Diotima of Mantinea
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Socrates — καὶ σὲ μέν γε ἤδη ἐάσω· τὸν δὲ λόγον τὸν περὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος, ὅν ποτʼ ἤκουσα γυναικὸς Μαντινικῆς Διοτίμας, ἣ ταῦτά τε σοφὴ ἦν καὶ ἄλλα πολλά— καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ποτὲ θυσαμένοις πρὸ τοῦ λοιμοῦ δέκα ἔτη ἀναβολὴν ἐποίησε τῆς νόσου, ἣ δὴ καὶ ἐμὲ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ ἐδίδαξεν— ὃν οὖν ἐκείνη ἔλεγε λόγον, πειράσομαι ὑμῖν διελθεῖν ἐκ τῶν ὡμολογημένων ἐμοὶ καὶ Ἀγάθωνι, αὐτὸς ἐπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ, ὅπως ἂν δύνωμαι. δεῖ δή, ὦ Ἀγάθων, ὥσπερ σὺ διηγήσω, διελθεῖν
And you I will now let be; but the account of Eros which I once heard from a woman of Mantinea, Diotima, who was wise in these things and in many others — she who once, for the Athenians, when they had sacrificed before the plague, made a ten-year postponement of the disease, and who taught me the things of love — that account she used to give, I will try to relate to you, from what has been agreed by Agathon and me, myself on my own, as best I can. One must, then, Agathon, just as you set it out, go through
Socrates leaves off questioning Agathon and turns to report. The account of Eros he will give, he says, he once heard from Diotima, a wise woman of Mantinea — she who postponed the great Athenian plague ten years by sacrifice, and who taught him the things of love. He will try to relate her teaching, building from what he and Agathon just agreed, on his own as best he can.
The framing does real work. By putting the doctrine in Diotima's mouth, Socrates keeps his customary disclaimer — he does not teach, he only passes on what he was taught, as he professes ignorance in the Apology. It also lets the argument continue as dialogue: Diotima will cross-examine the young Socrates exactly as Socrates has just cross-examined Agathon, so the reader watches the master once stand where Agathon stands now. The detail of the postponed plague marks her as no mere allegory but a figure of real (mantic) power, at home with the divine — the right guide for a teaching that will end in a vision of Beauty itself.
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