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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: contention;[20] never guarded, yet always safe; the more you starve
it, the stronger it grows.
[20] Cf. Plat. "Rep." 521 A; "Laws," 678 C.
And you, Socrates, yourself (their host demanded), what is it you
pride yourself upon?
Then he, with knitted brows, quite solemnly: On pandering.[21] And
when they laughed to hear him say this,[22] he continued: Laugh to
your hearts content, my friends; but I am certain I could make a
fortune, if I chose to practise this same art.
[21] Or, more politely, "on playing the go-between." See Grote, "H.
G." viii. 457, on the "extremely Aristophanic" character of the
The Symposium |
