Symposium.
Eryximachus, Aristophanes.
Prhneval man. 559 I shall have to watch and see whether I cannot have a laugh Sym- at your expense, when you might speak in peace. fosmm. You are quite right, said Aristophanes, laughing. I will Eryxima- unsay my words ; but do you please not to watch me, as I Amsto- fear that in the speech which T am about to make, instead of others laughing with me, which is to the manner born of our muse and would be all the better, I shall only be laughed at by them. Do you expect to shoot your bolt and escape, Aristo- phanes? Well, perhaps if you are very careful and bear in mind that you will be called to account, I may be induced to let you off. Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse ; he had a mind to praise Love in another way, unlike that either of Pausanias or Eryximachus. Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done : since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach the rest of the world what I am teaching you. In The origi- the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has "^' human • r 1 • • 1 I T-i nature un- happened to it ; for the origmal human nature was not like nke the the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they present. are now, but originally three in number ; there was man, '^^'^ ^^^'^^ , , . r , 1 • 1 sexes; their woman, and the union 01 the two, having a name correspond- form and ing to this double nature, which had once a real existence, origin, but is now lost, and the word 'Androgynous' is only pre- served as a term of reproach. In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle ; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with 190 two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike ; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over
