Itself by Itself, Single in Form
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Diotima — ἢ ἔν τῳ ἄλλῳ, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ καθʼ αὑτὸ μεθʼ αὑτοῦ μονοειδὲς ἀεὶ ὄν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πάντα καλὰ ἐκείνου μετέχοντα τρόπον τινὰ τοιοῦτον, οἷον γιγνομένων τε τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἀπολλυμένων μηδὲν ἐκεῖνο μήτε τι πλέον μήτε ἔλαττον γίγνεσθαι μηδὲ πάσχειν μηδέν. ὅταν δή τις ἀπὸ τῶνδε διὰ τὸ ὀρθῶς παιδεραστεῖν ἐπανιὼν ἐκεῖνο τὸ καλὸν ἄρχηται καθορᾶν, σχεδὸν ἄν τι ἅπτοιτο τοῦ τέλους. τοῦτο γὰρ δή ἐστι τὸ ὀρθῶς ἐπὶ
or in some other thing, but itself by itself with itself, single in form, always being; but all the other beautiful things partaking of that in some such way that, as the others come to be and perish, that becomes nothing neither more nor less, nor suffers anything. So when someone, from these, through loving boys rightly, ascending, begins to behold that Beauty, he would nearly touch the goal. For this is the right way
Diotima completes the description of the Form. Beauty is not in anything else, but itself by itself with itself, single in form and always being; all other beautiful things partake of it in such a way that, as they come to be and perish, it becomes neither more nor less and suffers nothing. So when someone, from these beauties here, through loving rightly, ascends and begins to behold that Beauty, he would nearly touch the goal. For this is the right way to go to erotic matters — continued in 211c.
This is the metaphysical core of Platonism, given at the peak of a speech about desire — because the Form is exactly the object that can satisfy love's demand for the good 'forever.' And the sentence turns at once back to the erotic: the way to the Form is not detached theory but orthōs paiderastein, 'loving rightly,' the disciplined ascent of eros itself. The lover who climbs 'nearly touches the goal' (schedon … haptoito tou telous) — the language of the mysteries again, the initiate's contact with the sacred. Diotima will now (211c) lay out the ladder one last time as a set of epanabasmoi, rungs — one body, two, all bodies, practices, studies, and at last the single 'lesson' that is of Beauty itself — and then (211d–212a) give the moral: this is the life worth living for a human, and here alone, begetting true virtue in touch with the true, one becomes dear to the gods and immortal.
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