s, said Agathon, as soon as he appeared--you are just
in time to sup with us; if you come on any other matter put it off, and
make one of us, as I was looking for you yesterday and meant to have
asked you, if I could have found you. But what have you done with
Socrates?

I turned round, but Socrates was nowhere to be seen; and I had to
explain that he had been with me a moment before, and that I came by his
invitation to the supper.

You were quite right in coming, said Agathon; but where is he himself?

He was behind me just now, as I entered, he said, and I cannot think
what has become of him.

Go and look for him, boy, said Agathon, and bring him in; and do you,
Aristodemus, meanwhile take the place by Eryximachus.

The servant then assisted him to wash, and he lay down, and presently
another servant came in and reported that our friend Socrates had
retired into the portico of the neighbouring house. 'There he is fixed,'
said he, 'and when I call to him he will not stir.'

How strange, said Agathon; then you must call him again, and keep
calling him.

Let him alone, said my informant; he has a way of stopping anywhere and
losing himself without any reason. I believe that he will soon appear;
do not therefore disturb him.

Well, if you think so, I will leave him, said Agathon. And then, turning
to the servants, he added, 'Let us have supper without waiting for him.
Serve up whatever you please, for there is no one to give you orders;
hitherto I have never left you to yourselves. But on this occasion
imagine that you are our hosts, and that I and the company are your
guests; treat us well, and then we shall commend you.' After this,
supper was served, but still no Socrates; and during the meal Agathon
several times expressed a wish to send for him, but Aristodemus
objected; and at last when the feast was about half over--for the fit,
as usual, was not of long duration--Socrates entered. Agathon, who was
reclining alone at the end of the table, begged that he would take
the place next to him; that 'I may touch you,' he said, 'and have the
benefit of that wise thought which came into your mind in the portico,
and is now in your possession; for I am certain that you would not have
come away until you had found what you sought.'

How I wish, said Socrates, taking his place as he was desired, that
wisdom could be infused by touch, out of the fuller into the emptier
man, as water runs through wool out of a fuller