from the ,google ,print project47 ,by ,mr4 ,saltus ,,mary ,,magdalen ,,the ,,pomps ,,of ,,satan ,,imperial ,,purple ,,the ,,anatomy ,,of ,,negation ,,the ,,perfume ,,of ,,eros ,,vanity ,,square ,,historia ,,amoris ,a ,history of ,love ,ancient and ,modern ,by ,,edgar ,,saltus ,,new ,,york ,,mitchell ,,kennerley ,,mcmvi ,copyright #aijf ,by ,,edgar ,,saltus ,,historia ,,amoris ,,part ,,one ,i ,super ,flumina ,babylonis #a ,,ii ,the ,curtains of ,solomon #aj ,,iii ,aphrodite ,urania #bh ,,iv ,sappho #da ,v ,the ,age of ,aspasia #ec ,,vi ,the ,banquet #fe ,,vii ,roma-,amor #ge ,,viii ,antony and ,cleopatra #hg ,,ix ,the ,imperial ,orgy #ig ,x ,finis ,amoris #aaj ,,part ,,two ,i ,the ,cloister and the ,heart #abe ,,ii ,the ,pursuivants of ,love #ach ,,iii ,the ,parliaments of ,joy #aej ,,iv ,the ,doctors of the ,gay ,science #afd ,v ,the ,apotheosis #agg ,,vi ,bluebeard #aia ,,vii ,the ,renaissance #aih ,,viii ,love in the ,seventeenth ,century #bac ,,ix ,love in the ,eighteenth ,century #bcg ,x ,the ,law of ,attraction #bea ,,historia ,,amoris ,part ,one ,,part ,i ,i ,,super ,,flumina ,,babylonis ,the first created thing was light4 ,then life came1 then death4 ,in between was fear4 ,but not love4 ,love was absent4 ,in ,eden there was none4 ,adam and ,eve emerged there adult4 ,the phases of the delicate fever which others in paradise since have experienced1 left them unaffected4 ,instead of the reluctances and attractions1 the hesitancies and aspirations1 the preliminary and common conflagrations which are the beginnings1 as they are also the sacraments1 of love1 abruptly they were one4 ,they were married before they were mated4 ,the union1 entirely allegoric--a ,persian conceit--differed1 otherwise1 only in the poetry of the accessories from that which elsewhere actually occurred4 ,primitive man was necessarily speechless1 probably simian1 and certainly hideous4 ,women1 if possible more hideous still1 were joined by him momentarily and immediately forgot4 ,ultimately1 into the desolate poverty of the rudimentary brain there crept a novelty4 ,the novelty was an idea4 ,women were detained1 kept in lairs1 made to serve there4 ,further novelties ensuing1 creatures that had learned from birds to talk passed from animality4 ,subsequent progress originated in a theory that they were very clearly entitled to whatever was not taken away from them4 ,from that theory all institutions proceed1 primarily that of family4 ,in the beginning of things woman was common property4 ,with individual ownership came the necessity of defence4 ,man defended woman against even herself4 ,he beat her1 stoned her1 killed her4 ,from the massacre of myriads1 constancy resulted4 ,with it came the home3 a hut in a forest1 a fort on a hill1 in the desert a tent1 yet1 wherever situated1 surrounded by foes4 ,the foes were the elements4 ,in the thunderclap was their anger4 ,in the rustle of leaves their threats4 ,they were placatable1 however4 ,they could be appeased1 as human beings are1 by giving them something4 ,usually the gift was the sacrifice of whatever the owner cared for most2 in later days it was love1 pleasure1 sense1 but in these simpler times1 when humanity knew nothing of pleasure1 less of love1 and had no sense1 when the dominant sensation was fright1 when every object had its spectre1 it was accomplished by the immolation of whatever the individual would have liked to have had given to him4 ,as intelligence developed1 distinctions necessarily arose between the animate and the inanimate1 the imaginary and the real4 ,instead of attributing a malignant spirit to every element1 the forces of nature were conglomerated1 the earth became an object of worship1 the sun another1 that being insufficient they were united in nuptials from which the gods were born--demons from whom descended kings that were sons of heaven and sovereigns of the world4 ,in the process1 man1 who had begun by being a brute1 succeeded in becoming a lunatic only to develop into a child4 ,the latter evolution was1 at the time1 remote4 ,only lunatics abounded4 ,but lunatics may dream4 ,these did4 ,their conceptions produced after-effects curiously profound1 widely disseminated1 which1 first elaborated by ,chaldan seers1 ,nineveh emptied into ,babylon4 ,babylon1 ,queen of the ,orient1 beckoned by ,semiramis out of myth1 was made by her after her image4 ,that image was passion4 ,the city1 equivocal and immense1 brilliant as the sun1 a lighthouse in the surrounding night1 was a bazaar of beauty4 ,from the upper reaches of the ,euphrates1 through great gates that were never closed1 ,armenia poured her wines where already ,nineveh had emptied her rites4 ,in the conjunction were festivals that magnetized the stranger from afar4 ,at the very gates ,babylon yielded to him her daughters4 ,he might be a herder1 a bedouin1 a bondman2 indifferently the voluptuous city embraced him1 lulled him with the myrrh and cassia of her caresses1 sheltering him and all others that came in the folds of her monstrous robe4 ,in emptying rites into this furnace ,nineveh also projected her gods1 the princes of the ,chaldan sky1 the lords of the ghostland1 that1 in patient perversities1 her seers had devised4 ,four thousand of them ,babylon swallowed1 digested1 reproduced4 ,some were nebulous1 some were saurian1 many were horrible1 all were impure4 ,but1 chiefly1 there was ,ishtar4 ,semiramis conquered the world4 ,ishtar set it on fire4 ,ishtar1 whom ,st4 ,jerome generically and graphically described as the ,dea ,meretrix1 was known in ,babylon as ,mylitta4 ,gesenius1 ,schrader1 ,mnter1 particularly ,quinet1 have told of the mysteries1 ,asiatically monstrous1 navely displayed1 through which she passed1 firing the trade routes with the flame of her face1 adding ,tyrian purple and ,arabian perfumes to her incandescent robe1 trailing it from shore to shore1 enveloping kingdoms and satrapies in her fervid embrace1 burning them with the fever of her kisses1 burning them so thoroughly1 to such ashes1 that to-day barely the memory of their names endures2 multiplying herself meanwhile1 lingering there where she had seemed to pass1 developing from a goddess into a pantheon1 becoming ,astarte in ,syria1 ,tanit in ,carthage1 ,ashtaroth in ,canaan1 ,anatis in ,armenia1 yet remaining always love1 or1 more exactly1 what was love in those days4 ,in ,babylon1 fronting her temple was a grove in which were dove-cotes1 cisterns1 conical stones--the emblems of her worship4 ,beyond were little tents before which girls sat1 chapleted with cords1 burning bran for perfume1 awaiting the will of the first that put a coin in their lap and in the name of the goddess invited them to her rites4 ,acceptance was obligatory4 ,it was obligatory on all women to stop in the grove at least once4 ,herodotus1 from whom these details are taken1 said that the sojourn of those that were fair was brief1 but others less favored lingered vainly1 insulted by the former as they left4#a ,herodotus is father of history2 perhaps too1 father of lies4 ,but later ,strabo substantiated his story4 ,there is anterior evidence in the ,bible4 ,there is antecedent testimony on a ,nineveh brick4 ,there is the further corroboration of ,justinus1 of ,st4 ,augustin1 and of ,eusebius regarding similar rites in ,armenia1 in ,phoenicia1 in ,syria1 wherever ,ishtar passed4#b ,the forms of the ceremony and the duration of it varied1 but the worship1 always the same1 was identical with that of the ,hindu bayaderes1 the ,kama-dasi1 literally servants of love1 more exactly servants of lust1 who1 for hire1 yielded themselves to any comer1 and whose dishonorarium the clergy took4 ,from ,phoenicia the worship passed to ,greece4 ,among local articles of commerce were girls with whom the ,phoenicians furnished harems4 ,one of their agencies was at ,cythera4 ,from the adjacent waters ,venus was rumored to have emerged4 ,the rumor had truth for basis4 ,but the emergence occurred in the form of a stone brought there on a ,phoenician galley4 ,the fact1 cited by ,maximus ,tyrius1 numismatics confirm4 ,on the old coins of ,paphos it was as a stone that ,venus appeared1 a stone emblematic and phallic1 similar to those that stood in the ,babylon grove4 ,venus was even otherwise ,phoenician4 ,in ,semitic speech girls were called benoth1 and at ,carthage the tents in which the worship occurred were termed succoth benoth4 ,in old texts ,b was frequently changed to ,v4 ,from benoth came venoth and the final theta being pronounced1 as was customary1 like sigma1 venos resulted and so appears on a ,roman medal1 that of ,julia ,augusta1 wife of ,septimius ,severus1 where ,venus is written ,venos4 ,meanwhile on the banks of the ,indus the stone reappeared4 ,posterior to the ,vedic hymns1 it is not mentioned in them4 ,instead is the revelation of a being purer than purity1 excelling excellence1 dwelling apart from life1 apart from death1 ineffably in the solitudes of space4 ,he alone was4 ,the gods were not yet4 ,they1 the earth1 the sky1 the forms of matter and of man1 slept in the depths of the ideal1 from which at his will they arose4 ,that will was love4 ,the ,mahabhrata is its history4 ,there1 succeeding the clamor of primal life1 come the songs of shepherds1 the footfall of apsaras1 the murmur of rhapsodies1 of kisses and harps4 ,the pages turn to them4 ,then follow eremites in their hermitages1 rajahs in their palaces1 chiefs in their chariots1 armies of elephants and men1 seas of blood1 gorgeous pomps1 gigantic flowers1 marvels and enchantments4 ,above1 on thrones of lotos and gold1 are the serene and apathetic gods1 limitless in power1 complete in perfection1 unalterable in felicity1 needing nothing1 having all4 ,evil may not approach them4 ,nonexistent in infinity1 evil is circumscribed within the halls of time4 ,the appanage of the gods was love1 its revelation light4 ,that light must have been too pure4 ,subsequent theology decomposed it4 ,in its stead was provided a glare intolerably crude that disclosed divinities approachable in deliriums of disorder1 in unions from which reason had fled1 to which love could not come1 and on which1 in a sort of radiant imbecility1 idols semi-,chaldan1 polycephalous1 hundred-armed1 obese1 monstrous1 revolting1 stared with unseeing eyes4 ,in the ,vedas there is much that is absurd and more that is puerile4 ,the ,mahabhrata is a fairy-tale1 interminable and very dull4 ,but in none of these works is there any sanction of the pretensions of a priesthood to degrade4 ,it was in the name of waters that slake1 of fire that purifies1 of air that regenerates1 of gods dwelling not in images but in infinity1 that love was invoked4 ,it was in poetry1 not in perversions1 that marriage occurred4 ,in the ,laws of ,manu marriage is defined as the union of celestial musicians1--music then as now being regarded as the food of love4 ,the ,buddhist ,scriptures contain passages that were said to charm the birds and beasts4 ,in the ,vedas there are passages which1 if a soudra overheard1 the ignominy of his caste was abolished4 ,the poetry that resided in them1 a poetry often childish1 but primal1 preceding the ,pentateuch1 purer than it1 chronologically anterior to ,chaldan aberrations1 ,brahmanism deformed into rites that sanctified vice and did so1 on a theory common to many faiths1 that the gods demand the surrender of whatever is most dear1 if it be love that must be sacrificed1 if it be decency that must be renounced4 ,the latter refinement which ,chalda invented1 and ,india retained1 ,juda reviled4 ,,ii ,,the ,,curtains ,,of ,,solomon ,in the deluge women must have been swept wholly away4 ,if not1 then they became beings to whom genealogy was indifferent4 ,the long list of ,noah's descendants1 which ,genesis provides1 contains no mention of them4 ,when ultimately they reappear1 their consistency is that of silhouettes4 ,it is as though they belonged to an inferior order4 ,historically they did4 ,woman was not honored in ,juda4 ,the patriarch was chieftain and priest4 ,his tent was visited by angels1 occasionally by creatures less beatific4 ,in spite of the terrible pomps that surrounded the advent of the decalogue1 there subsisted for his eternal temptation the furnace of ,moloch and ,baal's orgiastic nights4 ,these things--in themselves corruptions of ,chaldan ceremonies--woman personified4 ,woman incarnated sin4 ,it was she who had invented it4 ,to ,ecclesiasticus1 the evil of man excelled her virtue4 ,to ,moses1 she was dangerously impure4 ,in ,leviticus1 her very birth was a shame4 ,to ,solomon1 she was more bitter than death4 ,as a consequence1 the attitude of woman generally was as elegiac as that of ,jephthah's daughter4 ,when she appeared it was but to vanish4 ,in betrothals there was but a bridegroom that asked and a father that gave4 ,the bride was absent or silent4 ,as a consequence1 also1 the heroine was rare4 ,of the great nations of antiquity1 ,israel produced fewer notable women than any other4 ,yet1 that1 it may be1 was by way of precaution1 in order to reserve the strength of a people for the presentation of one who1 transcending all1 was to reign in heaven to the genuflections of the earth4 ,meanwhile1 conjointly with ,baal and ,moloch1 ,ishtar--known locally as ,ashtaroth--circumadjacently ruled4 ,at a period when these abstractions were omnipresent1 when their temples were thronged1 when their empires seemed built for all time1 the ,hebrew prophets1 who continuously reviled them1 foretold that they would pass and with them the gods1 dogmas1 states that they sustained4 ,so promptly were the prophecies fulfilled that they must have sounded like the heraldings of the judgment of ,god4 ,but it may be that foreknowledge of the future rested on a consciousness of the past4 ,there1 in the desert1 had stood a bedouin preparing the tenets of a creed2 in the remoter past a shadow in which there was lightning1 then the splendor of the first dawn where the future opened like a book1 and1 in that grammar of the eternal1 the promise of an age of gold4 ,through the echo of succeeding generations came the rumor of the impulse that drew the world in its flight4 ,the bedouin had put the desert behind him and stared at another1 the sea4 ,as he passed1 the land leaped into life4 ,there were tents and passions1 clans not men1 an aggregate of forces in which the unit disappeared4 ,for chieftain there was ,might and1 above1 were the subjects of impersonal verbs1 the ,elohim1 from whom the thunder came1 the rain1 darkness and light1 death and birth1 dream too1 nightmare as well4 ,the clans migrated4 ,goshen called4 ,in its heart ,chalda spoke4 ,the ,elohim vanished and there was ,el1 the one great god and ,isra-el1 the great god's elect4 ,from heights that lost themselves in immensity1 the ineffable name1 incommunicable1 and never to be pronounced1 was seared by forked flames on a tablet of stone4 ,a nation learned that ,el was ,jehovah1 that they were in his charge1 that he was omnipotent1 that the world was theirs4 ,they had a law1 a covenant1 a deity and1 as they passed into the lands of the well beloved1 the moon became their servant1 to aid them the sun stood still4 ,the terror of ,sinai gleamed from their breast-plates4 ,men could not see their faces and live4 ,they encroached and conquered4 ,they had a home1 then a capital1 where ,david founded a line of kings and ,solomon1 the city of ,god4 ,solomon1 typically satrapic1 living in what then was splendor2 surrounded by peacocks and peris2 married to the daughter of a ,pharaoh1 married to many another as well2 the husband of seven hundred queens1 the pasha of three hundred favorites1 doing1 as perhaps a poet may1 only what pleased him1 capricious as potentates are1 voluptuous as sovereigns were1 on his blazing throne and particularly in his aromatic harem1 presented a spectacle strange in ,israel1 wholly ,babylonian1 thoroughly sultanesque4 ,to local austerity his splendor was an affront1 his seraglio a sin1 the memory of both became odious1 and in the ,song of ,songs1 which1 canonically1 was attributed to him1 but which the higher criticism has shown to be an anonymous work1 that contempt was expressed4 ,something else was expressed4 ,the ,song of ,songs is the gospel of love4 ,humanity at the time was sullen when not base4 ,nowhere was there love4 ,the anterior stories of ,jacob and ,rachel1 of ,rebekah and ,isaac1 of ,boaz and ,ruth1 are little novels1 subsequently evolved1 concerning people that had lived long before and probably never lived at all4 ,to scholars they are wholly fabulous4 ,even otherwise1 these legends do not1 when analyzed1 disclose love4 ,ruth herself with her magnificent phrase--,where thou goest1 ,i will go2 and where thou lodgest1 ,i will lodge2 thy people shall be my people1 and thy ,god my ,god1--does not display it4 ,historically its advent is in the ,song of ,songs4 ,the poem1 perhaps originally a pastoral in dialogue form1 but more probably a play1 has1 for central situation1 the love of a peasant for a shepherd1 a love tender and true1 stronger than death1 stronger at least than a monarch's will4 ,the scene1 laid three thousand years ago in ,solomon's seraglio1 represents the triumph of constancy over corruption1 the constancy of a girl1 unique in her day1 who resisted a king1 preferring a hovel to his harem4 ,in an epoch more frankly unmoral than any of which history has cognizance1 this girl1 a native of ,shulam1 very simple1 very ignorant1 necessarily unrefined1 possessed1 through some miracle1 that instinctive exclusiveness which1 subsequently disseminated and ingrained1 refurbished the world4 ,she was the usher of love4 ,the ,song of ,songs1 interpreted mystically by the ,church and profanely by scholars1 is therefore sacred4 ,it is the first evangel of the heart4 ,from the existing text1 the original plan1 and with it the original meaning1 have disappeared4 ,many exegetes1 notably ,ewald1 have demonstrated that the disappearance is due to manipulations and omissions1 and many others1 ,renan in particular1 have attempted reconstructions4 ,the version here given is based on his4#c ,from it a few expressions1 no longer in conformity with modern taste1 and several passages1 otherwise redundant1 have been omited4 ,by way of proem it may be noted that the ,shulamite1 previously abducted from her native village--a hamlet to the north of ,jerusalem--is supposed to be forcibly brought into the presence of the king where1 however1 she has thought only of her lover4 ,,the ,,songs ,,of ,,songs4 ,,act ,i4 ,,solomon1 ,,in ,,all ,,his ,,glory1 ,,surrounded ,,by ,,his ,,seraglio ,,and ,,his ,,guards4 ,,an ,,odalisque ,let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth4 ,,chorus ,,of ,,odalisques ,thy love is better than delicious wine4 ,thy name is ointment poured forth4 ,therefore do we love thee4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7forcibly introduced1 speaking to her absent lover47 ,the ,king hath brought me into his chamber4 ,draw me away1 we will go together4 ,,the ,,odalisques 7to ,,solomon47 ,the upright love thee4 ,we will be glad and rejoice in thee4 ,we will remember thy love more than wine4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7to the ,,odalisques47 ,i am black but comely1 ,o ye daughters of ,jerusalem1 comely as the tents of ,kedar1 as the curtains of ,solomon4 ,do not disdain me because ,i am a little black4 ,it is the sun that has burned me4 ,my mother's children were angry at me4 ,they made me keeper of the vineyards4 ,alas6 mine own vineyard ,i have not kept4 7,thinking of her absent lover47 ,tell me1 ,o thou whom my soul loveth1 where thou takest thy flocks to rest at noon that ,i may not wander among the flocks of thy comrades4 ,,an ,,odalisque ,if thou knowest not1 ,o thou fairest among women1 follow the flock and feed thy kids by the shepherds' tents4 ,,solomon 7to the ,,shulamite47 ,to my horse1 when harnessed to the chariot that ,pharaoh sent me1 ,i compare thee1 ,o my love4 ,thy cheeks are comely with rows of pearls1 thy neck with charms of coral4 ,we will make for thee necklaces of gold1 studded with silver4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7aside47 ,while the ,king sitteth at his divan1 my spikenard perfumes me and to me my beloved is a bouquet of myrrh1 unto me he is as a cluster of cypress in the vines of ,engedi4 ,,solomon ,yes1 thou art fair1 my beloved4 ,yes1 thou art fair4 ,thine eyes are the eyes of a dove4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7thinking of the absent one47 ,yes1 thou art fair1 my beloved4 ,yes1 thou art charming1 and our tryst is a litter of green4 ,,solomon 7to whom constancy has no meaning47 ,the beams of our house are cedar and our rafters of fir4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7singing47 ,i am the rose of ,sharon ,the lily of the valley am ,i4 7,,enter suddenly the ,,shepherd47 ,,the ,,shepherd ,as a lily among thorns1 so is my love among daughters4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7running to him47 ,as is the apple among fruit1 so is my beloved among men4 ,in delight ,i have sat in his shadow and his savor was sweet to my taste4 ,he brought me to the banquet hall and put o'er me the banner of love4 7,turning to the ,,odalisques47 ,stay me with wine1 strengthen me with fruit1 for ,i am swooning with love4 7,half-fainting she falls in the ,,shepherd',s arms47 ,his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me4 ,,the ,,shepherd 7to the ,,odalisques47 ,i charge you1 ,o ye daughters of ,jerusalem1 by the roes and the hinds of the field1 that ye stir not1 nor awake my beloved till she will4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7dreaming in the ,,shepherd',s arms47 ,my own love's voice4 ,arise1 my fair one1 he tells me1 arise and let us go4444 ,,the ,,shepherd ,i charge you1 ,o ye daughters of ,jerusalem1 that ye stir not1 nor awake my beloved till she will4 7,,solomon motions2 the ,,shepherd is removed47 ,,act ,,ii4 ,a ,,street ,,in ,,jerusalem4 ,in the distance is ,solomon and his retinue4 ,,chorus ,,of ,,men ,who is this that cometh out of the wilderness1 exhaling the odor of myrrh and of frankincense and all the powders of the perfumer8 7,,solomon and his retinue advance47 ,,first ,,jerusalemite ,behold the palanquin of ,solomon4 ,three score valiant men are about it4 ,they all hold swords4444 ,,second ,,jerusalemite ,king ,solomon has had made for him a litter of ,lebanon wood4 ,the supports are of silver1 the bottom of gold1 the covering of purple4 ,in the centre is a loved one1 chosen from among the daughters of ,jerusalem4 ,,the ,,chorus 7calling to women in the houses47 ,come forth1 daughters of ,zion1 and behold the ,king4444 ,,act ,,iii4 ,,the ,,seraglio4 ,,solomon 7to the ,,shulamite47 ,yes1 thou art fair1 my love1 yes1 thou art fair4 ,thou hast dove's eyes4444 ,thou art all fair1 my love4 ,there is no spot on thee4 ,,the ,,shepherd 7without1 in the garden1 calling to the ,,shulamite and referring in veiled terms to the seraglio and its dangers47 ,come to me1 my betrothed1 come to me from ,lebanon4 ,look at me from the top of ,amana1 from the summit of ,shenir and ,hermon1 from the lion's den and the mountain of leopards4 7,the ,,shulamite goes to a window and looks out47 ,,the ,,shepherd ,you have strengthened my heart1 my sister betrothed1 you have strengthened my heart with one of thine eyes1 with one of the curls that float on thy neck4 ,how dear is thy love1 my sister betrothed6 ,thy caresses are better than wine1 and the fragrance of thy garments is sweeter than spice4 ,,the ,,shulamite ,let my beloved come into his garden and eat its pleasant fruits4 ,,the ,,shepherd ,i am come into my garden1 my sister betrothed1 ,i have gathered my myrrh with my spice4 ,i have eaten my honeycomb with my honey4 ,i have drunk my wine with my milk4 7,to the chorus47 ,eat1 comrades1 drink abundantly1 friends4 7,the ,,shepherd and the chorus withdraw47 ,,act ,,iv4 ,,the ,,seraglio4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7musing47 ,i sleep but my heart waketh4 ,i heard the voice of my beloved4 ,he knocked4 ,open to me6 he said4 ,my sister1 my love1 my immaculate dove1 open to me1 for my head is covered with dew1 the locks of my hair are wet 444 ,i rose to open to my beloved 444 but he was gone4 ,my soul faileth me when he spoke not4 ,i sought him1 but ,i could not find him4 ,i called him but he did not reply4 7,a pause4 ,,she relates the story of her abduction47 ,the watchman that went about the city found me1 they smote me1 they wounded me1 and the keepers of the walls took away my veil4 7,to the ,,odalisques47 ,i pray you1 ,o daughters of ,jerusalem1 if you find my beloved1 tell him that ,i die of love4 ,,chorus ,,of ,,odalisques ,in what is the superiority of thy lover1 ,o pearl among women1 that thou beseechest us so8 ,,the ,,shulamite ,my beloved's skin is white and ruddy4 ,he is one in a thousand4444 ,his eyes are as doves4444 ,his cheeks are a bed of flowers4444 ,he is charming4 ,such is my beloved1 such is my dear one1 ,o daughters of ,jerusalem4 ,,chorus ,,of ,,odalisques ,whither is thy beloved gone1 ,o pearl among women8 ,which way did he turn1 that we may seek him with thee8 ,,the ,,shulamite ,my beloved is gone from the garden4444 ,but ,i am his and he is mine4 ,he feedeth his flocks among lilies4 7,enter ,,solomon47 7,the ,,shulamite looks scornfully at him47 ,,solomon ,thou art beautiful as ,tirzah1 my love1 and comely as ,jerusalem1 but terrible as an army in battle4 ,turn thine eyes away4 ,they trouble me4444 ,,the ,,shepherd 7from without47 ,there are sixty queens1 eighty favorites1 and numberless young girls4 ,but among them all my immaculate dove is unique1 she is the darling of her mother4 ,the young girls have seen her and called her blessed4 ,the queens and the favorites have praised her4 ,,the ,,chorus 7astonished at the ,,shulamite',s scorn of the ,king47 ,who is it that is beautiful as ,tirzah but terrible as an army in battle8 ,,the ,,shulamite 7impatiently turning her back1 and relating again her abduction47 ,i went down into the garden of nuts1 to see the green plants in the valley1 to see whether the vine budded1 and the pomegranates were in flower4 ,but before ,i was aware of it1 ,i was among the chariots of my princely people4 ,,the ,,chorus ,turn about1 turn again1 ,o ,shulamite1 that we may see thee4 ,a ,,dancer ,what will you see in the ,shulamite whom the ,king has compared to an army8 ,,solomon 7to the ,,shulamite47 ,how beautiful are thy feet1 prince's daughter1444 ,how fair and how pleasant art thou4444 ,,the ,,shulamite 7impatiently as before47 ,i am my beloved's and he is sighing for me4 7,exit ,,solomon4 ,enter the ,,shepherd47 ,,the ,,shulamite 7hastening to her lover47 ,come1 my beloved1 let us go forth to the fields1 let us lodge in the villages4 ,we will rise early and see if the vine flourishes and the grape is ripe and the pomegranates bud4 ,there will ,i caress thee4 ,the love-apples perfume the air and at our gates are all manner of rich fruit1 new and old1 which ,i have kept for thee1 my beloved4 ,oh1 that thou wert my brother1 that1 when ,i am with thee without1 ,i might kiss thee and not be mocked at4 ,i want to take and bring thee into my mother's house4 ,there thou shalt instruct me and ,i will give thee spiced wine and the juice of my pomegranates4 7,falling in his arms and calling to the ,,odalisques47 ,his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me4 ,,the ,,shepherd 7to the chorus47 ,i charge you1 ,o daughters of ,jerusalem1 that ye stir not nor awake my beloved till she will4 ,,act ,v4 ,,the ,,village ,,of ,,shulam4 7,the ,,shulamite1 who has escaped from the seraglio is carried in by her lover47 ,,chorus ,,of ,,villagers ,who is this that cometh up from the wilderness1 leaning upon her beloved8 ,,the ,,shepherd 7to the ,,shulamite47 ,i awake thee under the apple tree4 7,he points to the house47 ,there thou wert born4 ,,the ,,shulamite ,set me as a seal upon thy heart1 as a seal upon thine arm2 for love is strong as death1 jealousy cruel as the grave2 the flashes thereof are flashes of fire1 a very flame of the ,lord4 ,but many waters cannot quench love1 nor can the floods drown it4 ,the man who seeks to purchase it acquires but contempt4 ,,epilogue4 ,a ,,cottage ,,at ,,shulam4 ,,first ,,brother ,,of ,,the ,,shulamite 7thinking of a younger sister whom he would sell when she is older47 ,we have a little sister1 still immature4 ,what shall we do with her when she is spoken for8 ,,second ,,brother ,if by then she is comely1 we will get for her silver from a palace4 ,if she is not comely1 we will get the value of cedar boards4 ,,the ,,shulamite 7ironically intervening47 ,i am comely1 yet ,i made them let me be4 ,,first ,,brother 7significantly47 ,solomon had a vineyard at ,baal-hamon4 ,he leased it to farmers each of whom was to pay him a thousand pieces of silver4 ,,the ,,shulamite ,but my vineyard which is mine ,i still have4 7,laughing47 ,a thousand pieces for thee1 ,solomon1 and two hundred for the others4 7,at the door the ,,shepherd appears4 ,behind him are comrades47 ,,the ,,shepherd ,fair one1 that dwelleth here1 my companions hearken to thy voice1 cause me to hear it4 ,,the ,,shulamite ,hasten to me1 my beloved4 ,hasten like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of spices4 ,,iii ,,aphrodite ,,urania ,greece had many creeds1 yet but one religion4 ,that was ,beauty4 ,israel believed in hate1 ,greece in love4 ,in ,juda the days of the righteous were long4 ,in ,greece they were brief4 ,whom the gods loved died young4 ,the gods themselves were young4 ,with the tribes that took possession of the ,hellenic hills they came in swarms4 ,sprung from the depths of the archaic skies1 they were sombre and impure4 ,when they reached ,olympus already their ,asiatic masks had fallen4 ,hecate was hideous1 ,hephstos limped1 but among the others not an imperfection remained4 ,divested of attributes monstrous and enigmatic1 they rejuvenated into divinities of joy4 ,homer said that their laughter was inextinguishable4 ,he joined in it4 ,so did ,greece4 ,the gayety of the immortals was appreciated by a people that counted their years by their games4 ,as the tribes dispersed the gods advanced4 ,their passage1 marked here by a temple1 there by a shrine1 had always the incense of legends4 ,these ,homer gathered and from them formed a ,pentateuch in which dread was replaced by the ideal4 ,divinities1 whom the ,assyrian priests barely dared to invoke by name1 and whose mention by the laity was forbidden1 he displayed1 luminous and indulgent1 lifting1 as he did so1 the immense burden of mystery and fear under which humanity had staggered4 ,homer turned religion into art1 belief into poetry4 ,he evolved a creed that was more gracious than austere1 more sthetic perhaps than moral1 but which had the signal merit of creating a serenity from which contemporaneous civilization proceeds4 ,greece to-day lies buried with her gods4 ,she has been dead for twenty centuries and over4 ,but the beauty of which she was the temple existed before death did and survived her4 ,to ,homer beauty was an article of faith4 ,but not the divinities that radiated it4 ,he laughed at them4 ,pythagoras found him expiating his mirth in hell4 ,a later echo of it bubbled in the farce of ,aristophanes4 ,it reverberated in the verses of ,euripides4 ,it rippled through the gardens of ,epicurus4 ,it amused sceptics to whom the story of the gods and their amours was but gossip concerning the elements4 ,they believed in them no more than we do4 ,but they lived among a people that did4 ,to the ,greeks the gods were real1 they were neighborly1 they were careless and caressing1 subject like mortals to fate4 ,from them gifts came1 desires as well4 ,the latter idea1 precocious in its nave psychology1 eliminated human responsibility and made sin descend from above4 ,olympus was not severe4 ,greece was not1 either4 ,the solemnity of other faiths had no place in her creed1 which was free1 too1 of their baseness4 ,it was not ,homer only1 but the inherent ,hellenic love of the beautiful that1 in emancipating her from ,orientalisms1 maintained her in an attitude which1 while never ascetic1 occasionally was sublime4 ,the tradition of ,orpheus and ,eurydice1 the fable of ,psyche and her god1 had in them love1 which nowhere else was known4 ,they had1 too1 something of the high morality which the ,iliad and the ,odyssey depict4 ,in the ,iliad a thousand ships are launched for the recovery of an abducted wife4 ,the subject is equivocal1 but concerning it there is not a dubious remark4 ,in the ,iliad as in the ,odyssey love rested on two distinct principles3 ,first1 the respect of natural law2 second1 the respect of lawful marriage4 ,these principles1 the gods1 if they willed1 could abolish4 ,when they did1 their victims were not blamed1 they were pitied4 ,christianity could not do better4 ,frequently it failed to do as well4 ,but the patricists were not psychologists and the theory of determinism had not come4 ,aphrodite had4 ,with love for herald1 with pleasure for page1 with the ,graces and the ,hours for handmaids1 she had come among the dazzled immortals4 ,hesiod told about it4 ,so did de ,musset4 ,regrettez-vous le temps o le ,ciel1 sur la terre1 ,marchait et respirait dans un peuple de dieux8 ,o ,vnus ,astart1 fille de l'onde amre1 ,secouait1 vierge encor1 les larmes de sa mre1 ,et fcondait le monde en tordant ses cheveux6 ,but ,astarte was a stone which ,aphrodite's eyes would have melted4 ,it may be that they did4 ,the worship of the ,dea ,meretrix was replaced by the purer rites of this purer divinity1 unconscious as yet of the names and shames of ,ishtar4 ,the ,aphrodite whom ,homer revealed differed from that of ,hesiod4 ,in ,hesiod she was still a novice1 but less austere than she afterward appeared in the conceptions of ,pheidias4 ,the latter succeeded in detaining the fluidity of the gods4 ,he reproduced them in stone1 sometimes in gold1 always in beauty4 ,he created a palpable ,olympus4 ,to die without seeing it was thought a great calamity4 ,the universal judgment of antiquity was that art could go no higher4 ,at the sight of the ,pheidian ,zeus1 a barbarian brute1 milius ,paulus1 the ,roman invader and victor1 shrank back1 awe struck1 smitten with sacred terror4 ,the image was regarded less as a statue than as an actual revelation of the divine4 ,to have been able to display it1 the general assumption was that either ,pheidias had ascended above1 or else that ,zeus had descended to him4 ,the revelation of ,aphrodite ,urania which he effected for her temple near the ,cerameicus must have been equally august1 the celestial in its supremest expression4 ,thereafter the decadence of the goddess began4 ,previously she had ruled through her perfection4 ,subsequently1 though the perfection persisted1 the stamp of divinity ceased4 ,in lieu of the goddess was a very pretty woman4 ,if that woman did not1 as ,hesiod claimed1 issue from the sea1 she at least emerged from marble4 ,the statues differed4 ,sometimes there were doves on them1 sometimes there was a girdle embroidered with caresses and kisses1 at times in the hand was an arrow1 at others a lance1 again ,aphrodite was twisting her hair4 ,but chiefly she was assassinated1 not like ,lais by jealous wives1 but by sheer freedom of the chisel4 ,it was these profaner images that inflamed ,phdra and ,pasiphae4 ,among them was ,praxiteles' ,cnidian ,aphrodite1 a statue which a king tried vainly to buy and a madman offered to marry4 ,the ,pheidian ,aphrodite belonged to an epoch in which art expressed the eternal2 the ,praxitelean1 to a period in which it suggested the fugitive4 ,one was beauty and also love1 the other was beauty and passion4 ,originally both were one4 ,it was only the idea of her that varied4 ,each ,hellenic town1 each upland and valley had its own faiths1 its own myths4 ,uniformity concerning them was not doctrinal1 it was ritualistic4 ,then1 too1 ,aphrodite1 ,apollo1 ,zeus himself1 the whole brilliant host of ,olympus were once monsters of ,asia4 ,however august they had since become1 memories and savors of anterior rites followed in their ascensions4 ,these things incited them to resume their primal forms4 ,it was pleasurably that they acceded4 ,therein is the simple mystery of their double lives1 the reason why ,aphrodite could be degrading and ideal1 celestial and vulgar1 yet always ,philommeis1 ,queen of ,smiles4 ,in ,cythera and ,paphos she was but a fresh avatar of ,ishtar4 ,in other sites she resembled the picture that ,dante made of ,fortune and which an artist detached4 ,dante1 said ,saint-,victor1 displays ,fortune turning her wheel1 distributing good and evil1 success and failure1 prosperity and want4 ,mortals upbraid and accuse her4 ',but these she does not hear4 ,tranquil among primordial things1 she turns her sphere and ineffably rejoices4' ,so does ,venus indifferently dispense high aims and viciousness4 ,curses do not reach her1 insults do not touch her1 the passions she has unchained cannot rise to where she is4 ,in her high place tranquilly she turns her sphere of stars4 ',volge sua sfera e beata si gode4' ,it was not that serene divinity1 it was the more human ,aphrodite of ,hesiod1 that disturbed the ,argive ,helen4 ,the story of her1 the story of the golden fruit tossed into ,olympus with its tag1 ,to the ,fairest1 the rivalries that resulted1 the decision of ,paris1 corrupt yet just1 his elopement with ,helen1 and the war of the world which ensued1 these episodes the hexameters of the ,iliad unfold4 ,there1 drenched with blood and bathed in poetry1 is ,helen4 ,there1 too1 is ,paris on his scarlet prow4 ,with them you go from ,lacedmon1 past the faint1 fair rose of ,ida's snow1 over the green plain of waters1 right to the gates of ,ilium and within1 and see how each man stopped and stood and mused at ,helen's face and her undreamed-of beauty4 ,her beauty was no doubt surprising4 ,she trailed admiration but also respect4 ,homer relates that the seated sages rose at her approach4 ,they did not blame her for the conflagration that her face had caused4 ,they knew1 as ,priam knew1 that responsibility rested not with the woman but with the gods4 ,perhaps she was not responsible4 ,as in an allegory of beauty which itself is for all and yet for none1 already she had passed from hand to hand4 ,when she was but a child she had been abducted4 ,theseus took her from a temple in which she was dancing4 ,recovered by her brothers1 ,achilles got her from them but only to cede her to ,patroclus4 ,later she became the wife of ,menelaus4 ,subsequently ,aphrodite gave her to ,paris4 ,at that she rebelled4 ,but no mortal may resist the divine4 ,helen accompanied ,paris to ,troy1 where1 during the war that was waged for her1 he was killed and she remained in his brother's arms until recovered by ,menelaus4 ,quintus ,smyrnus#d represented ,menelaus1 sword in hand1 rushing violently at her4 ,a glance of her eyes disarmed him4 ,in the clatter of the falling sword was love's reawakening4 ,then presently1 as an honored wife1 she returned to ,lacedmon4 ,even there her adventures continued4 ,achilles1 haunted in ,hades by the memory of her beauty1 escaped1 and in mystic nuptials conceived with her a winged child1 ,euphorion4 ,clearly1 as the sages thought and ,priam believed1 she could not have been responsible4 ,nor was she so regarded4 ,the various episodes of her career formed a sort of sacred legend for the polluting of which a poet1 ,stesichorus1 was blinded4 ,the blindness of ,homer1 ,plato attributed to the same cause4 ,to degrade beauty is a perilous thing4 ,to preserve it1 to make the legend more sacred still1 it was imagined that not ,helen1 but a phantom of her1 accompanied ,paris to ,troy1 and that it was for a phantom that men fought and died4 ,a thousand years later ,apollonius of ,tyana happened on that romance4 ,apollonius knew all languages1 including that of silence1 and all things1 save the caresses of women4 ,he knew1 too1 how to summon the dead4 ,to verify the story1 he evoked the shade that once before for ,helen had emerged from hell4 ,apollonius asked3 ,is it true that ,helen went to ,troy8 ,we thought so1 ,achilles answered1 and we fought to get her back4 ,but she was actually in ,egypt4 ,when we discovered that we fought for ,troy itself4#e ,achilles may have been right4 ,in the ,odyssey1 in connection with ,helen1 mention is made of nepenthe4 ,nepenthe was an ,egyptian drug that dispelled the memory of whatever is sad4 ,helen had much to forget and probably did1 even without assistance4 ,she was the personification of passivity4 ,her little rebellion at ,aphrodite was very brief4 ,but1 assuming the nepenthe1 it has been assumed also that in it was the secret of the spell with which she so promptly disarmed ,menelaus4 ,to modern eyes his attitude is ambiguous4 ,his complaisance has an air of complicity4 ,but ,menelaus lived in an heroic age4 ,moreover1 when ,sarah vacated the palace of the ,pharaohs1 the complaisance of ,abraham was the same4 ,in both instances the principle involved was one of ownership4 ,in patriarchal and heroic days woman was an asset4 ,she was the living money of the period4 ,agamemnon1 in devising how he might calm the anger of ,achilles1 offered him a quantity of girls4 ,they were so much current coin4 ,when stolen1 recovery was the owner's chief aim4 ,what may have happened in the interim was a detail1 better appreciable when it is remembered that booty was treated1 as ,helen at ,ilium was treated1 in the light of ,paris' lawful wife2 for robbery at that time was a highly legitimate mode of acquiring property1 provided and on condition that the robber and the robbed were foes4 ,the idea of enticing the property was too complicated for the simplicity of those days4 ,it was in that simplicity1 together with the belief that whatever occurred was attributable to the gods1 that the morality of the epoch resided4 ,in the story of ,paris and ,helen the morality of ,aphrodite is as ambiguous as the attitude of ,menelaus4 ,she has the air of an entremetteuse4 ,but her purpose was not to favorize frailty4 ,her purpose was the exercise of her sovereign pleasure4 ,paris1 in adjudging to her the prize of beauty1 became the object of her special regard1 his people became her people1 their enemies her own4 ,the latter prevailed1 but that was because ,destiny--to whose power the gods themselves had to yield--so willed4 ,in the ,odyssey the morality of the ,iliad is enhanced4 ,the enchantments of ,calypso1 the sorceries of ,circe1 the seductions of sirens1 long years themselves1 wanderings over perilous seas1 dangers1 hardships1 temptations1 failed to divert ,odysseus from his memories of ,penelope1 who in turn resisted every suitor for his sake4 ,when the later philosophy of ,greece inquired what was woman at her best1 it answered its own question in looking back at her4 ,a thousand years after she had been sung1 ,horace1 writing to ,lollius1 said3 ,i have been re-reading the poet of the ,trojan ,war4 ,no one has told so well as he what is noble and what is base4 ,st4 ,basilius1 writing later still1 declared that the ,homeric epics were a perpetual praise of right4 ,the fact1 he noted1 was particularly obvious in the passage in which ,odysseus confronted ,nausicaa4 ,that little princess1 historically the first who washed household linen in public1 was1 when so engaged1 surprised by the shipwrecked hero4 ,instead of being alarmed at the appearance of this man whom the waters had disrobed1 she was conscious only of a deep respect4 ,st4 ,basilius gives the reason4 ,in default of clothing ,homer had dressed him in virtue4#f ,the deduction is so pleasant that the views of the saint concerning ,circe and ,calypso would be of interest4 ,but they are unrecorded4 ,it may be that he had none4 ,the enchantresses themselves with their philters and enthralments are supposedly fabulous4 ,yet in the ,homeric account of their seas1 once thought to be but a dream of fairyland1 mariners have found a log book of ,mediterranean facts so accurate that a pilot's guide is but a prose rendering of its indications4#g ,as with the seas so with the sirens4 ,their enchantments were real4 ,at an epoch when women generally were but things1 too passively indifferent and too respectfully obedient to care to attempt1 even could they have divined how1 to captivate1 ,circe and ,calypso displayed the then novel lures of coquetry and fascination4 ,in the charm of their voices1 in the grace of their manners1 in the harmony of their dress1 in the perfume of their lips1 in their use of unguents1 in their desire to please joined to the high art of it1 was a subtlety of seduction so new and unimagined that it was magical indeed4 ,in the violent ,iliad1 women1 hunted like game1 were but booty4 ,in the suaver ,odyssey was their revenge4 ,it was they who captured and detained1 reducing the hardiest heroes into servants of their pleasure4 ,it is reasonable that their islands should have been thought enchanted and they enchantresses4 ,the story of their spells1 of their refinements1 and of their consequent dominations1 exerted gradually an influence wide and profound4 ,women began to conjecture something else than marriage by right of might4 ,into the conjecturings came attempts at emancipation that preoccupied husbands and moralists4 ,hesiod denounced the new ambitions1 and1 finding denunciation perhaps ineffective1 employed irony4 ,he told of ,pandora who1 fashioned first out of clay1 afterward adorned with a parure of beauty1 was then given perfidy1 falsehood and ruse1 that1 in being a delight to man1 she should be also a disaster4#h ,the picture1 interesting in its suggestion of ,eve1 was originally perhaps a ,chaldan curio1 imported by ,phoenician traders4 ,its first ,hellenic setting was due probably to ,orpheus1 the great lost poet of love1 whose songs charmed all nature1 all hell as well4 ,from him1 through problematic hands1 it drifted to ,hesiod1 as already his lyre had drifted to ,lesbos4 ,the picture persisted1 the lyre as well4 ,to the latter the ,mitylenes attributed the wonder of the beauty of their nightingales1 chief among whom was ,sappho4 ,,iv ,,sappho ,sappho was contemporaneous with ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,while he was chastening the ,jews1 she was creating love4 ,in her day the condition of ,hellenic women differed from what it had been4 ,generally they were shut apart1 excluded from any exercise of their possible minds1 restricted to strict domesticity4 ,at ,athens a girl might not so much as look from a window4 ,if she did1 she saw nothing4 ,the window did not give on the street4 ,but in the temples the candor of her eyes was violated4 ,in the festivals of ,ceres the modesty of her ears was assailed4 ,otherwise1 she was securely guarded4 ,if1 to her detriment1 she eluded guardianship1 she could be sold4 ,with marriage she entered into a form of superior slavery4 ,when her husband's friends supped with him1 she was not permitted to be present4 ,without permission she could not go from one apartment to the next4 ,without permission she could not go out4 ,when she did1 it was at her husband's side1 heavily veiled4 ,with his permission1 she might go to the theatre1 but only when tragedy was given4 ,at comedies and at the games she was forbidden to assist4 ,in case of disobedience the penalty was death4 ,pleasures and privileges were limited to housekeeping and motherhood4 ,at the immanence of the latter her surroundings were embellished with beautiful trifles1 with objects of art1 with whatever influences might prenatally affect1 and1 in affecting1 perfect the offspring4 ,otherwise1 her existence was simple and severe4 ,the peplos tissue of gold was not for her4 ,garments colored or flowered were not1 either4 ,these were reserved for her inferiors and superiors1 for the hierodules of ,aphrodite ,pandemos and the images of the gods4 ,though her robes were simple1 they had to be heavy4 ,if light1 a fine was incurred4 ,if they did not hang properly1 another fine was imposed4 ,if1 to the detriment of her husband1 a man succeeded in approaching her1 she could be killed or merely repudiated2 in the latter case1 she could no longer enter a temple1 any one might insult her4 ,still a slave1 she was an outcast as well4 ,such were the laws4 ,their observance is a different matter4 ,in ,aristophanes and the comic poets generally ,athenian women of position were dissolute when they were not stupid1 and usually they were both4 ,they may have been4 ,but poets exaggerate4 ,besides1 divorce was obtainable4 ,divorce was granted on joint request4 ,on the demand of the husband it could be had4 ,in the event of superscandalous conduct on his part1 it was granted to the wife1 provided she appeared before a magistrate and personally demanded it4 ,the wife of the wicked and winning ,alcibiades went on such an errand4 ,alcibiades met her1 caught her in his arms and1 to the applause of the wittiest people in the world1 carried her triumphantly home4 ,aristophanes and ,alcibiades came in a later and more brilliant epoch4 ,in the days of ,sappho severity was the rigorous rule1 one sanctioned by the sentiment of a people in whose virile sports clothing was discarded1 and in whose plays jest was too violent for delicate ears4 ,in ,sparta the condition of women was similar1 but girls had the antique freedom which ,nausicaa enjoyed4 ,destined by the belligerent constitution of ,lacedmon to share1 even in battle1 the labors of their brothers1 they devoted themselves1 not to domesticity1 but to physical development4 ,they wrestled with young men1 raced with them1 swam the ,eurotas1 preparing themselves proudly and purely to be mothers among a people who destroyed any child that was deformed1 fined any man that presumed to be stout1 forced debilitated husbands to cede their wives to stronger arms1 and who1 meanwhile1 protected the honor of their daughters with laws of which an infraction was death4 ,the marriage of ,spartan girls was so arranged that during the first years of it they saw their husbands infrequently1 furtively1 almost clandestinely1 in a sort of hide-and-go-seek devised by ,lycurgus in order that love1 instead of declining into indifference1 should1 while insensibly losing its illusions1 preserve and prolong its strength4 ,otherwise1 the ,spartan wife became subject to the common ,hellenic custom4 ,her liberty departed with her girlhood4 ,save her husband1 no man might see her1 none could praise her1 none but he could blame4 ,her sole jewels were her children4 ,her richest garments were stoicism and pride4 ,what dower did you bring your husband8 an ,athenian woman asked of one of them4 ,chastity1 was the superb reply4#i ,lesbos differed from ,lacedmon4 ,the ,spartans declared that they knew how to fight1 not how to talk4 ,they put all their art into not having any4 ,the ,lesbians put theirs into the production of verse4 ,at ,mitylene1 poetic development was preferred to physical culture4 ,the girls there thought more of immortality than of motherhood4 ,but the unusual liberty which they enjoyed was due to influences either ,boeotian or ,egyptian1 perhaps to both4 ,egypt was neighborly4 ,with ,lesbos1 ,egypt was in constant communication4 ,the liberty of women there1 as generally throughout the morning lands1 religion had procured4 ,where ,ishtar passed1 she fevered1 but also she freed4 ,beneath her mantle women acquired a liberty that was very real4 ,on the very sites in which ,islm was to shut them up1 ,semiramis1 ,strantonice1 ,dido1 ,cleopatra1 and ,zenobia appeared4 ,isis1 who was ,ishtar's ,egyptian avatar1 was particularly liberal4 ,among the cities especially dedicated to her was ,naucratis4 ,charaxus1 a brother of ,sappho1 went there1 met ,rhodopis1 a local beauty1 and fell in love with her4 ,charaxus was a merchant4 ,he brought wine to ,egypt1 sold it1 returned to ,greece for more4 ,during one of his absences1 ,rhodopis1 while lolling on a terrace1 dropped her sandal which1 legend says1 a vulture seized1 carried away1 and let fall into the lap of ,king ,amasis4 ,the story of ,cinderella originated there4 ,with this difference3 though the king1 after prodigal and impatient researches1 discovered the little foot to which the tiny sandal belonged1 ,rhodopis1 because of ,charaxus1 disassociated herself from his advances4 ,subsequently a young ,naucratian offered a fortune to have relations with her4 ,because of ,charaxus1 ,rhodopis again refused4 ,the young man dreamed that she consented1 dreamed that she was his1 and boasted of the dream4 ,indignantly ,rhodopis cited him before the magistrates1 contending that he should pay her as proposed4 ,the matter was delicate4 ,but the magistrates decided it with great wisdom4 ,they authorized ,rhodopis to dream that she was paid4 ,rumors of these and of similar incidents were probably reported in ,lesbos and may have influenced the condition of women there4 ,but memories of ,boeotia from which their forefathers came was perhaps also a factor4 ,boeotia was a haunt of the muses4 ,in the temple to them1 which ,lesbos became1 the freedom of ,erato was almost of necessity accorded to her priestesses4 ,lesbos was then a stretch of green gardens and white peristyles set beneath a purple dome4 ,to-day there is no blue bluer than its waters4 ,there is nothing so violet as the velvet of its sky4 ,with such accessories the presence of ,erato was perhaps inevitable4 ,in any case it was profuse4 ,nowhere1 at no time1 has emotional stheticism1 the love of the lovely1 the fervor of individual utterance1 been as general and spontaneous as it was in this early ,academe4 ,in the later ,academe at ,athens laughter was prohibited4 ,that of ,mitylene was less severe4 ,to loiter there some familiarity with the magnificence of ,homer may have been exacted1 but otherwise a receptive mind1 appreciative eyes1 and kissable lips were the best passports to ,sappho1 the girl ,plato of its groves1 who1 like ,plato1 taught beauty1 sang it as well and with it the glukupikros--the bitterness of things too sweet4 ,others sang with her4 ,among those1 whose names at least1 the fates and the ,fathers have spared us1 were ,erinna and ,andromeda4 ,sappho cited them as her rivals4 ,one may wonder could they have been really that4 ,plato called ,sappho the tenth muse4 ,solon1 after hearing one of her poems1 prayed that he might not die until he had learned it4 ,longinus spoke of her with awe4 ,strabo said that at no period had any one been known who in any way1 however slight1 could be compared to her4 ,though twenty-five centuries have gone since then1 ,sappho is still unexceeded4 ,twice only has she been approached2 in the first instance by ,horace1 in the second by ,swinburne1 and though it be admitted1 as is customary among scholars1 that ,horace is the most correct of the ,latin poets1 as ,swinburne is the most faultless of our day1 ,sappho sits and sings above them atop1 like her own perfect simile of a bride3 ,like the sweet apple which reddens atop on the topmost bough1 ,atop on the topmost twig which the pluckers forgot somehow4 ,forget it not1 nay1 but got it not1 for none could get it till now4#aj ,it is regrettable that one cannot now get ,sappho4 ,but of at least nine books there remain but two odes and a handful of fragments4 ,the rest has been lost on the way1 turned into palimpsests1 or burned in ,byzance4 ,the surviving fragments are limited some to a line1 some to a measure1 some to a single word4 ,they are the citations of lexicographers and grammarians1 made either as illustrations of the olic tongue or as examples of metre4 ,the odes are addressed1 the one to ,aphrodite1 the other to ,anactoria4 ,the first is derived from ,dionysius of ,halicarnassus1 who quoted it as a perfect illustration of perfect verse4 ,the second was given by ,longinus as an example of the sublime in poetry--of the display1 as he put it1 not of one emotion1 but of a congress of them4 ,under the collective title of ,anactoria1 these odes together with many of the fragments1 ,swinburne has interwoven into an exquisite whole4 ,to appreciate it1 ,sappho herself should be understood4 ,her features1 which the ,lesbians put on their coins1 are those of a handsome boy4 ,on seeing them one does not say1 ,can this be ,sappho8 ,but rather1 ,this is ,sappho herself4 ,they fit her1 fit her verse1 fit her fame4 ,that fame1 prodigious in her own day1 is serviceable in ours4 ,it has retained the name of ,phaon1 her lover2 the names of girls for whom she also cared4 ,of these1 ,suidas particularly mentioned ,atthis and ,gorgo4 ,regarding ,anactoria there is the testimony of the ode4 ,there is more4 ,i loved thee once1 ,atthis1 long ago1 she exclaimed in one fragment4 ,in another she declared herself ,of ,gorgo full weary4 ,but the extreme poles of her affection are supposably represented by ,phaon and ,anactoria4 ,the ode to the latter is1 apart from its perfection1 merely a jealous plaint1 yet otherwise useful in showing the trend of her fancy1 in addition to the fact that her love was not always returned4 ,of that1 though1 there is further evidence in the fragments4 ,some one she reproached with being ,fonder of girls than ,gello4 ,elsewhere she said ,scornfuller than thou have ,i nowhere found4 ,but even in the absence of such evidence1 the episode connected with ,phaon1 although of a different order1 would suffice4 ,contemporaneous knowledge of it is derived from ,strabo1 ,servius1 ,palphatus1 and from an alleged letter in one of ,ovid's literary forgeries4 ,according to these writers1 ,phaon was a good-looking young brute engaged in the not inelegant occupation of ferryman4 ,in what manner he first approached ,sappho1 whether indeed ,sappho did not first approach him1 is uncertain4 ,pliny1 who perhaps was credulous1 believed that ,phaon had happened on the male root of a seaweed which was supposed to act as a love charm and that by means of it he succeeded in winning ,sappho's rather volatile heart4 ,however that may be1 presently ,phaon wearied4 ,it was probably in these circumstances that the ,ode to ,aphrodite was written1 which1 in ,swinburne's paraphrase--slightly paraphrased anew--is as follows3 ,i beheld in sleep the light that is ,in her high place in ,paphos1 heard the kiss ,of body and soul that mix with eager tears ,and laughter stinging through the eyes and ears2 ,saw ,love1 as burning flame from crown to feet1 ,imperishable upon her storied seat2 ,clear eyelids lifted toward the north and south1 ,a mind of many colors and a mouth ,of many tunes and kisses2 and she bowed ,with all her subtle face laughing aloud1 ,bowed down upon me saying1 ,who doth the wrong1 ,sappho8 ,but thou--thy body is the song1 ,thy mouth the music2 thou