Pausanias Names Two Loves — Symposium

Pausanias says Phaedrus praised Love in the wrong form. If there were only one, the speech would do. There are two, because there are two Aphrodites. The elder has no mother and is the daughter of Uranus. The younger is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Each has a Love of her own. An action is not good or bad by itself. Drinking, singing, and talking turn on the manner, and only a love with a noble purpose deserves praise.

Common love wants the body. It turns to women as well as youths, and does not care whether the end is gained nobly. Heavenly love turns to the more valiant and intelligent nature when a beard begins, and means to last a life. The love of young boys, Pausanias says, should be forbidden, because their future is uncertain. Coarser lovers should be held back by force.

City custom is his evidence. Elis and Boeotia allow these attachments. Ionia, under barbarian rule, calls them dishonourable, with philosophy and gymnastics, because a tyrant wants subjects poor in spirit. Harmodius and Aristogeiton undid the Athenian tyrants by the strength of their attachment. Athens both encourages and restrains. A lover may beg and break oaths, and men say the gods forgive him. Parents still forbid their sons to talk with lovers. The test is the manner. The vulgar lover leaves when youth fades. Yielding for money or office is a dishonour. The honourable service is virtue. If the beloved yields in hope of becoming better, and is deceived, Pausanias calls it a noble error. That love belongs to the heavenly goddess. Other loves belong to the common one. He offers the speech to Phaedrus.