O carro alegórico

«The soul of man, says Socrates, is not homogeneous, but has three parts, and he compares it to a team which we have to picture as a fighting chariot of the ancient world, with two horses and a charioteer. (...) When Eros enters the equation too, when the tripartite soul begins to love and catches sight of the beloved, the ill-matched team runs completely out of control. The bad horse races away like a beserker, has to be whipped frequently and forcibly restrained, leaving its sides sore and its mouth bleeding, until in the end it humbly obeys the charioteer and, like the good horse, hesitantly and modestly approaches the beloved. Once the beloved is wooed and won he or she, feeling love in return, will allow touching and kissing, and will finally sink down on a bed. And only now, so says Socrates and so writes Plato, "as they lie together, the unruly horse of the lover has something to say to the charioteer on the shared bed, and demands a little enjoyment in return for his many troubles."»


Patrick Süskind, Anthea Bell (trans.), On Love and Death, London: Old Street Publishing, 2006.