Primary source · Koine Greek
The Symposium (Banquet of the Ten Virgins)
Methodius of Olympus · c. AD 290
What this text is
Plato's Symposium rewritten for the church: ten virgins discourse on chastity in a garden, closing with the great acrostic hymn to Christ the Bridegroom.
Profile of Methodius of Olympus →
Public-domain translations
William R. Clark (ANF, 1886)
I keep myself pure for Thee, O Bridegroom, and holding a lighted torch I go to meet Thee. (The refrain of Thecla's hymn.)
Manuscript witnesses
Patmos, St John's Monastery cod. 202
10th–11th c.The Symposium complete in Greek; Methodius's other works survive largely in Old Slavonic.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 18 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Olympus in Lycia, c. AD 290 — the banquet of the ten virgins
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Méthode d'Olympe: Le banquet (SC 95)H. Musurillo & V.-H. Debidour, 1963Critical edition with French translation.
- St. Methodius: The Symposium (ACW 27)Herbert Musurillo, 1958Annotated English translation.