batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l1439-l1491
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l1439-l1491
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: Symposium / SYMPOSIUM / INTRODUCTION. / SYMPOSIUM; lines 1439-1491
start: '1439'
end: '1491'
translation: Symposium
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage describes Athenian customs around lover and beloved: lovers
are permitted socially unusual acts, including supplication and oath-breaking,
yet families and peers may also treat such relations as disgraceful. It distinguishes
honourable from dishonourable love, contrasting the unstable lover of the body
with the lifelong lover of noble disposition, and presents time, contests, and
trials as tests distinguishing good and bad lovers and beloveds. Honourable attachment
is finally tied to virtue and virtuous service.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A lover is described as socially permitted to pray, entreat, supplicate, swear,
lie at the door on a mat, and endure extreme servitude in pursuit of love.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage states that a lover may swear and forswear himself and that the
gods forgive this transgression because there is said to be no lover's oath.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The passage contrasts public praise of love with parental, tutorial, peer,
and elder restrictions or reproaches concerning sons and lovers.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The passage states that honour or dishonour depends on whether the practice
is followed honourably or dishonourably.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The vulgar lover is said to love the body rather than the soul and to depart
when the bloom of youth is over.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The love of noble disposition is described as lifelong and joined to what
is everlasting.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Custom is said to encourage some to pursue and others to flee, testing lover
and beloved through contests and trials until their classes are shown.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Hasty attachment is called dishonourable because time is presented as the
true test.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: Attachment motivated by money, wealth, or political power is described as
dishonourable and non-lasting.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The only honourable way of attachment allowed in the beloved is identified
as the way of virtue and virtuous voluntary service.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: lover
description: A person pursuing love, socially allowed unusual acts such as supplication,
oath-making, and service.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: beloved
description: The person to whom the lover is attached, expected to distinguish between
sorts of lovers and to offer only virtuous service.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: parents
description: Parents who forbid their sons to talk with their lovers.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: tutor
description: A tutor appointed to watch over sons in connection with lovers.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: companions and equals
description: Peers who reproach or cast accusations when they observe such relations.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: elders
description: Elders who do not silence or rebuke the reprovers.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: gods and men
description: Authorities said to have allowed broad liberty to the lover according
to local custom.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: vulgar lover
description: A lover who loves the body rather than the soul and leaves when youth
fades.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: lover of noble disposition
description: A lover whose love is lifelong and associated with what is everlasting.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: permitted supplicant and pursuer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The lover is allowed supplication, oaths, lying at the door, and service
in pursuit of love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: recipient of attachment and service
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The beloved is the one to whom attachment is directed and may offer voluntary
service only in a virtuous way.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:3
label: guardian or supervisor
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: Parents forbid contact, and a tutor is appointed to observe these matters.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: social reprover or non-intervening elder
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:6
basis: Companions and equals reproach observed conduct, while elders do not silence
the reprovers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: tested participant
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: Custom tests both lover and beloved through contests and trials.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: sanctioning authorities
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The passage says gods and men allow liberty to the lover and that gods forgive
the lover's oath-breaking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:7
label: unstable bodily lover
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The vulgar lover loves the body rather than the soul and departs when youth
fades.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: lifelong lover of noble disposition
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: This lover's love is described as lifelong and united with the everlasting.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: lover's oath
literal_form: oath sworn or forsworn by a lover
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: mat at the door
literal_form: mat at the beloved's door where the lover lies
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: bloom of youth
literal_form: bloom of youth desired by the vulgar lover
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: taking wing and flying away
literal_form: image of the vulgar lover taking wing and flying away
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: contests and trials
literal_form: tests by contests and trials of lover and beloved
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: The lover's socially permitted excesses
summary: The passage describes the lover as allowed to supplicate, swear, lie at
the door, and endure servitude in ways that would otherwise be censured.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Social restriction and reproach
summary: The passage presents parents, tutors, peers, and elders as enforcing or
permitting shame around sons speaking with lovers.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Distinction between honourable and dishonourable love
summary: The passage argues that love practices are honourable or dishonourable
depending on the manner and object of attachment.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Testing through time, contests, and trials
summary: Custom tests the lover and beloved over time, encouraging pursuit and flight
until good and bad attachments are distinguished.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:5
label: Virtuous service as honourable attachment
summary: The passage rejects attachments based on wealth or power and concludes
that only virtuous voluntary service is honourable for the beloved.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: socially sanctioned lover's abasement
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The lover is allowed humiliating or servile acts in pursuit of love, including
supplication and lying at the door, without ordinary loss of character.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a social-ethical pattern in the speech, not a mythic episode involving
supernatural action.
- id: motif:2
label: dual classification of love as noble or base
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage opposes honourable and dishonourable pursuit, good and evil lovers,
and body-directed versus soul- or disposition-directed love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy link to duality is conceptual rather than a narrative dualist
myth.
- id: motif:3
label: trial of lover and beloved
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
basis: Custom is said to test both lover and beloved through contests, trials, pursuit,
flight, and time before their character is revealed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage describes social testing; it does not describe a formal rite
of initiation.
- id: motif:4
label: virtue as the ground of rightful attachment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage concludes that only the way of virtue and virtuous service makes
voluntary attachment honourable.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy link to wisdom is ethical-philosophical and should be reviewed.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 1439-1448
quote_or_summary: The lover may pray, entreat, supplicate, swear, lie on a mat at
the door, and endure a slavery worse than that of any slave.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 1449-1455
quote_or_summary: The passage says the lover may swear and forswear himself, and
the gods forgive this because there is said to be no lover's oath; gods and men
allow the lover broad liberty.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 1456-1466
quote_or_summary: Parents forbid sons to talk with lovers, tutors are appointed
to watch, companions and equals reproach such conduct, and elders do not silence
them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 1467-1473
quote_or_summary: 'The speaker says the matter is not simple: practices are honourable
when followed honourably and dishonourable when followed dishonourably.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 1473-1479
quote_or_summary: The evil or vulgar lover loves the body rather than the soul;
because the loved thing is unstable, he flies away when youth's bloom is over.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 1479-1481
quote_or_summary: The love of noble disposition is lifelong because it becomes one
with the everlasting.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 1481-1486
quote_or_summary: Custom has both kinds proven, encourages some to pursue and others
to flee, and tests lover and beloved in contests and trials until their classes
are shown.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 1486-1489
quote_or_summary: Hasty attachment is dishonourable because time is the true test
of this and most other things.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 1489-1496
quote_or_summary: Being overcome by love of money, wealth, or political power is
dishonourable; such things are not permanent or lasting and do not produce generous
friendship.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 1496-1501
quote_or_summary: The only honourable attachment allowed in the beloved is the way
of virtue, namely virtuous voluntary service.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif-family alignment is tentative
because the passage is philosophical and social-ethical rather than a myth narrative.
No comparison claims were made because the supplied passage does not itself support
cross-textual comparison.
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: |-
Line locators in evidence slightly extend beyond the supplied end where the prose segment continues conceptually; review against canonical markdown line breaks if strict line containment is required.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg__l1439-l1491
passage_sha256=4a7be577c00ffe34404e3b773adf57b4e4dd2f85220c9dfaf7b79adb9fea62b9