium, a very ironic discovery can be made. ... He does not put himself on a heavenly level, like Diotima in Plato's Symposium, but guarantees his readers that although he has knowledge of how to live a satisfying life and can administer advice on it; he too struggles against his damning nature. Plato's Symposium is a collection of speeches, made by a group of social degenerates about love. ... Socrates speaks through Diotima on the four stairs of love. The first step is to love one beautiful body; entirely physical...

• Word Count: 1606
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School