Dialogues of Love

[de]lightful things The word begins from the previous page's catchword "delettabili." have this property: that once they are possessed, just as the desire for them ceases, so too, most of the time, does the love for them; and many times it turns into disgust and loathing. This is because one who is hungry or thirsty, after he is satiated, no longer desires to eat or drink; rather, it becomes offensive to him. The same occurs in other things that provide material delight, because with a tiresome satiety The state of being fed or gratified beyond capacity, leading to boredom or disgust., the desire for them likewise ceases, so that in delightful things, both love and desire live and die together. It is true, however, that among delightful things one finds some intemperate People who lack self-control and indulge in pleasures to excess. people—just as they are found among the "useful" things—who are never satisfied, nor do they ever seek to be satisfied. Such are the gluttons, the drunkards, and the lecherous, who dislike satiety and quickly return anew to the desire and love of those things, or rather to the desire of others of that same kind.

The desire for such delightful things is properly called appetite, just as the desire for useful things is called ambition or cupidity An eager or excessive desire, especially for money or possessions.. The excess of desiring these things which give specific delight, and the dwelling in them, is called luxury original: "lussuria"; in this context, it refers to excessive indulgence in any sensory pleasure, not just sexual lust., which may be true carnal lust, or gluttony, or other superfluous delicacies, or undue softness. Those who nourish themselves in such vices are called lechers; and when reason resists the vice in some part, even if it is overcome by it, then such vicious people are called incontinent From the Greek "akrasia": knowing what is right but lacking the will to do it.. But those who abandon reason entirely, without seeking to resist the vicious habit in any part, are called intemperate original: "distemparati"; those who have lost the ability to even recognize what is right, having been entirely corrupted by habit.. And just as this extreme of luxury is found in de[lightful things...]