art more than ,i1 ,though my voice die not till the whole world die1 ,though men that hear it madden2 though love weep1 ,though nature change1 though shame be charmed to sleep4 ,ah1 wilt thou slay me lest ,i kiss thee dead8 ,yet the queen laughed and from her sweet heart said3 ,even he that flees shall follow for thy sake1 ,and he shall give thee gifts that would not take1 ,shall kiss that would not kiss thee 7,yea1 kiss me7 ,when thou wouldst not--,when ,i would not kiss thee6 ,if ,phaon heard he did not heed4 ,he took ship and sailed away1 to ,sicily it is said1 where1 it is also said1 ,sappho followed1 desisting only when he flung at her some gibe about ,anactoria and ,atthis4 ,in a letter which ,ovid pretended she then addressed to him1 she referred to the gibe1 but whether by way of denial or admission1 is now1 owing to different readings of the text1 uncertain4 ,in some copies she said1 quas 7the ,lesbian girls7 non sine crimine 7reproach7 amavi4 ,in others1 quas hic 7in ,lesbos7 sine crimine amavi4 ,disregarding the fact that the letter itself is imaginary1 the second reading is to be preferred1 not because it is true1 but precisely because it is not4 ,sappho1 though a woman1 was a poet4 ,several of her verses contain allusions to attributes poetically praised by poets who never possessed them1 and ,ovid who had not written a treatise on the ,art of ,love for the purpose of displaying his ignorance1 was too adroit to let his imaginary ,sappho admit what the real ,sappho would have denied4#aa ,meanwhile ,phaon refused to return4 ,at ,lesbos there was a white rock that stretched out to the sea4 ,on it was a temple to ,apollo4 ,a fall from the rock was1 at the time1 locally regarded as a cure for love4 ,arthemesia1 queen of ,caria1 whom another ,phaon had rebuffed and who1 to teach him better manners1 put his eyes out1 threw herself from it4 ,sappho did also4 ,it cured her of the malady1 of all others as well4 ,such is the story1 such1 rather1 is its outline1 one interesting from the fact that it constitutes the initial love-tragedy of the ,occident1 as1 also1 because of a climax befitting the singer of the bitterness of things too sweet4 ,v ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,aspasia ,eros is son of earth and heaven1 but persuasion is ,aphrodite's daughter4 ,so ,sappho sang4 ,the note1 new and true as well1 became1 as fresh truth ever does become1 revolutionary4 ,athens heard it4 ,even ,sparta listened4 ,corinth and ,miletus repeated it in clinging keys4 ,with the new truth came a new era4 ,through meditations patient and prolonged ,calypso had succeeded in adding coquetry to love4 ,with a distich ,sappho emancipated it4 ,to the despotism that insisted she suggested the duty of asking2 to the submission that had obeyed she indicated the grace that grants2 yet1 posing as barrier between each1 the right and liberty of choice1 which already ,rhodopis had exacted4 ,then the new era came4 ,the gynceum was not emptied4 ,wives were still shut apart4 ,but elsewhere1 with that marvel which ,atticism was1 came the sense of personal dignity1 the conception of individuality1 the theory of freedom1 and1 ultimately1 in streets where women of position could not venture unaccompanied and unveiled1 they were free to come and go at will1 to mingle with men1 to assist at comedies and games1 to become what women are to-day1 with this difference1 they were more handsome and less pretty4 ,to a people naturally sthetic the revolution naturally appealed4 ,led by the irresistible authority of beauty1 for support it had the sovereign prestige of the muse4 ,in stooping to conquer1 ,erato smiled1 supplying1 as she did so1 another conception1 one as novel as the first1 the idea that1 after all1 though love is a serious thing1 the mingling of a little gayety in it is not forbidden4 ,it was to ,anacreon that ,erato offered that chord1 threw it rather1 laughing1 in his face4 ,the poet1 laughing too1 took and plucked it lightly1 producing quick airs1 conceits of pleasure and of wine4 ,when ,sappho sang1 it was with all her fervent soul4 ,when she loved it was with all her fervid heart4 ,she sang as the nightingales of ,lesbos sang1 because singing was her life1 and she sang of love because she could sing of nothing else4 ,anacreon did not pretend to sing4 ,he hummed as the bees of ,hymettus hummed1 over this flower and over that1 indifferent to each1 caring not for them1 for their sweets merely1 eager to get all he could as quickly as he might1 smacking his faunesque lips over the grape1 staggering with a hiccough along the lanes of love1 trailing among them strophes to ,bacchus rather than to ,eros1 yet managing to combine the two and leaving finally to the world that chord with its notes of pleasure4 ,these1 mounting behind ,sappho's songs1 spread through ,hellas1 creating as they spread a caste that borrowed from the girl her freedom1 from the bard his wit1 and1 from the fusion1 produced the hetaira4 ,hetaira is a term which ,sappho applied to her pupils4 ,it means comrade4 ,but either because it was too elusive for history's detention or too fragile for its care1 it became corrupted1 shoved roughly by stupid hands among the pornai4 ,the latter were the hierodules of ,aphrodite ,pandemos4 ,the hetair were objects of art1 patiently fashioned in fastidious convents1 a class of highly educated young women to whom marriage did not necessarily appeal but to whom liberty was essential1 girls pleasanter1 ,amphis said1 than the wife1 for she with the law on her side1 can sit in your house and despise you4 ,such an attitude is not enticing4 ,the hetair were an alterative from it1 and1 at the same time1 a protest against existing feminine conditions4 ,these conditions the legislature could not change but the protest the legislature could and did encourage4 ,while the wife sat contemptuous in the severe gynceum1 the hetair mingled with men1 charming them always1 marrying them occasionally1 yet only when their own equality and independence was recognized and conserved4 ,it was into a union of this kind that ,pericles entered with ,aspasia4 ,he never regretted it1 though history has affected to regard it as illicit1 and ,aspasia as ,omphale4 ,the affectation is an injustice4 ,in all things1 ,pericles said1 a man's life should be as clean as his hands4 ,what ,aspasia said is not recorded4 ,but it is not improbable that she inspired the remark4 ,aspasia was born and educated at ,miletus4 ,it was chiefly there and at ,corinth that the hetair were trained4 ,in these cities1 seminaries had been established where girls rose from studies as serious as those which the practice of other liberal professions comport4 ,their instruction comprised everything that concerned the perfectioning of the body and everything that related to the embellishment of the mind4 ,in addition to calisthenics1 there were courses in music1 poetry1 diction1 philosophy1 politics1 and art4 ,the graduates were admirable4 ,their beauty was admirable also4 ,but they were admired less for that than because the study of every grace had contributed to their understanding of the unique art1 which is that of charming4 ,charm they exhaled4 ,gifted and accomplished1 they were the only women with whom an enlightened ,greek could converse4 ,their attitude was irreproachable1 their distinction extreme1 and they differed from other women only in that their manners were more correct4 ,plato had one of them for muse4 ,sophocles another4 ,to ,glycera1 of whom ,menander wrote1 poetry was an insufficient homage1 a statue was erected to her4#ab ,these instances1 anomalous now1 were logical then4 ,to the ,greek the gifts of the gods were more beneficent here than hereafter4 ,of divine gifts none was more appreciated and none more allied to the givers than beauty4 ,the value attached to it1 prodigious in peace1 was potent in war1 potent in law4 ,at ,plata1 ,callicrates was numbered among the heroes because of his looks4 ,for the same reason ,philippus1 killed in battle1 was nobly buried and worshipped by those who had been his foes4 ,for the same reason ,phryne1 charged with high crimes1 was acquitted4 ,at the ,eleusinian mysteries1 beneath the portico of the temple1 before assembled ,athens1 ,phryne appeared in the guise of ,aphrodite rising from the sea4 ,charged with parodying the rites1 she was summoned before the ,areiopagus4 ,conviction meant death4 ,but her beauty1 which her advocate suddenly and cleverly disclosed1 was her sole defence4 ,it sufficed for the acquittal of this woman whose statue1 the work of ,praxiteles1 was placed in the temple at ,delphi4 ,the tomb of a sister had for epitaph3 ,greece1 formerly invincible1 was conquered and enslaved by the beauty of ,lais1 daughter of ,love1 graduate of ,corinth1 who here rests in the noble fields of ,thessaly4 ,for ,thais a monument was erected4 ,at ,tarsus ,glycera had honors semi-divine4 ,in ,greece1 let a woman be what she might1 if beautiful she was deified1 if charming she was adored4 ,in either case she represented vivified stheticism to a people at once intellectual and athletic1 temperate and rich1 a people who1 contemptous of any time-consuming business1 supported by a nation of slaves1 possessing in consequence that wide leisure without which the richest are poor1 attained in their brilliant city almost the ideal4 ,they knew nothing of telegraphs and telephones1 but they knew as little of hypocrisy and cant4 ,art and sthetics sufficed4 ,in ,corinthian and ,milesian convents sthetics were taught to girls who1 lifting their fair hands to ,aphrodite1 prayed that they might do nothing that should not charm1 say nothing that should not please4 ,these studies and rituals were supplemented in the ,academe4 ,there they learned that the rightful path in love consisted in passing from beautiful manners to beautiful thoughts1 from beautiful thoughts to beautiful aspirations1 from beautiful aspirations to beautiful meditations1 and that1 in so passing1 they attained wisdom absolute which is beauty supreme4 ,it would be excessive to fancy that all graduates followed these precepts and entered with them into the austere regions where ,beauty1 one and indivisible1 resides4 ,it would be not only excessive but unreasonable4 ,manners were proper for all1 but for some revenues were better4 ,those of ,phryne were so ample that she offered to rebuild the walls of ,thebes4 ,those of ,lais were such that she erected temples4 ,but ,phryne and ,lais came later1 in post-,aspasian days1 when ,corinth1 in addition to schools1 had marts in which beauty was an article of commerce and where pleasure received the same official encouragement that stoicism had at ,sparta4 ,in the train of ,lais1 ,ishtar followed4 ,it was ,alexander that invoked her4 ,in the age of ,pericles and ,aspasia1 ,athens was too sthetic to heed the one1 too young to know the other4 ,pallas alone1 she who from her crystal parapets saw and foresaw what the years would bring1 could have told4 ,otherwise there was then not a shadow on ,athens1 light only1 light that has never been excelled1 light which from high porches1 from tinted peristyles1 from gleaming temples1 from shining statues1 from white immortals1 from hill to sea1 from ,olympus itself1 radiated1 revealing in its intense vibrations the glare of genius at its apogee4 ,whatever is beautiful had its apotheosis then4 ,whatever was superb found there its home4 ,athens had risen to her full height4 ,salamis had been fought4 ,a handful of athletes had routed ,asia4 ,reverse the picture and the glare could not have been4 ,its aurora would have swooned back into darkness4 ,but such was the luminousness it acquired that one ray1 piercing the medival night1 created the ,renaissance1 art's rebirth1 the recall of antique beauty4 ,salamis lifted ,greece to the skies4 ,in the return was a new epoch1 the most brilliant the world has known1 a brief century packed with the art of ages1 filled to the tips with grace1 lit with a light that still dazzles4 ,it was too fair4 ,willed by destiny1 it menaced the supremacy of the divine4 ,but by whom1 ,io asked1 is ,destiny ruled8 ,by the ,furies1 was the prompt reply4 ,they were there4 ,from the depths of the archaic skies they were peering1 prepared to pounce4 ,after one war1 another4 ,after the rout of incoherent ,persia1 a duel between ,athens and ,sparta1 a duel of jealousy1 feminine in rancor1 virile in strength1 from which ,sparta backed1 yet only to return and fight again1 only to fall at last as ,athens did1 as ,thebes did too1 beneath the might of ,macedon1 expiring all of them in those convulsions that summoned ,rome4 ,meanwhile there was but light4 ,death had not come4 ,in between was the unexampled reign of beauty during which1 after schylus and ,pindar1 came the splendors of ,sophocles1 the magnificence of ,euripides1 ,socratic wisdom1 and the rich1 rare laugh of ,aristophanes4 ,that being insufficient1 there was ,pheidias1 there was ,plato1 art at its highest1 beauty at its best1 and1 that the opulent chain they formed might not sever too suddenly1 there followed ,praxiteles1 ,apelles1 ,aristotle1 ,epicurus1 and ,demosthenes4 ,even with them that chain could not end4 ,intertwisting with the coil of death1 it ,hellenized ,asia1 ,atticized ,alexandria1 girdled ,rome1 resting in the latter's ,lower ,empire until recovered by the delighted ,renaissance4 ,the names of the ,periclean age are high4 ,there is a higher one yet1 that of ,pericles4 ,statesman1 orator1 philosopher1 soldier1 artist1 poet1 and lover1 ,pericles was so great that1 another ,zeus1 he was called the ,olympian4 ,if to him ,egeria came1 would it not1 a poet somewhere asked1 be uncivil to depict her as less than he8 ,it would be not only uncivil but untrue4 ,said ,themistocles1 ,you see that boy of mine8 ,though but five1 he governs the universe4 ,yes1 for he rules his mother1 his mother rules me1 ,i rule ,athens and ,athens the world4 ,after ,themistocles it was ,pericles' turn to govern and be ruled4 ,his sovereign was ,aspasia4 ,aspasia had come from ,miletus with another hetaira to ,athens which her companion vacated to be bride of a ,thessalian king1 but where she became the wife of one beside whom mere kings were nothing4 ,it was her beauty that first attracted ,pericles4 ,beauty does attract1 but only graciousness can detain4 ,in the home of ,pericles there was none1 a woman merely of the ,xantippe type from whom he separated by common consent and put ,aspasia1 not in her inferior place1 but on a pedestal before which he knelt4 ,aspasia became not merely his wife but his inspiration1 his comrade1 his aid4 ,she worked for him and with him4 ,she encouraged him in his work1 accompanied him in his battles1 consoled him in his fatigues1 entertained his friends1 talked philosophy with ,socrates1 frivolity with ,alcibiades1 art with ,pheidias1 but love to him1 displaying what ,athens had socially never seen1 the spectacle of delicacy1 culture1 wit1 beauty1 and ease united in a woman1 and that woman a woman of the world4 ,the sight1 highly novel1 established a precedent and with it fresh conceptions of what woman might be4 ,in the ,iliad1 she was money4 ,money has a language of its own4 ,in the enchanted islands of the ,odyssey she was charm4 ,charm has a more distinct appeal4 ,in ,lesbos she was emancipated and that made her headier still4 ,but in the opulent ,athenian nights ,aspasia revealed her not physically attractive merely1 not personally alluring only1 not simply free1 but spirituelle1 addressing the mind as well as the eye1 inspiring the one1 refining the other1 captivating the soul as well as the senses1 the ideal woman1 comrade1 helpmate1 and sweetheart in one4 ,like the day it was too fair4 ,presently the duel occurred4 ,lacedmon1 trailing the pest in her tunic1 ravaged the ,eleusinian glades4 ,pericles died4 ,aspasia disappeared4 ,the duel1 waning a moment1 was resumed4 ,it debilitated ,sparta1 exhausted ,athens1 and awoke ,thebes1 who fell on both but only to be eaten by ,philip4 ,it would have been interesting to have seen that man and his ,epeirote queen who hung serpents about her1 played with them among poisonous weeds and who1 because of another woman1 killed her king1 burned her rival alive1 and gave to the world ,alexander4 ,it would have been more interesting still to have seen the latter when1 undermined by every vice of the vicious ,east1 with nothing left to conquer1 with no sin left to commit1 with no crime left undone1 he descended into the great sewer that ,babylon was and there1 in a golden house1 on a golden throne1 in the attributes of divinity was worshipped as a god4 ,behind him was a background of mitred priests and painted children1 about him were the fabulous beasts that roamed into heraldry1 with them was a harem of three hundred and sixty-five odalisques apportioned to the days of the year1 while above swung the twelve signs of the zodiac4 ,in that picture ,rome was to find the prototype of her ,csars1 as in it already ,hellas has seen the supplanting of ,aphrodite by ,ishtar4 ,greece1 still young1 lingered briefly1 then without decrepitude1 without decadence1 ceased1 nationally1 to be4 ,aphrodite1 young too1 died with her4 ,as ,venus ,pandemos ,rome evoked her4 ,the evocation was successful4 ,venus ,pandemos appeared4 ,but even from ,olympus1 which together with ,hellenic civilization1 ,rome absorbed1 ,aphrodite had already departed4 ,those who truly sought her found her indeed1 but like the art she inspired only in marble and story4 ,,vi ,,the ,,banquet ,it used to be a proverb that ,apollo created sculapius to heal the body and ,plato to heal the soul4 ,plato may have failed to do that4 ,but he heightened its stature4 ,it has been loftier since he taught4 ,in his teaching was the consummation of intellect4 ,his mind was sky-like1 his speech perfection4 ,antiquity that thought ,zeus must have revealed himself to ,pheidias1 thought1 too1 that should the high god deign to speak to mortals1 it would be in the nightingale tongue of refinement which ,plato employed4 ,the beauty of it is not always apprehensible4 ,his views1 also1 are not always understood4 ,yet an attempt must be made to supply some semblance of the latter because of the influence they have had4 ,i know but one little thing1 said ,socrates4 ,it is love4 ,socrates was ironical4 ,that which it pleased him to call little1 ,plato regarded as a special form of the universal law of attraction4 ,his theories on the subject are contained in the ,phdrus and the ,symposion1 two poetically luxurious works produced by him in the violet-crowned city during the brilliant ,athenian day1 before ,socrates had gone and ,sparta had come4 ,the ,symposion is a banquet4 ,a few friends1 ,phdrus and ,pausanias1 men of letters2 ,eryximachus1 a physician2 ,aristophanes1 the poet2 ,socrates1 the seer1 have been supping at the house of ,agathon4 ,by way of food for thought love is suggested4 ,discussion regarding it follows1 in which ,socrates joins--a simple expedient that enabled ,plato to put in his master's mouth the sthetic nectar of personal views of which the real ,socrates never dreamed4 ,among the first disputants is ,phdrus4 ,in his quality of man of letters he began with extravagant praise of ,eros1 whom he called the mightiest of all gods1 the chief minister of happiness4 ,to this1 ,pausanias1 also a literary man and therefore indisposed to agree with another1 objected4 ,phdrus would be right1 he said1 if there were but one ,eros4 ,but there are two4 ,love is inseparable from ,aphrodite4 ,if there were only one ,aphrodite there would be only one love4 ,but there are two ,aphrodites4 ,hence there must be two loves4 ,one ,aphrodite is ,urania or celestial1 the other ,pandemos or common4 ,the divinities should all be lauded4 ,still there is a distinction between these two4 ,they vary as actions do4 ,consider what we are now doing1 drinking and talking4 ,these things in themselves are neither good nor evil4 ,they become one or the other in accordance with the way in which we do them4 ,in the same manner1 not every love1 but only that which is inherently altruistic1 can be called divine4 ,the love inspired by ,aphrodite ,pandemos is essentially common4 ,it is such as appeals to vulgar natures4 ,it is of the senses1 not of the soul4 ,intemperate persons experience this love1 which seeks only its own gross end4 ,whereas the love that comes of ,aphrodite ,urania has for object the happiness and improvement of another4 ,with all of which ,eryximachus agreed4 ,eryximachus was a physician1 consequently more naturalistic1 and in agreeing he extended the duality of love over all things1 over plants and animals as well as over man1 claiming for it a universal influence in nature1 science1 and the arts1 expressing himself meanwhile substantially as follows3 ,in the human body there are two loves1 confessedly different1 as such their desires are unlike1 the desire of the healthy body being one thing1 that of the unhealthy something else4 ,the skilful physician knows how to separate them1 how to convert one into the other1 and reconcile their hostile elements4 ,in music there is the same reconciliation of opposites4 ,this is demonstrable by rhythm1 which is composed of elements short and long1 and which1 though differing1 may be harmonized4 ,the course of the seasons is also an example of both principles4 ,when the opposing forces1 sunlight and rain1 heat and cold1 blend harmoniously they bring fertility and health1 precisely as their discord has a counter influence4 ,the knowledge of love in relation to the revolutions of the heavenly bodies is termed astronomy4 ,lastly1 religion1 through the knowledge which it has of what is pious and what is impious1 is love's intermediary between men and gods4 ,such is love's universal sway4 ,the origin of its duality ,aristophanes then explained4 ,sages1 neighbors of the gods1 of whom ,empedocles was the last representative1 had supposed1 that in the beginning of things1 those that loved were one4 ,later they were separated4 ,thereafter they sought the better half which they had lost4 ,this tradition1 possibly ,orphic1 ,aristophanes took for text and embroidered it with his usual grotesqueness4 ,but beneath the humor of his illustrations there was an idea less profound perhaps than delicate4 ,love1 however regarded1 may not improperly be defined as the union of two beings who complete each other and who1 from the stand-point of the ,orphic tradition1 reciprocally discover in each other what individually they once had and since have lacked4 ,on the other hand1 it may be that in the symbolism which ,aristophanes employed was an attempt to apply to humanity the theory which ,eryximachus had set forth4 ,at the origin of all things is unity1 which divides and becomes multiple only to return to its primal shape4 ,human nature1 as masculinely and femininely exemplified1 is primitive unity after division has come1 and love is the return to that unity which in itself is of all things the compelling law4 ,in other words1 one is many1 and1 love aiding1 many are one4 ,but whatever ,aristophanes may have meant1 his views were subsidiary4 ,it was to ,socrates that ,plato reserved the privilege of penetrating into the essence of love and of displaying its progressus and consummation4 ,how many things that ,i never thought of1 ,socrates on reading his own discourse1 exclaimed1 this young man has made me say4 ,among them was an exposition of the fundamental law of human nature1 the universal desire for happiness4 ,in the demonstrations that followed good was shown to be a means to happiness2 consequently1 every one1 loving happiness1 loves good also4 ,in this sense love belongs to all4 ,every one1 in loving happiness1 loves good and craves a perpetual possession of both4 ,but different minds have different ways of attaining the same end4 ,one man aspires to happiness through wealth1 another through place1 a third through philosophy4 ,these are uninfluenced by ,eros4 ,the influence of ,eros is exerted when the perpetual possession of happiness is sought in immortality4 ,but life itself comports no continuity4 ,life is but a succession of phenomena1 of which one departs as another appears1 and of which each1 created by what has gone before1 creates that which ensues1 the result being that1 though from womb to tomb a man be called the same1 never1 either mentally or physically1 is he4 ,the constant disintegration and renovation of tissues correspond with the constant flux and reflux of sensations1 emotions1 thoughts4 ,the man of this instant perishes4 ,he is replaced by a new one during the next4 ,that proposition true of the individual is equally true of the species1 continuance of either being secured only through reproduction4 ,the love of immortality manifests itself therefore through the reproductive impulse4 ,beauty1 in another1 exercises an attractive force that enables a gratification of the impulse which ugliness arrests4 ,hence comes the love of beauty4 ,in some1 it stimulates the body1 attracting them to women and inducing them to perpetuate themselves through the production of children4 ,in others1 it stimulates the mind1 inducing the creation of children such as ,lycurgus left to ,sparta1 ,solon to ,athens1 ,homer and ,hesiod to humanity1 children that built them temples which women-born offspring could not erect4 ,these are the lesser mysteries of love4 ,the higher mysteries1 then unveiled1 disclose a dialectic ladder of which the first rung touches earth1 the last the divine4 ,to mount from one to the other1 love should rise as does the mind which from hypothesis to hypothesis reaches truth4 ,in like manner1 love1 mounting from form to form1 reaches the primordial principle from which all beauty proceeds4 ,the rightful order of going consists in using earthly beauties as ascending steps1 passing from one fair form to all fair forms1 from fair forms to beautiful deeds1 from beautiful deeds to beautiful conceptions1 until from beautiful conceptions comes the knowledge of beauty supreme4 ,there1 ,socrates continued1 is the home of every science and of all philosophy4 ,it is not1 though1 initiation's final stage4 ,the heart requires more4 ,drawn by the power of love1 it cannot rest in a sphere of abstraction4 ,it must go higher1 higher yet1 still higher to the ultimate degree where it unites with beauty divine4 ,that union which is the true life is not1 ,socrates explained1 annihilation1 nor is it unity1 or at least not unity which excludes division4 ,the lover and the beloved are distinct4 ,they are two and yet but one1 wedded in immaculate beauty4 ,if anything1 ,socrates concluded1 can lend value to life it is the spectacle of that beauty1 pure1 unique1 aloof from earthly attributes1 free from the vanities of the world4 ,it is a spectacle which1 apprehensible to the mind alone1 enables the beholder to create1 not phantoms1 but verities1 and in so doing1 to merit immortality1 if mortal may4 ,socrates1 who had been leaning against the table1 lay back on his couch4 ,the grave discourse was ended4 ,aristophanes was preparing to reply4 ,suddenly there was violent knocking at the door without4 ,a little later the voice of ,alcibiades was heard resounding through the court4 ,in a state of great intoxication he was roaring and shouting ,agathon6 ,where is ,agathon8 ,lead me to ,agathon4 ,then at once1 massively crowned with flowers1 half supported by a flute girl1 ,alcibiades1 ribald and importunate1 staggered in4 ,the grave discourse was ended1 the banquet as well4 ,there is an ,orphic fragment which runs3 ,the innumerable souls that are precipitated from the great heart of the universe swarms as birds swarm4 ,they flutter and sink4 ,from sphere to sphere they fall and in falling weep4 ,they are thy tears1 ,dionysos4 ,o ,liberator divine1 resummon thy children to thy breast of light4 ,in the ,epiphanies at ,eleusis the doctrine disclosed was demonstrative of that conception4 ,the initiate learned the theosophy of the soul1 its cycles and career4 ,in that career the soul's primal home was color1 its sustenance light4 ,from beatitude to beatitude it floated1 blissfully1 in ethereal evolutions1 until1 attracted by the forms of matter1 it sank lower1 still lower1 to awake in the senses of man4 ,the theory detained ,plato4 ,in the ,phdrus1 which is the supplement of the ,symposion1 he made it refract something approaching the splendor of truth revealed4 ,with ,socrates again for mouthpiece1 he declared that in anterior existence we all stood a constant witness of the beautiful and the true1 adding that1 if now the presence of any shape of earthly loveliness evokes a sense of astonishment and delight1 the effect is due to reminiscences of what we once beheld when we were other than what we are4 ,it seems1 then1 ,plato noted1 as though we had found again some object1 very precious1 which1 once ours1 had vanished4 ,the impression is not illusory4 ,beauty is really a belonging which we formerly possessed4 ,mingling in the choir of the elect our souls anteriorly contemplated the eternal essences among which beauty shone4 ,fallen to this earth we recognize it by the intermediary of the most luminous of our senses4 ,sight1 though the subtlest of the organs1 does not perceive wisdom4 ,beauty is more apparent4 ,at the sight of a face lit with its rays1 memory returns1 emotions recur1 we think