Fragment 31 of Sappho shows how beauty can be a source of suffering. In this fragment, beauty does not generate desire but pain, dizziness, and palpitations. A man of godlike beauty does not generate carnal desire because he represents perfection, and perfection generates fear, confusion, and the other states that Sappho describes in Fragment 31. Sappho does not speak of carnal desire or sexual excitement, but of physical and spiritual suffering. The imperfect, the monstrous, the deformed, the uncommon, and the sinful — understood as the highest form of spiritual imperfection — generate the desire of the flesh. Fragment 31. He seems to me the equal of the gods, that man who sits facing you, and, close beside you, listens and speaks sweetly, and laughs with irresistible charm. Indeed, that has set my heart trembling within my breast. For whenever I look upon you, even for a moment, my voice no longer comes to me; my tongue is broken; at once a subtle fire runs beneath my sk...
La verdad debe ser desvelada; no es evidente por sí misma, pues, como dice Heráclito, «la naturaleza ama ocultarse». Descubrir la verdad requiere una adaequatio entre quien la busca y el kairós (καιρός), el momento oportuno. En otras palabras, la verdad solo se revela cuando ella misma consiente en salir a la luz. χρόνῳ δὲ παντάπασιν ὀλίγῳ διακαλύπτεται τὰ τοιαῦτα στρατηγήματα, τῆς φύσεως οὐκ ἀεὶ κρύπτεσθαι φιλούσης ἀλλ᾽, ὁπόταν καιρὸς ᾖ, τὸ ἴδιον κάλλος ἀναφαινούσης ἀηττήτοις δυνάμεσιν [Filón de Alejandría, De Specialibus Legibus IV, 51 (V, p. 220 Cohn)] «Pero, al cabo de muy poco tiempo, tales estratagemas quedan completamente al descubierto, pues la naturaleza no ama permanecer siempre oculta; antes bien, cuando llega el momento oportuno (καιρός), manifiesta su propia belleza mediante fuerzas irresistibles.»