Pausanius

Question 1

Who is Pausanias

Answer 1

• Another fairly young man, focused particularly on law, representing a fairly conservative Athenian attitude towards society, sexuality, and love
• It is his suggestion that they spend the night giving speeches rather than just drinking

Question 2

How is Love defined - is it a god or some other being?

Answer 2

• 2 kinds of love:
• Celestial Love (this kind of love is older, more powerful and “wholly male”)
• Common Love, which is the love of “ordinary” people & is inalterably associated with Aphrodite, and as Aphrodite is “two-fold” so is Love

Question 3

How is Love’s power described?

Answer 3

• Common Love is not powerful due to its random, capricious nature
• It is a purely physical love that doesn’t truly engage those it entices because it involves femininity, meaning it can’t be powerful
• Celestial Love, on the other hand, is powerful due to its complete disregard of females and how it engages both the mind and the body

Question 4

What is said about bad love? What are its risks or dangers?

Answer 4

• capitalises the dangers of common Love; it is portrayed as being
• dangerous as it holds men back from their true potential as both men and lovers
• the immature nature of this Love threatens to risk the overall contentment, satisfaction and development of the man, making it an emotional dange
• women can hold men back from potential, which is also why it is dangerous
• love can be dangerous if it is carried out in the wrong’ way, e.g. if desire and lust is purely physical and excludes the mind, or if a bad man is immorally gratified

Question 5

What is said regarding pederasty, homosexuality or heterosexuality?

Answer 5

• should be laws against pederasty because the boys are too immature to grasp the true meaning of Celestial Love, so if they were to engage in it in a wrong/bad way, this would devalue Celestial Love as a whole
• as Celestial Love is the powerful, meaningful love - the only love that can satisfy desire - and exclusively involves males, this shows how Pausanius thinks that homosexual love is the better than heterosexual love

Question 6

What is the role of women refferred to, or what attitudes are shown towards women?

Answer 6

• women are only involved in Common Love, suggesting that they are unable to feel love with the same emotional depth that men do.
• Pausanius states how if one is attracted to a woman, this will purely be because of her physical appearance,
• but she will not be able to ‘properly satisfy a male lover, as for one to be ‘satisfied’ in love, their minds have to be involved, but women aren’t able to do this

Question 7

What other key ideas are explored here?

Answer 7

For Love to be ‘good’ and satisfactory, both lovers involved have to be ‘good, moral men;
only in this situation can Celestial love be ‘constant’ and properly sustained throughout the lovers lives

Question 8

What is Pausanius’ chief function

Answer 8

• to draw attention to moral ambivalence of love & to the educational potential of a love affair - Waterfield

Question 9

On what grounds is sexual gratification okay to Pausanius

Answer 9

• It is morally right for an erastes to espect gratification fir his sex
• Desire in return for virtue will develop his eronmenous
• Thus, sexual gratifictaion is to occur only with a strong moral background

Question 10

what is a shortcoming of Pausanias according to Sheffield

Answer 10

• why should a love of honour be its best expression?

Question 11

Pausanius’ speech requires comments on how to..

Answer 11

• cultivate excellence, especially of the soul rather than the body