the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the
reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful
one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and
brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and
loss of his property. The rules and proprieties of life, on which
he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep
like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his
beautiful one, who is not only the object of his worship, but the
only physician who can heal him in his extreme agony."

These passages show how real and vital was the passion of Greek love. It
would be difficult to find more intense expressions of affection in
modern literature. The effect produced upon the lover by the presence of
his beloved was similar to that inspiration which the knight of romance
received from his lady.

"I know not," says Phaedrus, in the _Symposium_ of Plato,[14] "any
greater blessing to a young man beginning life than a virtuous
lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle
which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that
principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any
other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I
speaking? Of the sense of honour and dishonour, without which
neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And
I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act,
or submitting, through cowardice, when any dishonour is done to him
by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved
than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any
one else. The beloved, too, when he is seen in any disgraceful
situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were
only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made
up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors
of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour; and emulating one
another in honour; and when fighting at one another's side,
although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what
lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his
beloved, either when abandoning his post, or throwing away his
arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure