Part 4, line 190a to 196a Summary

Aristophanes says that in the beginning, man is a creature with four legs, one head and two faces opposite each other. There are three types of these creatures— a double male, double female, and male-female, also known as the androgynous type. These creatures are so powerful they make war on the gods and the gods decide to divide the human beings into halves so they have to walk upright. The gods turn the human face around so they can see the gash where their other half used to be. The extra skin forms the belly button. Human beings are supposed to have a subconscious or unconscious memory of this. The gods have mercy and make some changes because they suffer greatly and may die out. The gods put the genitals in the front of...