Plato and Socrato chatting
And the man who has the spirit of harmony will be most
in love with the loveliest; but he will not love him
who is of an inharmonious soul?
That is true, he replied, if the deficiency be in his
soul; but if there be any merely bodily defect in
another he will be patient of it, and will love
all the same.
I perceive, I said, that you have or have had
experiences of this sort, and I agree. But let me ask
you another question: Has excess of pleasure any
affinity to temperance?
How can that be? he replied; pleasure deprives a man
of the use of his faculties quite as much as pain.
Or any affinity to virtue in general?
None whatever.
Any affinity to wantonness and intemperance?
Yes, the greatest.
And is there any greater or keener pleasure than that
of sensual love?
No, nor a madder.
Whereas true love is a love of beauty and
order–temperate and harmonious?
Quite true, he said.
Then no intemperance or madness should be allowed to
approach true love?
Certainly not.
Then mad or intemperate pleasure must never be allowed
to come near the lover and his beloved; neither of
them can have any part in it if their
love is of the right sort?
No, indeed, Socrates, it must never come near them.
*lifted from elbf
*love between 2 men