"What do you mean,Diotima " I said, " is love then evil and foul ?" "Hush" she cried;" must that be foul which is not fair ? " "Certainly" I said. "And is that which is not wise, ignorant ?do you not see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance ?".......
"Quite true," I replied. "Do not then insist," she said, " that what is not fair is of necessity foul, or what is not good, evil; or infer that because love is not fair and good he is therefor foul and evil; for he is in a mean between them"
.................................
"And who" I said, "was his (love) was his father and mother ?". "The tale will take time, neverthless i shall tell you," she said. "On the birthday of aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god Poros or plenty, who is the son of Metis or discretion, was one of the guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty as is the manner on such occassions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse for nectar(there was no wine in those days) went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a deep sleep; and Poverty considering the circumstances she was in, plotted to have a child by him and accordingly she lay down at his side and concieved Love, who partly because he is naturally a lover of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful and also because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant.

And as his parentage, so are his fortunes. In the first place he is always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him; and he is rough and squalid, and he has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in; on the bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in the streets, or at the doors of houses, taking his rest; and like his mother is always in distress. Like his father too whom he partly resembles, he is always plotting against the fair and the good; he is bold enterprising, strong, a mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or the other, keen in the pursuit of wisdom, fertile in resources; a philosopher at all tiomes, terrible as an enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment and dead at another moment, and again alive by his fathers nature.He is never in want and never in wealth and further he is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge.

The truth of the matter is this: NO god is a philosopher or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the EVIl of ignorance : that he is neither good nor wise is neverthless satisfies with himself: he has no desire for that of which he feels no want. "But who then Diotima" I said, "are seekers of wisdom if they are neither the wise or th foolish ?" " A child may answer that question," she said, "they are those who are in a mean between the two; Love is one of them.For wisdom is a most beautiful thing and Love is of the beautiful and therefore love is also a philosopher or the lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between ignorance and wisdom. And of this too his birht is a cause, since his father is wealthy and wise and mother poor and foolish"

"Such my dear Socrates, is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was very natural, and as I imagine from what u say, has arisen out of a confusion of Love and the beloved. For the beloved is ttruly beautiful and delicate and perfect and blessed; but the principle of love is of another nature"

2. "This my dear Socrates", said the stranger of Mantineia, " is that life above all other s which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute, a beauty if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat and drink, if that were possible - you only want to look at them and be with them. But what if man had eyes to see true beauty- the divine beauty , I mean pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with pollutions of mortality and all the colors and vanities of human life - thither looking and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine ? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabked to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities(but he has hold not of a nimage but of reality) and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life ?

from Symposium, Plato's philosophy of beauty

Well....interesting aint it ? I am not going to write what all this signifies. This was an insignificant part of my philosophy reading....and it was part of a larger discussion of truth and beauty and art.
You can draw your own conclusions from Plato's account...
But know what else I learnt from reading this ?
But I can't help mention two very philosphical observations.

1. LOVE IS A BASTARD CHILD
2. THE GREAT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS WERE GAY !!!
LOL....amusing

lol