Cause Principle Unity

A general account of bonding
adolescent were to give a serious speech about grave matters of state, then
no matter how brilliant the speaker’s oratory, a man of more mature judgement
would become indignant because of the speaker’s arrogance.
Likewise, if an old man were to give a speech full of charming, flattering
and flowering words, this would invite contempt, would sometimes provoke
laughter and would provide an occasion for mockery. Thus, in regard
to the body, to words and to behaviour, one thing is fitting for a married
woman, another for a virgin; one thing for a girl, another for a boy; one
thing for a mature adult, another for an old man; one thing for a soldier,
another for a Roman citizen.
3. The indeterminateness of a bond. I believe that it is not as difficult to make
and to break bonds as it is to identify a bond in the concrete circumstances
in which bonds are referred to the case at hand rather than to nature or to
art. For example, a bond which originates from the body has no specific
location in the body. Consider the eyes and cheeks and mouth by which a
lover feels that he is bound. When these same things are attributed to
another subject in the same proportions, it sometimes happens that they
do not bind in a similar way, and thus the bonds of Cupid are dissolved or
prevented. Why is it that sometimes, when we are consumed by love for a
body which we have seen, the bonds of Cupid vanish when we become
acquainted with that individual’s speech and personality? And thus, you
should understand bonds in the same way in a social setting.
4. The composition of a bond. The bond of Cupid is inferior to the bonds by
which appropriate composite things bind us, and we are in no way forcefully
captured by simple and absolute things. There are those who strongly reject
these latter bonds. They think that God has no beauty in Himself, since his
nature is simple and He does not display any level of composition. However,
it is a matter of faith that God is both the author and the goal of all beauty
and of every bond. Thus, because of the weakness of their minds, these
thinkers have not distinguished between beauty in itself and what is beautiful
to us. Likewise, at the practical level, they do not discern and distinguish
between what is beautiful and reasonable to all men on the one hand,
and what is a matter of custom, practice and opportunity for particular
people on the other hand. As a result, they err in their attempts to bind.
5. The number of bonds. To put the matter generally and firmly, bonds are
the form, the habits and the motions of a body, the consonance of voice and
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