batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l64-l148
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l64-l148
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: Symposium / SYMPOSIUM / INTRODUCTION.; lines 64-148
start: '64'
end: '148'
translation: Symposium
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The introduction characterizes Plato''s Symposium as distinctly Greek
and frames the dialogue through reports of a banquet at Agathon''s house. Apollodorus
recounts material received from Aristodemus: Socrates arrives late after a fit
of abstraction, the guests replace drinking and flute music with ordered speeches
in praise of love, and Phaedrus begins by arguing that love is ancient, confers
honor, inspires courage, and is exemplified by Alcestis, Orpheus, and Achilles
in differing ways.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states that Plato was not a mystic and that no foreign element
of Egypt or Asia is found in his writings.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: An unnamed person seeks an authentic account of discourses in praise of love
spoken by Socrates and others at Agathon's banquet.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Apollodorus had not attended the banquet but had heard the account from Aristodemus,
described as a humble and inseparable attendant of Socrates.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Aristodemus meets Socrates in holiday attire and is invited to Agathon's banquet,
held after Agathon had sacrificed in thanksgiving for a tragic victory.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Socrates remains behind in abstraction and arrives when the banquet is half
over.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Pausanias asks what the guests should do about drinking because they had been
drunk the previous day.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Eryximachus confirms the concern about drinking and proposes that the guests
make speeches in honor of love instead of listening to the flute-girl.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The speeches are to proceed one after another from left to right according
to the reclining order at the table.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: Phaedrus begins and describes love as ancient, supported by poets, and beneficial
to humans through honor and dishonor.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: Phaedrus says a lover is ashamed to be seen by the beloved doing or suffering
a cowardly or mean act.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: Phaedrus says a state or army made up only of lovers and their loves would
be invincible.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:12
text: Alcestis is described as daring to die for her husband and being allowed to
come again from the dead in recompense for her virtue.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:13
text: Orpheus is described as going down to Hades alive to bring back his wife,
receiving only an apparition, and later having his death contrived by the gods
as punishment for cowardliness.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:14
text: Achilles is described as willing to avenge Patroclus even though he knew his
own death would immediately follow.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:15
text: The gods are said to honor the love of the beloved above that of the lover
and to have rewarded Achilles by sending him to the islands of the blest.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Plato
description: Author discussed in the introduction as Greek in style and subject
and as seeking reasoned truth.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Unnamed inquirer
description: An unknown person who wants an authentic account of the discourses
in praise of love.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Socrates
description: One of the speakers at Agathon's banquet; invited Aristodemus, stayed
behind in abstraction, and arrived after the banquet was half over.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Apollodorus
description: The informant who had heard the banquet account from Aristodemus and
had repeated it to Glaucon.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Aristodemus
description: Source of Apollodorus' account; described as a humble but inseparable
attendant of Socrates.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Glaucon
description: A prior hearer to whom Apollodorus had just repeated the account.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Agathon
description: Host of the banquet, associated with a thanksgiving sacrifice for his
tragic victory.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Pausanias
description: A guest who asks what the company should do about drinking.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Eryximachus
description: A physician who confirms the concern about drinking and proposes speeches
in honor of love.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Flute-girl
description: A performer whose music is rejected in favor of speeches.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Phaedrus
description: The originator or 'father' of the idea for speeches in honor of love
and the first speaker.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Lover
description: A general figure in Phaedrus' argument, ashamed before the beloved
of cowardly or mean acts.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: Beloved
description: A general figure before whom the lover is ashamed and whose love the
gods are said to honor above that of the lover.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: Alcestis
description: A woman who dies for her husband and is allowed to return from the
dead.
role_refs:
- role:14
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: Alcestis' husband
description: The husband for whom Alcestis dies.
role_refs:
- role:15
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:16
name_or_label: Orpheus
description: A harper who descends alive to Hades to bring back his wife but receives
only an apparition and is punished.
role_refs:
- role:16
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:17
name_or_label: Orpheus' wife
description: The wife whom Orpheus attempts to bring back from Hades.
role_refs:
- role:17
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:18
name_or_label: Gods
description: Divine agents who allow Alcestis' return, punish Orpheus, and reward
Achilles.
role_refs:
- role:18
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:19
name_or_label: Achilles
description: A figure willing to avenge Patroclus despite knowing his own death
would follow, and rewarded by the gods.
role_refs:
- role:19
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:20
name_or_label: Patroclus
description: The lover of Achilles whom Achilles is willing to avenge.
