In Athens, the poet Agathon is celebrating his victory in the tragedy contest. His guests, Socrates among them, decide to spend the evening taking turns to praise Love. The comic poet Aristophanes tells how humans were once double, and how, cut in two by Zeus, they have been looking for their other half ever since.
The expression “Platonic love” comes from this dialogue. Its questions still speak to everyone: why do we love, and what are we really looking for in another person?
Written like a conversation between friends, with the translation always in front of you, this short dialogue reads easily in the language you are learning.
