Owned to a penchant, though discreet, for beauty.
LXXXVI.
And girls of sixteen are thus far Socratic,
But innocently so, as Socrates;
And really, if the Sage sublime and Attic
At seventy years had phantasies like these,
Which Plato in his dialogues dramatic
Has shown, I know not why they should displease
In virgins—always in a modest way,
Observe,—for that with me's a sine quâ.[760]