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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: [42] Lit. "of tyrant to achieve," a met. from the chase. Cf.
"Hunting," xii. 22.
Were he my enemy, to wrest some spoil from his unwilling hands would
be an exquisite pleasure, to my thinking. But of all sweet favours the
sweetest to my notion is the free-will offering of a man's beloved.
For instance, how sweet the responsive glance of love for love; how
sweet the questions and the answers;[43] and, most sweet of all, most
love-enkindling, the battles and the strifes of faithful lovers.[44]
But to enjoy[45] one's love perforce (he added) resembles more an act
of robbery, in my judgment, than love's pastime. And, indeed, the
robber derives some satisfaction from the spoils he wins and from the
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