Reading room

Symposium (Xenophon)

Socrates

A party at Callias' house in 422 BCE. Between performances by dancers and acrobats, the guests explain what each is proudest of; Socrates jokingly boasts of his skill as a matchmaker and of his ugliness, and gives a speech on the love of the soul, superior to that of the body. It is the genial, humorous face of Xenophon's Socrates.