"
It is regulated by the same law as that of love between persons of
different sexes, only it is purely intellectual and spiritual,
unprefaced by any mixture of lower instincts, undisturbed by any need
of consulting temporal interests; its law is the desire of the spirit
to realize a whole, which makes it seek in another being that which it
finds not in itself.
Thus the beautiful seek the strong; the mute seek the eloquent; the
butterfly settles on the dark flower. Why did Socrates so love
Alcibiades? Why did Korner so love Schneider? How natural is the love
of Wallenstein for Max, that of Madame de Stael for de Recamier, mine
for -----! I loved ---- for a time with as much passion as I was then
strong enough to feel. Her face was always gleaming before me; her
voice was echoing in my ear; all poetic thoughts clustered round the
dear image. This love was for me a key which unlocked many a treasure
which I still possess; it was the carbuncle (emblematic gem!) which
cast light into many of the darkest corners of human nature. She loved
me, too, though not so much, because her nature was "less high, less
grave, less large, less deep;" but she loved more tenderly, less
passionately.
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