After the reading
PhaedrusPerhaps, though, favour should be given not to those who need it most, but to those most able to return gratitude; not simply to those who beg, but to those worthy of the gift. Not to those who will enjoy your youth, but to those who will share their own good things with you when you are older. Not to those who, once they have had their way, will boast to others, but to those who will keep silent out of shame before everyone. Not to those whose attention lasts only a little while, but to those who will remain friends throughout life. Not to those who, when desire has ended, will seek an excuse for hostility, but to those who, when your beauty has faded, will show their own worth. Remember what I have said, and bear this in mind as well: friends admonish lovers because they consider their pursuit a bad thing, whereas no one has ever reproached a person who is not in love for making poor decisions about his own welfare on that account.
Perhaps you will ask whether I advise you to grant your favour to everyone who is not in love. I do not think even a lover would urge you to feel this way towards every lover. The person receiving your favour would not value it as highly, nor could you as easily keep others from finding out if you wished. What happens between us must do neither of us harm, but benefit us both. For my part, I think I have said enough. If you still want something more and think I have left anything out, ask me.
What do you think of the speech, Socrates? Is it not extraordinary in every respect, even in its choice of words?