Symposium - AIC

Laura Candiotto
between similar elements. Proportion pertains in fact to the correct measure, the reciprocal relation
between different elements. Through a quantitative transformation (in other words, by creating the
right proportion) the contrasting relation between elements becomes harmonic. Elements change their
oppositional qualities thanks to a quantitative change. For this reason Eryximachus maintains that
Polyhymnian Eros must be retained but that its presence must be well proportioned in relation to that
of Uranian Eros. The duality of Eros is functional therefore to the medical concept of harmonic
proportion between elements.
Eryximachus is able to elaborate this perspective not only thanks to Pythagorean,
Empedoclean and Eraclitean contributes, but also thanks to his medical formation.
Medicine and philosophy emerge in fact from the same cultural and professional substratum,
with ample and persistent reciprocal influences 33 . For example, the combination between Crotoniate
medicine and Pythagoreanism can be traced back to the first historically known philosopher-doctor,
Alcmaeon. We owe him the first definition of health and illness based on the concepts of harmony
and equilibrium. Even if Empedocles’ medical praxis is quite different from that of Hippocrates, the
former’s work was to inspire the latter’s theory of four elements.
Hippocrates, albeit younger, is Plato’s contemporary. It is therefore easy to think that Plato,
through Eryximachus, presents a medical theory which entertained a dialogical relation with the
Hippocratic one 34 .
Eryximachus between Plato and Hippocrates
An important point to be established is whether Eryximachus’ discourse is characterized more by a
Hippocratic conception, a platonic one or by a combination of the two.
The cosmological significance of medicine is ascribed to Hippocrates by Plato himself in Phaedrus
270 c-d, when Phaedrus tells Socrates that not only the nature of the soul, but also that of the body
cannot be known without knowing the nature of the Whole.
Greek medicine focuses from the beginning on the natural context in which life manifests
itself. Knowing the physical environment in a broad sense, from stars to waters to air, is crucial in
order to know the human being and the conditions of health and disease 35 . In Airs, Waters and Places
the healthy city is characterized by equilibrate seasons: such equilibrium is the equivalent of
moderation (metriotes), a state where there are not sudden changes (metabolè). Such changes are the
ecological equivalent of hybris; excess in its moral dimension.
These elements are present in Eryximachus’ discourse (it is possible to mention here hybreos
eros, cited specifically in relation to seasons, 36 and its continuous emphasis on caution and
temperance) and recur also in other platonic passages: in the already mentioned Timaeus but also in
Charmides 37 , in relation to the cure for the headache of Charmides, and in the final of Phaedrus 38 .
In the second section, Eryximachus talks about meteorology 39 . This is a clear reference to
those texts of Hippocratic medicine 40 which refer to cosmological medicine. This medicine is also
recalled in the usage of the Hippocratic word for equilibrium, eukrasia, literally “good mixture” which
is used in Timaeus 41 in relation to the right combination of seasons, but not in Eryximachus’
discourse, where the term used is harmonia. Plato uses in Eryximachus’ discourse the word harmonia
in the second and third section as, in my opinion, he aims to emphasize how this relation of proportion
between different elements, typical of musical harmony, is present from a cosmological perspective in
the combination of seasons. Moreover, in the passage 188 a4, which concerns the seasons, Plato uses
next to the word harmonia the term krasis, mixture, to recall not only Empedocles but also
Hippocrates and to emphasize how Hippocratic eukrasia assumes a philosophical meaning whether
conceived together with harmonia. In the Philebus musical harmony is realized through the
combination of the Limited and the Limitless and – an aspect particularly relevant for our study – in
33 Regarding the complex primal intertwining between philosophy and medicine, classical literature establishes the
supremacy of philosophy over medicine (Edestein 1987, Cambiano 1991), whilst a reading which emphasizes the
foundational contribution of medicine towards philosophy has been advanced in more recent years.
34 Hippocrates has been cited in Prt. 311b-c, Phdr. 270 c-d, Chrm. 156 e.
35 Edelstein individuates the general atmosphere of Eryximachus’ encomium in the Hippocratic text On the Art, cf. Edelstein
1945, p.90. Konstan, Young-Bruehl in the Hippocratic text On Regimen, cf. Konstan, Young-Bruehl 1982, p.42.
36 Symp.188a7.
37 Charm. 155e.5-157c6.
38 Phaedr. 279 b9-c5.
39 Cf. Gaudin 1970 for the meaning of meteorology in Plato's philosophy.
40 Cf. Hyppocrates, Airs, Waters, Places.
41 Tim. 24 c6.
197