Eryximachus Proposes Speeches Instead of the Flute-Girl
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Aristodemus — ταῦτα δὴ ἀκούσαντας συγχωρεῖν πάντας μὴ διὰ μέθης ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἐν τῷ παρόντι συνουσίαν, ἀλλʼ οὕτω πίνοντας πρὸς ἡδονήν. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν, φάναι τὸν Ἐρυξίμαχον, τοῦτο μὲν δέδοκται, πίνειν ὅσον ἂν ἕκαστος βούληται, ἐπάναγκες δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο εἰσηγοῦμαι τὴν μὲν ἄρτι εἰσελθοῦσαν αὐλητρίδα χαίρειν ἐᾶν, αὐλοῦσαν ἑαυτῇ ἢ ἂν βούληται ταῖς γυναιξὶ ταῖς ἔνδον, ἡμᾶς δὲ διὰ λόγων ἀλλήλοις συνεῖναι τὸ τήμερον· καὶ διʼ οἵων λόγων, εἰ βούλεσθε, ἐθέλω ὑμῖν εἰσηγήσασθαι.
Hearing this, they all agreed not to make this gathering one of drunkenness, but to drink this way, for pleasure. Well then, said Eryximachus, since it's resolved that each may drink as much as he wishes, with nothing compulsory, here's my next proposal: let's dismiss the flute-girl who just came in — let her play for herself, or for the women inside, if she likes — and let us spend today together, in conversation, with one another. And what kind of conversation — if you're willing — I'd like to propose to you.
Aristodemus's narration continues: the whole party agrees to Eryximachus's terms for the evening — drinking for pleasure only, with nothing compulsory. Eryximachus then makes his real proposal: dismiss the flute-girl who has just arrived and let the men spend the evening in conversation with one another instead, with a topic he is ready to name if the group is willing.
The idiom for dismissing her, chairein ean, literally "let her rejoice" or "tell her goodbye," is the ordinary polite Greek way of sending someone off — Plato uses it elsewhere for shrugging off an idea as much as a person. Eryximachus does not object to the girl's music on principle; he simply reroutes it, to herself or to the women indoors, and puts logoi, speech, in its place for the men. Socrates makes almost the identical move at Protagoras 347c–d, telling a room of sophists that men who can actually talk to each other have no need of hired flute-girls, that such entertainment is for parties where the guests have nothing to say. Eryximachus is quieter about the assumption buried in that move — paid music is what you buy when the company can't talk — but the effect is the same: everything that follows this line, speech after speech in turn, is only possible once the instrument in the room has been sent away.
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