love is born in us and it is1 yet it is but born anew4 ,there is a ,persian manuscript which1 read one way1 is an invocation to love in verse1 and which1 read backward1 is an essay on mathematics in prose4 ,love is both a poem and a treatise4 ,it was in that aspect ,plato regarded it4 ,it had grown since ,homer4 ,it had developed since the ,song of ,songs4 ,with ,plato it attained a height which it never exceeded until ,plato himself revived with the ,renaissance4 ,in the interim it wavered and diminished4 ,there came periods when it passed completely away4 ,whether ,plato foresaw that evaporation1 is conjectural4 ,but his projection of the drunken ,alcibiades into the gravity of the ,banquet is significant4 ,the dissolute1 entering suddenly there1 routed beauty and was1 it may be1 but an unconscious prefigurement of the coming orgy in which love also disappeared4 ,,vii ,,roma-,,amor ,it was the mission of ,rome to make conquests1 not statues1 not to create1 but to quell4 ,her might reverberated in the roar of her name4 ,roma means strength4 ,it is only in reading it backward that ,amor appears4 ,love there was secondary4 ,might had precedence4 ,it was ,might that made first the home1 then the state1 then the senate that ruled the world4 ,that might1 which was so great that to ablate it the earth had to bear new races1 was based on two things1 citizenship and the family4 ,the title ,romanus sum was equal to that of rex4 ,the title of matron was superior4 ,the ,romans1 primarily but a band of outlaws1 carried away the daughters of their neighbors by force4 ,their first conquest was woman4 ,the next was the gods4 ,in the rude beginnings the latter were savage as they4 ,revealed in panic and thunder1 they were gods of prey and of fright4 ,rome1 whom they mortified1 made no attempt to impose them on other people4 ,with superior tact she lured their gods from them4 ,she made love to them4 ,with nave effrontery she seduced them away4 ,the process ,macrobius described4 ,at the walls of any beleaguered city1 a consul1 his head veiled1 pronounced the consecrated words4 ,if there be here gods that have under their care this people and this city1 we pray1 supplicate1 and adjure them to desert the temples1 to abandon the altars1 to inspire terror there1 to come to ,rome near us and ours1 that our temples1 being more agreeable and precious1 may predispose them to protect us4 ,it being understood and agreed that we dedicate to them larger altars1 grander games4#ac ,it was with that formula that ,rome conquered the world4 ,she omitted it but once1 at the walls of ,jerusalem4 ,the deity whom she forgot there to invoke1 entered her temples and overthrew them4 ,meanwhile the flatteries of the formula no known god could resist4 ,in triumph ,rome escorted one after another away1 leaving the forsaken but doorposts to worship1 and stimulating in them the desire to become part of the favored city where their divinities were4 ,but in that city everything was closed to them4 ,deserted by their gods1 divested1 in consequence1 of religion and1 therefore1 of every right1 they could no longer pray1 the significance of signs and omens was lost to them1 they were plebs4 ,but the ,romans1 who had captivated the divinities1 and who1 through them1 alone possessed the incommunicable science of augury1 were patrician4 ,in that distinction is the origin of ,rome's aristocracy and her might4 ,the might pre-existed in the despotic organization of the home4 ,there the slaves and children were but things that could be sold or killed4 ,they were the chattels of the paterfamilias1 whose wife was a being without influence or initiative1 a creature in the hands of a man1 unable to leave him for any cause whatever1 a domestic animal over whom he had the right of life and death1 a ward who1 regarded as mentally irresponsible--propter animi lvitatem--might not escape his power even though he died1 a woman whom he could repudiate at will and of whom he was owner and judge4#ad ,such was the law and such it remained1 a dead letter1 nullified by a reason profoundly human1 which the legislature had overlooked1 but which the ,asiatics had foreseen and which they combated with the seraglio where woman1 restricted to a fraction of her lord1 exhausted herself in contending even for that4 ,but ,rome1 in making the paterfamilias despotic1 made him monogamous as well4 ,he was strictly restricted to one wife4 ,as a consequence1 the materfamilias1 while theoretically a slave1 became practically what woman with her husband to herself and no rivals to fear almost inevitably does become--supreme4 ,legally she was the property of her husband1 actually he was hers4 ,when he returned from forage or from war1 she alone had the right to greet him1 she alone might console and caress4 ,in the eye of the gods if not of the law she was his equal when not his superior4 ,by virtue of the law he could divorce her at will1 he could kill her if she so much as presumed to drink wine4 ,by virtue of her supremacy five hundred and twenty years passed before a divorce occurred4#ae ,the supremacy was otherwise facilitated4 ,the atrium1 unlike the gynceum1 was not a remote and inaccessible apartment1 it was the living-room1 the sanctuary of the household gods1 a common hall to which friends were admitted1 visitors came1 and where the matron presided4 ,from the moment when1 in accordance with the ceremonies of marriage1 her hair--in memory of the ,sabines--parted by a javelin's point1 an iron ring--symbol of eternity--on her fourth finger1 the wedding bread eaten1 her purchase money paid1 and she1 lifted over the threshold of the atrium1 uttered the sacramental words--,ubi tu ,caus1 ibi ego ,caa--from that moment1 legally in manum viri1 actually she became mistress of whatever her husband possessed1 she became his associate1 his partner1 sharing with him the administration of the patrimony1 governing the household1 the slaves1 ,caus himself4 ,said ,cato3 ,everywhere else women are ruled by men1 but we who rule all men1 are ruled by women4 ,they had done so from the first4 ,the treatment of the ,sabines was clearly violent in addition to being mythical4 ,but1 even in legend1 these young women were not deserted as were the ,ariadnes and ,medeas of ,greece4 ,they became ,roman matrons1 as such circled with respect4 ,later1 ,egeria instituted with symbolic nymphs a veritable worship of women4 ,thereafter feminine prerogatives developed from the theory and practice of marriage itself4 ,in theory1 marriage was an association for the pursuit of things human and divine4#af ,in practice1 it was the fusion of two lives--a fusion manifestly incomplete if all were not held in common4 ,community of goods means equality4 ,from equality to superiority there is but a step4 ,the matron took it4 ,she became supreme as already she was patrician4 ,between patrician and plebeian there was an abyss too wide for marriage to bridge4 ,such a union would have been regarded as abnormal4 ,the plebeian did not at first dare to conceive of such a thing4 ,when later he protested against his helotry it was in silence4 ,he but vacated the city where the earth threatened to open beneath him and where his lost gods brooded inimical still4 ,ultimately1 protests persisting1 the patricians consented that these nobodies should be somebodies1 provided at least they were men4 ,already ,roman by birth1 they became ,roman by law4 ,whether man or woman1 it was a high privilege to be that4 ,the woman who was not1 the manumitted slave1 the foreigner within the walls1 the code disdained to consider4 ,statutes against shames took no account of her4 ,beyond the pale even of ethics1 the attitude to her of others concerned but herself4 ,but about the ,roman woman were thrown ,lycurgian laws4 ,a forfeiture of her honor was a disgrace to the ,state4 ,her people killed her--,cognati necanto uti volent--as they liked4 ,on the morrow there was nothing that told of the tragedy save the absence of a woman seen no more4 ,if she were seen1 if father or husband neglected his duty1 public indictment ensued with death or exile for result4 ,from the indictment and its penalties appeal could be had4 ,from the edile could be obtained the ,licentia stupri1 the right to the antique livery of shame4 ,but thereafter the purple no longer bordered the robe of the ex-patrician4 ,she could no longer be driven in chariots or be borne in litters by slaves2 the fillet1 taken from her1 was replaced by a yellow wig2 a harlot then1 she was civilly dead4#ag ,tacitus has said that under ,tiberius a special law had to be enacted to prevent women of rank from such descent4 ,during the austerer days of the republic the derogation was unknown4 ,the ,greek ideal of woman which the hetaira exemplified was beauty4 ,honor1 which was the ,roman ideal1 the matron achieved4 ,to the matrons reverently ,rome bowed4 ,the purple border on their mantle compelled respect4 ,the modesty of their eyes and ears was protected by grave laws4 ,in days of danger the senate asked their aid4 ,the gods could have no purer incense than their prayers4 ,there was no homage greater than their esteem4 ,such a word as dignity was too colorless to be employed regarding them1 it was the term majesty that was used4 ,the vestal was but a more perfect type of these women on whose tomb univir--the wife of one man--was alone inscribed4 ,the honor of the ,roman matron was a national affair1 the honor of a ,roman girl a public concern4 ,because of the one1 royalty was abolished4 ,because of the other1 the decemvirs fell4 ,in neither case was there revolution4 ,on the contrary4 ,in the first instance1 that of ,lucretia1 it was the insurrection of ,tarquin against the inviolability of virtue4 ,in the second1 that of ,virginia1 it was the insurrection of ,appius ,claudius against the inviolability of love1 dual insurrections1 probably mythical1 which ,rome1 with legendary fury1 suppressed1 and which1 whether historic or imaginary1 was typical of the energetic character that made her what she was1 proud1 despotic1 sovereign of the world4 ,the empire that ,rome won1 ,st4 ,augustin1 with agreeable ingenuousness1 remarked1 ,god gave her in order that1 though pagan and consequently unrewardable hereafter1 her virtues should not remain unrecognized below4 ,nor were they1 and that1 too1 despite the fact that they omitted to endure1 except1 as ,cicero said1 in books2 in old books1 he added1 which no one reads any more4 ,but in the interim three things had occurred4 ,greece1 wounded to the death1 had flooded ,rome with the hemorrhages of her expiring art4 ,asia had undyked the sea of her corruption4 ,both had cascaded their riches4 ,rome hitherto had been poor1 she had been puritan4 ,hers had been the peasant's hard plain life4 ,the costume of the matron1 which custom had made stately1 the lex ,oppia had made severe4 ,this statute1 passed at the time of the ,carthagenian invasion1 was a measure of public utility devised to increase the budget of war4 ,its abrogation coincided with the fall of ,macedon and the return of milius ,paulus1 bringing with him the sack of seventy cities1 the prodigious booty of ravaged ,greece1 the prelude to that of the ,east4 ,behind these eruptions was the contagion of fastidious caprices that demoralized ,rome4 ,heretofore1 innocent of excesses1 ignorant of refinements1 in antique simplicity1 ,rome had sat briefly and upright before her frugal fare4 ,thereafter1 on cushioned beds were repasts1 long and savorous1 eaten to the sound of crotal and of flute4 ,there were after-courses of ballerine and song1 the refreshment of perfume1 the luxurious tonic of the bath1 the red feather that enabled one to eat again1 the marvels of ,asiatic debauchery1 the surprises of ,hellenic grace4 ,in the charm of foreign spells former austerities were forgot4 ,romans who had not been initiated in them abroad had the returning victors for tutors at home4 ,sylla was particularly instructive4 ,carthagenian in ferocity1 ,babylonian in lubricity1 ,hamilcar and ,belshazzar in one1 the ugliest and most formidable ,roman of the lot1 his life1 which an ulcer ravaged1 was a succession of massacres1 orgies1 and crimes4 ,married one after another to three women of wealth1 who to him were but stepping stones to fortune1 on a day when he was preparing to give one of those festivals1 the splendor and the art of which he had learned from ,mithridates1 his third wife fell ill4 ,death discourages ,fortune4 ,sylla sent her a bill of divorce and ordered her to be taken from the house1 which was done1 just in time1 she was dying4 ,sylla promptly remarried1 then married again1 and yet again4 ,meanwhile1 he had a daughter and an eye on the promising ,pompey4 ,his daughter was married4 ,so too was ,pompey4 ,he forced his daughter from her husband1 forced ,pompey to repudiate his wife1 and forced them to marry4 ,sylla had brought with him from the ,east its curious cups in which blood and passion mingled1 and spilled them in the open streets4 ,crassus outdid him in magnificence1 and ,lucullus eclipsed them both4 ,asia had yielded to these men the fortune of her people1 the honor of her children1 the treasure of her temples1 the secrets of their sin4 ,the ,orientalisms which they imported1 their deluge of coin1 their art of marrying cruelty to pleasure1 set ,rome mad4 ,among the maddest was ,catiline4 ,that tiger1 in whose vestibule were engraved the laws of facile love1 affiliated women of rank1 others of none1 soldiers and slaves1 in his convulsive cause4 ,shortly1 throughout the ,latin territory1 a mysterious sound was heard4 ,it was like the clash of arms afar4 ,the augurs1 interrogated1 announced that the form of the ,state was about to change4 ,the noise was the crackling of the republic4#ah ,before it fell came ,csar4 ,sylla told him to repudiate his wife as ,pompey had4 ,csar declined to be commanded4 ,the house of ,julia1 to which he belonged1 descended1 he declared1 from ,venus4 ,venus ,pandemos1 perhaps4 ,but the ancestry was typical4 ,cinna drafted a law giving him the right to marry as often as he chose4 ,after the episodes in ,gaul1 when he entered ,rome1 his legions warned the citizens to have an eye to their wives4 ,meanwhile1 he had repudiated ,pompeia1 his wife1 not to please ,sylla but himself1 or rather because ,publius ,claudius1 a young gallant1 had been discovered disguised as a woman assisting at the mysteries of the ,bona ,dea1 held on this occasion in ,csar's house4 ,to these ceremonies men were not admitted4 ,the affair made a great scandal4 ,pompeia was suspected of having helped ,publius to be present4 ,the suspicion was probably unfounded4 ,but ,csar held that his wife should be above suspicion4 ,he divorced her in consequence and married ,calpurnia1 not for love but for place4 ,her father was consul4 ,csar wanted his aid and got it4 ,then1 after creating a solitude and calling it peace1 after turning over two million people into so many dead flies1 after giving geography such a twist that to-day whoso says ,csar says history--after these pauses in the ascending scale of his unequalled life1 at the age of fifty1 bald1 tired1 and very pale1 there was brought to him at ,alexandria a bundle1 from which1 when opened1 there emerged a little wonder called ,cleopatra1 but who was ,isis unveiled4#ai ,,viii ,,antony ,,and ,,cleopatra4 ,in ,greece beauty was the secret of life4 ,in ,egypt it was the secret of death4 ,the sphinxes that crouched in the avenues1 the caryatides at the palace doors1 the gods on their pedestals1 had an expression enigmatic but identical4 ,it was as though some of them listened1 while others repeated the story of the soul's career4 ,in the chambers of the tombs the echo of the story descended4 ,the dead were dreaming1 and draining it4 ,saturated with aromatics1 wound about with spirals of thin bands1 they were dressed as for nuptials4 ,on their faces was the same beatitude that the statues displayed4 ,isis typified that beatitude4 ,the goddess1 in whose mysteries were taught both the immortality of the soul and the secret of its migrations1 was one of ,ishtar's many avatars1 the only one whose attributes accorded even remotely with the divine4 ,egypt adored her4 ,there were other gods4 ,there was ,osiris1 the father2 ,horus1 the son1 who with ,isis formed the trinity which ,india and ,persia both possessed1 and which ,byzance afterward perpetuated4 ,there were other gods also1 a hierarchy of great idle divinities with1 beneath them1 cohorts of inferior fiends4 ,but the great light was ,isis4 ,goddess of life and goddess of death1 she had for sceptre a lotos and for crown a cormorant2 the lotos because it is emblematic of love1 and the cormorant because1 however replete1 it says never ,enough4 ,isis was the consort of ,osiris4 ,she was also his sister4 ,it was customary for the queens of ,egypt to call themselves after her1 and1 like her1 to marry a brother4 ,cleopatra followed the usual custom4 ,in other ways she must have resembled her4 ,she was beautiful1 but not remarkably so4 ,the ,egyptian women generally were good-looking4 ,the ,asiatics admired them very much4 ,they were preferred to the ,chinese1 whose eyes oblique and half-closed perturbed sages1 demons even1 with whom1 ,michelet has suggested1 they were perhaps akin4 ,cleopatra lacked that insidiousness4 ,semi-,greek1 a daughter of the ,ptolomies1 she had the charm of the ,hellenic hetaira4 ,to aptitudes natural and very great1 she added a varied assortment of accomplishments4 ,it is said that she could talk to any one in any tongue4 ,that is probably an exaggeration4 ,but1 though a queen1 she was ambitious2 though a girl1 she was lettered2 succinctly1 she was masterful1 a match for any man except ,csar4 ,cleopatra must have been very heady4 ,csar knew how to keep his head4 ,he could not have done what he did1 had he not known4 ,dissolute1 as all men of that epoch had become1 he differed from all of them in his epicureanism4 ,like ,epicurus1 he was strictly temperate4 ,he supped on dry bread4 ,cato said that he was the first sober man that had tried to overthrow the republic4 ,but1 then1 he had been to school1 to the best of schools1 which the world is4 ,his studies in anima vili had taught him many things1 among them1 how to win and not be won4 ,cleopatra might almost have been his granddaughter4 ,but he was ,csar4 ,his eyes blazed with genius4 ,besides1 he was the most alluring of men4 ,tall1 slender1 not handsome but superb--so superb that ,cicero mistook him for a fop from whom the republic had nothing to fear--at seventeen he had fascinated pirates4 ,ever since he had fascinated queens4 ,in the long list1 ,cleopatra was but another to this man whom the depths of ,hither ,asia1 the mysteries that lay beyond1 the diadems of ,cyrus and ,alexander1 the ,vistula and the ,baltic claimed4 ,there were his ambitions4 ,they were immense4 ,so were also ,cleopatra's4 ,what he wanted1 she wanted for him1 and for herself as well4 ,she wanted him sovereign of the world and herself its empress4 ,these views1 in so far as they concerned her1 did not interest him very greatly4 ,his lack of interest he was1 however1 too well bred to display4 ,he solidified her throne1 which at the time was not stable1 left her a son for souvenir1 went away1 forgot her1 remembered her1 invited her to ,rome1 where1 presumably with ,calpurnia's permission1 he put her up at his house1 and again forgot her4 ,he was becoming divine1 what is superior1 immortal4 ,even when dead1 his name1 adopted by the emperors of ,rome1 survived in ,czars and ,kaisers4 ,his power too1 coextensive with ,rome1 persisted4 ,severed as it was like his heart when he fell1 the booty was divided between ,octavius1 ,lepidus1 and ,marc ,antony4 ,their triumvirate--duumvirate rather1 ,lepidus was nobody--matrimony consolidated4 ,octavius married a relative of ,antony and ,antony married ,octavius' sister4 ,then the world was apportioned4 ,octavius got the ,occident1 ,antony the ,orient4 ,rome became the capital of the one1 ,alexandria that of the other4 ,at the time ,alexandria was ,rome's rival and superior4 ,rome1 unsightly still with the atrocities of the ,tarquins1 had neither art nor commerce4 ,these things were regarded as the occupations of slaves4 ,alexandria1 purely ,greek1 very fair1 opulent1 and teeming1 was the universal centre of both1 of learning too1 of debauchery as well--elements which its queen1 a viper of the ,nile1 personified4 ,before going there ,antony made and unmade a dozen kings4 ,then1 presently1 at ,tarsus he ordered ,cleopatra to come to him4 ,indolently1 his subject obeyed4 ,csar claimed descent from ,venus4 ,antony's tutelary god was ,bacchus1 but he claimed descent from ,hercules1 whom in size and strength he resembled4 ,the strength was not intellectual4 ,he was an understudy of genius1 a soldier of limited intelligence1 who tried to imitate ,csar and failed to understand him1 a big barbarian boy1 by accident satrap and god4 ,at ,rome he had seen ,cleopatra4 ,whether she had noticed him is uncertain4 ,but the gilded galley with the purple sails1 its silver oars1 its canopy of enchantments in which she went to him at ,tarsus1 has been told and retold1 sung and painted4 ,at the approach of ,isis1 the ,tarsians crowded the shore4 ,bacchus1 deserted on his throne1 sent an officer to fetch her to him4 ,cleopatra insisted that he come to her4 ,antony1 amused at the impertinence1 complied4 ,the infinite variety of this woman1 that made her a suite of surprises1 instantly enthralled him4 ,from that moment he was hers1 a lion in leash1 led captive into ,alexandria1 where1 initiated by her into the inimitable life1 probably into the refinements of the savoir-vivre as well1 ,bacchus developed into ,osiris1 while ,isis transformed herself anew4 ,she drank with him1 fished with him1 hunted with him1 drilled with him1 played tricks on him1 and1 at night1 in slave's dress1 romped with him in ,rhakotis--a local slum--broke windows1 beat the watch1 captivating the captive wholly4#bj ,where she had failed with ,csar she determined to succeed with him1 and would have succeeded1 had ,antony been ,csar4 ,octavius was not ,csar1 either4 ,any man of ability1 with the power and resources of which ,antony disposed1 could have taken the ,occident from him and1 with ,cleopatra1 ruled the world4 ,together they dreamed of it4 ,it was a beautiful dream1 inimitable like their life4 ,rumors of the one and of the other reached ,octavius4 ,he waited1 not impatiently and not long4 ,meanwhile ,antony was still the husband of ,octavia4 ,but ,cleopatra had poisoned her brother-husband4 ,there being1 therefore1 no lawful reason why she and ,antony should not marry1 they did4 ,together1 in the splendid palace of the ,bruchium--an antique gem of which the historic brilliance still persists--they seated themselves1 he as ,osiris1 she as ,isis1 on thrones of gold4 ,their children they declared kings of kings4 ,armenia1 ,phoenicia1 ,media1 and ,parthea1 were allotted to them4 ,to ,cleopatra's realm ,antony added ,syria1 ,lydia1 and ,cyprus4 ,these distributions constituted just so many dismemberments of the res publica1 ,antony thought them so entirely within the scope of his prerogatives that he sent an account of the proceedings to the senate4 ,with the account there went to ,octavia a bill of divorce4 ,rome stood by indignant4 ,it was precisely what ,octavius wanted4 ,octavius had divorced his wife and married a married woman4 ,according to the ethics of the day1 he was a model citizen1 whereas ,antony throning as ,osiris with a female ,mithridates for consort1 was as oblivious of ,roman dignity as of conjugal faith4 ,in addition1 it was found that he had made a will by which ,rome1 in the event of capture1 was devised as tributary city to ,cleopatra4 ,moreover1 a senator1 who had visited ,antony at the ,bruchium1 testified that he had seen him upholding the woman's litter like a slave4 ,it was obvious that he was mad1 demented by her aphrodisiacs4 ,but it was obvious also that the gods of the ,east were rising1 that ,isis with her cormorant1 her lotos and her spangled arms1 was arrayed against the ,roman penates4#ba ,war was declared4 ,at ,actium the clash occurred4 ,antony might have won4 ,but before he had had time to lose1 ,cleopatra1 with singular clairvoyance1 deserted him4 ,her reasons for believing that he would be defeated are not clear1 but her motive in going is obvious4 ,she wanted to rule the world's ruler1 whoever he might be1 and she thought by prompt defection to find favor with ,octavius4 ,at the sight of her scudding sail ,antony lost his senses4 ,instead of remaining and winning1 as he might have1 he followed her4 ,together they reached ,alexandria4 ,but there it was no longer the inimitable life that they led1 rather that of the inseparables in death1 or at least ,antony so fancied4 ,cleopatra intoxicated him with funereal delights while corresponding in secret with ,octavius who had written engagingly to her4 ,in the ,bruchium the nights were festivals4 ,by day she experimented on slaves with different poisons4 ,antony believed that she was preparing to die with him4 ,she had no such intention4 ,she was preparing to be rid of him4 ,then1 suddenly1 the enemy was at the gates4 ,antony challenged ,octavius to single combat4 ,octavius sent him word that there were many other ways in which he could end his life4 ,at that the lion roared4 ,even then he thought he might demolish him4 ,he tried4 ,he went forth to fight4 ,but ,cleopatra had other views4 ,the infantry1 the cavalry1 the flotilla1 joined the ,roman forces4 ,the viper of the ,nile had betrayed him4 ,bacchus had also4 ,the night had been stirred by the hum of harps and the cries of bacchantes bearing the tutelary god to the ,romans4 ,antony1 staggering back to the palace1 was told that ,cleopatra had killed herself4 ,she had not1 but fearful lest he kill her1 she had hidden with her treasure in a temple4 ,antony1 after the ,roman fashion1 kept always with him a slave who should kill him when his hour was come4 ,the slave's name1 ,plutarch said1 was ,eros4 ,antony called him4 ,eros raised a sword1 but instead of striking his master1 struck himself4 ,antony reddened and imitated him4 ,another slave then told him that ,cleopatra still lived4 ,he had himself taken to where she was1 and died while attempting to console this woman who was preparing for the consolations of ,octavius4 ,it is said that she received the conqueror magnificently4 ,but his engaging letters had been ruses de guerre4 ,they had triumphed4 ,the new ,csar wanted to triumph still further4 ,he wanted ,cleopatra1 a chain about her neck1 dragged after his chariot through ,rome4 ,he wanted in that abjection to triumph over the entire ,east4 ,instead of yielding to her1 as she had expected1 he threatened to kill her children if she eluded him by killing herself4 ,the threat was horrible4 ,but more horrible still was the thought of the infamy to be4 ,shortly1 on a bed of gold1 dressed as for nuptials1 she was found dead among her expiring women1 one of whom even then was putting back on her head her diadem which had fallen4 ,at last the cormorant had cried ,enough6 ,said ,horace3 ,nunc est bibendum4 ,,ix ,,the ,,imperial ,,orgy ,death1 in taking ,cleopatra1 closed the doors of the temple ,janus4 ,after centuries of turmoil1 there was peace4 ,the reign of the ,csars had begun4 ,octavius became ,augustus1 the rest of the litter divine4 ,the triumvirs of war were succeeded by the triumvirs of love4 ,these were the poets4 ,catullus had gone with the republic4 ,in verse he might have been primus4 ,he was too negligent4 ,his microscopic masterpieces form but a brief bundle of pastels4 ,the face repeated there is ,lesbia's4 ,he saw her first lounging in a litter that slaves carried along the ,sacred ,way4 ,immediately he was in love with her4 ,the love was returned4 ,in the delight of it the poet was born4 ,his first verses were to her1 so also were his last4 ,but ,lesbia wearied of song and kisses1 at least of his4 ,she eloped with his nearest friend4 ,in the ,somnambula the tenor sings ,o perch non posso odiarte--,why can ,i not hate thee8 ,the song is but a variant on that of ,catullus4 ,odi et amo1 ,i love and hate you1 he called after her4 ,but1 if she heard1 she heeded as little as ,beatrice did when ,dante cursed the day he saw her first4 ,dante ceased to upbraid1 but did not cease to love4 ,he was but following the example of ,catullus1 with this difference3 ,beatrice went to heaven1 ,lesbia to hell1 to an earthly hell1 the worst of any1 to a horrible inn on the ,tiber where sailors brawled4 ,she descended to that1 fell there1 rather4 ,catullus still loved her4 ,at the sight of ,cynthia another poet was born4 ,what ,lesbia pulchra had been to ,catullus1 ,cynthia pulchrior became to ,propertius4 ,he swore that she should be his sole muse1 and kept his word1 in so far as verse was concerned4 ,otherwise1 he was less constant4 ,it is doubtful if she deserved more1 or as much4 ,never did a girl succeed better in tormenting a lover1 never was there a lover so poetically wretched as he4 ,in final fury he flung at her farewells that were maledictions1 only to be recaptured1 beaten even1 subjugated anew4 ,she made him love her4 ,when she died1 her death nearly killed him4 ,nearly1 but not quite4 ,he survived1 and1 first among poets1 intercepted