ates's character. It turns out later that Alcibiades is being slightly disingenuous when he says that he resolved to let Socrates alone; however, he is smart enough to acknowledge that the special qualities of Socrates were for him a definite attraction that overtook whatever superficial limitations of looks Socrates may have had.
What might be called the opposing view, that the lover is the superior factor in a relationship, is advanced by Pausanias, the lover of the host Agathon, whose argument is that there is no meaningful expression of Love that is not self conscious. In this regard, Pausanias holds that it is the self conscious lover, who selects with some judgment the object of his affections, so as to more or less initiate the beloved into the mysteries of Love and experience those mysteries with a kind of mutual psychological maturity. On this view, any beloved, particularly one of youth and physical beauty, could be the occasion of a relationship and might more typically be the occasion of a love affair. It fall
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