Love Is of Beauty, Not Ugliness
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Agathon — ναί, φάναι.
Socrates — ἐπὶ δὴ τούτοις ἀναμνήσθητι τίνων ἔφησθα ἐν τῷ λόγῳ εἶναι τὸν ἔρωτα· εἰ δὲ βούλει, ἐγώ σε ἀναμνήσω. οἶμαι γάρ σε οὑτωσί πως εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τοῖς θεοῖς κατεσκευάσθη τὰ πράγματα διʼ ἔρωτα καλῶν· αἰσχρῶν γὰρ οὐκ εἴη ἔρως. οὐχ οὑτωσί πως ἔλεγες;
Agathon — εἶπον γάρ, φάναι τὸν Ἀγάθωνα.
Socrates — καὶ ἐπιεικῶς γε λέγεις, ὦ ἑταῖρε, φάναι τὸν Σωκράτη· καὶ εἰ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, ἄλλο τι ὁ Ἔρως κάλλους ἂν εἴη ἔρως, αἴσχους δὲ οὔ;
Agathon — ὡμολόγει.
Yes, he said. Now upon these points recall of what things you said, in your speech, Eros is; or, if you wish, I will remind you. For I think you said somewhat thus: that for the gods affairs were ordered through love of beautiful things; for of ugly things there is no love. Were you not saying somewhat like this? I did say it, said Agathon. And quite fairly you speak, my friend, said Socrates; and if this is so, would Eros be anything but love of beauty, and not of ugliness? He agreed.
Socrates turns the agreed principle back on Agathon's own speech. Recall, he says, what you claimed Eros is love of: you said the gods' affairs were ordered through love of beautiful things, for there is no love of ugly things. Agathon confirms it. Then, Socrates says, Eros is love of beauty, and not of ugliness — and Agathon agrees.
The move shows the elenchus at its most economical: rather than import an outside claim, Socrates convicts Agathon out of his own speech. This is a hallmark of Plato's method — the refutation grows from what the interlocutor already believes, so he cannot disown it. And the stakes are now visible: the whole evening has praised Eros as beautiful, radiant, the fairest of gods (Agathon's word was kallistos). Socrates is about to show that the god of beauty is precisely the one who does not have it — the reversal that will make room for Diotima's account of Eros as the philosopher, forever between ugliness and beauty, ignorance and wisdom.
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