the possibility of reunion there where all things broken are made complete1 and found again things vanished--,lethum non omnia finit4 ,horace resembled him very remotely4 ,a little fat man--brevis atque obesus1 ,suetonius said--he waddled and wallowed in the excesses of the day1 telling1 in culpable iambics1 of fair faces1 facile amours1 easy epicureanism1 rose-crowned locks1 yet telling of them--and of other matters less admissible--on a lyre with wonderful chords4 ,at the conclusion of the third book of the ,odes1 he declared that he had completed a monument which the succession of centuries without number could not destroy4 ,i shall not die1 he added4 ,he was right4 ,because of that flame of fair faces1 lovers turn to him still4 ,because of his iambics1 he has a niche in the hearts of the polite4 ,versatile in love and in verse1 his inconstancy and his art are nowhere better displayed than in the incomparable ,donec gratus eram tibi1 which ,ponsard rewrote3 ,,horace4 ,tant que tu m'as aim1 que nul autre plus digne ,n'entourait de ses bras ton col blanc comme un cygne1 ,j'ai vcu plus heureux que ,xerxs le grand roi4 ,,lydie4 ,tant que tu n'as aim personne plus que moi1 ,quand ,chlo n'tait pas prfre ,lydie1 ,j'ai vcu plus illustre et plus fire qu',ilie4 ,,horace4 ,j'appartiens maintenant la blonde ,chlo1 ,qui plait par sa voix douce et son luth enjou4 ,je suis prt mourir pour prolonger sa vie4 ,,lydie4 ,calais maintenant tient mon me asservie1 ,nous brlons tous les deux de mutuels amours1 ,et je mourrais deux fois pour prolonger ses jours4 ,,horace4 ,mais quoi6 ,si j'ai regret de ma premire chaine8 ,si ,vnus de retour sous son joug me ramne8 ,si je refuse l'autre1 et te rends mon amour8 ,,lydie4 ,encor que ,calais soit beau comme le jour1 ,et toi plus inconstant que la feuille inconstante1 ,avec toi je vivrais et je mourrais contente4 ,horace was the poet of ease1 ,catullus of love1 ,propertius of passion1 ,tibullus of sentiment4 ,ovid was the poet of pleasure4 ,a man of means1 of fashion1 of the world1 what to-day would be called a gentleman1 he might have been laureate of the ,empire4 ,corinna interfered4 ,corinna was his figurative muse4 ,whether she were one or many is uncertain1 but nominally at least it was for her that he wrote the suite of feverish fancies entitled the ,art of ,love and which were better entitled the ,art of not ,loving at all4 ,subsequently1 he planned a great ,homeric epic4 ,but1 if ,corinna inspired masterpieces1 she gave him no time to complete them4 ,she wanted her poet to herself4 ,she refused to share him even with the gods4 ,it is supposed that ,corinna was ,julia1 daughter of ,augustus4 ,because of her eyes1 more exactly because of her father's1 ,ovid was banished among barbarian brutes4 ,it was rather a frightful penalty for participating in the indiscretions of a woman who had always been the reverse of discreet4 ,corinna1 as described by ,ovid1 was a monster of perversity4 ,julia1 as described by ,tacitus1 yielded to her nothing in that respect4 ,the epoch itself was strange1 curiously fecund in curious things that became more curious still4 ,rome then1 thoroughly ,hellenized1 had become very fair4 ,there were green terraces and porphyry porticoes that leaned to a river on which red galleys passed1 there were bronze doors and garden roofs1 glancing villas and temples more brilliant still4 ,there were spacious streets1 a ,forum curtained with silk1 the glint and evocations of triumphal war4 ,there were theatres in which a multitude could jeer at an emperor1 and arenas in which an emperor could watch a multitude die4 ,on the stage1 there were tragedies1 pantomime1 farce4 ,there were races in the circus and in the sacred groves1 girls with the ,orient in their eyes and slim waists that swayed to the crotals4 ,into the arenas patricians descended1 in the amphitheatre were criminals from ,gaul1 in the ,forum1 philosophers from ,greece4 ,for ,rome's entertainment the mountains sent lions2 the deserts giraffes2 there were boas from the jungles1 bulls from the plains1 hippopotami from the rushes of the ,nile1 and1 above them1 beasts greater than they--the ,csars4 ,there had been the first1 memory of whose grandiose figure lingered still4 ,rome recalled the unforgettable1 and recalled1 too1 his face which incessant debauches had blanched4 ,after him had come ,augustus1 a pigmy by comparison1 yet otherwise more depraved4 ,he gone1 there was the spectacle of ,tiberius devising infamies so monstrous that to describe them new words were coined4 ,that being insufficient1 there followed ,caligula1 without whom ,nero1 ,claud1 ,domitian1 ,commodus1 ,caracalla1 and ,heliogabalus could never have been4 ,it was he who gave them both inspiration and incentive4 ,it was he who built the ,cloacus ,maximus in which all ,rome rolled4 ,augustus had done a little digging for it himself1 but hypocritically as he did everything1 devising ethical laws as a cloak for turpitudes of his own4 ,mecnas1 his minister and lackey1 divorced and remarried twenty times4 ,augustus repudiated his own marriages1 those of his kin as well4 ,suetonius said of ,caligula that it was uncertain which were viler1 the unions he contracted1 their brevity1 or their cause4 ,with such examples1 it was inevitable that commoner people united but to part1 and that1 insensibly1 the law annulled as a caprice a clause that defined marriage as the inseparable life4#bb ,under the ,csars marriage became a temporary arrangement1 abandoned and re-established as often as one liked4 ,seneca said that women of rank counted their years by their husbands4 ,juvenal said that it was in that fashion that they counted their days4 ,tertullian added that divorce was the result of marriage4 ,divorce1 however1 was not obligatory4 ,matrimony was4 ,according to the ,lex ,pappea ,poppoea1 whoso at twenty-five was not married1 whoso1 divorced or widowed1 did not remarry1 whoso1 though married1 was childless1 ipso facto became a public enemy1 incapable of inheriting or of serving the ,state4 ,to this law--an ,augustan hypocrisy--only a technical attention was paid4 ,men married just enough to gain a position or inherit a legacy4 ,the next day they got a divorce4 ,at the moment of need a child was adopted4 ,the moment passed the brat was disowned4 ,as with men so with women4 ,the univira became the many-husbanded wife1 occasionally a matron with no husband at all1 one who1 to escape the consequences of the lex ,pappea ,poppoea1 hired a man to loan her his name1 and who1 with an establishment of her own1 was free to do as she liked1 to imitate men at their worst1 to fight like them and with them for power1 to dabble in the bloody dramas of ,state1 to climb on the throne and kill there or be killed2 perhaps1 less ambitiously1 whipping her slaves1 summoning the headsman to them1 quieting her nerves with drink1 appearing on the stage1 in the arena even1 contending as a gladiator there1 and remaining a patrician meanwhile4 ,in those days a sin was a prayer1 and a prayer1 ,perseus said1 was an invocation at which a meretrix would blush to hear pronounced aloud4 ,religion sanctioned anything4 ,the primal gods1 supplemented with the lords and queens of other skies1 had made ,rome an abridgment of every superstition1 the temple of every crime4 ,asiatic monsters1 which ,hellenic poetry had deodorized1 landed there straight from the ,orient1 their native hideousness unchanged4 ,it was only the graceful ,greek myths that ,rome transformed4 ,eros1 who in ,arcady seemed atiptoe1 so delicately did he tread upon the tender places of the soul1 acquired1 behind the mask of ,cupid1 a maliciousness that was simian4 ,aphrodite1 whose eyes had been lifted to the north and south1 and who in ,attica was draped with light1 obtained as ,venus the leer of the ,lampsacene4 ,long since from ,syria ,astarte had arrived1 as already1 torn by ,cilician pirates from ,persia1 ,mithra had come1 while1 from ,egypt1 had strayed ,apis from whose mouth two phalluses issued horizontally4 ,these were ,rome's gods1 the divinities about whom men and maidens assembled1 and to whom pledges were made4 ,there were others1 so many1 in such hordes had they come1 that ,petronius said they outnumbered the population4 ,the lettered believed in them no more than we do4 ,but1 like the ,athenians1 they lived among a people that did4 ,moreover1 the lettered were few4 ,rome1 brutal at heart1 sanguinary and voluptuous1 fought1 she did not read4 ,she could applaud1 but not create4 ,her literature1 like her gods1 her art1 her corruption1 had come from afar4 ,her own breasts were sterile4 ,when she gave birth1 it was to a litter of monsters1 by accident to a genius1 again to a poet1 to ,csar and to ,lucretius1 the only men of letters ever born within her walls4 ,meanwhile1 though the ,pantheon was obviously but a lupanar1 the people clung piously to creeds that justified every disorder1 tenaciously to gods that sanctified every vice1 and fervently to ,csars that incarnated them all4 ,the ,csars were religion in a concrete form4 ,long before1 ,ennius1 the ,homer of ,latium1 had announced that the gods were but great men4 ,the ,csars accepted that view with amplifications4 ,they became greater than any that had been4 ,save ,death1 who1 in days that precede the fall of empires1 is the one divinity whom all fear and in whom all believe1 they alone were august4 ,in the absence of the aromas of tradition1 they had something superior4 ,the ,olympians inspired awe1 the ,csars fright4 ,death was their servant4 ,they ordered4 ,death obeyed4 ,in the obedience was apotheosis4 ,in the apotheosis was the delirium that madmen know4 ,at their feet1 ,rome1 mad as they1 built them temples1 raised them shrines1 created for them hierophants and flamens1 all the phantasmagoria of the megalomaniac ,alexander1 and1 with it1 a worship which they accepted as their due perhaps1 but in which their reason fled4 ,that of ,csar withstood it4 ,insanity began with ,antony1 who called himself ,osiris4 ,the brain of ,tiberius1 very steady at first1 was insufficiently strong to withstand the nectar fumes4 ,the latter intoxicated ,caligula so sheerly that he invited the moon to share his couch4 ,thereafter1 the palace of the ,csars became a vast court in which the wives and daughters of the nobility assisted at perversions which a ,ministry of ,pleasure devised1 and where ,rome abandoned whatever she had held holy1 the innocence of girlhood1 patrician pride1 everything1 shame included4 ,in post-pagan convulsions there was much that was very vile4 ,but there is one aspect of evil which subsequent barbarism reproved1 and in which ,rome delighted4 ,it was the symbolized shapes of sin1 open and public1 for which in modern speech there is no name1 and which were then omnipresent1 sung in verse1 exhibited on the stage1 paraded in the streets1 put on the amulets that girls and matrons wore1 put in the nursery1 consecrated by custom1 art1 religion1 and since recovered from disinterred ,pompeii4 ,the mouth1 said ,quintillian1 does not dare describe what the eyes behold4 ,rome that had made orbs and urbs synonymous was being conquered by the turpitudes of the quelled4 ,i have told of the ,prince1 said ,suetonius1 ,i will tell now of the ,beast4 ,it was his privilege4 ,he wrote in ,latin4 ,in ,english it is not possible4 ,gautier declared that the inexpressible does not exist4 ,even his pen might have balked1 had he tried it on the imperial orgy4 ,the ulcer that ravaged ,sylla1 gangrened a throne1 and decomposed a world4 ,less violent under ,tiberius than under ,caligula1 under ,nero the fever rose to the brain and added delirium to it4 ,in reading accounts of the epoch you feel as though you were assisting at the spectacle of a gigantic asylum1 from which the keepers are gone1 and of which the inmates are omnipotent4 ,but1 in spite of the virulence of the virus1 the athletic constitution of the empire1 joined to its native element of might1 resisted the disease so potently that one must assume that there was there a vitality which no other people had had1 a hardiness that enabled ,rome to survive excesses in which ,nineveh and ,babylon fainted4 ,from the disease itself ,rome might have recovered4 ,it was the delirium that brought her down4 ,that delirium1 mounting always1 increased under ,commodus1 heightened under ,caracalla1 and reached its crisis in ,heliogabalus4 ,thereafter1 for a while it waned only to flame again under ,diocletian4 ,the virus remained4 ,to extirpate it the earth had to produce new races4 ,already they were on their way4 ,meanwhile1 though there were reigns when1 in the words of ,tacitus1 virtue was a sentence of death1 the emperors were not always insane4 ,vespasian was a soldier1 ,hadrian a scholar1 ,pius ,antoninus a philosopher1 and ,marcus ,aurelius a sage4 ,rome was not wholly pandemoniac4 ,there is goodness everywhere1 even in evil4 ,there was goodness even in ,rome4 ,stoicism1 a code of the highest morality1 had been adopted by the polite4 ,cicero1 in expounding it1 had stated that no one could be a philosopher who has not learned that vice should be avoided1 however concealable it may be4 ,aristotle had praised virtue because of its extreme utility4 ,seneca said that vices were maladies1 among which ,zeno catalogued love1 as ,plato did crime4 ,to him1 vice stood to virtue as disease does to health4 ,all guilt1 he said1 is ignorance4 ,expressions such as these appealed to a class relatively small1 but highly lettered1 whom the intense realism of the amphitheatre1 the suggestive postures of the pantomimes1 and the ,orientalism of the orgy shocked4 ,there are now honest men everywhere1 even in prison4 ,even in ,rome there were honest men then4 ,moreover1 paganism at its worst1 always tolerant1 was often poetic4 ,then1 too1 life in the imperial epoch1 while less fair than in the age of ,pericles1 was so splendidly brilliant that it exhausted possible glamour for a thousand years to come4 ,dazzling in violence1 its coruscations blinded the barbarians so thoroughly that thereafter there was but night4 ,x ,,finis ,,amoris ,the first barbarian that invaded ,rome was a ,jew4 ,there was then there a small colony of ,hebrews4 ,porters1 pedlers1 rag-pickers1 valets-de-place1 they were the descendants mainly of former prisoners of war4 ,the ,jew had a message for them4 ,it was very significant4 ,but it conflicted so entirely with orthodox views that there were few whom it did not annoy4 ,a disturbance ensued4 ,the ghetto was raided4 ,a complaint for inciting disorder was lodged against a certain ,christos1 of whom nothing was known1 and who had eluded arrest4 ,rome1 through her relations with ,syria1 was probably the first ,occidental city in which the name was pronounced4 ,though the message behind it annoyed many1 others accepted it at once4 ,these latter1 the former denounced4 ,some suppression ensued4 ,but it had no religious significance4 ,the purport of the message and the attitude of those who accepted it was seditious4 ,both denied the divinity of the ,csars4 ,that was treason4 ,in addition1 they announced the approaching end of the world4 ,that was a slur on the optimism of ,state4 ,a law was passed--,non licet esse ,christianos4 ,none the less1 they multiplied4 ,the message that had been brought to ,rome was repeated throughout the ,roman world4 ,it crossed the frontiers4 ,it reached races of whom ,rome had never heard4 ,they came and peered at her4 ,over the context of the message they drank hydromel to her fall4 ,the message1 initially significant1 dynamic at birth1 developed under multiplying hands into a force so disruptive that it shook the gods from the skies1 buried them beneath their ruined temples1 and in derision tossed after them their rites for shroud4 ,in the convulsions a page of history turned4 ,the great book of paganism closed4 ,another opened4 ,in it was a new ideal of love4 ,realization was not immediate4 ,entirely uncontemplated and equally unforeseen1 the ideal was an after-growth1 a blossom among other ruins1 a flower that developed subtly with the ,rosa mystica from higher shrines4 ,meanwhile1 the message persisted4 ,titularly an evangel1 it meant good news4 ,the ,christ had said to his disciples3 ,as ye go1 preach1 saying1 ,the ,kingdom of ,god is at hand--for verily ,i say unto you1 ,ye shall not have gone over the cities of ,israel till the ,son of ,man be come4 ,all these things shall come upon this generation1 were his subsequent and explicit words4 ,after the incident in the wilderness he declared3 ,the time is fulfilled and the ,kingdom of ,god is at hand4 ,later he asserted3 ,verily ,i say unto you that there be some of them that stand by which shall in no wise taste of death till they see the ,kingdom of ,god come with power4#bc ,in repeating these tidings1 the evangelists lived in a state of constant expectation4 ,their watchword was ,maran atha--the ,lord cometh4 ,in fancy they saw themselves in immediate ,edens1 seated on immutable thrones4 ,the corner-stone of the early ,church was based on that idea4 ,when1 later1 it was recognized as a misconception1 the coming of the ,kingdom of ,god was interpreted as the establishment of the ,christian creed4 ,jesus had no intention of founding a new religion4 ,he came to prepare men not for life1 but for death4 ,he believed that the world was to end4 ,had he not so believed1 his condemnation of labor1 his prohibition against wealth1 his injunction to forsake all things for his sake1 his praise of celibacy1 his disregard of family ties1 and his abasement of marriage would be without meaning4 ,observance of his orders he regarded as a necessary preparation for an event then assumed to be near4 ,it was exacted as a means of grace4 ,on the other hand1 it may be that there was an esoteric doctrine which only the more spiritual among the disciples received4 ,the significant threat1 ,in this life ye shall have tribulation1 contains a distinct suggestion of other views4 ,possibly they concerned less the termination of the world than the termination of life4 ,life extinct1 obviously there must ensue that peace which passeth all understanding1 the ,pratscha-,paramita1 or beyond all knowledge1 which long before had been taught by the ,buddha1 in whose precepts it is not improbable that ,jesus was versed4 ,to-day there are four gospels4 ,originally there were fifty4 ,in some of them succincter views may have been expressed4 ,the possibility1 surviving texts support4 ,these texts are provided by ,clement of ,alexandria4 ,they are quoted by him from the ,gospel according to the ,egyptians1 an ,evangel that existed in the latter half of the second century and which was then regarded as canonical4 ,in one of them1 ,jesus said3 ,i am come to destroy the work of woman1 which is generation and death4 ,in another1 being asked how long life shall continue1 he answered3 ,so long as women bear children4#bd ,these passages seem conclusive4 ,even otherwise1 the designed effect of the exoteric doctrine was identical4 ,it eliminated love and condemned the sex4 ,in the latter respect1 ,paul was particularly severe4 ,in violent words he humiliated woman4 ,he enjoined on her silence and submission4 ,he reminded her that man was created in the image of ,god1 while she was but created for him4 ,he declared that he who giveth her in marriage cloth well1 but he that giveth her not doth better4#be ,theoretically1 as well as canonically1 marriage thereafter was regarded as unholy4 ,the only union in which it was held that grace could possibly be1 was one that in its perfect immaculacy was a negation of marriage itself4 ,st4 ,sebastian enjoined any other form4 ,the injunction was subsequently ratified4 ,it was ecclesiastically adjudged that whoso declared marriage preferable to celibacy be accursed4#bf ,st4 ,augustin1 more leniently1 permitted marriage1 on condition1 however1 that the married in no circumstance overlooked the object of their union1 which object was the creation of children1 not to love them1 he added1 but to increase the number of the servants of the ,lord4#bg ,st4 ,augustin was considerate4 ,but ,jesus had been indulgent4 ,in the plentitudes of his charity there was both commiseration and forgiveness4 ,throughout his entire ministry he wrote but once4 ,it was on an occasion when a woman was brought before him4 ,her accusers were impatient4 ,jesus bent forward and with a finger wrote on the ground4 ,the letters were illegible4 ,but the symbol of obliteration was in the dust which the wind would disperse4 ,the charge was impatiently repeated4 ,jesus straightened himself4 ,with the weary comprehension of one to whom hearts are as books1 he looked at them4 ,whoever is without sin among you1 may cast the first stone4 ,the sins of ,mary ,magdalen were many4 ,he forgave them1 for she had loved much4 ,his indulgence was real and it was infinite4 ,yet occasionally his severity was as great4 ,at the marriage of ,cana he said to his mother3 ,woman1 what have ,i to do with thee8 ,in the house of the chief of the ,pharisees he more emphatically announced3 ,if any man come unto me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters1 yea1 and his own life also1 he cannot be my disciple4 ,elsewhere he advocated celibacy enforced with the knife4 ,john1 his favorite disciple1 beheld those who had practised it standing among the redeemed4#bh ,that vision peopled the deserts with hermits4 ,it filled the bastilles of ,god1 the convents and monasteries of pre-medival days4 ,the theory of it was adopted by kings on their thrones4 ,lovers in their betrothals engaged to observe it reciprocally4 ,husbands and wives separated that they might live more purely apart4 ,the theory1 contrary to the spirit of paganism1 was contrary also to that of the ,mosaic law4 ,the necessity of marriage was one of the six hundred and thirteen ,hebraic precepts4 ,the man who omitted to provide himself with heirs became a homicide4 ,in the ,greek republics celibacy was penalized4 ,in ,rome1 during the republic1 bachelors were taxed4 ,under the empire they could neither inherit nor serve the ,state4 ,but the law was evaded4 ,even had it not been1 the people of ,rome1 destroyed by war or as surely by pleasure1 little by little was disappearing4 ,slaves could not replace citizens4 ,the affranchised could be put in the army1 even in the senate1 as they were1 but that did not change their servility1 and it was precisely that servility which encouraged imperial aberrations and welcomed those which ,christianity brought4 ,the continence which the ,church inculcated was not otherwise new4 ,the ,persians had imposed it on girls consecrated to the worship of the ,sun4 ,it was observed by the priests of ,osiris4 ,it was the cardinal virtue of the ,pythagoreans4 ,it was exacted of ,hellenic hierophants4 ,gaul had her druidesses and ,rome her vestals4 ,celibacy existed1 therefore1 before ,christianity did4 ,but it was exceptional in addition to being not very rigorously enforced4 ,vesta was a mother4 ,all the vestals that faltered were not buried alive4 ,there was gossip1 though it be but legend1 of the druidesses1 of the muses as well4 ,immaculacy was the ideal condition of the ideal gods4 ,zeus materially engendered material divinities that presided over forces and forms4 ,but1 without concurrence1 there issued armed and adult from his brain the wise and immaculate ,pallas4 ,like her and the muses1 genius was assumed to be ascetic also4 ,socrates thought otherwise4 ,his punishment was ,xantippe1 and not a line to his credit4 ,a married ,homer is an anomaly which imagination cannot comfortably conjure4 ,a married ,plato is another4 ,philosophers and poets generally were single4 ,lucretius1 ,vergil1 and the triumvirs of love were unmarried4 ,in the epoch in which they appeared ,rome was aristocratically indisposed to matrimony4 ,to its pomps there was a dislike so pronounced that ,augustus introduced coercive laws4 ,hypocrite though he were1 he foresaw the dangers otherwise resulting4 ,it was these that asceticism evoked4 ,the better part of the tenets of the early ,church--sobriety1 stoicism1 the theory of future reward and punishment1 pagan philosophy professed4 ,adherents could1 therefore1 have been readily recruited4 ,but the doctrine of asceticism and1 with it1 the abnegation of whatever ,rome loved1 angered1 creating first calumny1 then persecution4 ,infanticide at the time was very common4 ,to accuse the ,christians of it would have meant nothing4 ,they were charged instead with eating the children that they killed4 ,that being insufficient they were further charged with the united abominations of ,o,edipus and ,thyestes4#bi ,thereafter1 if the ,tiber mounted or the ,nile did not1 if it rained too heavily or not enough1 were there famine1 earthquakes1 pests1 the fault was theirs4 ,then1 through the streets1 a cry resounded1 ,christianos ad leonem6--to the arena with them4 ,at any consular delay the mob had its torches and tortures4 ,persecution augumented devotion4 ,fast1 said ,tertullian4 ,fasting prepares for martyrdom4 ,but do not marry1 do not bear children4 ,you would only leave them to the executioner4 ,garment yourselves simply1 the robes the angels bring are robes of death4 ,the robes did not always come1 the executioner did not1 either4 ,the ,kingdom of ,god delayed4 ,the world persisted4 ,so also did asceticism4 ,clement and ,hermas unite in testifying that the immaculacy of the single never varied during an epoch when even that of the vestals did1 and that the love of the married was the more tender because of the immaterial relations observed4#cj ,grgoire de ,tours cited subsequently an instance in which a bride stipulated for a union of this kind4 ,her husband agreed4 ,many years later she died4 ,her husband1 while preparing her for the grave1 openly and solemnly declared that he restored her to ,god as immaculate as she came4 ,at which1 the historian added1 the dead woman smiled and said1 ',why do you tell what no one asked you4' ,the subtlety of the question pleased the ,church4 ,the ,church liked to compare the ,christian to an athlete struggling in silence with the world1 the flesh1 and the devil4 ,it liked to regard him as one whose life was a continual exercise in purification4 ,it liked to represent his celibacy as an imitation of the angels4 ,at that period ,christianity took things literally and narrowly4 ,paul had spoken eloquently on the dignity of marriage4 ,he authorized and honored it4 ,he permitted and even counselled second marriages4 ,but his pre-eminent praise of asceticism was alone considered4 ,celibacy became the ideal of the early ,christians who necessarily avoided the ,forum and whatever else was usual and ,roman4 ,it is not1 therefore1 very surprising that they should have been defined as enemies of gods1 emperors1 laws1 customs1 nature itself1 or1 more briefly1 as barbarians4 ,yet there were others4 ,at the north and at the west they prowled1 nourished in hatred of ,rome1 in wonder1 too1 of the effeminate and splendid city with its litters of gold1 its baths of perfume1 its inhabitants dressed in gauze1 and its sway from the ,indus to ,britannia4 ,from the day when a mass of them stumbled on ,marius to the hour when ,alaric laughed from beneath the walls his derision at imperial might1 always they had wondered and hated4 ,in the slaking of the hate ,christianity perhaps unintentionally assisted4 ,the ,master had said1 ,all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword4 ,his believers omitted to do either4 ,when enrolled1 they deserted4 ,on the frontiers they refused to fight4 ,the path of the barbarians was easy4 ,in disorganized hordes they battened on ,rome and melted away there in excesses4 ,tacitus and ,salvian rather flattered them4 ,they were neither intelligent or noble4 ,they must have lacked even the sense of independence4 ,they pulled civilization down1 but they fell with it--into serfdom4 ,already from the steppes of ,tartary had issued cyclones of ,huns4 ,painted blue1 wrapped in cloaks of human skin1 it was thought that they were the whelps of demons4 ,their chief was ,attila4 ,the whirlwind that he loosed swept the world like a broom4 ,in the echoes of his passage is the crash of falling cities1 the cries of the vanquished1 the death rattle of nations1 the surge and roar of seas of blood4 ,in the reverberations ,attila looms1 dragging the desert after him1 tossing it like a pall on the face of the earth4 ,but who are you8 a startled prelate gasped4 ,said ,attila1 ,i am the ,scourge of ,god4 ,satiated at last1 overburdened with the booty of the world1 he galloped back to his lair where1 on his wedding couch1 another ,judith killed him4 ,in spite of him1 in spite of preceding ,goths and subsequent ,vandals1 ,rome1 unlike her gods that had fled the skies1 was immortal4 ,she could fall1 but she could not die4 ,but though she survived1 antiquity was dead4 ,it departed with the lords of the ghostland4 ,,historia ,,amoris ,part ,two ,,part ,,ii ,i ,,the ,,cloister ,,and ,,the ,,heart ,in the making of the world that was ,rome1 ages combined4 ,centuries unrolled in its dissolution4 ,step by step it had ascended the path of empire1 step by step it went down4 ,the descent completed1 ,rome herself survived4 ,the eternal feminine is not more everlasting than the ,eternal ,city4 ,yet1 in the descent1 her power1 wrested from a people