Where to begin
PhaedrusThen speak.
SocratesDo you know how I shall do it?
PhaedrusDo what?
SocratesI shall cover my face as I speak, so that I can run through the speech quickly and will not lose my way for shame when I look at you.
PhaedrusJust speak; do the rest however you like.
SocratesCome, Muses, clear-voiced—whether you took that name from your song or from the musical people of Liguria—and help me tell the tale this excellent fellow is forcing me to tell. Let his friend, who already seemed wise to him before, seem wiser still.
Once there was a beautiful boy, or rather a young man, who had many suitors. One of them was cunning. He loved the youth no less than the others, but had persuaded him that he was not in love. One day, seeking his favour, he tried to convince him that he should grant it to a man who was not in love before a lover. This is what he said:
My boy, there is one starting point above all for anyone who means to make a sound decision: one must know what one is deciding about, or one is bound to miss the mark. Most people do not realise that they do not know what each thing really is. Thinking they know, they fail to agree on a definition at the start of an inquiry, and as they proceed the likely result follows: they agree neither with themselves nor with one another. You and I must not fall into the fault for which we blame others. Since our question is whether it is better to enter into friendship with a lover or with a man who is not in love, let us agree on a definition of love—what it is and what power it has—and keep it before us as we ask whether love brings benefit or harm. Everyone knows that love is a kind of desire. But we also know that those who are not in love desire beautiful people. How, then, shall we distinguish one from the other?