By the lust for variety that we take up here, we do not mean the lust to fornicate which we considered in its own chapter.* Even though the latter is usually promiscuous and indiscriminate, still it does not lead to a lust for variety except when it becomes excessive and the fornicator begins to take account of the number and to lustfully boast of it. Attention to this introduces the lust for variety. But what its character is in its progress cannot be clearly perceived unless it is presented in some order, which we will do as follows:

(1) By a lust for variety we mean a lust to fornicate that has become utterly dissolute. (2) This lust involves a love for the opposite sex and at the same time a loathing for it. (3) This lust totally annihilates any conjugial love in it. (4) The lot of these people after death is a miserable one, since the inmost element of life is missing in them.

Explanation of these statements now follows. * See nos. 444[r]ff.