Socrates

Socrates is the famed Greek philosopher, who is Plato, the author's teacher. In this dialogue, Socrates is in his element, talking with his fellow citizens at a drinking party. Socrates is not shocked by the abandonment by which some of his fellow party-goers chase boys and young men for sexual favors. Nevertheless, by the end of the dialogue, the reader is sure that Socrates has a higher goal of spreading ideas and the good. Love to Socrates is not a god at all, but a great spirit who has a purpose. The purpose of love is to bring people together to reproduce the beautiful and the good and share in immortality.

Socrates is surprised when his sometimes student, Alcibiades, shows up. Socrates is charged by Alcibiades with misrepresenting himself to the handsome young men of Athens. He pretends, according to Alcibiades, to want to be their lover and...