" But in the opinion of the classical ages, a beautiful soul
was only to be found in the body of a man; woman belonged to the lower,
animal spheres; she was destined for the pleasure of the senses and the
propagation of the race. Plato's theory of ideas is the philosophical
victory of the male-spiritual principle over nature, matter and their
warden: woman. (Perhaps it is even the revenge of the Greek genius for
man's original enslavement.) "Love between men," continues the seer,
"forms a stronger tie, a closer friendship, than love between parents
and children; it has a mutual share in children which are immortal and
far more beautiful than the children of men." She teaches Socrates that
this noble love is at the root of all the magnificent creations of the
spirit, as carnal love is the origin of human life. "Until he becomes
aware that the beauty of all bodies is closely related, a man must love
an individual with all his heart. If a man will follow after beauty, he
is foolish not to conceive the beauty of all bodies as one and the same.
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