96. Conjugial love is peculiar to mankind because only a human being can become spiritual. For a human being can raise his understanding above his natural loves and from that elevation view them beneath him, make judgments about their character, and also correct, discipline, and remove them. No animal can do this because its loves are inseparable from its instinctive knowledge, and this knowledge cannot therefore be raised into intelligence, and still less into wisdom. Consequently an animal is carried along by the love enrooted in its knowledge, like a blind man being led through the streets by his dog. It is because of this that conjugial love is peculiar to mankind. It may even be said to be native or indigenous to mankind, because mankind possesses a capacity for becoming wise, a capacity with which this love is united.