At this point an entourage from an all-night revel crashes Agathon’s party. It is led by a distinguished figure: Alcibiades, the golden boy of Athens, famous for his good looks and personality, and infamous for his profligacy. Already quite drunk, he pushes his way into the dining room and takes a seat on Agathon’s couch. Suddenly he discovers that he is also sitting next to Socrates, and he recoils. He accuses Socrates of ambushing him again when he is trying to keep Socrates away from him. Meanwhile, Socrates feigns to be afraid of Alcibiades’ jealous rages against himself. Alcibiades, who was about to take a wreath off his own head and put in on Agathon, confers the wreath instead upon Socrates.[3]
The symposiasts inform Alcibiades that everyone is expected to give a speech in praise of Love, and they invite him to take his turn. Alcibiades declares that he could never praise anyone else in the presence of Socrates, and so will offer an encomium to the philosopher.
Socrates, according to Alcibiades, looks just like a statue of Silenus, inside which are nested dolls. He is also like Marsyas, the satyr of myth who dared to compete against Apollo in a music contest. Socrates’ music has the power to enchant Alcibiades. When he speaks, Alcibiades becomes self-conscious; he realizes all his failings and feels like a fraud for pursuing a political career. “In [Socrates’] presence alone, I experience a feeling that no one would guess I was capable of—shame. He embarrasses me. I’m aware that I can’t disagree with what he tells me to do, but as soon as I go away, I yield to the will of the crowd. So I run away and avoid him, and whenever I see him, I feel embarrassed at the commitments I have made and not kept.”[4]
Alcibiades goes on to tell how he tried to seduce Socrates, first by practicing wrestling with him, then by inviting him to a late-night dinner. After dinner he hinted to Socrates that he was willing to take Socrates as a lover who could educate and improve him. Socrates replied that, if he was so much superior to Alcibiades as the young man suggested, exchanging his wisdom for Alcibiades’ beauty would hardly be a fair trade. “Let’s take counsel together soon,” Socrates concludes, “and we’ll do whatever seems best, about this and everything else.”
Alcibiades lay down next to Socrates and put his arms around him, while Socrates went to sleep. Nothing happened between them.[5]
Alcibiades goes on to describe his experiences with Socrates on campaign in the siege of Potidaea. He seemed impervious to hunger when supplies ran low, and to cold even as the gales from the northern steppes blew in winter. In summer he stood a still as a statue for one day and one night, meditating on some philosophical problem, while other soldiers made bets about how long he would remain stationary. At dawn the following morning he finally moved and went about his daily chores.[6]
Alcibiades relates how Socrates rescued him when he was wounded in a battle during the same campaign, and was happy to let Alcibiades receive a commendation for bravery which Socrates really deserved. At the Battle of Delium, an Athenian defeat, Socrates retreated from the battlefield bravely while others fled in panic.[7]
At the end of his encomium, Alcibiades returns to his simile of the statue of Silenus, with its nested dolls inside. Socrates’ arguments, which appear to be commonplace discussions full of craft analogies, turn out to be beautiful and appropriate.
Soon after the close of Alcibiades’ speech, another group of revelers crash the party and the drinking started again in earnest. Aristodemus, the narrator, reports that he fell asleep, but awakened just before dawn and found that all the guests had either gone home or passed out—except for Socrates, Agathon, and Aristophanes: the philosopher, the tragedian, and the comic poet. Socrates was arguing that the same artist should be able to write both tragedies and comedies. His companions nodded off at this point, and Socrates got up to go about his daily routine, having drunk everyone else under the table.
[3] Plato Symposium 212c-213e.
[4] Plato Symposium 216a-b.
[5] Plato Symposium 218c-219c.
[6] Plato Symposium 219e-220d.
[7] Plato Symposium 220d-221b.