Dialogues of Love

...to place love. The text begins mid-sentence, completing the thought from the previous page: "...in which [one could] place love."

SOPHIA. I have heard your discourse, which pleases me greatly; but I see many things that have their own real being, and when we do not have them, we desire them, but we do not love them until they are obtained. At that point they are loved and no longer desired—such as wealth, a house, a vineyard, or a jewel. While these are in the power of others, they are desired and not loved because they belong to another; but once they are acquired, and the desire for them ceases, love is placed in them. Thus, before they are acquired, they are only desired and not loved, and after they are acquired, they are only loved and not desired.

PHILO. In this, you have spoken the truth. I do not say that all desired things (which have their own being) are also loved; rather, I have affirmed that those which are desired must likewise have their own being original: essere proprio. Philo distinguishes between things that exist in reality versus those that exist only in the imagination., because otherwise, even if they are desired, they cannot be loved. For this reason, I did not give you the example of a jewel or a house, but of virtue, wisdom, or a worthy person; for these, when they are lacking, are likewise loved and desired.

SOPHIA. Tell me the cause of this difference found among desired things that have their own being: why can some of those be loved while they are desired, and some cannot?

PHILO. The cause and the difference lie in the nature of lovable things, which (as you know) are of three kinds: Useful, Delectable, and Honorable original: Utili, Delettabili, & honeſte. These categories are derived from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, defining the three reasons why humans value or love something.. These relate differently to love and to desire.

SOPHIA. Declare to me the difference between them—that is, between loving and desiring—and so that I may better understand you, I would like you to provide a definition.