Love at first sight

If these arrows arrived at the lover's eyes, they would then travel to and 'pierce' his or her heart, overwhelming them with desire and longing (love sickness).

"Love at first sight" was explained as a sudden and immediate beguiling of the lover through the action of these processes, and is illustrated in numerous Greek and Roman works.

It is through the eye that love's wound passes, and I now became a prey to a host of emotions..."[4] Another classical interpretation of the phenomenon of "hunger at first sight" is found in Plato's Symposium (c. 385-370 BC), in Aristophanes' description of the separation of primitive double-creatures into modern men and women and their subsequent search for their missing half: "... when [a lover] ... is fortunate enough to meet his other half, they are both so intoxicated with affection, with friendship, and with love, that they cannot bear to let each other out of sight for a single instant.

The love thus generated is conveyed on bright beams of light from her eyes to his, through which it passes to take up its abode in his heart.

[9] These images of the lover's eyes, the arrows, and the ravages of "love at first sight" continued to be circulated and elaborated upon in the Renaissance and Baroque literature, and play an important role in Western fiction and especially the novel, according to Jean Rousset.

Hillman and Phillips describe it as a desire to express the libidinal attraction of addictive love,[12] inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone.