Each love has its own special sense. The love of seeing resulting from the love of understanding has the sense of sight; its charms are examples of symmetry and beauty. The love of hearing resulting from the love of listening and obeying has the sense of hearing; its charms are harmonies. The love of knowing what pervades the ambient air resulting from the love of perceiving has the sense of smell; its charms are fragrances. The love of feeding oneself resulting from the love of absorbing good and truth has the sense of taste; its pleasures are fine foods. The love of recognising objects arising from the love of awareness of one's surroundings and of self-preservation has the sense of touch; and its charms are being aroused.

The love of linking oneself with a partner arising from the love of uniting good and truth has touch as its special sense, because this is shared by all the other senses and so derives from them their particular roles. It is well known that this love takes all the senses mentioned before into partnership, and makes their charms its own. The sense of touch is specifically assigned to conjugial love and is proper to it, as is evident from all the play it inspires and from the way its subtleties are raised to the most exquisite pitch. I leave it to lovers to pursue this line of thought further.