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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This commentary is a true lagniappe for anyone studying Attic Greek. My Greek is rusty at best, but with Steadman's help I was able to read Plato in the original and truly enjoy it. If you've got a year of the basics in the bag and you're weary of paradigms and dry exercises, pick up one of Steadman's texts as soon as possible. Nobody learns ancient Greek to recite declensions. Start right away on the actual texts.
Plato is relatively easy Greek (which is not to say it's easy, but it's manageable) and the Symposium is not just philosophy -- it's high drama. Socrates is one of the most fascinating characters of the ancient world, and in addition you get Aristophanes, Alcibiades, and the lovely Diotima. Great stuff, and this text saves the amateur Greek reader a huge amount of time and drudgery.
Plato is relatively easy Greek (which is not to say it's easy, but it's manageable) and the Symposium is not just philosophy -- it's high drama. Socrates is one of the most fascinating characters of the ancient world, and in addition you get Aristophanes, Alcibiades, and the lovely Diotima. Great stuff, and this text saves the amateur Greek reader a huge amount of time and drudgery.
"Si después de haber favorecido a un amante, a quien se creia hombre de bien, y con la esperanza de hacerle uno mejor por medio de su amistad, llega a resultar que este amante no es tal hombre de bien y que carece de virtudes, no es deshonroso verse uno en este caso engañado; porque ha mostrado el fondo de su corazón y ha puesto en evidencia que por la virtud y con la esperanza de llegar a una mayor perfección, es uno capaz de emprenderlo todo, y nada más glorioso que este pensamiento."
Platón ya sabia que cuando el amor te hace sufrir, es porque no es amor.
Platón ya sabia que cuando el amor te hace sufrir, es porque no es amor.
medium-paced
Remember kids, the height of philosophic virtue is getting wasted with the homies and talking about love
A bad man is the lover of the common type, who loves the body rather than the mind. He is not constant, because he loves something that is not constant: as soon as the bloom of the body fades, which is what attracted him, 'he flies away and is gone,' bringing disgrace on all he said and promised. But the man who loves goodness of character is constant throughout his life, since has has become united with something constant.
Very fresh for something written 2400 years ago. That might be the translation, but only partly. Plato is certainly a good storyteller. There is a layered narrative, the characters are vibrant, and all this texture, subsidiary to the philosophical ideas, P manages to fit alongside it into a short volume. As for the argument attributed to Socrates, it is well-reasoned, although many of the premises are questionable upon more than a preliminary reading (e.g. we only love things if they are good - is that always true?) It is thought-provoking, but antiquated (liderally!) and not immediately convincing.
challenging
reflective
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced