Is love still a part of the good life?

Aristotle has thought about love as an important part of Eudaimonia, the good life, but surprisingly enough it was Plato who provided us with the most significant elaboration for why love would be a part of the good life. In his famous Symposium Phaedrus opens the dialogue with the claim that Eros is the oldest of gods. The lover, says Phaedrus, wants to earn the admiration of the beloved, by showing bravery in war and in the battlefield, since nothing shames a man more than to be seen by his beloved committing an inglorious act. A handful of lovers being watched by their own beloved would be an invincible army and would defeat the whole world. Lovers find in themselves the most sublime impulse to sacrifice, for the sake of being admired by their beloved. (Achilles sacrificed himself for the revenge of his lover Patrocles, and Alcestis sacrificed and gave her own life to let her husband Admetus live). In short, and in the conclusion of Phaedrus’s speech, love is the most honored and powerful god in helping man gaining honor and blessedness.