batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l2394-l2475
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l2394-l2475
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: Symposium / SYMPOSIUM / INTRODUCTION. / SYMPOSIUM; lines 2394-2475
start: '2394'
end: '2475'
translation: Symposium
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'Diotima explains to Socrates that human beings seek immortality through
fame, bodily children, and soul-born works of wisdom and virtue. She then describes
the lesser and greater mysteries of love: a guided progression from love of one
beautiful body to all beautiful bodies, then to beautiful souls, laws, institutions,
sciences, and finally a vision of the science of beauty everywhere.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Socrates expresses astonishment and asks Diotima whether her statement is
true.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Diotima says that people undertake risks, expenses, toil, and even death for
an eternal name and immortal memory of virtue.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Alcestis, Achilles, and Codrus are named as examples connected with death,
vengeance, or preservation of a kingdom for remembered virtue.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Diotima distinguishes those pregnant in body, who beget children, from those
pregnant in soul, who conceive wisdom and virtue.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Poets, artists, inventors, and makers of laws or civic order are described
as creators of soul-born offspring.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: A soul-pregnant person seeks beauty, embraces a fair and noble soul, speaks
about virtue, educates the beloved, and brings forth what was conceived.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Diotima calls the preceding teachings the lesser mysteries of love and introduces
greater and more hidden mysteries.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The right procedure begins with loving one beautiful form and proceeds through
love of all beautiful forms, beauty of mind, beauty of laws and institutions,
beauty of sciences, and a final vision of the science of beauty everywhere.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Socrates
description: The interlocutor who is astonished and addressed by Diotima.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Diotima
description: The wise speaker who answers Socrates and explains love, immortality,
and the mysteries of beauty.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: People seeking immortal fame
description: Human beings who endure risks, expenses, toil, and death for an eternal
name and lasting memory of virtue.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Alcestis
description: Named as one who died to save Admetus.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Achilles
description: Named as one who acted to avenge Patroclus.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Codrus
description: Named as one who acted to preserve the kingdom for his sons.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Those pregnant in body
description: Persons who seek women and beget children to preserve memory and obtain
future blessedness and immortality.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Those pregnant in soul
description: Persons more creative in soul than body, conceiving wisdom and virtue.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Fair and noble soul
description: The beloved or educatee with whom the soul-pregnant creator brings
forth and tends soul-born offspring.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Instructor
description: The guide who directs the youth rightly in beginning with beautiful
forms.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Seeker proceeding aright
description: The person who advances through stages of love and contemplation toward
the science of beauty everywhere.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Homer, Hesiod, Lycurgus, Solon, and other creators
description: Named or grouped examples whose works, laws, or virtues are called
children that preserve memory and bring honor.
role_refs:
- role:6
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: questioner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Socrates asks Diotima whether her words are true.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: authoritative teacher
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Diotima answers Socrates and gives the teaching about love and beauty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: seeker of immortal fame
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: People are described as acting for an eternal name and immortal memory of
virtue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: exemplar of remembered heroic action
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
basis: Alcestis, Achilles, and Codrus are cited as examples whose actions are linked
with surviving memory of virtue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: bodily progenitor
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Those pregnant in body beget children to preserve memory.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: soul-born creator
assigned_to:
- fig:8
- fig:12
basis: Those pregnant in soul conceive wisdom and virtue; poets, artists, inventors,
and lawgivers produce enduring works.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: beloved educatee
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The soul-pregnant person embraces the fair and noble soul, speaks of virtue,
and tries to educate him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: initiate or seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:11
basis: Socrates may enter the lesser mysteries, while the one proceeding aright
advances through stages toward beauty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: guide to the path of love
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:10
basis: Diotima instructs Socrates; the instructor guides the youth rightly toward
beautiful forms.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:10
label: parent of enduring civic or poetic offspring
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: Their works, laws, or virtues are described as children that preserve memory
and receive honor.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: immortal name
literal_form: an eternal name and immortal memory of virtue
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: bodily children
literal_form: children begotten by those pregnant in body
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: pregnancy of the soul
literal_form: souls pregnant with conceptions proper to the soul
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: seed of wisdom and virtue
literal_form: seed implanted in youth that comes to maturity and seeks to beget
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: soul-born offspring
literal_form: fairer and more immortal children produced through virtue, poetry,
laws, and noble works
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: mysteries of love
literal_form: lesser mysteries and greater hidden mysteries of love
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: stages of beauty
literal_form: one beautiful form, all beautiful forms, beautiful mind, laws, institutions,
sciences, and beauty everywhere
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:8
label: vast sea of beauty
literal_form: the vast sea of beauty contemplated by the seeker
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:9
label: vision of the science of beauty
literal_form: a final revealed vision of a single science, the science of beauty
everywhere
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Diotima on immortal fame
summary: Diotima tells Socrates that people undertake extreme actions for an eternal
name and lasting memory of virtue, naming Alcestis, Achilles, and Codrus as examples.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Two kinds of pregnancy and offspring
summary: Diotima distinguishes bodily generation of children from soul-born generation
of wisdom, virtue, poetry, invention, and civic order.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Creative union with the beautiful soul
summary: The soul-pregnant creator seeks beauty, joins with a fair and noble soul,
speaks about virtue, educates the beloved, and tends the offspring they bring
forth together.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Lesser and greater mysteries of love
summary: Diotima names the prior teaching as lesser mysteries and describes a guided
progression through increasingly general forms of beauty toward a final vision
of the science of beauty everywhere.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Quest for immortality through fame and offspring
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage says people desire the immortal and seek it through eternal fame,
bodily children, and enduring works.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The immortality described is memory, lineage, or enduring works rather
than bodily resurrection or divine afterlife.
