s my transliteration of Greek text into
English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The
diacritical marks have been lost.

THE SYMPOSIUM

or

The Banquet

I

For myself, (1) I hold to the opinion that not alone are the serious
transactions of "good and noble men" (2) most memorable, but that words
and deeds distinctive of their lighter moods may claim some record. (3)
In proof of which contention, I will here describe a set of incidents
within the scope of my experience. (4)

(1) See Aristid. ii. foll.

(2) Or, "nature's noblemen."

(3) Cf. Plut. "Ages." 29 (Clough, iv. 35): "And indeed if, as Xenophon
says, in conversation good men, even in their sports and at their
wine, let fall many sayings that are worth preserving." See Grote,
"Plato," ii. 228 foll. as to the sportive character of the work.

(4) Or, "let me describe a scene which I was witness of." See Hug.
"Plat. Symp." p. xv. foll.

The occasion was a horse-race (5) at the great Panathenaic festival. (6)
Callias, (7) the son of Hipponicus, being a friend and lover of the
boy Autolycus, (8) had brought the lad, himself the winner of the
pankration, (9) to see the spectacle.

(5) See "Hipparch," ii. 1.

(6) "Held towards the end of July (Hecatombaeon) every year, and with
greater pomp every four years (the third of each Olympiad)."--Gow,
84, 129, n.

(7) Callias. Cobet, "Pros. X." p. 67 foll.; Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 481.

(8) See Cobet, op. cit. p. 54; Plut. "Lysand." 15 (Clough, iii. 120);
Grote, "H. G." ix. 261.

(9) 420 B.C., al. 421. The date is fixed by the "Autolycus" of
Eupolis. See Athen. v. 216. For the pankration, which comprised
wrestling and boxing, see Aristot. "Rhet." i. S. 14.

As soon as the horse race was over, (10) Callias proceeded to escort
Autolycus and his father, Lycon, to his house in the Piraeus, being
attended also by Niceratus. (11) But catching sight of Socrates along
with certain others (Critobulus, (12) Hermogenes, Antisthenes, and
Charmides), he bade an attendant conduct the party with Autolycus,
whilst he himself approached the group, exclaiming:

(10) See A. Martin, op. cit. p. 265.

(11) Niceratus. See Cobet, op. cit. 71; Boeckh, "P. E. A." 480; Plat.
"Lach." 200 C; "Hell." II. iii. 39; Lys. xviii.; Diod. xiv. 5.

(12) Critobulus, Hermogenes, Antisthenes, Charmides. See "Mem."

A happy chance brings me across your path,