Pagina 170 di 734

Now of lusts or desires some are thought to be universal, others

peculiar and acquired; thus desire for food is natural since

every one who really needs desires also food, whether solid or

liquid, or both (and, as Homer says, the man in the prime of

youth needs and desires intercourse with the other sex); but when

we come to this or that particular kind, then neither is the

desire universal nor in all men is it directed to the same

objects. And therefore the conceiving of such desires plainly

attaches to us as individuals. It must be admitted, however, that

there is something natural in it: because different things are

pleasant to different men and a preference of some particular

objects to chance ones is universal.