Symposium - AIC

Noburu Notomi
or scandalous (but in any case, Plato’s contemporary readers must have been aware of it).
Now it is obvious that “encomium to Eros” constitutes a sophistic competition. Phaedrus
becomes “father of the discourse” (πατὴρ τοῦ λόγου, 177d), and is appointed as the first speaker. 8
Agathon’s welcome address to Socrates points out that “wisdom” (σοφία) is a hidden theme
(175c-e). He asks Socrates to lie next to him, so that he can enjoy the wisdom that Socrates must have
discovered before entering the door. He assumes that wisdom flows from the fuller to the emptier by
touch. This reminds us of sophistic teaching. Agathon says that “On this, we’ll take our rival claims to
wisdom to court a bit later on, with Dionysus as judge” (175e). 9
2. Phaedrus’ citations of authorities 10
The first speaker Phaedrus appears in the other two dialogues of Plato, namely Phaedrus and
Protagoras. In the Phaedrus, he converses with Socrates over rhetoric and love. When Phaedrus comes
across Socrates, he is learning by heart a short rhetorical text written by Lysias with the view of
reciting it in front of the others. This initial scene vividly shows that he loves any kind of discourse
(philologos). 11 In the Protagoras, he appears among those who eagerly follow Hippias of Elis at the
spectacular gathering of the great sophists in Callias’ house (315c).
In the Symposium, Phaedrus begins his speech with the citations of authorities. While this
passage (178b2-c2) has been drastically emended since the beginning of the 18th century, I propose to
retain the reading of the major manuscripts (BTW), and to reject the modern editions that print
different texts. 12 Since I have already examined elsewhere how these differences emerged, so as to
demonstrate that the traditional reading of the manuscript is correct, I simply assume my reading here.
[ Plato, Symposium 178b2-c2 ]
b2 γονῆς γὰρ Ἔρωτος οὔτ’ εἰσὶν οὔτε λέγονται ὑπ’ οὐδενὸς
οὔτε ἰδιώτου οὔτε ποιητοῦ, ἀλλ’ Ἡσίοδος πρῶτον µὲν Χάος φησὶ
γενέσθαι—
b5 αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
Γαῖ’ εὐρύστερνος, πάντων ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεί,
ἠδ’ Ἔρος
b8 φησὶ µετὰ τὸ Χάος δύο τούτω γενέσθαι, Γῆν τε καὶ Ἔρωτα.
Παρµενίδης δὲ τὴν γένεσιν λέγει—
πρώτιστον µὲν Ἔρωτα θεῶν µητίσατο πάντων.
c1 Ἡσιόδῳ δὲ καὶ Ἀκουσίλεως ὁµολογεῖ. οὕτω πολλαχόθεν
ὁµολογεῖται ὁ Ἔρως ἐν τοῖς πρεσβύτατος εἶναι.
For Eros neither has any parents, nor is he said by anyone, whether layman or poet, to have them.
Hesiod says that first to come into being was Chaos;
“and then broad-bosomed Earth, a seat for all, safe for ever, and Eros”.
He says that these two, Earth and Eros, came into being after Chaos. Parmenides says of the origin of
Eros
“First was devised Eros, of all gods”.
Acusileos agrees with Hesiod. Thus it is agreed on many sides that Eros was among the oldest. (trans.
C.J. Rowe, modified)
The recent studies of doxography show that Phaedrus here depends on Hippias’ Anthology for the
citations. The first evidence comes from a parallel passage in Aristotle, Metaphysics A4, 984b23-31:
in discussing the earlier thinkers who investigated the first principles, Aristotle cites the same
Parmenides (B13) and Hesiod, Theogony (116-117 and 120). Although modern editors found this
exact correspondence with the Symposium strange and often emended the transmitted text, the
parallelism of the two texts is best explained by the assumption that the citations derive from the same
source, i.e. Anthology, a collection of famous sayings of the authorities, edited by the sophist
8 His role as chairman continues in 194d-e, 199b-c, and 212b-c.
9 The issue of wisdom gets focused again in 194b-c.
10 This section provides a summary of my arguments in Notomi (forthcoming).
11 The character of Phaedrus as “philologue” is analyzed by Ferrari (1987).
12 178b8 to c2: Burnet (1901 1 , 1910 2 ) emended the test of 178b8 to c2 on the suggestion of Schanz (1882), 7, and was
followed by Dover (1980), Vicaire (1989), and Rowe (1998). It reads “Acusileos too says the same as Hesiod, that these two,
Earth and Eros, came into being after Chaos” (b8-9). Among the 20th century major editions, Robin (1929 1 , 1958 6 ) is the
only one that maintains the manuscripts’ reading, with one minor addition.
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