It Is the Truth You Cannot Contradict
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Socrates — καὶ μὴν καλῶς γε εἶπες, φάναι, ὦ Ἀγάθων. ἀλλὰ σμικρὸν ἔτι εἰπέ· τἀγαθὰ οὐ καὶ καλὰ δοκεῖ σοι εἶναι;
Agathon — ἔμοιγε.
Socrates — εἰ ἄρα ὁ Ἔρως τῶν καλῶν ἐνδεής ἐστι, τὰ δὲ ἀγαθὰ καλά, κἂν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐνδεὴς εἴη.
Agathon — ἐγώ, φάναι, ὦ Σώκρατες, σοὶ οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην ἀντιλέγειν, ἀλλʼ οὕτως ἐχέτω ὡς σὺ λέγεις.
Socrates — οὐ μὲν οὖν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, φάναι, ὦ φιλούμενε Ἀγάθων, δύνασαι ἀντιλέγειν, ἐπεὶ Σωκράτει γε οὐδὲν χαλεπόν.
And indeed you spoke finely, he said, Agathon. But tell me still one small thing: do not good things also seem to you to be beautiful? To me, at least. If, then, Eros is in want of beautiful things, and good things are beautiful, then he would also be in want of good things. I, Socrates, said he, could not contradict you; but let it be as you say. No — rather it is the truth, said he, beloved Agathon, you cannot contradict; since to contradict Socrates is nothing hard.
One last step. Socrates first says Agathon spoke finely all the same, then asks: are not good things also beautiful? Yes. Then since Eros lacks beautiful things, and good things are beautiful, Eros lacks good things too. Agathon yields: I cannot contradict you, Socrates; let it be as you say. And Socrates gives the famous correction — it is not me you cannot contradict, dear Agathon, but the truth.
The last line is the most quoted in the dialogue: ou … tēi alētheiāi … dynasai antilegein, epei Sōkratei ge ouden chalepon — "it is the truth you cannot contradict; contradicting Socrates is easy enough." It disowns the whole rhetoric of victory. Socrates is not the one who has won; the argument has simply gone where the truth led, and anyone could out-talk Socrates the man. The gentle vocative philoumene, "beloved," keeps the warmth. With this, the refutation of Agathon is complete, and Socrates pivots — he will no longer argue but report, handing the floor to the woman who once taught him: Diotima. The dialogue's centre is about to open.
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