who had but the infirmities of corruption1 by others that had only the instincts of brutes1 left but vices and ruins4 ,from these feudalism and serfdom erupted4 ,humanity became divided into beasts of burden and beasts of prey4 ,feudalism was the transmission of authority from an overlord to an underlord1 from the latter to a retainer1 and thence down to the lowest rung of the social ladder1 beneath which was the serf1 between whom and his master the one judge was ,god4 ,the resulting conditions have no parallel in any epoch of which history has cognizance4 ,except in ,byzance1 the glittering seat of ,rome's surviving dominion1 and in ,islm1 the glowing empire further east1 nowhere was there light4 ,europe1 pitch-black1 became1 almost in its entirety1 subject to the caprices of a hierarchy of despots who managed to be both stupid and fierce1 absolute autocrats1 practically kings4 ,to the suzerain they owed homage at court1 assistance in war2 but in their own baronies1 all power1 whether military1 judiciary1 or legislative1 centred in them4 ,they had the further prerogative1 which they abundantly abused1 of maintaining centuries of anarchy and intellectual night4 ,the fief and the sword were the investiture of their power4 ,the donjon--a pillory on one side1 a gibbet on the other--was the symbol of their might4 ,the blazon1 with its sanguinary and fabulous beasts1 was emblematic of themselves4 ,could wolves form a social order1 their model would be that of these brutes1 to whom ,god was but a bigger tyrant4 ,their personal interest1 which alone prevented them from exterminating everybody1 was the determining cause of affranchisement when it came1 and1 when it did1 was accompanied by conditions always hard1 often grotesque1 and usually vile1 among which was the jus prim noctis and the affiliated marchetum1 subsequently termed droit du seigneur1 the dual right of poaching on maidenly and marital preserves4#ca ,with that1 with drink and pillage for relaxations1 the chief business of the barons was war4 ,when they descended from their keeps1 it was to rob and attack4 ,there was no security1 not a road was safe1 war was an intermittent fever and existence a panic4 ,in the constant assault and sack of burgs and keeps1 the condition of woman was perilous4 ,usually she was shut away more securely and remotely than in the gynceum4 ,if1 to the detriment of her lord1 she emerged1 she might have one of her lips cut off1 both perhaps1 or1 more expeditiously1 be murdered4 ,she never knew which beforehand4 ,it was as it pleased him4 ,penalties of this high-handedness were not sanctioned by law4 ,there was none4 ,it was the right of might4 ,civilization outwearied had lapsed back into eras in which women were things4 ,the lapse had ecclesiastical approbation4 ,at the second council of ,macon it was debated whether woman should not be regarded as beyond the pale of humanity and as appertaining to a degree intermediary between man and beast4 ,subsequent councils put her outside of humanity also1 but on a plane between angels and man4 ,but in the capitularies generally it was as ,vas infirmius that she was defined4 ,yet already ,chrysostom1 with a better appreciation of the value of words1 with a better appreciation of the value of woman as well1 had defined her as danger in its most delectable form4 ,chrysostom means golden mouth4 ,his views are of interest4 ,those of the medival lord are not recorded1 and would not be citable1 if they were4 ,from manners such as his and from times such as those1 there was but one refuge--the cloister1 though there was also the tomb4 ,they were not always dissimilar4 ,in the monasteries1 there was a thick vapor of crapulence and bad dreams4 ,they were vestibules of hell4 ,the bishops1 frankly barbarian1 coarse1 gluttonous1 and worse1 went about armed1 pillaging as freely as the barons4 ,monks less adventurous1 but not on that account any better1 saw ,satan calling gayly at them1 ,thou art damned4 ,yet1 however drear their life1 it was a surcease from the apoplexy of the epoch4 ,kings descended from their thrones to join them4 ,to the abbeys and priories came women of rank4 ,in these latter retreats there was some suavity1 but chiefly there was security from predatory incursions1 from husbands quite as unwelcome1 from the passions and violence of the turbulent world without4 ,but the security was not over-secure4 ,women that escaped behind the bars1 saw those bars shaken by the men from whom they had fled1 saw the bars sunder1 and themselves torn away4 ,that1 though1 was exceptional4 ,in the cloister generally there was safety1 but there were also regrets1 and1 with them1 a leisure not always very adequately filled4 ,to some1 the cloister was but another form of captivity in which they were put not of their own volition1 but by way of precaution1 to insure a security which may not have been entirely to their wish4 ,yet1 from whatever cause existence in these retreats was induced1 very rapidly it became the fashion4 ,there had been epochs in which women wore garments that were brief1 there were others in which their robes were long4 ,it was a question of mode4 ,then haircloth came in fashion4 ,in ,greece1 women were nominally free4 ,in ,rome1 they were unrestrained4 ,in ,europe at this period1 they were cloistered4 ,it was the proper thing1 a distinction that lifted them above the vulgar4 ,bertheflede1 a lady of very exalted position1 who1 ,grgoire de ,tours has related1 cared much for the pleasures of the table and not at all for the service of ,god1 entered a nunnery for no other reason4 ,there were other women who1 for other causes1 did likewise4 ,in particular1 there was ,radegonde who founded a cloister of her own1 one that within high walls had the gardens1 porticoes1 and baths of a ,roman villa1 but which in the deluge of worldly sin1 was1 ,thierry says1 intended to be an ark4 ,there ,radegonde received high ecclesiastics and laymen of position1 among others ,fortunatus1 a poet1 young and attractive1 whom the abbess1 young and attractive herself1 welcomed so well that he lingered1 supping nightly at the cloister1 composing songs in which were strained the honey of ,catullus1 and1 like him1 crowned with roses4#cb ,but ,radegonde was not ,lesbia1 and ,fortunatus1 though a poet1 confined his licence to verse4 ,together they collaborated in the first romance of pure sentiment that history records1 one from which the abbess passed to sanctity1 and the poet to fame4 ,thereafter the story persisting may have suggested some one of the pedestals that antiquity never learned to sculpture and to which ladies were lifted by their knights4 ,meanwhile love had assumed another shape4 ,radegonde1 before becoming an abbess1 had been a queen4 ,as a consequence she had prerogatives which other women lacked4 ,it was not every one that could entertain a tarrying minstrel4 ,it was not every one that would4 ,the nun generally was emancipated from man as thoroughly as the hetaira had been from marriage4 ,but the latter in renouncing matrimony did not for that reason renounce love and there were many cloistered girls who1 in renouncing man1 did not renounce love either4 ,one of them dreamed that on a journey to the fountain of living waters1 a form appeared that pointed at a brilliant basin1 to which1 as she stooped1 ,radegonde approached and put about her a cloak that1 she said1 was sent by the girl's betrothed4 ,radegonde was then dead and a saint4 ,the dream of her1 particularly the gift1 more especially its provenance1 seemed so ineffable that the girl could think of nothing else save only that when at last the betrothed did come1 the nuptial chamber should be ready4 ,she begged therefore that there be given her a little narrow cell1 a narrow little tomb1 to which1 the request granted1 other nuns led her4 ,at the threshold she kissed each of them1 then she entered2 the opening was walled and within1 with her mystic spouse1 the bride of ,christ remained4#cc ,at ,alexandria1 something similar had already occurred4 ,there another ,hypathia1 fair as she1 refused ,christianity1 refused also marriage4 ,god did not appeal to her1 man did not either4 ,but a priest succeeded in interesting her in the possibility of obtaining a husband superior to every mortal being on condition only that she prayed to ,mary4 ,the girl did pray4 ,during the prayer she fell asleep4 ,then beautiful beyond all beauty the ,lord appeared to whom the ,virgin offered the girl4 ,the ,christ refused4 ,she was fair but not fair enough4 ,at that she awoke4 ,immortally lovely and mortally sad she suffered the priest to baptize her4 ,another prayer followed by another sleep ensued in which she beheld again the ,christ who then consenting to take her1 put on her finger a ring which she found on awakening4 ,the legend1 which afterward inspired ,veronese and ,correggio1 had a counterpart in that of ,st4 ,catherine of ,sienna4 ,to her also the ,christ gave a ring1 yet one which1 ,della ,fonte1 her biographer1 declared1 was visible only to herself4 ,the legend had also a pendant in the story of ,st4 ,theresa1 a ,spanish mystic1 who in her trances discovered that the punishment of the damned is an inability to love4 ,in the ,relacion de su vida the saint expressed herself as follows3 ,it seemed to me as though ,i could see my soul1 clearly1 like a mirror1 and that in the centre of it the ,lord came4 ,it seemed to me that in every part of my soul ,i saw him as ,i saw him in the mirror and that mirror1 ,i cannot say how1 was wholly absorbed by the ,lord1 indescribably1 in a sort of amorous confusion4 ,the mirror was the imagination1 the usual reflector of the beatific4 ,it was that perhaps to which ,paul referred when he said that we see through a glass darkly4 ,but it was certainly that which enabled ,gerson to catalogue the various degrees of ravishment of which the highest1 ecstasy1 culminates in union with ,christ1 where the soul attaining perfection is freed4 ,gerson came later but theories similar to his1 which neoplatonism had advanced1 were common4 ,in that day or more exactly in that night1 the silver petals of the lily of purity were plucked so continuously by so many hands1 so many were the eyes strained on the mirror1 so frequent were the brides of ,christ1 that the aberration became as disquieting as asceticism4 ,then through fear that woman might lose herself in dreams of spiritual love and evaporate completely1 an effort was attempted which succeeded presently in deflecting her aspirations to the ,virgin who1 hitherto1 had remained strictly within the limits originally traced4 ,commiserate to the erring she was ,regina angelorum1 the angel queen4 ,in the twelfth century suddenly she mounted4 ,from queen she became sovereign4 ,ceremonies1 churches1 cathedrals1 were consecrated uniquely to her4 ,in pomp and importance her worship exceeded that of ,god4 ,when ,satan had the sinner in his grasp1 it was she who in the prodigalities of her divine compassion rescued and redeemed him4#cd ,in the art of the period1 such as it was1 the worship was reflected4 ,the thin hands of saints1 the poignant eyes of sinners1 were raised to her equally4 ,the fainting figures that were painted in the ex-voto of the triptiques seemed ill with love4 ,the forms of women1 lost beneath the draperies1 disclosed1 if anything1 emaciation4 ,the expression of the face alone indicated what they represented and that always was adoration4 ,they too were swooning at the ,virgin's feet4 ,previously ,paul had been studied4 ,it was seen that a thorn had been given him1 a messenger of ,satan1 from which1 three times he had prayed release4 ,but the ,lord said to him3 ,my grace is sufficient to thee1 for my strength is made perfect in weakness4 ,wherefore1 said ,paul1 most gladly will ,i glory in my infirmities4#ce ,precisely what the apostle meant is immaterial4 ,but from his words the inference was drawn that in weakness is salvation and in sin the glory of ,god4 ,the early ,church had not interpreted the evangels with entire correctness4 ,it is possible that in the ,grco-,syrian dialect which the apostles employed1 their meaning was sometimes obscure4 ,it is presumable for instance that the coming of the ,kingdom of ,god which they proclaimed was not the material termination of a material world but the real ,kingdom which did really come in the hearts of those that believed4 ,comprends1 pcheur1 ,bossuet thundered at a later day1 que tu portes ton paradis et ton enfer en toi-mme4 ,the patricists were not ,bossuets4 ,they were literal folk4 ,they stuck to the letter4 ,having discovered what they regarded as a divine command for abstinence1 asceticism in all its rigors ensued4 ,subsequent exegetes finding in ,paul a few words not over precise1 discovered in them a commendation of sin as a means of grace4 ,the discovery1 amplified later by ,molinos1 had results that made man even less attractive than he had been4 ,meanwhile1 between insanity and disorder1 woman1 indifferent as always to texts1 had found a form of love which1 however impossible1 was one that in its innocence obscured the stupidities and turpitudes of the day4 ,then1 after the substitution of the ,rosa mystica for the mystic lily1 tentatively there began an affranchisement of communes1 of women and of thought4 ,hitherto it had been blasphemy to think4 ,the first human voice that the ,middle ,ages heard1 the first1 voice distinguishable from that of kings1 of felons and of beasts1 was ,abailard's4 ,whatever previously had been said was bellowed or stuttered4 ,it was with the forgotten elegance of ,athens that ,abailard spoke1 preaching as he did so the indulgence of ,god1 the rehabilitation of the flesh1 the inferiority of fear1 love's superiority4 ,abailard1 fascinating and gifted1 was familiar with ,greek and ,hebrew1 attainments then prodigious to which he added other abilities1 the art of calming men while disturbing women--among others a young ,parisian1 ,hlose1 herself a miracle of erudition and of beauty4 ,abailard at the time was nearly thirty-eight1 ,hlose not quite eighteen4 ,between them a liaison ensued that resulted in a secret marriage which ,abailard afterward disavowed and which1 for his sake1 ,hlose denied4 ,it ruined their lives and founded their fame4 ,had it been less catastrophic no word or memory of them could have endured4 ,misfortune made immortal these lovers1 one of whom took the veil and the other the cowl and whose story has survived that of kingdoms4 ,in separation they corresponded4 ,the letters of ,hlose are vibrant still4 ,only ,sappho1 in her lost songs to ,phaon1 could have exceeded their fervor4 ,god knows1 she wrote1 in you ,i sought but you1 nothing but you4 ,you were my one and only object1 marriage ,i did not seek1 nor my way but yours uniquely4 ,if the title of wife be holy1 ,i thought the name of mistress more dear4 ,rather would ,i have been called that by you than empress by an emperor4 ,abailard's frigid and methodical answers were headed ,to the bride of ,christ1 or else ,to my sister in ,christ1 from ,abailard1 her brother4 ,the tone of ,hlose's replies was very different4 ,to my master1 no2 to my brother1 no2 to my husband1 no2 his sister1 his bride1 no2 from ,hlose to ,abailard4 ,again she wrote3 ,at every angle of life ,god knows ,i fear to offend you more than ,him1 ,i desire to please ,him less than ,i do you4 ,it was your will not ,his that brought me where ,i am4 ,it was true4 ,she took the veil as though it were poison4 ,she broke into the priory violently as the despairful plunge into death4 ,even that could not assuage her4 ,but in the burning words which she tore from her breaking heart the true passion of love1 which nothing earthly or divine can still1 for the first time pulsated4 ,,ii ,,the ,,pursuivants ,,of ,,love ,there is no immaculate history4 ,if there were it would relate to a better world4 ,unable to be immaculate1 history usually is stupid1 more often false4 ,concerning the ,middle ,ages it has contrived to be absurd4 ,it attributed the recovery of light to the ,tiers tat4 ,darkness was dispersed by love1 whose gereralissimi were the troubadour and the knight4 ,concerning the latter history erred again4 ,tacitus aiding1 it derived chivalry from ,germany4 ,chivalry originated in the courts of the emirs4 ,the knight and the troubadour came from ,islm4 ,together they resummoned civilization4 ,the world at the time was divided4 ,long since ,europe and ,asia had gone their separate ways4 ,when at last they caught sight of each other1 the ,church sickened with horror4 ,there ensued the ,crusades in which the ,papacy pitted ,christianity against ,muhammadanism and staked the authenticity of each in the result4 ,the result was that ,muhammadanism proved its claim4 ,on the way to it was ,byzance4 ,beside the bleak burgs1 squalid ignorance and abysmal barbarism of ,europe1 ,byzance isolated and fastidious1 luxurious and aloof1 learned and subtle1 ,roman in body but ,greek in soul1 contrasted almost supernaturally4 ,set apart from and beyond the medival night1 her marble basilicas1 her golden domes1 her pineapple cupolas covered with colors1 her ceaseless and gorgeous ceremonials1 gave her the mysterious beauty of a city shimmering on uplands of dream4 ,it was a dream1 the final flower of ,hellenic art4 ,the people1 delicately nurtured on delicate fare1 exquisitely dressed in painted clothes1 rather tigerish at heart but exceedingly punctilious1 equally contemptuous and very well bred1 must have contrasted too with the ,crusaders4 ,contiguous was ,persia which1 taken by ,muhammad1 had1 with but the magic wand of her own beauty1 transformed his trampling hordes into a superb and romantic nation1 fanatic indeed1 quick with the scimitar1 born fighters who had passed thence into ,egypt1 ,andalusia1 ,syria1 ,assyria and beyond to the ,indus4 ,the diverse lands they had subjugated and united into one vast empire4 ,baghdad was their caliphate4 ,before the latter and on through the ,orient were strewn in profusion the marvellous cities of the ,thousand and ,one ,nights1 the enameled houses of the ,thousand and ,one ,days4 ,there1 in courtyards curtained with cashmeres1 chimeras and hippogriffs crouched4 ,the turbans of the merchants that passed were heavy with sequins and secrets4 ,the pale mouths of the blue-bellied fish that rose from the sleeping waters were aglow with gems4 ,in the air was the odor of spices1 the scent of the wines of ,shiraz4 ,occasionally was the spectacle of a faithless favorite sewn in a sack and tossed by hurrying eunuchs into the indifferent sea4 ,the sight was rare4 ,the charm of ,scheherazade and ,chain-of-,hearts prevailed4 ,the ,muslim might dissever heads as carelessly as he plucked an orange1 they were those of unbelievers1 not of girls4 ,among the peris of his earthly paradise he was passionate and gallant4 ,it is generally in this aspect that he appears in the ,thousand and ,one ,nights1 which1 like the ,thousand and ,one ,days1 originally ,persian in design1 had been done over into arabesques that1 while intertwisting fable and fact1 none the less displayed the manners of a nation4 ,some of the stories are as knightly as romaunts1 others as delicate as lays2 all were the unconsidered trifles of a people who1 when the ,saxons were living in huts1 had developed the most poetic civilization the world has known1 a social order which1 with religion and might for basis1 had a superstructure of art and of love4 ,it was this that louts in rusty mail went forth to destroy4 ,but though they could not conquer ,islm1 the chivalry of the ,muslim taught them how to conquer themselves4 ,from the victory contemporaneous civilization proceeds4 ,with the louts were women4 ,an army of ,amazons set out for the ,cross where they found liberty1 new horizons1 larger life1 and1 in contact with the most gallant race on earth1 found also theories of love unimagined4 ,in the second crusade ,eleanor1 then ,queen of ,france1 afterward ,queen of ,england1 alternated between clashes and amours with emirs4 ,the example of a lady so exalted set a fashion which would have been adopted any way1 so irresistible were the ,saracens4#cf ,it was therefore first in ,byzance and then in ,islm that the ,normans and ,anglo-,normans who in the initial crusade went forth to fight went literally to school4 ,they had gone on to sweep from existence inept bands of pecculant ,bedouins and discovered that the ineptity was wholly their own4 ,they had thought that there might be a few pretty women in the way1 only to find their own women falling in love with the foe4 ,they had thought ,tours and ,poictiers were to be repeated4 ,it was in those battles that ,europe first encountered ,islm4 ,had not the defeat of the latter resulted1 the world might have become ,muhammadan1 or1 as ,gibbon declared1 ,oxford might to-day be expounding the ,koran4 ,but though the ,moors1 who otherwise would have been masters of ,europe1 retreated1 it is possible that they left a manual of chivalry behind4 ,even had the attention been overlooked1 already from ,andalusia the code was filtering up through ,provence4 ,devised by a people who of all others have been most chivalrous in their worship of women it surprised and then appealed4 ,adopted by the ,church1 it became the sacrament of the preux chevalier who swore that everywhere and always he would be the champion of women1 of justice and of right4 ,the oath was taken at an hour when justice was not even in the dictionaries--there were none--at an epoch when every man who was not marauding was maimed or a monk4 ,at that hour1 the blackest of all1 there was proposed to the crapulous barons an ideal4 ,thereafter1 little by little1 in lieu of the boor came the knight1 occasionally the paladin of whom ,roland was the type4 ,roland1 a legend says1 died of love before a cloister of nuns4 ,roland himself was legendary4 ,but in the ,chanson de ,roland which is the right legend1 he died embracing his sole mistress1 his sword4 ,afterward a girl asked concerning him of ,charlemagne1 saying that she was to be his wife4 ,the emperor1 after telling of his death1 offered the girl his son4 ,the girl refused4 ,she declined even to survive4 ,in the story of ,roland that is the one occasion in which love appeared4 ,it but came and vanished with a hero whose name history has mentioned but once and then only in a monkish screed1#cg yet whose prowess romance ceaselessly celebrated1 inverting chronology in his behalf1 enlarging for his grandiose figure the limits of time and space1 lifting his epic memories to the skies4 ,what ,jason had been in mythology1 ,roland became in legend1 the first ,occidental custodian of chivalry's golden fleece1 which1 he gone1 was found reducible to just four words--,death rather than dishonor4 ,dishonor meant to be last in the field and first in the retreat4 ,honor meant courage and courtesy1 the reverencing of all women for the love of one4 ,it meant bravery and good manners4 ,it meant something else4 ,to be first in the field and last in the retreat was necessary not merely for valor's sake1 but because courage was the surest token to a lady's favor1 which favor fidelity could alone retain4 ,hitherto men had been bold1 chivalry made them true4 ,it made them constant for constancy's sake1 because inconstancy meant forfeiture of honor and any forfeiture degradation4 ,when that occurred the spurs of the knight were hacked from his heels1 a ceremony overwhelming in the simplicity with which it proclaimed him unfit to ride and therefore for chivalry4 ,yet though a man might not be false to any one1 to some one he must be true4 ,if he knew how to break a lance but not how to win a lady he was less a knight than a churl4 ,a knight1 said ,sir ,tristram1 can never be of prowess unless he be a lover4 ,why1 said the belle ,isaud to ,sir ,dinadan1 are you a knight and not a lover8 ,you cannot be a goodly knight except you are8 ,jesu merci1 ,sir ,dinadan replied4 ,pleasure of love lasts but a moment1 pain of love endures alway4 ,sir ,dinadan was right1 but so was ,sir ,tristram1 so was the belle ,isaud4 ,a knight had to be brave1 he had to be loyal and courteous in war1 as in peace4 ,but he had to be also a lover and as a lover he had to be true4 ,l'ordre demande nette vie ,chastet et curtesye4 ,the demand was new to the world4 ,intertwisting with the silver thread which chivalry drew in and in throughout the ,middle ,ages1 it became the basis of whatever is noble in love to-day4 ,the sheen of that thread1 otherwise dazzling1 shines still in ,froissart and in ,monstrelet1 as it must have shone in the tournaments1 where1 in glittering mail1 men dashed in the lists while the air was rent with women's names and1 at each achievement1 the heralds shouted ,loyaut aux ,dames1 who1 in their tapestried galleries1 were judges of the jousts4 ,dazzling there it must have been entrancing in the halls and courts of the great keeps where knights and ladies1 pages and girls1 going up and down1 talked but of arms and amours1 or at table sat together1 two by two1 in hundreds1 with one trencher to each couple1 feasting to the high flourishes of trumpets and later knelt while she who for the occasion had been chosen ,royne de la ,beault et des ,amours1 awarded the prizes of the tourney1 falcons1 girdles or girls4 ,life then was sufficiently stirring4 ,but the feudal system was not devised for the purposes of love1 and matrimony1 while not inherently prejudicial to them1 omitted1 as an institution1 to consider love at all4 ,love was not regarded as compatible with marriage and a lady married to one man was openly adored by another1 whom she honored at least with her colors1 which he wore quite as openly in war and in war's splendid image which the tournament was4 ,in circumstances such as these and in spite of ideals and injunctions1 it becomes obvious if only from the ,chansons de geste1 which are replete with lovers' inconstancies1 that the hacking of spurs could not have continued except at the expense of the entire caste4 ,the ceremony was one that hardly survived the early investitures of the men-at-arms of ,god4 ,it was too significant in beauty4 ,the fault lay not with chivalry but with the thousand-floored prison that feudalism was4 ,in it a lady's affections were administered for her4 ,marriage she might not conclude as she liked4 ,if she were an heiress it was arranged not in accordance with her choice but her suzerain's wishes and in no circumstances could it be contracted without his consent4 ,under the feudal system land was held subject to military service and in the event of the passing of a fief to a girl1 the overlord1 whose chief concern was the number of his retainers1 could not1 should war occur1 look to her for aid4 ,the result being that whatever vassal he thought could serve him best1 he promptly gratified with the land and the lady1 who of the two counted least4#ch ,the proceeding1 if summary1 was not necessarily disagreeable4 ,girls whose accomplishments were limited to the singing of a lai or the longer romaunt and who perhaps could also strum a harp1 were less fastidious than they have since become4 ,advanced they may have been in manners but in delicacy they were not4 ,their conversation as reported in the fabliaux and novelle was disquietingly frank4 ,when1 as occasionally occurred1 the overlord omitted to provide a husband1 not infrequently they demanded that he should4 ,as with girls1 so with widows4 ,usually they were remarried at once to men who had lost the right to kill them but who might beat them reasonably in accordance with the law4#ci ,the law was that of the ,church who1 in authorizing a reasonable beating1 may have had in view the lady's age1 which sometimes was tender4 ,legally a girl could not be married until she was twelve4 ,but feudalism had evasions which the ,church could not always prevent4 ,sovereign though she were over villeins and vassals and suzerains as well1 yet the high lords1 sovereign too1 married when and whom they liked1 children if it suited them and there was a fief to be obtained4 ,they married the more frequently in that marriage was easily annulled4 ,even the primitive ,church permitted divorce4 ,fabiola1 said a saint1 divorced her husband because he was vicious and married again4#dj ,in the later ,church matrimony was prohibited within the seventh degree of consanguinity in which the nominal relationship of godfather and godmother counted equally with ties of blood and created artificial sets of brothers1 sisters1 cousins and remoter relatives1 all of whom stood within the prohibited degrees4 ,relationship of some kind it was therefore possible to discover and also to invent1 or1 that failing1 there was yet another way4 ,a condition precedent to matrimony was the consent1 actual or assumed1 of the contracting parties4 ,but as in the upper classes it was customary to betroth children still in the cradle1 absence of consent could readily be alleged4 ,as a consequence any husband that wished to be off with the old wife in order to be on with the new1 might1 failing relationship on his part1 advance absence of consent on hers1 the result being that the chivalric injunction to honor all women for the love of one1 continued to be observed since one was so easily multiplied4#da ,thereafter began the subsidence of the order which at the time represented what heroism had in the past1 