In Plato’s Symposium, love is conceived as a harmony of opposites from the viewpoint of Socrates. It takes form as a god, Love, who is the offspring of Poros, god of resources, and Penia, a beggar woman. Being from such different parents, Love takes on the aspects of both and maintains a medium between each extreme. Therefore, love is neither young or old, ignorant or wise, without resources or rich, and so and so forth. However, all those in attendance are in agreement that those in love want it to last forever.
One thought on “Describe how Plato, Sappho, and/or Catullus conceive of love (and/or friendship).”
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I completely argue with your comment on how love is viewed in Plato’s Symposium. In this work, they indirectly compared love to many other virtues like courage or honor. Love, like a virtue, is balance of two extremes, where too much love leads to foolishness and a lack of love leads to neglect and suffering. This is the issue many people have when they are involved in a relationship. They can not find a balance between the two.