batch.motif.greek-plato-phaedrus-jowett-gutenberg-l1987-l2094
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-phaedrus-jowett-gutenberg-l1987-l2094
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: PHAEDRUS / INTRODUCTION. / ON THE DECLINE OF GREEK LITERATURE. / PHAEDRUS;
lines 1987-2094
start: '1987'
end: '2094'
translation: Phaedrus
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.”"
summary: Socrates concludes a denunciation of the lover as harmful and predatory,
then prepares to cross the river. Phaedrus asks him to remain until the midday
heat passes. Socrates reports that his usual divine sign has forbidden him to
leave before atoning for impious speeches against Love. He argues that Eros is
a god, son of Aphrodite, and therefore cannot be evil, and invokes Stesichorus
as an example of purgation through recantation after reviling Helen.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The lover is described as becoming a perfidious enemy when his love ceases,
with wisdom and temperance replacing love and infatuation as his ruling masters.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The lover changes from pursuit to flight, while the beloved is compelled to
follow with passion and imprecation.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The lover’s affection is compared to wolves loving lambs.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Socrates says he has been overtaken by the Nymphs and proposes to cross the
river and go home.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Phaedrus notes that it is almost noon and that the midday sun stands in the
meridian, and asks Socrates to stay and talk.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Socrates reports that his usual sign forbade him to cross the stream and that
he heard a voice saying he had been guilty of impiety and must atone before leaving.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Socrates identifies Eros as the son of Aphrodite and a god, and infers that
Love, being divine, cannot be evil.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Socrates recalls Stesichorus, who lost his eyes as a penalty for reviling
Helen and then purged himself through a recantation.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Socrates
description: Speaker who has just censured the lover, proposes to cross the river,
receives the forbidding sign, and decides that atonement is needed.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Phaedrus
description: Interlocutor who asks Socrates to continue, urges him to remain until
the heat passes, and responds to Socrates’ claims about Eros.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the lover
description: A demented lover described as faithless, morose, envious, disagreeable,
harmful, and predatory toward the beloved.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: the beloved
description: The one formerly courted by the lover, later pursuing him with passion
and imprecation after the lover flees.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: the Nymphs
description: Supernatural beings whom Socrates says have overtaken him after Phaedrus
exposed him to them.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Eros
description: Named as son of Aphrodite and as a god; Socrates says Love, being divine,
cannot be evil.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Aphrodite
description: Named as the mother of Eros.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Stesichorus
description: Cited as the one who understood the reason for his blindness and purged
himself by recanting his error about Helen.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Helen
description: The lovely Helen whom Stesichorus had reviled, leading to the penalty
of blindness in Socrates’ account.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: speaker seeking atonement
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Socrates says he must not go away until he has made an atonement for impiety.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: recipient of forbidding sign
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Socrates reports that his usual sign forbade the action he was about to take.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: interlocutor delaying departure
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Phaedrus asks Socrates not to leave until the heat of the day has passed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: harmful and predatory lover
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The lover is called faithless and harmful and is compared to a wolf loving
a lamb.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: pursuing beloved after reversal
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: After the lover changes pursuit into flight, the other is compelled to follow
him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: supernatural influence
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Socrates says he is overtaken by the Nymphs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: divine Love
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Eros is called the son of Aphrodite and a god, and Love is described as a
divinity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: divine parent
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Aphrodite is identified as the mother of Eros.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: recanting poet
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Stesichorus is said to have purged himself with a recantation after losing
his eyes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:10
label: reviled woman in mythological error
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Helen is the person whom Stesichorus reviled before receiving the penalty
of blindness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: oyster-shell reversal
literal_form: An oyster-shell whose dark or light side determines fleeing or pursuing
in a game.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: wolf and lamb simile
literal_form: Wolves loving lambs as an image for lovers loving their loves.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: river crossing
literal_form: The stream or river Socrates is about to cross before being stopped.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: midday sun
literal_form: The sun standing almost at noon in the meridian.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: forbidding sign and voice
literal_form: Socrates’ usual sign and a voice in his ear forbidding departure before
atonement.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: purgation by recantation
literal_form: A corrective recantation after mythological error.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:7
label: blindness penalty
literal_form: Loss of eyes inflicted on Stesichorus after reviling Helen.