with the difference1 however1 that chivalry lifted sentiment to heights which antiquity never attained4 ,the heights were perhaps themselves too high4 ,on them was the exaltation of whatever is lofty--honor1 courage1 courtesy and love4 ,it was the exaltation of love that made ,don ,quixote station himself in the high road and prevent the merchants from passing until they acknowledged that in all the universe there was no one so beautiful as the peerless ,dulcinea del ,toboso4 ,but it was the exaltation of humor that made him answer a natural inquiry of the merchants in regard to the lady by exclaiming3 ,had ,i shown her to you what wonder would it be to acknowledge so notorious a truth8 ,the importance of the thing lies in compelling you to believe it1 confess it1 swear it1 and maintain it without seeing her at all4 ,exaltation lifted to a pitch so high could but squeak4 ,the world laughed4 ,chivalry outfaced by ridicule succumbed4 ,it had become but a great piece of empty armor that needed but a shove to topple4 ,in the levelling democracy of fire-arms it fell1 pierced by the first bullet1 yet surviving itself in the elements of which the gentleman is made and in whatever in love is noble4 ,,iii ,,the ,,parliaments ,,of ,,joy ,the decalogue of the ,zend-,avesta mentions many strange sins4 ,the strangest among them is sorrow4 ,the ,persian abhorred it4 ,his ,muhammadan victor1 who had learned from him much1 learned also its avoidance4 ,if it ever perturbed the ,moors1 by the time ,andalusia was theirs it had vanished4 ,joy was a creed with them4 ,their poets made it the cardinal virtue4 ,the ,aragonese and ,provenals1 whom they indoctrinated1 made it the basis of the gaya cienca--the gay science of love1 and chivalry the parure of the knight4 ,before chivalry departed and very shortly after it appeared1 that joy1 lifted into joie d'amour1 glowed like a rose in the gloom of the world4 ,it humanized very notably4 ,it dismissed much that was dark4 ,it brought graces hitherto unknown4 ,it inspired loyalty1 fealty and parage--the nobility of noble pride--but particularly the worship of woman4 ,in the ,east1 woman had also been worshipped4 ,but not as she was in ,europe at this period4 ,at no epoch since has she been as sovereign4 ,set figuratively with the high virtues in high figurative spheres1 she ruled on earth only less fully than she reigned in heaven4 ,the cultus1 instituted first by the troubadours1 then adopted by royals1 connected consequently with pride of place1 became fashionable among an aristocracy for whose convenience the rest of humanity labored4 ,too elevating for the materialism of the age that had gone and too elevated for the democracy of the age that followed1 it was comparable to a precipitate of the chemistry of the soul projected into the heart of a life splendid and impermanent1 a form of existence impossible before1 impossible since1 a social order very valiant1 very courteous1 to which the sense of rectitude had not come but in which joy1 unparalleled in history1 really1 if unequally1 abounded4 ,never more obvious1 never either was it more obscure4 ,it was abstruse4 ,it had its laws1 its jurists1 its tribunals and its code4 ,chivalry required of the novice various proofs and preliminaries before admitting him to knighthood4 ,the gay science had also its requirements1 preparatory tests which young men of quality gave and primary instruction which they received1 before their novitiate could terminate4 ,the tests related to women married and single4 ,by address in the lists1 by valor in war1 by constant courtesy and loyalty1 it was the duty of the aspirant to please them4 ,pending the novitiate no word of love was permitted and any advancement might be lost through an awkwardness of speech or gesture4 ,but the caprices of a lady properly endured and the tests undergone unfalteringly1 relations might ensue1 in which case1 if the lady were single1 the connection was not thought contrary to the best traditions1 provided that it was a prelude to marriage1 nor1 if the lady were already married was it thought at variance with those traditions1 provided that the articles of the code were observed4#db ,concerning the origin of the code history stammers4 ,the chief authority1 ,matre ,andr1 said that in ,broceliande--a locality within the confines of the ,arthurian myth--a vavasour--quidam miles--met a lass--formosa puella--who agreed to accept his attentions on condition that he outjousted the ,knights of the ,round ,table and got a falcon from them for her4 ,these labors accomplished and the vavasour rewarded--plenius suo remuneravit amore--there was found attached to the falcon's claw1 a scroll1 a holy writ1 a code of love1 a corpus juris amoris4#dc ,the story is as imaginary as ,broceliande4 ,the code was probably derived from some critique of pure courtesy then common in manuals of chivalry4 ,but its source is unimportant4 ,gradually promulgated throughout ,christendom it resulted in making love the subject of law for the administration of which courts open and plenary were founded4 ,these courts which were at once academies of fine sentiments and parliaments of joy1 existed1 ,matre ,andr stated1 before ,salahaddin decapitated a ,christian and lasted1 ,nostradamus declared1 until post-,petrarchian days4#dd ,the code is as follows3 ,i4 ,causa conjugii ab amore non est excusatio recta4 ,,ii4 ,qui non celat amare non potest4 ,,iii4 ,nemo duplici potest amore ligari4 ,,iv4 ,semper amorem minui vel crescere constat4 ,v4 ,non est sapidum quod amans ab invito sumit amante4 ,,vi4 ,masculus non solet nisi in plena pubertate amare4 ,,vii4 ,biennalis viduitas pro amante defuncto superstiti prscribitur amanti4 ,,viii4 ,nemo1 sine rationis excessu1 suo debet amore privari4 ,,ix4 ,amare nemo potest1 nisi qui amoris suasione compellitur4 ,x4 ,amor semper ab avaritia consuevit domiciliis exulare4 ,,xi4 ,non decet amare quarum pudor est nuptias affectare4 ,,xii4 ,verus amans alterius nisi su coamantis ex affectu non cupit amplexus4 ,,xiii4 ,amor raro consuevit durare vulgatus4 ,,xiv4 ,facilis perceptio contemptibilem reddit amorem1 difficilis eum parum facit haberi4 ,,xv4 ,omnis consuevit amans in coamantis as pectupallescere4 ,,xvi4 ,in repentina coamantis visione1 cor tremescit amantis4 ,,xvii4 ,novus amor veterem compellit abire4 ,,xviii4 ,probitas sola quemcumque dignum facit amore4 ,,xix4 ,si amor minuatur1 cito deficit et raro convalescit4 ,,xx4 ,amorosus semper est timorosus4 ,,xxi4 ,ex vera zelotypia affectus semper crescit amandi4 ,,xxii4 ,de coamante suspicione percepta zelus interea et affectus crescit amandi4 ,,xxiii4 ,minus dormit et edit quem amoris cogitatio vexat4 ,,xxiv4 ,quilibet amantis actus in coamantis cogitatione finitur4 ,,xxv4 ,verus amans nihil beatum credit1 nisi quod cogitat amanti placere4 ,,xxvi4 ,amor nihil posset amori denegare4 ,,xxvii4 ,amans coamantis solatiis satiari non potest4 ,,xxviii4 ,modica prsumptio cogit amantem de coamante suspicari sinistra4 ,,xxix4 ,non solet amare quem nimia voluptatis abundantia vexat4 ,,xxx4 ,verus amans assidua1 sine intermissione1 coamantis imagine detinetur4 ,,xxxi4 ,unam feminam nihil prohibet a duobus amari1 et a duabus mulieribus unum4 ,of these articles1 the translation of a few may suffice4 ,the allegation of marriage is an insufficient plea against love4 ,no one should love two people at the same time4 ,without exceeding good reason no one should be forbidden to love4 ,no one need love unless persuasion invite4 ,it is not seemly to love one whom it would be unseemly to marry4 ,a new love banishes an old one4 ,love readily yielded is lightly held4 ,the establishment of courts for the maintenance of principles such as these may seem unnecessary4 ,yet they had their raison d'tre4 ,in cases of tort and felony the lord of a fief possessed the right of justice high and low4 ,there are crimes now which the law cannot reach4 ,it was the same way then4 ,there were controversies which no mere man could adjust4 ,to remedy the defect the wives of the lords created tribunals of their own4 ,in the ,english dominions on the ,continent generally1 as also in ,flanders1 ,champagne and ,provence1 these courts were frequent4 ,in describing them ,nostradamus said that disputes arising from the beautiful and subtle questions of love were submitted to illustrious ladies who1 after deliberation1 rendered judgments termed1 ',lous arrsts d'amours4' ,of the beautiful and subtle questions here is one3 ,a confidant charged by a friend with messages of love found the lady so to his liking that he addressed her in his own behalf4 ,instead of being repulsed he was encouraged4 ,whereupon the injured party brought suit4 ,matre ,andr1 prothonotary of the court1 relates that the plaintiff prayed that the fraud be submitted to the ,countess of ,champagne1 who1 sitting in banco with sixty ladies1 heard the complaint and1 on deliberation1 rendered judgment as follows3 ,it is ordered that the defendants henceforth be debarred the frequentation of honest people4 ,here is another instance4 ,a knight was charged by a lady not to say or do anything in her praise4 ,it so fell about that her name was lightly taken4 ,the knight challenged the defamer4 ,thereupon the lady contended that he had forfeited all claim to her regard4 ,action having been brought the court decided that the defence of a lady being never illicit the knight should be rehabilitated in favor and reinstated in grace4 ,which1 the prothonotary states1 was done4 ,it was over these delicate matters1 over others more delicate still1 that the ,courts of ,love claimed and exercised jurisdiction4 ,execution of the decrees may seem to have been arduous4 ,but judgments were enforced not by a constabulary but by the community4 ,disregard of a decision entailed not loss of liberty but loss of caste4 ,in the case of a man1 entrance was denied him at the tournaments4 ,in the case of a woman1 the drawbridges were up4 ,throughout the land there was no one to receive her4 ,as a result the delinquent was rare4 ,so too was contempt of the jurists4 ,sometimes a girl appeared before them4 ,sometimes a king4 ,to-day it all seems very trivial4 ,but at the time marriage was a matter concerning which the party most interested had the least to say4 ,love was not an element of it and disinclination a detail4 ,moreover in the apoplectic conditions of the world a woman's natural guardians were not always at hand1 the troubadour always was2 the consequence being that a lady was left to do more or less as she saw fit and it was in order that she might do what was fittest that decretals were made4 ,they served another purpose4 ,they set a standard which is observed to-day4 ,article ,,xi of the code3 ,non decet amare quarum pudor est nuptias affectare1--,it is not seemly to love one whom it would not be seemly to marry1 is one of the pivots of modern ethics4 ,on it was constructed ,ruy ,blas4 ,the tale is tragic but then the entire realm of love is choked with tragic tales1 though it is less so when the precept is observed and still less when there is regard for the injunction against double loving4 ,in addition1 the provisions of the code were instrumental in originating that regard for appearances which society previously had neglected and from which contemporaneous refinement proceeds4 ,chivalry came with the crusades2 with the ,courts of ,love1 good manners4 ,they had another merit4 ,in guiding the affections they educated them4 ,to love and to be loved is not simple but complex4 ,love may come from mutual attraction4 ,that is common4 ,it may come of natural selection1 which is rare4 ,natural selection presupposes a discernment that leads a man through mazes of women to one woman in particular1 to a woman who to him is the one woman in all the world1 to the woman who has been awaiting him and who recognizes him when he comes4 ,or vice versa4 ,in the ,middle ,ages it was usually from the woman that the initial recognition proceeded4 ,it was she who did the selecting4 ,in the best society she does so still4 ,to encourage her the ,courts of ,love authorized a form of contemplative union in which lovers exchanged vows similar to those taken at the investiture of a vassal4 ,the knight knelt before the lady1 put his hands in hers and acknowledged himself her liegeman4 ,the homage was formally accepted4 ,the knight received a kiss which was renewable every year4 ,but nothing more4 ,in theory at least4 ,any further reward of fealty being due to the sheer generosity of the lady who then was lord4 ,the kiss however was collectable4 ,in the event of deferred payment action could be brought4 ,one was4 ,by way of defence the defendant alleged that ,mr4 ,danger was present4 ,mr4 ,danger was the defendant's husband4#de ,these hymens of the heart1 instituted by virtue of ,article ,i1 ,causa conjugii ab amore non est excusatio recta--,against love marriage is an insufficient excuse--resulted in a sort of moral bigamy that was sanctioned generally by custom1 in ,provence by the clergy1 and which1 like marriage was contracted in the presence of witnesses4 ,grard de ,roussillon1 a medival writer1 described a lady who while marrying one man coincidentally gave a ring and promise of love to another4 ,the proceeding was strictly in accordance with the sentiment of the day which regarded love as incompatible with marriage4 ,a case in point is contained in the reports of ,martial d',auvergne4 ,a knight loved a lady who could not accept his vows inasmuch as she loved some one else4 ,but she promised to do so if it so happened that she lost the other man--a contingency which to-day would mean if he died or ran away4 ,very differently the jurisprudence of the epoch interpreted it4 ,the lady married the man she loved whereupon the knight exacted fulfilment of the agreement4 ,queen ,eleanor1 before whom the case was heard1 decided in his favor1 on the ground1 perhaps subtle1 that the lady's husband1 in becoming her husband1 became ipso facto1 by that very act1 amatorially defunct4 ,in a case not similar but cognate1 judgment rendered by the ,countess of ,champagne was as follows3 ,by these presents we declare and affirm that love cannot exist between married people for the reason that lovers grant everything unconstrainedly whereas married people are obliged to submit to one another4 ,wherefore shall this decision1 reached prudently in conformity with the opinion of many other ladies1 be to you all a constant and irrefragible truth4 ,so adjudged in the year of grace #aagd1 the third day of the calends of ,may1 seventh indiction4 ,in another case ,ermengarde of ,narbonne decided that the addition of the marriage tie cannot invalidate a prior affair1 nisi--unless the lady has in mind to have done with love forever4 ,decretals of this nature1 however absurd they may seem1 were at least serviceable in the reforms they effected4 ,according to the civil law if a husband absented himself for ten years1 the wife had the right to remarry4 ,according to the law of love1 the absence of a lover1 however prolonged1 did not release the lady from her attachment4 ,the civil law authorized a widow to remarry in a year and a day4 ,the law of love exacted for the heart a widowhood of twice that period4 ,the civil law permitted a husband to beat his wife reasonably4 ,the law of love enforced for the lady respect4#df ,the resulting conditions1 perhaps analogous to those of eighteenth-century ,italy where every woman of position had1 in addition to a husband a cavaliere servente1 succeeded none the less in developing outside of marriage and directly in opposition to it1 the ideal of what marriage is1 the union not only of hands but of hearts4 ,the ,courts of ,love might go1 their work endured4 ,they made woman what she had been in republican ,rome and what she is to-day1 the guide and associate of man4 ,slowly thereafter they followed knight-errantry to its grave without however meanwhile becoming what ,hallam described as fantastical solemnities4 ,i never had1 ,hallam declared1 the patience to look at the older writers who discussed this tiresome subject4 ,in view of which his opinions are not important1 particularly as the ,courts of ,love so far from becoming fantastic went to the other extreme4 ,instead of questions beautiful and subtle1 there arose others1 highly realistic1 together with investigations de visu which young gentlewomen treated in terms precise4 ,before decadence set in1 at a time when these establishments were at their best and notwithstanding the ethical purport of their decisions1 misadventures occurred4 ,of these1 one1 commonly reported by all authorities1 is curious4 ,the ,lord ,raymond of ,castel-,roussillon had for wife the ,lady ,marguerite4 ,guillaume de ,cabstain1 a lad of quality came to their court where he was made page to the countess and where1 after certain episodes1 he composed for her the lai which runs3 ,sweet are the thoughts ,that love awakes in me4 ,etc4 ,when ,raymond heard the song he led ,guillaume far from the castle1 cut his head off1 put it in a basket1 cut his heart out1 put it also in a basket1 returned to the castle1 had the heart roasted and had it served at table to his wife4 ,the ,lady ,marguerite ate without knowing what it was4 ,the repast concluded1 ,raymond stood up4 ,he told his wife that what she had eaten was the heart of the page4 ,he fetched and showed her the head and asked how the heart had tasted4 ,the ,lady ,marguerite1 recognizing the head1 replied that the heart had been so appetizing that never other food or drink should take from her its savor4 ,raymond ran at her with his sword4 ,she fled away1 threw herself from a balcony and broke her skull4 ,the story1 though commonly reported1 has not been substantiated4 ,it occurred a long time ago and1 it may be1 never occurred at all4 ,but as a picture of medival love1 life and death1 it is exact4 ,if it did not occur1 it might have4 ,joy's fingers are ever at its lips bidding farewell4 ,it was in that attitude that its parliaments departed4 ,,iv ,,the ,,doctors ,,of ,,the ,,gay ,,science ,before joy and its parliaments had dispersed the general gloom1 minstrels went about singing distressed maidens1 imprisoned women1 jealous husbands1 the gamut of love and lore4 ,usually they sang to ears that were indifferent or curious merely4 ,but occasionally a knight errant overheard and at once1 lance in hand1 he was off on his horse to the rescue4 ,the source of the minstrel's primal migration was ,spain4 ,in the medival night1 ,spain1 or1 more exactly ,andalusia1 was brilliant4 ,on the banks of the ,great ,river1 ,al-,ouad-al-,kebyr1 subsequently renamed ,guadalquivir1 twelve hundred cities shimmered with mosques1 with enamelled pavilions1 with tinted baths1 alcazars1 minarets4 ,from three hundred thousand filigree'd pulpits1 the glory of ,allah and of ,muhammad his prophet were daily proclaimed4 ,at ,ez ,zahara1 the pavilion of the pleasures of the ,caliphs of ,cordova1 forty thousand workmen1 working for forty years1 had produced a stretch of beauty unequalled then and unexceeded since1 a palace of dream1 of gems1 of red gold walls2 a court of alabaster fountains that tossed quick-silver in dazzling sheafs2 a patio of jasper basins in which floated silver swans2 a residence ceiled with damasquinures1 curtained with ,isfahan silks2 an edifice filled with poets and peris1 an establishment that thirteen thousand people served4#dg ,ez ,zahara1 literally1 ,the ,fairest1 a caliph had built to the memory of a love4 ,it was regal4 ,the caliphs were also4 ,the reigns of some of them were so prodigal that they were called honeymoons4 ,at ,seville and ,granada were other palaces1 homes as they were called1 but homes of flowers1 of whispers1 of lovers or of peace4 ,throughout the land generally there was a chain of pavilions and cities through which minstrels passed1 going up and down the ,great ,river1 serenading the banks that sent floating back wreaths of melody1 the sound of clear voices1 the tinkle of dulcimers and lutes4 ,but most beautiful was ,cordova4 ,under the ,moors it eclipsed ,damascus1 surpassed ,baghdad1 outshone ,byzance4 ,it was the noblest place on earth4 ,throughout ,europe at that time1 the ,moors and the ,byzantines alone had the leisure and the inclination to think4 ,they alone read and alone preserved the literature of the past4 ,together they supplied it to the ,renaissance4 ,but from the ,moors went poetry of their own4 ,it was they who invented rhyme4#dh ,charmed with the novelty1 they wrote everything in it1 challenges1 contracts1 treaties1 diplomatic notes1 and messages of love4 ,the composition of poetry was an occupation1 usual in itself1 which led to unusual honors1 to the dignity of office and high place4 ,ordinary conversation not infrequently occurred in verse which was otherwise facilitated by the extreme wealth of the language4 ,some of the dictionaries known generally from their immensity as ,oceans--which1 escaping later the unholy hand of the ,holy ,office1#di the ,escorial preserved1 were arranged not alphabetically but in sequence of rhyme4 ,in addition to the latter the ,moors invented the serenade and for it the dulcimer and guitar4 ,they not only lived poetry and wrote it and talked it but died of it4 ,the unusual honors to which it led and which resulted in a government of poets left them defenceless4 ,verse which was their glory was also their destruction4 ,meanwhile it was from them that the world got algebra and chivalry besides4 ,chivalry has been derived from ,germany4 ,the ,teutons invented the false conception of honor--revenge for an affront1 the duel and judgment by arms4 ,that is not chivalry or even bravery1 it is bravado4 ,bravery itself1 perhaps the sole virtue of the early ,teuton1 was not the only one or even the first that was required of the ,moorish ,rokh4 ,to merit that title which was equivalent to that of knight1 many qualities were indispensable3 courtesy1 courage1 gentility1 poetry1 diction1 strength1 and address4 ,but courtesy came first4 ,then bravery1 then gentility1 in which was comprised the elements that go to the making of the gentleman--loyalty1 consideration1 the sense of justice1 respect for women1 protection of the weak1 honor in war and in love4#ej ,these things the ,teutons neither knew nor possessed4 ,the ,muslim did4 ,prior to the first crusade1 the male population of ,christendom was composed of men-at-arms1 serfs1 priests1 monks4 ,the knight was not there4 ,but in ,sicily1 at the court of the polished ,norman kings where ,saracens had gone1 particularly in ,spain1 and certainly at ,poictiers1 the knight had appeared4 ,the chivalry which he introduced was an insufficient gift to barbarism4 ,to it the ,moors added perfumery and the language of flowers4 ,muhammad's biographers state that there were but two things for which he really cared--women and perfume4 ,his followers the ,moors could not do more than do better4 ,other inventions of theirs being inadequate1 they joined to them the art of preserving perfume by distillation and the art1 higher still1 of perfuming life with love4 ,muhammad was unable to convert humanity to a belief in the uniqueness of ,allah1 but the ,moors1 for a while at least1 converted ,europe to a belief that love was unique4 ,muhammad created a paradise of houris and musk4 ,more subtly the ,moors created a heaven on earth4 ,it had its defects as everything earthly must have1 but such were its delights that the courtesan had no place in its parks4 ,for the first time in history a nation appeared that renounced ,venus ,pandemos4 ,for the first time a nation appeared among whom woman was neither punished nor bought4#ea ,in the ,koran it is written3 ,man shall have pre-eminence over woman because of the advantages wherein ,god hath caused one of them to excel the other4 ,the honest women are obedient1 careful in the absence of their husbands4 ,but those whose perverseness ye shall be apprehensive of1 rebuke1 remove into separate apartments and chastise4 ,the ,moors were devout4 ,they were also schismatic4 ,they had separated from ,oriental ,islm4 ,even in the privacy of the harem they would not have struck a woman with a rose4 ,the harem was not a ,muhammadan invention4 ,it was a legacy from ,solomon4 ,originally the ,muslim faith was a creed of sobriety that included a deference to women theretofore unknown4 ,its subsequent corruption was due to ,assyria and the ferocious apostolicism of the ,turk4 ,the ,islmic seclusion of women came primarily from an excess of delicacy4 ,it was devised in order that their beauty might not excite desires in the hearts of strangers and they be affronted by the ardor of covetous eyes4 ,that ardor the ,moors deflected with a talisman composed of the magic word ,masch-,allah which1 placed in filigree on the forehead of the beloved was supposed to indicate--and perhaps did--that her heart was not her own4 ,in ,baghdad where men are said to have been so inflammable that they fell in love with a woman at the rumor of her beauty1 at even the mere sight of the impress of her hand1 it was not entirely unnatural that they should have secluded those for whom they cared4 ,with finer jealousy the ,moors suggested to the women who cared for them the advantage of secluding themselves4 ,to-day a woman who loves will do that unprompted4 ,in the suggestion of the ,moors there was nothing emphatic4 ,usually girls of position saw1 to the day of their marriage1 but relatives and womenfolk whom the husband and his friends then routed with daggers of gold4 ,but access to ,chain-of-,hearts was not otherwise always impossible4 ,in default of gold daggers there were silk ladders let down from high windows and up which one might climb4 ,in the local tales of love and chivalry1 in the story1 for instance1 of ,medjnoun and ,lelah1 in that of the ,dovazdeh ,rokh--the ,twelve ,knights--many such ladders and windows appear1 many are the kisses1 multiple are the furtive delights4 ,apart from them history has frequent mention of ,andalusian ,sapphos1 free1 fervid1 poetic1 charming the leisures of caliphs1 or1 after an exacter pattern of the ,lesbian1 instructing other girls in what were called the keys of felicities--the divans of the poets1 the art and theory of verse2 more austerely still1 in mathematics and law4#eb ,to please young women of that distinction1 a man had to be something more than a caliph1 something else than violently brave4 ,necessarily he had to be expert in fantasias with arms and horse1 but he had to be also discreet2 in addition he had to be able to contend and successfully in the moufkhara1 or tournaments of song--struggles of glory that proceeded directly from ,mekke where the verses of the victors were affixed with gold nails to the doors of the ,mosque4 ,from these tournaments all modern poetry proceeds4 ,acclimatized1 naturalized and embellished in ,andalusia1 they were imitated there by the encroaching ,castilians who proudly but falsely called themselves los primeros padres de la poesia vulgar4 ,at that time1 the ,provenal tongue1 called the ,limosin or ,langue d'oc1 was spoken not only throughout the meridional provinces of ,france but generally in ,christian ,spain4#ec ,whatever was common to ,spanish poetry was common to that of ,provence3 both drank from the same source1 the overflowing cup of the ,moors4 ,the original form of each is that employed in the divans of the latter4 ,there is in them also the tell-tale novelty rhyme which1 unknown to ,greece and ,rome1 lower ,latinity had not achieved4 ,in addition the ,provenal and ,spanish tensons1 or contentions of song1 are but replicas of the moufkhara1 or struggles of glory1 while the minstrel going up and down the ,great ,river is the obvious father of the itinerant poets whom ,barbarossa welcomed in ,germany and from whom the ,minnesnger came4 ,in ,italy1 ,provenal verse was the foundation of that of ,dante and ,petrarch4 ,from it in ,england ,chaucer proceeds4 ,in ,aragon it founded the gaya cienca--the gay science1 which passing into ,provence overspread the world4 ,the passing was effected by the troubadour1 a title derived from trobar1 to compose1 whence troubadour1 a composer of verse4 ,technically the troubadour was not only a composer but a knight and not merely that but the representative of chivalry in its supreme expression4 ,poetry was the attribute of his order as joy was the parure of the preux chevalier4 ,but though except in bearing and appearance the knight did not have to be poetic1 the troubadour had to be poetic and chivalrous as well4 ,the vocation therefore1 which in addition to these characteristics presupposed also rank and wealth1 was such that while a troubadour might disdain to be king1 there were kings1 ,alfonso of ,aragon and ,coeur-de-,lion among others1 who were proud to be troubadours4 ,rank was not essentially a prerequisite4 ,poetry1 exalting and fastidious1 occasionally stooped1 lifting from the commonality a man naturally though not actually born for the sphere4 ,the ,muse aiding1 ,bernard de ,ventadour1 a baker's son2 was raised to the lips of the rather volatile ,queen ,eleanor4 ,but the process1 hazardous in itself1 was infrequent4 ,royals were not necessarily on a footing with troubadours1 but the latter1 who were the peers of kings1 required1 for the maintenance of their position1 abundant means4 ,they held it becoming to be