Let him show in addition that love is not sent from heaven for the advantage of lover and beloved alike, and we will grant him the prize of victory. Not only the shapes but also the sounds of primitive instruments are often rich in symbolism. The sound of the flute, for example, is widely associated with love magic . In some cultures, instrument symbolism is highly developed. The whistling of a flute connotes sexual invitation , while vibration , represented by such instruments as the indigenous clarinet and the bull-roarer, symbolizes a warning or threat .
Percussive sounds produced by drums and various rattles symbolize the uniting of male and female .
And there is a law of Destiny, that the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with a god is preserved from harm until the next period, and if attaining always is always unharmed. And from both of them together the soul is oppressed at the strangeness of her condition, and is in a great strait and excitement , and in her madness can neither sleep by night nor abide in her place by day. In the description of the last kind of madness , which was also said to be the best , we spoke of the affection of love in a figure, into which we introduced a tolerably credible and possibly true though partly erring myth, which was also a hymn in honour of Love, who is your lord and also mine, Phaedrus, and the guardian of fair children, and to him we sung the hymn in measured and solemn strain. The prophets said that Jesus would not cry out to attract the crowds and Jesus did not.