Here is the speech, reworked slightly by me (and originally translated to English by someone far, far clever than I!):
Humans have never understood the power of Love. If they had they would surely have built noble temples and offered solemn sacrifices since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy.
To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon.
Due to the power and might of these original humans the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans’ insolence without destroying them and it was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half.
After the division the each part desired their other half and would come together, throwing their arms about one another, entwining in mutual embraces, longing to regrow into one.
Each of us, when separated, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. When one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment.
Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another.
We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. 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.It isn't perfect, speaking only of a duality of sexuality (of a man-woman, man-man, and woman-woman pairing), ignoring other options, of which there are many.
Plato wrote this piece in 360 BC, over 1,500 years ago, and his Symposium is a comedy - but even so it seems to be more progressive and reasonable than so many modern viewpoints and judgements on sexuality.
Why can we not be more open to the idea of love, as long as it harms no-one, whatever form it takes? I honestly cannot understand it.
Still, when all is said and done - happy anniversary to my wonderful brother and sister, who are just brilliant, and here's to everyone who is in love and happy regardless of who you're in a relationship with. Cheers!
