"In the beginning man considered only the outward appearance of himself and other men and naturally of women too, and likewise women when they were looking at men. But as the process of civilization began and the idea of the spirit was born, because of the strength and activity that the inner part began to acquire and develop, with the inner life and the idea of the spirit gradually equaling in importance the outer life and the idea of the body, then slowly prevailing over it, overwhelming it, so the individual of one sex necessarily began first to take the spirit of the beloved of the other sex into account and then to give it the same importance as he gave the body and finally more importance, at least in a certain sense and a certain way. So to the individual of one sex the lovable object of the other was no longer simply a material object, as previously, but an object made up of spirit and body, a hidden part and a manifest part, and with the passing of time an object more spiritual than material, more hidden and fantasized than manifest and perceived through the senses, more inner than outer. And as those ideas that have to do with the inner, hidden part of man are naturally vague and indefinite, so the idea of the beloved object, considered in the way described, necessarily began to have something mysterious about it, fusing together a consideration of both spirit and body; and as the inner grew in importance with respect to the outer, so the idea of the beloved inevitably became ever more mysterious, until finally it partook more of the mystic, the indefinite, and the vague than the evident and determined. Hence the emotions and ideas that belong to the passion love become more and more indefinite in proportion as man becomes more civilized (and hence no doubt love has become incomparably more pleasurable); so much so that, even though the principle of love remains necessarily the same today as it was for primitive man and as it is among uncivilized people, as it is and always was among animals, that is to say as material and animal as ever, nevertheless by bringing together the spiritual and the material, this passion has become so different in modern man than in primitive man or savages that a love which is truly sentimental doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the love of savages or animals, but to be of a quite different and distinct nature, principle, and origin. And today even the least Platonic and most sensual of loves is still largely and necessarily spiritual in its ideas and feelings, and hence largely imagined and thus vague and indefinite; and in one way or another even the most brutish of people always give considerable importance to a hidden part of the object loved, lovable, or enjoyed, a part that accompanies, animates and strictly belongs to, embraces and is one with, that part, those limbs that they desire, and enjoy, or that they consider lovable and desirable; because that part is indeed there, and is an extremely important element in this beloved object’s being, so that however brutal or insensitive the beloved may also be, the inner life remains an extremely large part of his or her being; and the lover sees this clearly enough every day. I’m speaking here of lovers and their beloveds who, however brutal, uncultured, and mostly closed to the spirit, are nevertheless part of civilized society."
Text: Giacomo Leopardi, Passions (parts of the Zibaldone translated by Tim Parks)
Image: Apes and Monkeys - Their Life and Language (1900)
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