Commentary on Plato's Symposium

A small decorative initial 'H' at the beginning of the text, featuring simple floral or scroll-like patterns within the letter's frame.

Having said enough about the origin and nobility of love, it seems to me a right thing to come now to the utility. It would certainly be beside the point to narrate in detail all the benefits granted by love to the human generation, since they can mainly be gathered into one sum, because all things consist in this alone: that, having shunned evil, we follow the good. That which is evil in man is likewise ugly, just as that which is good is honest; and certainly all laws and doctrines intend nothing other than to teach and order men in such a way that they guard themselves against dishonest things. But that same thing which, through innumerable laws and science, is with much space of time barely achieved, love alone brings to effect in a short time. For just as shame frightens us away from ugly things, so conversely the desire to be superior to others pulls us toward honest ones. These two things no one else grants to men more easily and more quickly than love. But it is to be noted that when we say "love," we understand "desire for beauty," for this, among all philosophers, is the true definition of love. Beauty, then, is a certain grace, which most of the time is born from the union and concord of many things. In three places this grace can mainly be known: in the soul through the concordance of many virtues; in the body through the measure and proportion of features and the fitting together of many colors; in sounds through the harmony and concordance of many voices. Since, therefore, there are three graces, there will be three beauties likewise: that is, of souls, of bodies, and of voices. The beauties of souls are known with the mind, those of bodies with the eyes, those of voices are received with the ears.