perhaps I should neglect all I have to
do, and sit and gaze at her for ever."

[9] At that the young man laughed outright and said:

"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel
a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of
beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns
all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of
beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every
man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he
chooses to love. The brother is not enamoured of his own sister, nor the
father of his own daughter; some other man must be the lover. Reverence
and law are strong enough to break the heart of passion. [11] But if a
law were passed saying, 'Eat not, and thou shalt not starve; Drink not,
and thou shalt not thirst; Let not cold bite thee in winter nor heat
inflame thee in summer,' I say there is no law that could compel us to
obey; for it is our nature to be swayed by these forces. But love is
voluntary; each man loves to himself alone, and according as he chooses,
just as he chooses his cloak or his sandals."

[12] "Then," said Cyrus, "if love be voluntary, why cannot a man cease
to love when he wishes? I have seen men in love," said he, "who have
wept for very agony, who were the very slaves of those they loved,
though before the fever took them they thought slavery the worst of
evils. I have seen them make gifts of what they ill could spare, I have
seen them praying, yes, praying, to be rid of their passion, as though
it were any other malady, and yet unable to shake it off; they were
bound hand and foot by a chain of something stronger than iron. There
they stood at the beck and call of their idols, and that without rhyme
or reason; and yet, poor slaves, they make no attempt to run away, in
spite of all they suffer; on the contrary, they mount guard over their
tyrants, for fear these should escape."

[13] But the young man spoke in answer: "True," he said, "there are such
men, but they are worthless scamps, and that is why, though they are
always praying to die and be put out of their misery and though ten
thousand avenues lie open by which to escape from life, they never
take one of them. These are the very men who are prepared to steal and
purloin the goods of others, and yet you know yourself, when they do it,
you are the first to say stealing is not done under compulsi