- id: motif:2
label: Soul pregnancy and birth of wisdom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Diotima describes souls pregnant with wisdom and virtue, bringing forth teachings,
poetry, laws, and noble works.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The pregnancy and children are presented in philosophical-metaphorical
terms.
- id: motif:3
label: Initiation into hidden mysteries of love
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
- mystical_quest
- wisdom
basis: Diotima explicitly distinguishes lesser mysteries from greater hidden mysteries
and frames Socrates as one who may or may not attain them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses mystery language for philosophical instruction; it does
not narrate a formal cult rite.
- id: motif:4
label: Ascent from particular beauty to universal beauty
taxonomy_refs:
- ascent
- mystical_quest
- wisdom
basis: The seeker moves from one beautiful form to all forms, minds, laws, sciences,
and the final vision of beauty everywhere.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The ascent is intellectual and contemplative, not a physical climb.
- id: motif:5
label: Teacher-guided path to revelation
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- initiation
basis: A guide or instructor directs the seeker, and Diotima presents a path culminating
in a revealed vision of a single science of beauty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage emphasizes philosophical pedagogy more than mythic revelation
by a deity.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself frames the teaching as a movement from lesser to greater
hidden mysteries, supporting comparison with an initiation-pattern motif at the
level of function.
claim_level: same_function
target: initiation motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The evidence is metaphorical and philosophical; the passage does not
describe an enacted ritual initiation.
- id: claim:2
claim: The staged movement from one beautiful body to universal beauty supports
comparison with an ascent-pattern motif, understood as contemplative ascent rather
than physical ascent.
claim_level: same_motif
target: ascent motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: No mountain, heaven-journey, or spatial climb is narrated; the ascent
is conceptual.
- id: claim:3
claim: The repeated emphasis on conceiving, generating, and tending wisdom and virtue
supports comparison with wisdom motifs in which insight is produced and transmitted
through guided discipline.
claim_level: same_function
target: wisdom motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage offers philosophical argument rather than a narrative of
a culture hero or divine wisdom donor.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2394-2398
quote_or_summary: Socrates is astonished, addresses Diotima as wise, and asks whether
her words are true; she answers with authority.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2398-2412
quote_or_summary: Diotima says people risk, spend, toil, and die for an eternal
name and immortal memory of virtue; she cites Alcestis, Achilles, and Codrus.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 2414-2419
quote_or_summary: Those pregnant in body beget children, hoping offspring will preserve
memory and bring future blessedness and immortality.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 2419-2428
quote_or_summary: Those pregnant in soul conceive wisdom and virtue; poets, artists,
inventors, and those concerned with states and families are named as creators.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2428-2455
quote_or_summary: The soul-pregnant person seeks beauty, educates a fair and noble
soul, and brings forth common offspring; Homer, Hesiod, Lycurgus, Solon, and others
are cited for enduring works and laws.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2456-2463
quote_or_summary: Diotima says these are the lesser mysteries of love and introduces
greater and more hidden mysteries that Socrates may or may not attain.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2463-2475
quote_or_summary: The seeker begins with one beautiful form, advances to all beautiful
forms, beauty of mind, laws and institutions, sciences, the vast sea of beauty,
and the final vision of the science of beauty everywhere.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif labels involving
initiation, ascent, and wisdom are strongly supported by the passage language,
but comparison claims remain cautious because the passage is philosophical rather
than a mythic narrative.
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: |-
Available taxonomy refs were used only where directly supported by the passage. Named mythic and historical examples are treated as cited figures within Diotima's argument, not as separate narrated episodes.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg__l2394-l2475
passage_sha256=66da6074bd5bbef6368be0556e62157d8dd900d692f3dbbb5cfa6b47e95502aa