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Plato: Phaedrus · 11 of 38 · tr. Benjamin Jowett

Section 1k

I thought that you were only halfway and were going to make a similar speech about all the advantages of accepting the non-lover. Why do you not proceed? Soc. Does not your simplicity observe that I have got out of dithyrambics into heroics, when only uttering a censure on the lover? And if I am to add the praises of the non-lover, what will become of me? Do you not perceive that I am already overtaken by the Nymphs to whom you have mischievously exposed me? And therefore will only add that the non-lover has all the advantages in which the lover is accused of being deficient. And now I will say no more; there has been enough of both of them. Leaving the tale to its fate, I will cross the river and make the best of my way home, lest a worse thing be inflicted upon me by you. Phaedr. Not yet, Socrates; not until the heat of the day has passed; do you not see that the hour is almost noon? there is the midday sun standing still, as people say, in the meridian. Let us rather stay and talk over what has been said, and then return in the cool. Soc. Your love of discourse, Phaedrus, is superhuman, simply marvellous, and I do not believe that there is any one of your contemporaries who has either made or in one way or another has compelled others to make an equal number of speeches. I would except Simmias the Theban, but all the rest are far behind you. And now, I do verily believe that you have been the cause of another. Phaedr. That is good news. But what do you mean? Soc. I mean to say that as I was about to cross the stream the usual sign was given to me,-that sign which always forbids, but never bids, me to do anything which I am going to do; and I thought that I heard a voice saying in my car that I had been guilty of impiety, and. that I must not go away until I had made an atonement. Now I am a diviner, though not a very good one, but I have enough religion for my own use, as you might say of a bad writer-his writing is good enough for him; and I am beginning to see that I was in error. O my friend, how prophetic is the human soul! At the time I had a sort of misgiving, and, like Ibycus, "I was troubled; I feared that I might be buying honour from men at the price of sinning against the gods." Now I recognize my error. Phaedr. What error? Soc. That was a dreadful speech which you brought with you, and you made me utter one as bad. Phaedr. How so? Soc. It was foolish, I say,-to a certain extent, impious; can anything be more dreadful? Phaedr. Nothing, if the speech was really such as you describe. Soc. Well, and is not Eros the son of Aphrodite, and a god? Phaedr. So men say. Soc. But that was not acknowledged by Lysias in his speech, nor by you in that other speech which you by a charm drew from my lips. For if love be, as he surely is, a divinity, he cannot be evil. Yet this was the error of both the speeches. There was also a simplicity about them which was refreshing; having no truth or honesty in them, nevertheless they pretended to be something, hoping to succeed in deceiving the manikins of earth and gain celebrity among them. Wherefore I must have a purgation.
Themes
◆Anamnesissoteriology

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

Socrates describes a 'misgiving' and 'error' that he recognizes upon reflection, aligning with the Platonic idea of recovering truth through recollection.

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◆Evil As Privationtheology

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

Socrates argues that if love is a god, it cannot be evil, implying that the perceived deficiency of the lover is actually a lack of truth rather than positive evil.

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◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The passage emphasizes recognizing truth through direct insight ('I am beginning to see') rather than relying on external opinions or speeches.

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◆Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The speaker claims that the truth of Eros being a god was concealed in previous speeches which pretended to be something else.

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◆Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

Socrates describes the 'human soul' as having a 'prophetic' insight that allows it to recognize truth independently of external speech.

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◆Ladder Of Lovesoteriology

Diotima's staged ascent from love of beautiful bodies → beautiful souls → beautiful pursuits → beautiful knowledge → Beauty itself; the canonical scala amoris that grounds Plotinus's On the Beautiful and Bruno's Eroici Furori — distinct from generic spiritual_ascent in that eros is the specific motive force.

The text explicitly references the 'tale' and 'speeches' about lovers and non-lovers as part of the ascent narrative central to Diotima's teaching.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

Eros is explicitly identified as 'a god' and described with divine attributes such as being the son of Aphrodite.

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◆Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text presents a paradoxical claim that speeches pretending to be truthful are actually impious and foolish.

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◆Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The speaker seeks purification and truth after having been misled by deceptive speeches, implying a movement back toward divine reality.

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◆Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

Socrates engages in deep introspection regarding his own speech and error, recognizing a 'misgiving' and 'error' within himself.

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◆Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

Socrates describes being 'overtaken by the Nymphs' and having a 'misgiving' that he was buying honour at the price of sinning against the gods.

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◆Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The dialogue represents a movement from error toward truth and purification, characteristic of an upward journey of knowledge.

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