But surely, I said, he who desires, desires that of which he is in
want?
Yes.
And that of which he is in want is dear to him?
True.
And he is in want of that of which he is deprived?
Certainly.
Then love, and desire, and friendship would appear to be of the
natural or congenial. Such, Lysis and Menexenus, is the inference.
They assented.
Then if you are friends, you must have natures which are congenial
to one another?
Certainly, they both said.
And I say, my boys, that no one who loves or desires another would
ever have loved or desired or affected him, if he had not been in some
way congenial to him, either in his soul, or in his character, or in
his manners, or in his form.
Yes, yes, said Menexenus. But Lysis was silent.
Then, I said, the conclusion is, that what is of a congenial
nature must be loved.
It follows, he said.
Then the lover, who is true and no counterfeit, must of necessity be
loved by his love.
Lysis and Menexenus gave a faint assent to this; and Hippothales
changed into all manner of colours with delight.
Here, intending to revise the argument, I said: Can we point out any
difference between the congenial and the like? For if that is
possible, then I think, Lysis and Menexenus, there may be some sense
in our argument about friendship.
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