Socrates meets Phaedrus outside the walls of Athens one morning. Phaedrus says that he has spent the night listening to a speech by Lysias, a famous Athenian. Phaedrus invites Socrates to walk with him and listen to Lysias’s speech as he remembers it. Socrates immediately accepts, declaring that his high regard for Lysias makes his speech a matter of the highest importance to him. Phaedrus calls Lysias “the best writer living” (22). Phaedrus reveals that the topic of their conversation was love. Lysias had apparently argued that “an admirer who is not in love is to be preferred to one who is” (22). Socrates discovers that Phaedrus is holding a written copy of the speech and is glad to be able to hear Lysias’s words themselves. The two decide to walk along the Ilissus River to find a suitable place to sit and read.

Phaedrus digresses by asking whether an ancient myth about the Ilissus is factual or imaginary. Socrates, when asked if he believes, suggests that the myth can be explained by more realistic means. However, he says, even if one can rationalize this myth, how can one go on to account for all the other myths— especially those that involve more fantastic creatures or events? Socrates concludes that until a man knows his own self better he should let these more frivolous questions wait.