Plato, Symposium 212a6–7: The Most Immortal of Men, with an Appendix on Phrases of the Type εἴπερ (τις) ἄλλος

This article presents two hitherto neglected arguments in favour of the thesis that the philosopher’s immortality described by Diotima in Plato’s Symposium refers exclusively to immortality by means of posterity and not to some sort of personal immortality after death. Both arguments are contained in the words 212a6–7 καὶ εἴπερ τῳ ἄλλῳ ἀνθρώπων ἀθανάτῳ καὶ ἐκείνῳ. The first argument concerns the word ἄνθρωπος, the second the phrase εἴπερ τῳ ἄλλῳ καὶ ἐκείνῳ. There is an appendix on phrases of the type εἴπερ τις (ἄλλος).