The love that he bore him – for it was really love – had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual. It was not that mere physical admiration of beauty that is born of the senses, and that dies when the senses tire. It was such love as Michelangelo had known, and Montaigne, and Winckelmann, and Shakespeare himself. Yes, Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now…There were passions in him that would find their terrible outlet, dreams that would make the shadow of their evil real.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 10. Dorian speaks about Basil’s love for him in a passage that references its homoerotic nature and the "love that dare not speak its name." Dorian admits that his gentle and caring friend Basil could have saved him from Lord Henry’s influence and from the sins he will surely commit. But now it is too late, he believes, he is well and truly on the path to evil. Dorian’s admission is an acknowledgement that Lord Henry’s influence has triumphed and evil has won.