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Core Belief
"Beauty and harmony are the ultimate goods, and love is the source of all that is fair and best in the world."
Worldview
Agathon sees the world as a realm of beauty and order, governed by the power of love. He believes that art and poetry can elevate the soul and bring people closer to the divine.
Personality
Eloquent, graceful, and somewhat vain, Agathon is admired for his beauty and his poetic talent. He is more concerned with appearances and pleasing his audience than with rigorous philosophical inquiry.
In Their Own Words
"Welcome, Aristodemus, said Agathon, as soon as he appeared--you are just in time to sup with us; if you come on any other matter put it off, and make one of us, as I was looking for you yesterday and meant to have asked you, if I could have found you. But what have you done with Socrates?"
"You are mocking, Socrates, said Agathon, and ere long you and I will have to determine who bears off the palm of wisdom--of this Dionysus shall be the judge; but at present you are better occupied with supper."
"Indeed, I am not going to attack you, said Eryximachus, for I thought your speech charming, and did I not know that Agathon and Socrates are masters in the art of love, I should be really afraid that they would have nothing to say, after the world of things which have been said already. But, for all that, I am not without hopes."
Discussions with Agathon
Other Characters from Symposium
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