role_refs:
- role:20
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: philosophical author
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The introduction presents Plato's work and states that he aspired to reasoned
truth.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: seeker of account
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The unknown person desires an authentic account of the banquet discourses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: banquet participant delayed by abstraction
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Socrates is associated with the speeches and arrives late after remaining
behind in abstraction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: recounting informant
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Apollodorus recounts what he had heard from Aristodemus and had repeated
to Glaucon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: eyewitness source and attendant
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Aristodemus is the reported authority for the narrative and is described
as Socrates' attendant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: prior listener
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Glaucon had just heard the account from Apollodorus.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:7
label: victorious host
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Agathon hosts the banquet after sacrificing for his tragic victory.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:8
label: questioning guest
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Pausanias asks what the guests should do about drinking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:9
label: physician and proposer of speeches
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Eryximachus is identified as a physician and proposes speeches instead of
flute music.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:10
label: dismissed musician
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The guests choose speeches instead of listening to the flute-girl.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:11
label: first speaker on love
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: Phaedrus begins the ordered speeches and is called the father of the idea.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:12
label: lover under honor-shame pressure
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: Phaedrus says the lover is ashamed before the beloved of cowardly or mean
action.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:13
label: beloved as moral witness
assigned_to:
- fig:13
basis: The beloved is the one before whom the lover feels shame; the gods honor
this love highly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: role:14
label: self-sacrificing spouse
assigned_to:
- fig:14
basis: Alcestis dares to die for her husband.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:15
label: spouse saved by sacrifice
assigned_to:
- fig:15
basis: Alcestis dies for her husband.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:16
label: failed underworld retriever
assigned_to:
- fig:16
basis: Orpheus descends alive to Hades to bring back his wife but receives only
an apparition.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:17
label: sought dead spouse
assigned_to:
- fig:17
basis: Orpheus seeks to bring his wife back from Hades.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:18
label: divine rewarders and punishers
assigned_to:
- fig:18
basis: The gods allow return from death, punish cowardliness, and reward Achilles.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: role:19
label: avenging beloved rewarded after death
assigned_to:
- fig:19
basis: Achilles avenges Patroclus knowing his own death will follow and is sent
to the islands of the blest.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:20
label: dead lover to be avenged
assigned_to:
- fig:20
basis: Patroclus is named as Achilles' lover whom Achilles avenges.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: banquet
literal_form: banquet at Agathon's house
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: thanksgiving sacrifice
literal_form: sacrifice in thanksgiving for tragic victory
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: ordered speeches in honor of love
literal_form: speeches made one after another from left to right
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: flute-girl and noise
literal_form: flute-girl whose performance is replaced by speeches
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: army of lovers
literal_form: state or army made up only of lovers and their loves
associated_figures:
- fig:12
- fig:13
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: Hades
literal_form: underworld destination to which Orpheus goes alive
associated_figures:
- fig:16
- fig:17
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: apparition
literal_form: apparition given to Orpheus instead of his wife restored
associated_figures:
- fig:16
- fig:17
- fig:18
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:8
label: islands of the blest
literal_form: afterlife place to which Achilles is sent by the gods
associated_figures:
- fig:18
- fig:19
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Framed request for the banquet account
summary: An unnamed inquirer seeks an authentic account of love speeches from Apollodorus,
who relies on Aristodemus' report and has recently retold it to Glaucon.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Arrival at Agathon's banquet
summary: Aristodemus meets Socrates in holiday attire and is invited to Agathon's
banquet; Agathon has sacrificed for his victory, while Socrates delays in abstraction
and arrives midway through the meal.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Decision to replace drinking and flute music with speeches
summary: Pausanias raises the problem of drinking after the previous day's drunkenness,
and Eryximachus proposes ordered speeches in honor of love instead of the flute-girl's
music.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Phaedrus' praise of love as source of honor and courage
summary: Phaedrus begins by describing love as ancient and beneficial, especially
through honor, shame, and the conversion of cowardice into inspired heroism.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
- fig:12
- fig:13
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Exempla of love tested by death
summary: Phaedrus' argument uses Alcestis, Orpheus, and Achilles as examples involving
love, death, divine response, and differing outcomes of return, punishment, or
afterlife reward.
figure_refs:
- fig:14
- fig:15
- fig:16
- fig:17
- fig:18
- fig:19
- fig:20
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Banquet transformed into philosophical praise discourse
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The guests set aside drinking and flute music to deliver ordered speeches
in honor of love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage frames the speeches as discursive
rather than explicitly sacred or revelatory.
- id: motif:2
label: Love as source of heroic courage and honor
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Phaedrus says love creates shame before the beloved, makes an army of lovers
invincible, and converts even a coward into an inspired hero.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: No specific taxonomy family in the supplied list exactly matches honor-shame
heroic inspiration by love.
