Agathon arose in order that he might take his place on the couch by
Socrates, when suddenly a band of revellers entered, and spoiled the order
of the banquet. Some one who was going out having left the door open, they
had found their way in, and made themselves at home; great confusion
ensued, and every one was compelled to drink large quantities of wine.
Aristodemus said that Eryximachus, Phaedrus, and others went away--he
himself fell asleep, and as the nights were long took a good rest: he was
awakened towards daybreak by a crowing of cocks, and when he awoke, the
others were either asleep, or had gone away; there remained only Socrates,
Aristophanes, and Agathon, who were drinking out of a large goblet which
they passed round, and Socrates was discoursing to them. Aristodemus was
only half awake, and he did not hear the beginning of the discourse; the
chief thing which he remembered was Socrates compelling the other two to
acknowledge that the genius of comedy was the same with that of tragedy,
and that the true artist in tragedy was an artist in comedy also.
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