he bade Apollo give the face and the halfof the neck a turn in order that man might contemplate the section of himself: he wouldthus learn a lesson of humility. He made all the forms complete except in the region of thebelly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state. Aristophanes continued his discoursein a vein of seriousness and brought forth an important truth. He related the division thetwo parts of man, each desiring his other half and dying from hunger and self-neglectbecause they did not do anything apart, to love as a need. Since when one of the halvesdied and the other survived, the survivor sought another mate, man or woman. Theanecdote continued with Zeus, in pity, inventing a new plan: having males generating inthe females so that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and therace might continue. Or, equally so, if man came to man they might be satisfied and goabout their ways to the business of life. Aristophanes was trying to demonstrate that ouroriginal nature was to search for our other half, to make one of two and to heal the stateof man. Aristophanes thus demonstrated that man was always looking for his other halfand this need was perhaps more than purely physical. There was also a longing to regainsome lost happiness. Such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, alwaysembracing that which is akin to him. Aristophanes described that when one half met withhis other half the pair became lost in an amazement of love, friendship and intimacy, andspent their whole lives together. Yet they could not explain what they desired of oneanother. He added that the intense yearning which each of them had towards the other wasnot that of the lover's intercourse, but of something else which the soul of either evidentlydesired and could not explain. The reason Aristophanes gave to this need was that humannature was originally one and we were all a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the wholeis cal...