- id: motif:3
label: Self-sacrificial death for spouse followed by return from the dead
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
- resurrection
- death_rebirth
basis: Alcestis dies for her husband and is allowed to come again from the dead
as recompense for virtue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage summarizes the myth briefly and does not describe the mechanics
of her return.
- id: motif:4
label: Living descent to Hades to retrieve a dead spouse
taxonomy_refs:
- hero_descent
- return
basis: Orpheus goes down to Hades alive to bring back his wife.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The attempted return fails in this summary; the 'return' taxonomy applies
only to the intended recovery, not a successful outcome.
- id: motif:5
label: Apparition substituted for restored beloved
taxonomy_refs:
- stolen_beloved
basis: Orpheus receives only an apparition when he seeks to bring back his wife.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The supplied 'stolen_beloved' taxonomy is only approximate; the passage
states loss to death/Hades, not theft.
- id: motif:6
label: Divine punishment and reward according to courage in love
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The gods punish Orpheus for cowardliness and reward Achilles for courageous
love by sending him to the islands of the blest.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage reports Phaedrus' moral valuation rather than a full judgment
scene.
- id: motif:7
label: Foreknown death accepted to avenge beloved
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Achilles is willing to avenge Patroclus even though he knows his own death
will immediately follow.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage describes willing acceptance of death, not a ritual sacrifice.
- id: motif:8
label: Blessed afterlife destination as reward
taxonomy_refs:
- afterlife_journey_map
- divine_judgment
basis: The gods reward Achilles by sending him to the islands of the blest.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage names the destination but does not map a journey or describe
the afterlife place.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: Within Phaedrus' argument, Alcestis and Achilles are presented as parallel
examples of courageous love involving willingness to die and divine reward.
claim_level: same_function
target: Alcestis and Achilles as exempla of courageous love
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: 'The two examples differ in relationship and outcome: Alcestis dies
for a husband and returns, while Achilles avenges Patroclus and receives an afterlife
reward.'
- id: claim:2
claim: 'The passage contrasts Alcestis and Orpheus as spouse-related death narratives
with opposite moral outcomes: Alcestis is rewarded for dying, while Orpheus is
denied recovery of his wife and punished for cowardliness.'
claim_level: same_function
target: Alcestis and Orpheus as contrasting spouse-and-death exempla
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is mediated by the narrator's summary of Phaedrus' speech
and does not provide full mythic details.
- id: claim:3
claim: Orpheus' episode fits the broad pattern of a living figure descending to
the underworld to recover a beloved, though the recovery fails in this passage.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Underworld descent to retrieve a dead beloved
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage gives only a compressed summary and does not describe the
descent's route, trials, or conditions.
- id: claim:4
claim: The examples of Orpheus and Achilles both connect divine evaluation with
conduct in love, one through punishment and the other through reward.
claim_level: same_function
target: Divine judgment of conduct in love
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The gods' reasoning is summarized in moral terms by the passage rather
than dramatized as a formal judgment.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 64-86
quote_or_summary: The introduction praises the Symposium's form, states Plato was
not a mystic, denies Egyptian or Asian foreign elements, and describes the work
as Greek in style and subject.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 87-101
quote_or_summary: An unknown person seeks an authentic account of love speeches
at Agathon's banquet from Apollodorus, who relies on Aristodemus' report and has
recently retold it to Glaucon.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 103-111
quote_or_summary: Aristodemus meets Socrates in holiday attire, is invited to Agathon's
banquet after a thanksgiving sacrifice for victory, and finds Socrates delayed
in abstraction until the banquet is half over.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 111-123
quote_or_summary: Pausanias raises the question of drinking after prior drunkenness;
Eryximachus proposes speeches in honor of love instead of the flute-girl, proceeding
left to right, and Phaedrus begins as originator of the idea.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 124-132
quote_or_summary: Phaedrus speaks of love's antiquity and benefits, especially honor
and shame, and says lovers and beloveds would form an invincible force because
love inspires heroism.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 134-137
quote_or_summary: Alcestis is presented as a true love who dared to die for her
husband and was allowed to return from the dead as recompense for virtue.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 137-141
quote_or_summary: Orpheus, called a miserable harper, goes alive to Hades to bring
back his wife, receives only an apparition, and is later punished by the gods
for cowardliness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 141-148
quote_or_summary: Achilles' love is called courageous and true because he avenges
Patroclus despite knowing his own death will follow; the gods reward him by sending
him to the islands of the blest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is an English public-domain introduction that summarizes parts
of the Symposium and embedded mythic exempla. Literal extraction is strong, while
taxonomy alignment is sometimes approximate because the available motif families
are broad.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage text and metadata. No external mythographic details added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg__l64-l148
passage_sha256=b31570809824ef242b539c8038e00b7dee834b37887c282e67621da26e8a59ca