Aristophanes' Hiccups and Pausanius's Sophistry in Plato's Symposium

Abstract

This paper concerns the episode of Aristophanes' hiccups in Plato's Symposium. The sequence is typically understood to be not merely a comic aside but rather a means by which Aristophanes offers commentary on the claims of the other speakers in the dialogue. But where scholars have focused on the significance of this passage concerning Eryximachus's account of Eros, I argue that the hiccups episode also serves as a critique of Pausanias's speech. Particularly, I suggest that the hiccups episode serves as a critique of the sophistic elements of Pausanias's account of Eros.