He is the impersonation of lawlessness--
'the lion's whelp, who ought not to be reared in the city,' yet not without
a certain generosity which gained the hearts of men,--strangely fascinated
by Socrates, and possessed of a genius which might have been either the
destruction or salvation of Athens. The dramatic interest of the character
is heightened by the recollection of his after history. He seems to have
been present to the mind of Plato in the description of the democratic man
of the Republic (compare also Alcibiades 1).
There is no criterion of the date of the Symposium, except that which is
furnished by the allusion to the division of Arcadia after the destruction
of Mantinea. This took place in the year B.C. 384, which is the forty-
fourth year of Plato's life. The Symposium cannot therefore be regarded as
a youthful work. As Mantinea was restored in the year 369, the composition
of the Dialogue will probably fall between 384 and 369. Whether the
recollection of the event is more likely to have been renewed at the
destruction or restoration of the city, rather than at some intermediate
period, is a consideration not worth raising.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71