2016/02/25

The Ascent / Eros Psychopompos


For one who looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can 
be seen—only then will it become possible for him to give birth 
(tiktein) not to images of virtue—because he’s in touch with no 
images—but to true virtue—because he is in touch with true 
Beauty. And being theophiles (god-loved/god-loving) belongs 
to anyone who has given birth to true virtue and nourished it, 
and if any human being could become immortal, it would be 
this one.  ~Diotima in The Symposium



Evans, Nancy in Hypatia, Volume 21, Number 2, Spring 2006, pp. 1-27