Plato’s Symposium incredibly describes the points of view of six historical people regarding Love. They take a turn to give speeches to praise Love, conveying different philosophies and viewpoints.
Phaedrus, who delivers the first speech mentions that Love can inspire a person with courage that he/she even can die for his/her beloved one. Later, in his speech Socrates mentions the speech of Diatema, who assures that people will not die for their lovers if they don’t expect the memory of their virtue to be unforgettable and immortal. Diatema also says that mortals always seek to live forever, and the only way to live forever is by reproduction, by always leaving behind a new young one. It is also interesting how Diotema describes the parents of Love, who are Penia the poverty, and Poros the resource.
Agathon in his speech describes love to be delicate and beautiful, which lives only in young body and soul. Socrates in turn, addresses to his speech by stating that love is neither beautiful nor ugly, but rather something in between. He mentions that Love is tough and far from being delicate like his mother, but brave, impetuous and intense like his father. Virgil’s Aeneas’ love to Dido can be example of Love described by Socrates; Love is so tough that Aeneas is forced to leave his beloved Dido, which later results in her death.
Aristophan in his speech tells a story about how three kind of creatures were cut into two by Zeus and some become lesbians and gays. He says that Love is a sense of belonging and desire to not be separated from each other. He also describes love as the desire for each other in his play Lysistrata.
Pausanias in his speech mentions two types of Love; common love and heavenly love. He describes common love as attraction to the body not the soul and as a desire for sexual act. Heavenly god he says is the love between males, which is in contrast free from vulgarity. Homer’s Odysseus’ love to women he meets throughout his journey can be example of common love as he feels only sexual desire towards them. Odysseus always mentions that his love belongs to his wife but he indecently involves in sexual affairs with other women. Eryximachus describes love as attraction to human soul, not the beauty and he says that only love can deliver harmony to opposed to each other elements like hot and cold and wet and dry.