This was a very pleasant reading, even more once I got used to the rhythm of the translation and how the notes worked within the text, and certainly more pleasant than I expected. The Symposium by Xenophon is similar to The Symposium of Plato in that Socrates and a few others are dining and conversing at someone's house; in this book they are at the house of Callias. Each one of them begins by presenting one thing they are proud of themselves and they proceed to explain the reason they feel proud of it. There is also a kind of acrobatic dance performance that they watch as they eat and converse. There is humor, banter, sarcasm, and pleasantries passing among each other, and at one point Critobulus and Socrates are going at each other about who is the most beautiful. The two dancers get to vote who won the beauty contest. The rest of the discussion turns with Socrates attempting to prove to them the power of friendship and the power of love for someone's inner world rather than love for their outward appearance. There are certainly some things I disagree with and plenty of things I agree and like. I'm also sure that I missed a lot in terms of understanding some of their discussions and someone better at understanding and reviewing these texts would explain it much better. Nevertheless, I loved what I got from it and it is certainly worth reading. I'll be looking forward to be reading more of Xenophon's writings, and I plan someday to reread this one. I do prefer Xenophon than Plato.