這段文章是從柏拉圖 Plato 的《會飲篇》Symposium 摘錄出來，而整個《會飲篇》其實是在討論”愛神”的偉大或是說”愛情”的偉大，參加討論的人有蘇格拉底、悲劇家阿伽松 Agathon 、喜劇家阿里斯托芬 Aristophanes 、醫生厄律克西馬庫 Eryximachus 、詭辨學派斐德羅 Phaedrus 及鮑薩尼亞 Pausanias ，其中阿里斯托芬的發言特別有趣，就像是在說一個神話故事(也許你在村上春樹「海邊的卡夫卡」也曾讀過)，我在網路上找到了這個英譯版本，現在再搭配王曉朝先生的部分譯文(左岸文化出版)，如果你有時間的話，就請看個故事吧！

你們要知道，人本來分成三種….

In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it; for the original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word ‘Androgynous’ is only preserved as a term of reproach.

最初的人是球形的，有著圓圓的背和兩側，有四條胳膊和四條腿，有兩張一模一樣的臉孔….

In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.

男人是太陽生的，女人是大地生的，陰陽人是具有兩種性別特徵的月亮生的……他們實際上想要飛上天庭，造諸神的反……

Now the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and moved round and round like their parents. Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who, as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and annihilate the race with thunderbolts, as they had done the giants, then there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered a way.

宙斯說，我有一個辦法可以削弱人類……我提議把他們全都劈成兩半……

He said: ‘Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in two and then they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers; this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. They shall walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single leg.’

他吩咐阿波羅把人的臉孔轉過來，讓他能用切開一半的脖子低下頭來看到切開的這面身子，使他們感到恐懼，不再搗亂……

He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn in order that the man might contemplate the section of himself: he would thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also bidden to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the centre, which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also moulded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few, however, in the region of the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state.

那些被劈成兩半的人都非常想念自己的另一半，他們奔跑著來到一起，互相用胳膊摟著對方的脖子，不肯分開。他們什麼都不想吃，也什麼都不想做，因為他們不願離開自己的另一半……如果這一半死了，那一半還活著，活著的那一半就到處尋找配偶……人類就這樣逐漸滅亡

After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another mate, man or woman as we call them,—being the sections of entire men or women,—and clung to that.

宙斯起了憐憫心，他想了一個新辦法，把人的生殖器移到前面，使人可以通過男女交媾來繁殖……如果抱著結合的是一男一女，那麼就會懷孕生子，延續人類；如果抱著結合的是兩個男人，也可以使他的情欲得到滿足….

They were being destroyed, when Zeus in pity of them invented a new plan: he turned the parts of generation round to the front, for this had not been always their position, and they sowed the seed no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers in the ground, but in one another; and after the transposition the male generated in the female in order that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race might continue; or if man came to man they might be satisfied, and rest, and go their ways to the business of life: so ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of man.

我們每個人都只是半個人......我們每個人都一直在尋求與自己相合的那一半......凡是由原始男人切開而來的男人是男人的追隨者，從少年時代起就愛和男人交朋友，藉此表現出男子氣來……

Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women; adulterers are generally of this breed, and also adulterous women who lust after men: the women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have female attachments; the female companions are of this sort. But they who are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving. When they reach manhood they are lovers of youth, and are not naturally inclined to marry or beget children,—if at all, they do so only in obedience to the law; but they are satisfied if they may be allowed to live with one another unwedded; and such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, always embracing that which is akin to him.

因此，當愛慕男童的人，或有這種愛情的人，幸運地碰上了他的另一半，他們雙方怎麼不會陶醉在愛慕、友誼、愛情之中呢？……他們的靈魂實際上都在尋求某種別的東西，這種東西他們叫不出名字來，只能用隱晦的話語和寓言式的謎語道出。

And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and one will not be out of the other’s sight, as I may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together; yet they could not explain what they desire of one another. For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not appear to be the desire of lover’s intercourse, but of something else which the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has only a dark and doubtful presentiment.

……….

所有這些事實際上都是人類原初狀態的殘餘，我們本來是完整的，而我們現在正在企盼和追隨這種原初的完整性，這就是所謂的愛情......我想說的是全體人類，包括所有男人跟女人，全體人類的幸福只有一條路，這就是實現愛情。

And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love. There was a time, I say, when we were one, but now because of the wickedness of mankind God has dispersed us, as the Arcadians were dispersed into villages by the Lacedaemonians. And if we are not obedient to the gods, there is a danger that we shall be split up again and go about in basso-relievo, like the profile figures having only half a nose which are sculptured on monuments, and that we shall be like tallies. Wherefore let us exhort all men to piety, that we may avoid evil, and obtain the good, of which Love is to us the lord and minister; and let no one oppose him—he is the enemy of the gods who opposes him. For if we are friends of the God and at peace with him we shall find our own true loves, which rarely happens in this world at present. I am serious, and therefore I must beg Eryximachus not to make fun or to find any allusion in what I am saying to Pausanias and Agathon, who, as I suspect, are both of the manly nature, and belong to the class which I have been describing. But my words have a wider application —they include men and women everywhere; and I believe that if our loves were perfectly accomplished, and each one returning to his primeval nature had his original true love, then our race would be happy. And if this would be best of all, the best in the next degree and under present circumstances must be the nearest approach to such an union; and that will be the attainment of a congenial love.

只要我們敬畏諸神，那麼愛神終有一天會治癒我們的病，使我們回歸原初狀態，生活在快樂與幸福之中。

Wherefore, if we would praise him who has given to us the benefit, we must praise the god Love, who is our greatest benefactor, both leading us in this life back to our own nature, and giving us high hopes for the future, for he promises that if we are pious, he will restore us to our original state, and heal us and make us happy and blessed.