饗宴(Symposium)一字的動詞sympotein即「共飲」之意,是希臘時期重要的社交活動,為男子同聚論辯、籌畫、誇耀、或單純地與他人飲酒聚會。饗宴經常為慶祝年輕男子正式進入貴族社交圈而舉辦,也有因體育或詩藝競賽獲勝而設宴。本文裡描述的聚會,即是主人阿伽松歡慶首齣悲劇獲獎,邀集友人在家慶祝。當天在座的有辯士學派修辭家斐德羅和鮑薩尼亞,醫生厄律克西馬庫,喜劇作家阿里斯托芬,主人阿伽松,以及蘇格拉底;他們決定以對愛神的禮讚助興。 對話錄裡一篇篇的頌歌,輝映著讚頌者的身份與性格。在眾人以不同角度讚揚了愛神之後,蘇格拉底出場了。他哂蒙瞄L的詰問法,駁斥前面禮讚愛是美善的見解。之後他以狄奧提瑪之口,宣說有關愛的真知:愛神是介於神人之間的精靈,他介於美醜,既有智慧又無知,既豐饒又匱乏;愛情是對美與善的欲望;愛情讓人生生不息,肉體的子孫繁衍,或心靈的詩歌、制度的創造,讓凡人得以不朽;最後是依美的關照循序攀升,達到極致亦即真正把握了愛的奧義。
佳句精選
★ 有什麼幸福能比得上有愛情的人? ★ 愛上這般年紀的人準備把自己的全部時間花在他身上,要與他共度一生。 ★ 好的醫生能用一種慾望取代另一種慾望,讓身體和諧。 ★ 你們想不想緊緊地結合在一起,日日夜夜都不分開呢?我可以把你們放在爐子裡熔為為一體,這樣你們就成了一個人,只要在世一天,你們就像「一個人」。 ★ 創造力就是愛的能力,繆斯發明了各種藝術,赫淮斯托斯發明了冶煉,帕拉斯發明了紡織,這都是由於愛神的引導。
本書特色
☆ 以音樂的起承轉合、對話的編排形式,闡述柏拉圖式愛的真諦 ☆ 楊照談柏拉圖與伯恩斯坦:「饗宴──五個樂章與七段愛的禮讚」 ☆ 台灣絃樂團公演伯恩斯坦受《饗宴》一書啟發的作品「小夜曲」(Serenade after Plato’s ’Symposium’)
作者簡介
柏拉圖(BC427-347)
古希臘最有代表性的大思想家,師事蘇格拉底,研究領域涵蓋文學、科學、美學及各家哲學學派;同時也是大教育家,為傳播自己的思想,在Academus建立學園培養眾多人才,亞里斯多德即其中之一;以對話錄為主所留下的著作,對整個西方哲學的理念與文化產生非常深遠的影響。
譯者簡介
王曉朝
北京清華大學哲學系教授,譯有《柏拉圖全集》與《西塞羅全集》(皆為左岸出版)。
- posted on 03/15/2010
The origin of love (JMM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YO9FpWX57E
When the earth was still flat,
And the clouds made of fire,
And mountains stretched up to the sky,
Sometimes higher,
Folks roamed the earth
Like big rolling kegs.
They had two sets of arms.
They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read.
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.
The origin of love
When the earth was still flat,
And the clouds made of fire,
And mountains stretched up to the sky,
Sometimes higher,
Folks roamed the earth
Like big rolling kegs.
They had two sets of arms.
They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read.
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.
The origin of love
And there were three sexes then,
One that looked like two men
Glued up back to back,
Called the children of the sun.
And similar in shape and girth
Were the children of the earth.
They looked like two girls
Rolled up in one.
And the children of the moon
Were like a fork shoved on a spoon.
They were part sun, part earth
Part daughter, part son.
The origin of love
Now the gods grew quite scared
Of our strength and defiance
And Thor said,
"I'm gonna kill them all
With my hammer,
Like I killed the giants."
And Zeus said, "No,
You better let me
Use my lightening, like scissors,
Like I cut the legs off the whales
And dinosaurs into lizards."
Then he grabbed up some bolts
And he let out a laugh,
Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.
Gonna cut them right up in half."
And then storm clouds gathered above
Into great balls of fire
And then fire shot down
From the sky in bolts
Like shining blades
Of a knife.
And it ripped
Right through the flesh
Of the children of the sun
And the moon
And the earth.
And some Indian god
Sewed the wound up into a hole,
Pulled it round to our belly
To remind us of the price we pay.
And Osiris and the gods of the Nile
Gathered up a big storm
To blow a hurricane,
To scatter us away,
In a flood of wind and rain,
And a sea of tidal waves,
To wash us all away,
And if we don't behave
They'll cut us down again
And we'll be hopping round on one foot
And looking through one eye.
Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart;
We called it love.
So we wrapped our arms around each other,
Trying to shove ourselves back together.
We were making love,
Making love.
It was a cold dark evening,
Such a long time ago,
When by the mighty hand of Jove,
It was the sad story
How we became
Lonely two-legged creatures,
It's the story of
The origin of love.
That's the origin of love.
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation