The Symposium of Plato

This new translation of Plato’s dialogue on love avoids the cumbersome locutions of Victorian versions and presents Plato’s ancient drinking party in a vigorous contemporary idiom. The character of Socrates emerges with unexpected wit and humor, adding new dimensions to his familiar irony. A poet and philosopher have collaborated to give an English version that is fresh and clear, and accurately renders the ideas of the speakers.  

A detailed internal analysis of the structure of the dialogue is given in the introduction. The afterword presents an historical interpretation of the two ways of love, eros and agapé, an a reinterpretation of eros in Plato.