and pleasure arises from perceiving what one loves. When love is strong, the lover’s perception is intense, and reason and discernment are weak, this gives rise to intoxication. Yet weakness of reason sometimes stems from the weakness of the person who loves, and sometimes from the strength of the influence acting upon him. Hence, those new to leadership, wealth, passionate love, or wine experience an intoxication that those accustomed to them and thoroughly familiar with them do not.

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Among the most powerful causes of intoxication is listening to dubious sounds, for two reasons. First, these sounds themselves produce an intense pleasure that overwhelms reason. Second, they stir the soul towards whatever it loves. This stirring, longing, and seeking, together with imagining and picturing the beloved, produce immense pleasures that likewise overpower reason. Thus the pleasures of melody and poignant emotion combine.

This is why listening to melodies is so often accompanied by drinking—whether the drink of bodies, the drink of souls, or the drink of spirits. The latter consists of the words accompanying the sound, which speak of love, the beloved, and their various states. For listening to words provides drink, nourishment, and sustenance for hearts. Thus there come together