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Denunciation of the lover
summary: The lover is described as changing from infatuated pursuer to faithless
fugitive and as harmful to the beloved’s estate, body, and mind.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Delay by the river at noon
summary: Socrates says he will cross the river and go home, but Phaedrus asks him
to stay until the midday heat has passed.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: The forbidding sign
summary: As Socrates is about to cross the stream, his usual sign and a voice forbid
him to leave before atoning for impiety.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Recognition that Love is divine
summary: Socrates identifies Eros as son of Aphrodite and a god, and states that
Love cannot be evil if divine.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Stesichorus as model of purgation
summary: Socrates invokes Stesichorus, who was blinded for reviling Helen and purified
himself by a recantation.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: pursuer becomes fugitive
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The lover’s pursuit turns into flight, while the beloved is compelled to
follow.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a rhetorical relationship pattern in the speech, not an independent
mythic episode.
- id: motif:2
label: predatory love as wolf toward lamb
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage explicitly compares lovers’ love to wolves loving lambs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is expressed as a simile rather than a narrated event.
- id: motif:3
label: divine sign forbids departure until atonement
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: Socrates’ sign forbids him to cross the stream, and a voice says he has committed
impiety and must atone before leaving.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents prevention and required atonement, but does not narrate
formal divine judgment by a named deity.
- id: motif:4
label: purgation of mythological error by recantation
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Socrates invokes an ancient purgation in which Stesichorus corrected his
error about Helen through recantation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference to wisdom is broad; the passage’s direct emphasis
is on correction, religious purification, and recantation.
- id: motif:5
label: divinity of Love prevents calling Love evil
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Socrates argues that Eros is a god and that Love, being divine, cannot be
evil.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a theological argument within dialogue rather than a narrated
mythic action.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: Socrates explicitly treats Stesichorus’ recantation after reviling Helen
as a functional precedent for his own need to atone for impious speech about Love.
claim_level: same_function
target: Stesichorus’ purgation by recantation after mythological error
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is made within Socrates’ argument; the passage does
not provide an external historical analysis of the Stesichorus tradition.
- id: claim:2
claim: The lover-beloved relation is explicitly likened to a predator-prey pattern
through the wolf and lamb simile.
claim_level: same_function
target: predator-prey image of wolf and lamb
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is a brief rhetorical simile, not a full narrative parallel.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1987-2002
quote_or_summary: When love ceases, the lover becomes perfidious; love and infatuation
are replaced by wisdom and temperance, and he avoids fulfilling prior oaths and
promises.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2003-2015
quote_or_summary: 'The oyster-shell has fallen the other way: the lover changes
pursuit into flight, while the other follows with passion and imprecation; the
lover is described as faithless and harmful.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 2018-2020
quote_or_summary: "“As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 2028-2037
quote_or_summary: Socrates says he has been overtaken by the Nymphs and will cross
the river and go home before something worse is inflicted by Phaedrus.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2038-2043
quote_or_summary: Phaedrus asks Socrates not to leave yet, noting the near-noon
heat and the midday sun in the meridian, and proposes that they stay and talk.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2053-2067
quote_or_summary: Socrates says that as he was about to cross the stream his usual
sign forbade him, and he heard a voice say he had committed impiety and must atone
before going away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2076-2085
quote_or_summary: Socrates asks whether Eros is the son of Aphrodite and a god;
he then states that if Love is a divinity, Love cannot be evil.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 2086-2094
quote_or_summary: Socrates says he needs a purgation and recalls Stesichorus, who
lost his eyes as penalty for reviling Helen and then purged himself with a recantation
denying that Helen went to Troy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/phaedrus-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The passage is explicit about the divine sign, atonement, Eros’ divinity,
and Stesichorus’ recantation. Motif taxonomy mappings are cautious because the
available taxonomy is broad and the passage is philosophical dialogue with embedded
mythological references.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. Literal observations are separated from motif and comparison interpretations.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-phaedrus-jowett-gutenberg__l1987-l2094
passage_sha256=db6449af1daf5c0740088d5c99bf3c790c7b079712bedd5d813a5181dc69361c