Gallery
Featured196
Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary (Chapter 5) by Trovo7, literature
Literature
Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary (Chapter 5)
CHAPTER 5
LOVE
Love omnimus idem. We must resort to images. Love is the tow of nature embroidered by the imagination. Do you want to have an idea of love? Look at the birds in your garden. Look at your sparrows. Look at the ram that is leading the ewe. Admire that superb horse that is leading the mare that, passively, waits for him and moves her tail to receive him. Observe how his eyes flash. Listen to his neighs. Admire! Those leaps, those curves, those pricked ears, that mouth that opens with slight convulsions, those flared nostrils puffing inflamedly, that mane that stands up and flutters, the imperious movement with which he throws himself upon the object that nature destined for him.
But do not envy them. Think of the advantages of the human species, which counterbalance strength, beauty, lightness, impetuosity – all the attributes that nature has endowed irrational beings with.
There are animals that do not know pleasure. Scaled fish lack this pleasure. The female lays