the object of love…is [to give] birth in beauty, whether in body or in soul.
[...] what love wants is not beauty, as you think it is.
well, what is it, then?
reproduction and birth in beauty.
mabye, i said.
certainly, she said. now, why reproduction? it’s because reproduction goes on forever; it is what mortals have in place of immortality.
[...]
now, some people are pregnant in body … while others are pregnant in soul – because there surely are those who are even more pregnant in their souls than in their bodies, and these are pregnant with what is fitting for a soul to bear and bring to birth. and what is fitting? wisdom and the rest of virtue, which all poets beget, as well as all the craftsmen who are said to be creative.”
-diotima and socrates on the mysteries of love. diotima is in black; socrates is in orange. plato’s symposium, 206b-209a, trans. alexander nehamas & paul woodruff
August 17, 2009 at 11:25 pm
such khaamoshi here; have you taken a vow?
also:
“the object of love…is [to give] birth in beauty, whether in body or in soul.”
what about giving birth to babies? what did these guys have to say on that?
August 24, 2009 at 3:59 pm
haha, sorry for the delayed response, yaar…
1. no such vow. i think i’m just lazy.
2. birthing babies falls under the category of ‘giving birth in beauty…in body’; the ‘in soul’ refers to artistic or knowledge production.