I Know Nothing Else But Love
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Eryximachus — συνδοκεῖ καὶ ὑμῖν, γένοιτʼ ἂν ἡμῖν ἐν λόγοις ἱκανὴ διατριβή· δοκεῖ γάρ μοι χρῆναι ἕκαστον ἡμῶν λόγον εἰπεῖν ἔπαινον Ἔρωτος ἐπὶ δεξιὰ ὡς ἂν δύνηται κάλλιστον, ἄρχειν δὲ Φαῖδρον πρῶτον, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πρῶτος κατάκειται καὶ ἔστιν ἅμα πατὴρ τοῦ λόγου. οὐδείς σοι, ὦ Ἐρυξίμαχε, φάναι τὸν Σωκράτη, ἐναντία ψηφιεῖται. οὔτε γὰρ ἄν που ἐγὼ ἀποφήσαιμι, ὃς οὐδέν φημι ἄλλο ἐπίστασθαι ἢ τὰ ἐρωτικά, οὔτε που Ἀγάθων καὶ
also seems good to you, there would be for us a sufficient pastime in conversation. For, it seems to me that we must each of us give a speech in praise of Eros, going to the right, as finely as he is able, and that Phaedrus should begin first, since he also reclines first and is at the same time father of the topic. No one will vote against you, Eryximachus, said Socrates. For I certainly wouldn't refuse, I who claim to know nothing else except love — nor, I suppose, would Agathon and…
Eryximachus's proposal continues from 177c: since it also suits the others, an evening spent in speeches will be a fine pastime — each man should give as beautiful a speech in praise of Eros as he can, going around to the right, with Phaedrus opening because he holds the first couch and, as the one whose complaint started this whole idea, is in a real sense its father. Socrates answers as though a formal vote had been called: no one will oppose you, Eryximachus — least of all himself, since erotics is the one thing he claims to know anything about, and he guesses Agathon and [Pausanias, whose speeches follow] will feel the same.
ψηφιεῖται is a technical word: Athenians voted with a ψῆφος, a pebble dropped into an urn, in the Assembly and in juries alike. Socrates's joke turns Eryximachus's friendly proposal into a miniature act of government — a motion nobody will vote down. Behind the joke sits his first claim in this dialogue to a single area of expertise, ta erōtika, the erotic art. He repeats the same claim almost word for word at 198d, and versions of it recur in the Lysis and the Theages, where Socrates professes ignorance of everything except recognizing love when he meets it. Here it plays as modesty with a wink — of course he'll join a contest on the one topic he actually knows — but Plato is setting up the reversal that arrives once Socrates's own turn comes at 199c–201d: he will refuse to deliver an encomium in the agreed form at all, and cross-examine Agathon instead, until praise turns into definition.
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