Page:Essays, Moral and Political - David Hume (1741).djvu/77

 are never at Rest in this Situation; but each of these Halves is continually searching thro' the whole Species to find the other Half, which was broken from it: And when they meet, they join again with the greatest Fondness and Sympathy. But it often happens, that they are mistaken in this Particular; that they take for their Half what no Way corresponds to them; and that the Parts do not meet nor join in with each other, as is usual in Fractures. In this Case the Union is soon dissolv'd, and each Part is set loose again to hunt for its lost Half, joining itself to every one it meets by Way of Trial, and enjoying no Rest, till its perfect Sympathy with its Partner shews that it has at last been successful in its Endeavours.

I dispos'd to carry on this Fiction of Plato, which accounts for the mutual Love betwixt the Sexes in so agreeable a Manner, I wou'd do it by the following Allegory.

Jupiter had separated the Male from the Female, and had quell'd their Pride and Ambition by so severe an Operation, he cou'd not but repent him of the Cruelty of his Ven-