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For, like Agathon, she spoke first of the being and nature of Love, and then of his works. And I said to her, in nearly the same words which he used to me, that Love was a mighty god, and likewise fair; and she proved to me as I proved to him that, in my way of speaking about him, Love was neither fair nor good. "What do you mean, Diotima," I said; "is love then evil and foul?"
A certain Greek prophetess of Mantineia in Arcadia, Diotima by name, once explained to the philosopher Socrates that love, and impulse, and bent of all kinds, is, in fact, nothing else but the desire in men that good should forever be present to them.
Every word that fell from her lips seemed to me like the wisdom of Diotima. "You are right," I cried; "Portia could not hold a candle to you for clear argument. Besides, suppose two people are imprudent enough to get married in the first week of December, as we did! what becomes of the chronological honeymoon then?
"But one may be an exceptional woman without being an Aspasia." "How so? Am I inferior to Aspasia in beauty?" "I should hope not," said Plotinus ambiguously. "Or in the irregularity of my deportment?" "I should think not," said Plotinus, with more confidence. "Then why does the Plato of our age hesitate to welcome his Diotima?" "Because," said Plotinus, "you are not Diotima, and I am not Plato."
Go at once to Diotima and tell her that we beg her to give us hospitality for a few days, and house-room for our chattels." "And if Caesar does not keep his word?" asked Euphorion gloomily. "What sort of a life shall we live then?" "A bad one-a dog's life; and for that very reason it is wiser to enjoy now what we still possess. A cup of wine, Pollux, for me and your father.
To this Diotima replies that he is the son of Plenty and Poverty, and partakes of the nature of both, and is full and starved by turns. Further, he is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge: in this he resembles the philosopher who is also in a mean between the wise and the ignorant. Such is the nature of Love, who is not to be confused with the beloved.
The old couple now resided in a little house of their own in the neighborhood of their widowed daughter Diotima. Hunger and external misery came not nigh them, still they had experienced a great change.
For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for that of which he feels no want. 'But who then, Diotima, I said, 'are the lovers of wisdom, if they are neither the wise nor the foolish? 'A child may answer that question, she replied; 'they are those who are in a mean between the two; Love is one of them.
We are cobbling up a robe for the Emperor out of mere rags; we are upholsterers and not artists. If it were only for Hadrian, and not for Diotima and her children, not another finger would I stir in the place."
Plato puts into the mouth of a woman, the eloquent Diotima, in the "Banquet," that, after all, we are more grateful to Homer and Hesiod for the children of their brain than if they had left human offspring. From the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals we have now advanced to a similar society for the benefit of children.
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