The 'army of lovers and their beloved who
would be invincible if they could be united by such a tie' (Symp.), is not
a mere fiction of Plato's, but seems actually to have existed at Thebes in
the days of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, if we may believe writers cited
anonymously by Plutarch, Pelop. Vit. It is observable that Plato never in
the least degree excuses the depraved love of the body (compare Charm.;
Rep.; Laws; Symp.; and once more Xenophon, Mem.), nor is there any Greek
writer of mark who condones or approves such connexions. But owing partly
to the puzzling nature of the subject these friendships are spoken of by
Plato in a manner different from that customary among ourselves. To most
of them we should hesitate to ascribe, any more than to the attachment of
Achilles and Patroclus in Homer, an immoral or licentious character. There
were many, doubtless, to whom the love of the fair mind was the noblest
form of friendship (Rep.), and who deemed the friendship of man with man to
be higher than the love of woman, because altogether separated from the
bodily appetites.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64