Aristophanes's speech on love from Plato's symposium.

One of the most fascinating of the Platonic Dialogues that I have read is the Symposium. Most specifically the speech of Aristophanes. (It is later trumped in intensity by the speech of Alcibiades.............somewhat.)

So many engaging metaphors in one place. Reading it will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what comes next! I have always thought, since I first read it years ago that Aristophanes is making the point that the sexual orientation is predetermined, making it a part of human nature. He also seems to be saying that 2 heads are better than one and that when you look for a mate it should be one that compliments your natural assets the most and vice versa because that is the one who was meant for you and together you will be at your fullest potential.

Funny, that is the type of dating advice that can be found on copious websites all over the web :)

But, naturally, no one expresses those sentiments quite like Plato does.

I love the part about each of the three genders of the original humans each being modeled after their "ancestors". The all female form a descendant from the Earth, the all-male form of the Sun and the hermaphrodite form of the Moon. The third, because as Plato puts it, partook in the other two.

There are so many other things that could be said of the Symposium but I'll leave it up to you to discover for yourself. Below are two links; the first is the Jowett translation of the Symposium.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html

The second a link to a video of a recitation done in French with English subtitles of Aristophanes's speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4paSMqKYXtY

Aristophanes will make you laugh and Alcibiades will make you cry.

Enjoy

*Special thanks to Darren Takayesu for discovering & e-mailing that second link.