For the "fallen sister," as she thought ofher, had soon become a pro- tegee, in whom Diotima was moved to take an especially active inter- est because her own situation made her see the ignoble mystery of nymphomania as a kind of female sword of
which, she said, might hang by a thin thread even over the head of a vestal vir- gin.
Musil - Man Without Qualities - v2
