Plato's Symposium (Modern Library)

One of the most famous works of literature in the Western world, Plato's Symposium is also one of the most entertaining. The scene is a dinner party in Athens in 416 B.C. at which the guests--including the comic poet Aristophanes and Plato's mentor, Socrates--playfully discuss the nature of eros, or love. Dr. Pelliccia's revision of Benjamin Jowett's translation renders the piece into one voice, making it neither too colloquial nor too literal.