Letter 152: Believe me when I say that I embrace Pylaemenes — soul to soul.

To Pylaemenes. Believe me when I say that I embrace Pylaemenes — soul to soul. Words fail me to express the fullness of my heart's desire. I cannot even explain to myself the nature of this bond between us. It is not ordinary friendship — it is something deeper, something that philosophy has planted and nurtured, and that separation has only strengthened.

Letter 152: The Definition of Love [1] To Pylaemenes Believe me that I embrace Pylaemenes, very soul and very soul. Words fail me wherewith I may pour out the fullness of my heart's desire, or rather I cannot explain, even to myself, the nature of the sentiments that I feel for you. [2] But there was one man at least who was extraordinary in all knowledge of Love. That was Plato the Athenian , the son of Ariston, so happy in discovering, and pleasant in describing the nature of the lover and also his desires in regard to the beloved. It is he, therefore, who shall discover and describe me. The man who loves, he said, would fain be melted by the art of Hephaestus, and so completely united with the beloved object, that two would become one. note [Plato, Symposium 192D.]