“Then love, and desire, and friendship would appear to be of the natural or congenial. Such, Lysis and Menexenus, is the inference.”
- Source
- Lysis
- Date
- 4th century BCE
- Local voice
- Dialogue speaker · Socrates
- English wording
- Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning of “Then love, and desire, and friendship would appear…”
Socrates tentatively suggests that attachment may arise from an affinity between people, after reasoning about what desire lacks. He and his companions immediately test—and ultimately fail to settle—this proposal; the sentence is a provisional inference, not Plato’s final definition of love or friendship.
Where does it come from?
Lysis, around Stephanus 221e, Socrates addressing Lysis and Menexenus while exploring desire, affinity and friendship. Benjamin Jowett English, Project Gutenberg #1579. The dialogue goes on to challenge whether the congenial is simply the like and ends without reaching a settled definition; do not present the tentative argument as an unconditional fact.
Why the local voice matters
Lysis, Jowett translation; Socrates is a character speaking inside this dialogue, not Plato as a direct historical speaker.
