And if holy men are thus to be avoided, lest an offense steal upon the good morals of both, how much more are young men to be fled, who follow the dark ways of temporal life? Whom the devil casts in his way for this purpose, and sets before virginal eyes, that the virgin may meditate by night on the forms of those whom she has seen by day. But if even the reason of the mind contradict this, and spurn such imaginations from the soul, yet the recent sight and bodily inspection presents to the memory the forms which she learned by seeing, so that even if such imagination delight the mind but a little, there will also occur in a dream what she has seen with her eyes. Thus by the arrows of the devil the breast of the virgin is wounded, and a hurtful love is fixed in her heart;
so that what she has remembered by night she desires to see again with love on the morrow. And thus the arrow of Satan enters even to the inmost part of the heart through the gates of the eyes, as the Prophet says: Death has entered through our windows (Jer. IX). For the devil does not creep to the inner parts of the mind except through the senses of the heart. If you see something beautiful that stirs concupiscence, if a base song delight the ears, if a fragrant savor reach the smell, if an enticing taste move the palate, if touch encounter a soft and smooth form, then by sensible delight the allurement of the flesh is moved. For each sex is the work of God. Men are indeed to be loved, as the work of God;