Leave to Question Agathon
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Socrates — εἰ βούλεσθε ἐθέλω εἰπεῖν κατʼ ἐμαυτόν, οὐ πρὸς τοὺς ὑμετέρους λόγους, ἵνα μὴ γέλωτα ὄφλω. ὅρα οὖν, ὦ Φαῖδρε, εἴ τι καὶ τοιούτου λόγου δέῃ, περὶ Ἔρωτος τἀληθῆ λεγόμενα ἀκούειν, ὀνομάσει δὲ καὶ θέσει ῥημάτων τοιαύτῃ ὁποία δἄν τις τύχῃ ἐπελθοῦσα.
Aristodemus — τὸν οὖν Φαῖδρον ἔφη καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους κελεύειν λέγειν, ὅπῃ αὐτὸς οἴοιτο δεῖν εἰπεῖν, ταύτῃ.
Socrates — ἔτι τοίνυν, φάναι, ὦ Φαῖδρε, πάρες μοι Ἀγάθωνα σμίκρʼ ἄττα ἐρέσθαι, ἵνα ἀνομολογησάμενος παρʼ αὐτοῦ οὕτως ἤδη λέγω.
If you wish, I am willing to speak in my own way, not against your speeches, so as not to incur ridicule. Consider then, Phaedrus, whether there is any need of such a speech too, to hear the truth spoken about Eros, in a diction and arrangement of words like whatever may happen to occur. So Phaedrus, he said, and the others bade him speak, in whatever way he himself thought he ought to speak. Further then, he said, Phaedrus, allow me to ask Agathon a few small things, so that, having agreed with him, I may then speak.
Socrates asks Phaedrus for two things: leave to speak the truth about Eros in his own plain style, not competing with the finished speeches; and leave to put a few small questions to Agathon first, so that once they agree on some points he can go on from there. Phaedrus and the others tell him to speak however he likes.
The shift is the point. Where the others delivered polished praise, Socrates will build by agreement, anomologēsamenos — securing each step from his partner before moving on. It is the same procedure as the Gorgias and the early aporetic dialogues, dropped into the middle of a drinking party. He even disarms the audience by asking whether they can bear "the truth" told plainly, in whatever words come — the opposite of Agathon's studied arrangement. The questioning of Agathon begins at once.
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