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[174c] and Menelaus as only ““a spearman spiritless,””1 he makes the latter come unbidden to the banquet of the former, who was offering sacrifice and holding a feast; so the worse man was the guest of the better.”

To this my friend's answer, as he told me, was: “I am afraid mine, most likely, is a case that fits not your version, Socrates, but Homer's—a dolt coming unbidden to the banquet of a scholar. Be sure, then, to have your excuse quite ready when you bring me; for I shall not own to coming unasked,


1 Hom. Il. 17.587

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.

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hide References (7 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (2):
    • R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato, 174B
    • R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato, 218D
  • Cross-references to this page (2):
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.5.3
    • William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter VI
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
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