ABSTRACT
It is as a rule the principal theme of all dramatic works, tragic as well as comic, romantic as well as classical, Indian as well as European. And the most successful depictions of it, such as Romeo and Juliet, La Nouvelle Hloise, Werther, have achieved immortal fame. It is Plato who has been the most concerned with this topic, especially in the Symposium and in the Phaedrus; yet what he says about it is limited to the domain of myths, fables, and jokes, and for the most part concerns only the Greek love of boys. For love, however ethereal it may be in its bearing, is always rooted solely in the sex drive, indeed, and is altogether only a case of more precisely determined, specialized, and indeed in the strictest sense individualized sex drive. To the contrary, when their love is not reciprocated, those who are deeply in love are easily satisfied with possession, i.e., physical enjoyment.