ceaselessly lavish1 to play high and long1 to dazzle not only in the tensons but in the banquets and jousts4 ,impoverishment supervening they went forth in the crusades to die1 or1 less finely1 dropped back among the jongleurs1 minstrels1 strollers and mere poets with whom subsequently they were generally confused4 ,these latter1 sometimes stipendiary1 sometimes donatable like jesters and fools1 told in their verse of great ladies whom they had never seen1 or in the quality of handy man attached themselves to women of rank1 to whom they gave songs in return for graces which included largesse1 acquiring in their society a knowledge more or less incomplete of the niceties of love and occasionally1 if their verse were good1 the title of ,maestro d',amor4 ,even so1 only in the embroidery of legend were they troubadours4 ,the troubadours1 the true masters and real doctors of the gay science1 in full armor1 the visor up1 the lance in bucket1 rode from keep to keep1 from court to court1 from one to another of the long string of castles that stretched throughout ,provence1 throughout the ,english districts on the ,continent1 throughout ,england as well1 celebrating as they passed the beauty of this chtelaine and of that1 breaking lances for women1 devising new lays to their eyes1 contending with rivals in duels of song1 challenging them in the tourneys1 singing and killing with equal satisfaction1 leading generally a life vagabond1 prodigal1 puerile1 delightful1 absurd and humanizing in the extreme4 ,previously keeps and castles were lairs of rapine and of brutes1 conditions which chivalry and the ,courts of ,love remodelled4 ,but the coincidental influence of poetry expressed by the best and richest men of the day had an effect so edulcifying that whatever crapulousness the knight overlooked the troubadour extinguished4 ,nothing is perfect4 ,the system like all others had its defects4 ,in keeps1 when tilts1 feasts1 and entertainments were over1 the boudoir's more relaxing atmosphere1 that of the adjoining balconies and outlying gardens as well1 had also their effect4 ,the presence there of a man whose one object was to sing love and make it1 the fact that he was a stranger and of all men the stranger who but comes and passes1 disturbs the imagination most2 the further fact that if he but so pleased he could in his lays trail the fame of a lady from ,northumbria to ,lebanon1 the perfectly natural wish for such renown1 the equally feminine disinclination to be ignored when others were praised1 the concomitant desire to have a troubadour or a part of one1 as one's very own1 these stimulants had consequences that were not always very ethical4 ,the troubadour's religion1 intoxicating in itself1 was love4 ,that was his creed1 his vocation1 his life1 his death4 ,song was its vehicle1 his presence its introduction4 ,he exhaled it4 ,the perfume1 always heady1 but which in its first fragrance had mended manners1 turned acid and ended by dissolving morals4 ,they melted before it4 ,the social conditions that prevailed in the ,renaissance and later in the ,restoration and ,regency1 proceeded directly from these poets who1 meanwhile1 in a cataclysm had vanished4 ,their terrific ablation was due to an interconnection with the ,albigenses1 a ,languedoc sect who1 in a jumble of ,gnosticism and ,manicheism1 professed that since evil is coeval with good it must be just as justifiable2 hence there is nothing blamable1 everything is relative and morality-- unobligatory--a matter of taste4 ,provence1 always receptive to ,orientalisms1 was charmed with theories that gave a mystic sanction to troubadourian views4 ,caught up and repeated1 discussed in tournament and tenson1 the opinions of ladies and lovers on the subject would have disturbed nobody1 history would have ignored them1 had the original heretics been satisfied with the plaything they had found4 ,but they compared it to official religion4 ,they also questioned the prerogatives of the ,holy ,see4 ,indignantly the ,papacy pitted ,christianity against it1 as already it had pitted the latter against ,islm4 ,in this instance with greater success4 ,from a thousand pulpits a new religious war was preached4 ,the fanaticism of ,europe was aroused4 ,provence was stormed4 ,chteaux were levelled1 vines uprooted1 the harvests of poetry and song destroyed4 ,sixty thousand people were massacred4 ,the ,inquisition was founded4 ,plentifully the doctors of the gay science were burned4 ,in spite of chivalry1 in spite of love1 in spite of verse1 in spite of ,muhammad1 the ,moors and the ,madonna1 ,europe was barbarous still4 ,the smoke1 obscuring the sky1 left but darkness4 ,if anywhere there was light1 it was in ,sicily1 always volcanic1 or in ,tuscany1 another ,provence4 ,there surviving troubadours escaped and left a legacy which ,dante1 ,petrarch and ,boccaccio diversely shared4 ,v ,,the ,,apotheosis ,in the boyhood of ,dante1 ,florence1 the ,flower ,city1 was a place of much beauty1 of perfect calm1 of almost perfect equality1 of pleasurable and polished life4 ,there a brigade1 the ,brigata ,amorosa1 formed of a thousand people1 had a lord who was a ,lord of ,love4 ,during one of their recurrent festivals an entertainment was held at the home of ,folco ,portinari4 ,to such entertainments ,boccaccio said that children frequently accompanied their parents4 ,to this particular entertainment1 ,dante1 then a lad of nine1 came with his father4 ,he found there a number of boys and girls1 among whom was ,folco's daughter1 ,beatrice1 a child with delicate features whose speech and attitude were perhaps superserious for her age4 ,dante looked at her4 ,at that moment1 he afterward1 wrote1 ,i may truly say that the spirit of life which dwells in the most secret chambers of my heart1 trembled in such wise that the least pulses of my being shook4444 ,so noble was her manner1 that assuredly one might repeat of her the words of ,homer3 ',she seemed born not of mortal but of ,god4' ,years passed during which often he encountered her1 without1 however1 a word being interchanged4 ,subsequently1 at a festival1 she recognized him and bowed--so virtuously1 he said1 that ,i thought myself lifted to the limits of beatitude4 ,another interval ensued4 ,again she met him4 ,dante was then twenty1 ,beatrice nineteen4 ,on this occasion she omitted to bow4 ,the omission affected him profoundly4 ,it was even inspirational4 ,he began to write1 so well said ,boccaccio that he effaced the fame of poets that had been and menaced that of those to be4 ,in promenading his young glory he again encountered ,beatrice1 this time in a house where a betrothal was being celebrated4 ,on entering he was so emotionalized that he had to lean against a wall4 ,the women who were present divined the reason4 ,beatrice was there4 ,the situation amused them4 ,they laughed4 ,beatrice also laughed4#ed ,whether or not it was her betrothal that was being fted is uncertain4 ,it may have been4 ,shortly she became the wife of ,simon dei ,bardi1 gentiluomo4 ,dante more profoundly affected than ever cursed the day on which they met3 ,io maledico il di ch'io vidi imprima ,la luce de' vostri occhi traditori4 ,to the melody of the imprecation1 ,petrarch1 in honor of ,laura1 added a variant3 ,benedetto sia l'giorno1 e l'mese1 e l'anno4 ,both were unfortunate in their loves but of the two ,dante's was the least favored4 ,it had nothing for sustenance4 ,yet1 save for that one reproach1 it persisted4 ,its continuance was fully justified by the code1 though1 in the absence of any reciprocity whatever1 it was perhaps more vaporous than any that the codifiers had considered4 ,hitherto ,dante had hoped but for a bow4 ,thereafter the hope seemed ambitious4 ,he ceased to expect so much4 ,a woman1 cognizant1 as all ,florence was1 of the circumstances said to him3 ,since you barely dare to look at ,beatrice1 what can your love for her be8 ,dante answered3 ,the dream of my love was in her salutation but since it has pleased her to withhold it from me1 my happiness now resides in what cannot be withdrawn4 ,and what is that8 the donna asked4 ,in words that praise her1 he replied4 ,seemingly instead of that1 instead rather of limiting his previous ambition to a salutation he might have supplanted ,dei ,bardi4 ,dante too was gentiluomo4 ,in addition he was famous4 ,had he asked1 doubtless it would have been given4 ,but ,dante1 nourished on troubadourian verse and views1 held love to be incompatible with marriage4 ,afterward1 if any ,provenal suggestion of extra-matrimonial possibilities presented itself1 it was too incongruous with the ideal to be detained4 ,even otherwise1 shortly and speedily ,beatrice died and he very nearly died also4 ,the distraction of writing of her1 of drawing angels that resembled her1 these occupations1 combined with other incidents1 consoled4 ,then presently he had visions1 among them one in which he saw that which decided him to write nothing further until he could do so more worthily4 ,to that end1 he said1 ,i labor all ,i can1 as she well knows4 ,wherefore if it please ,him1 through whom all things live1 that my life be suffered to continue yet awhile1 ,i hope one day to say of her what has not been said of any woman4 ,after which may it please the ,lord of ,grace that my soul go hence in quest of the ,blessed ,beatrice who now gazes continuously on the countenance of ,him qui est omnia secula benedictus4 ,laus ,deo6 ,with these words1 with which the ,vita ,nuova ends1 the ,divina ,commedia is announced4 ,voltaire commended an imbecile for calling the latter a monster4 ,it is regrettable that there are not more like it4 ,other imbeciles have called ,beatrice an abstraction4 ,that she lived is fully attested4 ,dante admired a child who became a young woman from whom he asked next to nothing1 which1 being refused1 he asked nothing at all1 contenting himself with laudations4 ,from that moment1 ,beatrice1 who had really been1 ceased to really be4 ,she became a personified worship4 ,finally she died and her death was her assumption1 an apotheosis in which typifying the ,eternal ,feminine1 she lifted the poet from sphere to sphere1 from glory to glory1 to the heights where1 imperishable1 he stands4 ,said ,tennyson3 ,king that hast reigned six hundred years and grown ,in power and ever growest 444 ,i1 wearing but the garland of a day ,cast at thy feet one flower that fades away4 ,the tribute1 perfect in itself1 was perfectly deserved4 ,there never was such tenderness as ,dante's4 ,there never was such intensity4 ,save only in the case of the human oceans that men call ,homer and ,shakespeare1 there never has been such greatness4 ,homer engendered antiquity4 ,from ,dante modernity proceeds4 ,of ,shakespeare1 ,england was born4 ,without resemblance to one another1 on their thrones in the ideal each sits alone4 ,behind them is the past1 at their feet the present1 before them the centuries unroll4 ,they are the immortals4 ,they have all time as we all have our day4 ,it is from them we get our daily bread4 ,their genius feeds our starving soul4 ,talent has never done that4 ,talent makes us laugh and forget and yawn4 ,talent is agreeable1 it provides us with pleasures1 with means of getting rid of time4 ,but to the heart it brings no message1 for the soul it has no food4 ,it is ephemeral1 not eternal4 ,only genius and its art endure4 ,the genius of ,dante1 ,beatrice awoke1 of his art she was the inspiration4 ,for that be she1 as he called her1 ,blessed1--thrice ,blessed since she did not love him4 ,had she loved him1 he could not have done better1 that is not possible1 and he might have omitted to do as well4 ,dante made ,francesca say of ,paolo3 ,questi che mai da me non fia diviso1 ,la bocca mi baci tutto tremente4 ,francesca added3 ,quel giorno pi non vi leggemmo avante--we read no more that day4 ,nor on any other4 ,had she1 from whom ,dante is equally inseparable1 tremblingly kissed his mouth1 it may be that not their reading merely but his writing would have ceased4 ,but ,dante1 whom ,petrarch called a miracle of nature1 was not ,paolo4 ,far from attempting to kiss ,beatrice he did not even aspire to such a grace4 ,he had1 as the genius should have1 everything1 even to sex1 in his brain1 a circumstance that might have preserved him from ,gemma ,donati and la ,gentucca1--the first1 his wife2 the second1 another's--dual infidelities for which1 at the summit of ,purgatory1 ,beatrice1 who1 in the interim1 had become very feminine1 reproached him with slow scorn4 ,for punishment he beheld her4 ,the spectacle of her beauty was such that memories of his sins seared him like thin flames4 ,he was in ,purgatory4 ,but ,beatrice who in a cloud of flowers--un nuvola di fiori--had come1 forgave him4 ,together then their ascension began4 ,ella guardava suso1 ed io in lei4 ,she looked above and he at her4 ,in the mounting his sins fell by4 ,as they did so her beauty increased4 ,in proportion to his redemption she became more fair4 ,that picture1 at once real and ideal1 displayed in its exquisiteness the miracle of two hearts saving and embellishing each other4 ,set at the threshold of modern life it prefigured what love was to be1 what it is now when it truly appears1 but what it was long in becoming4 ,it had no part in the conceptions of ,cecco ,angioleiri1 a poet contemporaneous1 very vulgar1 consequently more popular1 who sat his heart on a donna and flung at her cries that were squeaks4 ,io ho in tal donna lo mio core assiso1 ,che chi dicesse3 ,ti fo imperadore1 ,e sta che non la veggi per due ore1 ,io li direi3 ,va che to sia ucciso4 ,other was ,petrarch1 ,from whose brain-lighted heart were thrown ,a thousand thoughts beneath the sun1 ,each lucid with the name of ,one4 ,the ,one was ,laura4 ,petrarch1 young1 good-looking1 already aureoled1 saw her first at matins in a church at ,avignon4 ,she too was young4 ,married1 a woman of position1 of probable beauty1 she was dark-eyed1 fair-haired1 pensive1 serene4 ,with spells as gossamer as those of the ,monna ,bice1 at once she imparadised his heart4 ,precipitately he presented it to her4 ,she refused it4 ,hughes de ,sade1 her husband1 was a perfectly unsympathetic person1 jealous without reason1 notoriously hard4 ,yet his excuse1 if he had one1 may have resided in local conditions4 ,avignon stately and luxurious1 was1 ,petrarch declared1 the gully of every vice4 ,there is here1 he said1 nothing holy1 nothing just1 nothing human4 ,decency and modesty are unknown4#ee ,yet he found them there4 ,laura represented both4 ,in the profligacy of the ,papal city she at least was pure4 ,she would have none of ,petrarch1 or1 more exactly1 so little that hardly can it be said to count4 ,rebuffed he departed4 ,she beckoned him back1 rebuffed him again and1 alternately1 for twenty-one years1 rebuffed and beckoned1 preserving his love without according her own1 giving him an infrequent smile1 now and then a nod from a window1 on one memorable occasion as much as the touch of her hand4 ,once only1 and that at their last interview her eyes looked longly in his4 ,that was all4 ,to be near her he purchased at ,vaucluse an estate so gloomy that his servants forsook him and where1 such women as he saw1 it mortified him to look at4 ,the expression is his own4 ,day after day he stood before her gates1 which he never entered1 fully repaid1 if among the orange trees there1 he but caught sight of her4 ,on one occasion he met her by accident1 on another he was fortunate enough to be able to restore a glove which she had dropped1 again in a reunion where were assembled the ladies of ,avignon1 a foreign prince marched up to the woman whom ,petrarch's verses had made famous and kissed her on the eyes4 ,it was a prince's privilege4 ,petrarch related the occurrence in a sonnet4 ,it was incidents of this character that form the bundle of poetry that immortalized them both4 ,sometimes he rebelled4 ,he went away1 travelled1 studied1 worked4 ,whatever he did1 where-ever he were1 always1 in haunting constancy1 she was before him4 ,always her presence inhabited his eyes4 ,he tried to vanquish the love of woman in the love of ,god4 ,in the struggle it was he who was defeated4 ,even age1 even death could not aid him4 ,laura ultimately had nine children4 ,she was growing old1 certainly she was worn4 ,to ,petrarch always she was in the first festival of her beauty4 ,blessed be the day and the month and the year1 ,and the season1 the hour1 the minute1 ,and the fair land and the spot itself where ,her beautiful eyes subjected my spirit4 ,it was that which he had ever before him4 ,it was that which made him what he was1 the foremost personality of his day4 ,it was that which distinguished him from other poets4 ,unlike anybody1 every one wanted to resemble him4 ,it was love that did it4 ,dante told of love with an intensity that was divine4 ,petrarch wrote with a comprehensiveness that was human4 ,there have been thousands of poets and but one ,dante1 myriads of lovers and but one ,petrarch4 ,whether ,laura deserved his devotion must be a matter of opinion4 ,this alone is obvious4 ,she made his life a combat which antiquity would not have understood1 which chivalry would not have appreciated and which ,dante did not experience4 ,in antiquity love had for form but the senses4 ,that form chivalry draped with graces and ,dante dematerialized4 ,in ,petrarch1 love was both of the flesh and of the spirit in addition to being sincere4 ,that was a great step4 ,with him for the first time there entered into history an honest man ardently in love with an honest woman4 ,to the superficial she has seemed but a coquette and he merely sentimental4 ,he were perhaps better regarded as creative1 the founder of the real love which is the love of the heart1 the amour ternel en un moment conu4 ,the quality of ,laura's love1 whether she loved him or whether she did not1 whether for that matter she was capable of loving at all1 whether on the other hand while loving him wholly she1 like the woman in the sonnet of ,arvers who inspired the amour ternel preferred to remain piously faithful to the austere devoir1 is immaterial and unimportant4 ,another man would have abandoned her completely or carried her violently away4 ,petrarch1 too sincere for treason and too poetic for vulgarity1 unfit in consequence for either enterprise1 became obsessed with a love that developed into a delicate malady1 a disease that sent him from his studies1 tormenting him into an incessant struggle with the most terrible of all combatants--one's self4 ,the malady had its compensations4 ,it made him the source of modern lyricism and the most conspicuous figure of his day4 ,in ,milan when he appeared every head was uncovered4 ,on the ,p1 a battle was interrupted that he might pass4 ,at ,venice his seat was at the right of the doge4 ,rome's ghost revived in beauty for him and put a laurel on his brow4 ,it was his verse that induced these tributes4 ,the verse was inspired by love4 ,to ,dante1 love was what it had been to ,plato1 a mysterious initiation into the secrets of the material world4 ,to ,petrarch it was a rebellion against those very things4 ,in ,dante it was sublimated1 in ,petrarch it was distilled4 ,laura stood at the parting of the roads1 midway between the symbolism of the ,divina ,commedia and the freedom of the ,decamerone4 ,the ,decamerone is the chronicle of a society in extremis of which the ,divine ,comedy is the ,last ,judgment4 ,one is the dirge of the past1 the other the dawn of the future4 ,between the gravity of the one and the unconcern of the other is the distance of the poles4 ,separated but by half a century the cantos are the antipodes of the novellas4 ,in the former is gloom1 palpable and thick4 ,in the latter is light1 frivolous and clear4 ,one is medival1 the other1 modern4 ,but one was constructed for all time1 the other for a day4 ,if the ,decamerone still survive1 it is through one of ,time's caprices4 ,boccaccio wrote endlessly4 ,he produced treatises theological1 historical1 mystical4 ,with his pen he built a vast monument4 ,time passed and in passing loosed from the edifice a single stone4 ,the rest it reduced to dust4 ,but that stone it sent rolling into posterity1 regarding it1 wrongly or rightly as a masterpiece4 ,a masterpiece is a thing that seems easy to make and which no one can duplicate4 ,the ,queen of ,navarre tried and failed augustly4 ,indolent reviewers have summarized both efforts as gossip4 ,boccaccio's work was at once that and something else4 ,it was a viaticum for the ,middle ,ages and a signal for the ,renaissance4 ,through ,florence at that hour stalked the ,black ,pest4 ,the narrow streets were choked with corpses4 ,the people were dying4 ,so too was an epoch4 ,while grave-diggers were at work a page of history was being turned4 ,on the other side was a dawn which now is day4 ,the knell of expiring night ,boccaccio answered with laughter4 ,into a shroud he tossed flowers4 ,of these many were frail1 some blood-red1 others toxic2 a few only were white4 ,from them come the odors that formed the moral atmosphere of indifferent ,italy1 of careless ,france1 of ,england after the ,restoration4 ,they were the parterre on which gallantry grew4 ,,vi ,,bluebeard ,before the parterre of gallantry budded1 at an epoch when the ,middle ,ages were passing away1 there appeared a man1 known to amateurs of light opera and of fairy tales as ,bluebeard1 but who1 everywhere1 save in the nursery and the study1 has been regarded as unreal4 ,bluebeard was no more a creation of ,perrault or of ,offenbach than ,don ,juan was a creation of ,mozart or of ,molire4 ,both really lived1 but ,bluebeard the more demoniacally4 ,according to the documents contained in what is technically known as his procs1 his name was ,gilles de ,retz and1 at a period contemporaneous with the apparition of ,jehanne d',arc1 he was a great ,breton lord1 seigneur of appreciable domains4#ef ,at ,tiffauges1 one of his seats1 the towers of the castle have fallen1 the drawbridge has crumbled1 the moat is choked4 ,only the walls remain4 ,within is an odor of ruin1 a sensation of chill1 a savor of things damned1 an impression of space1 of shapes of sin1 of monstrous crimes1 of sacrilege and sorcery4 ,but in his day it probably differed very little from other keeps except in its extreme fastidiousness4 ,gilles de ,retz was a poet4 ,in a land where no one read1 he wrote4 ,at a time when the chief relaxation of a baron was rapine1 he preferred the conversation of thinkers4 ,very rich and equally sumptuous1 the spectacle which he presented must have been that of a great noble living nobly1 one who1 as was usual1 had his own men-at-arms1 his own garrison1 pages1 squires1 the customary right of justice high and low1 but1 over and above these things1 a taste for elegancies1 for refinements1 for illuminated missals1 for the music of grave hymns4 ,he was devout4 ,in addition to a garrison1 he had a chapel and1 for it1 almoners1 acolytes1 choristers4 ,necessarily a soldier1 he had been a brave one4 ,in serving featly his ,god he had served loyally his king4 ,at the siege of ,orlans1 ,charles ,,vii rewarded him with the title and position of ,marchal de ,france4 ,it was lofty1 but not more so than he4 ,meanwhile1 during the progress of the war1 for which he furnished troops2 subsequently1 in extravagant leisures at court2 later1 at ,tiffauges1 where he resided in a manner entirely princely1 he exhausted his resources4 ,the one modern avenue to wealth then open was matrimony4 ,gilles followed it4 ,but insufficiently4 ,the dower of one lady1 then of others1 however large1 was not enough4 ,he needed more4 ,to get it he took a different route4 ,contiguous to the avenue was a wider highway which1 descending from the remotest past1 had at the time narrowed into a blind alley4 ,in it was a cluster of alchemists4 ,they were hunting the golden chimera which ,hermes was believed to have found1 and whose escaping memories1 first satraps1 then emperors1 had tried vainly to detain4 ,these memories ,bacon sought in alembics1 ,thomas ,aquinas in ink4 ,experiments1 not similar but cognate1 had resulted in the theory that1 at that later day1 success was impossible without the direct assistance of the ,very ,low4 ,the secret had escaped too far1 memories of it had been too long ablated to be rebeckoned by natural means4 ,for the recovery of the evaporated arcana it was necessary that ,satan should be invoked4 ,satan then was very real4 ,the atmosphere was so charged with his legions1 that spitting was an act of worship4 ,in the cathedrals1 through shudders of song1 his voice had been heard inviting maidens to swell the red quadrilles of hell4 ,from encountering him at every turn man had become used to his ways1 and had imagined a pact whereby1 in exchange for the soul1 ,satan agrees to furnish whatever is wanted4 ,to get gold1 ,gilles de ,retz prepared to enter into that pact4 ,what were the preliminary steps1 more exactly1 what were the preliminary thoughts1 that led this man1 who had been devout and a poet1 into the infamies which then ensued1 is problematic4 ,it is the opinion of psychologists that the most poignant excesses are induced by aspirations for superterrestrial felicities1 by a desire1 human1 and therefore pitiable1 to clutch some fringe of the mantle of stars4 ,psychologists may be correct1 but pathologists give these yearnings certain names1 among which is hmatomania1 or blood-madness4 ,caligula1 ,caracalla1 ,attila1 ,tamerlane1 ,ivan the ,terrible1 ,peter the ,great1 ,philip ,,ii had it4 ,complicated with another disorder1 it manifested itself in the ,marquis de ,sade4 ,it was that which affected ,gilles de ,retz4 ,actuated by it1 he lured alchemists to ,tiffauges4 ,with them from the confines of the ,sabbat1 magicians came4 ,conjointly it is not improbable that they succeeded then in really evoking ,satan1 whose response to any summons consists1 perhaps1 not in a visible apparition1 but in making men as base as they have conceived him to be4 ,in the horrible keep something of the kind must have occurred4 ,gilles de ,retz became actually obsessed4 ,his soul turned a somersault4 ,where the scholar had been1 a vampire emerged4 ,satan was believed to enjoy the blood of the young4 ,to minister to the taste1 ,gilles killed boys and girls4 ,for fourteen years he stalked them4 ,how many he bagged is conjectural4 ,he had omitted to keep tally4 ,his first victim was a child whose heart he extracted1 and with whose blood he wrote an invocation to ,satan4 ,then the list elongated immeasurably4 ,that lair of his echoed with cries1 dripped with gore1 shuddered with sobs4 ,the oubliettes were turned into cemeteries1 the halls reeked with the odor of burning bones4 ,through them the monster prowled1 virtuoso and vampire in one1 determining how he might destroy not merely bodies but souls1 inventing fresh repasts of flesh1 devising new tortures1 savoring tears as yet unshed1 and1 with them1 the spectacle of helpless agony1 of unutterable fear1 the contortions of little limbs simultaneously subjected to hot irons and cold steel4 ,witnesses deposed that some of the children cried very little1 but that the color passed from their eyes4#eg ,there is a limit to all things earthly4 ,precisely as no one may attain perfection1 so has infamy its bounds4 ,there are depths beneath which there is nothing4 ,to their ultimate plane ,gilles de ,retz descended4 ,there1 smitten with terror1 he tried to grope back4 ,it was too late4 ,leisurely1 after fourteen years of ,molochism1 the echo of the cries and odor of the calcinated reached ,nantes1 with1 for result1 the besieging of ,tiffauges1 the taking of ,gilles1 his arrest1 trial1 confession--a confession so monstrous that women fainted of fright1 while a priest1 rising in horror1 veiled the face on a crucifix which hung from the wall--a confession followed by excommunication and the stake4#eh ,in this super-,neronian story ,bluebeard is not apparent4 ,yet he is there4 ,it is he that is ,gilles de ,retz4 ,years ago at ,morbihan in a ,breton church that dates from the fourteenth century1 there was found a series of paintings4 ,one represents the marriage of ,trophine1 daughter of the ,duc de ,vannes to a ,breton lord4 ,in another the lord is leaving his castle4 ,as he goes he warningly intrusts to his wife the key to a forbidden door4 ,it is spotted with blood4 ,the scenes which follow represent the lady opening the forbidden door and peering into a room from the rafters of which six women hang4 ,then come the return of the lord1 his questioning and menacing glance1 the tears of the lady1 her prayers to her sister1 the alarm given by the latter1 the irruption of her brothers and her rescue from that room4 ,the story which the paintings tell still endures in ,brittany4 ,it has ,gilles de ,retz for villain4 ,yet for the honor of his race and of the land1 instead of his name that of ,bluebart1 the cognomen of a public enemy1 was given4#ei ,in the story1 ,gilles de ,retz1 after marrying ,catherine de ,thouars1 one of the great heiresses of the day1 subsequently and successively married six other women4 ,whether he murdered them all or whether they died of delight is not historically certain4 ,the key spotted with blood obviously is fancy4 ,but like other fancies it might be truth4 ,it symbolizes the eternal curiosity of the eternal ,eve concerning that which has been forbidden4 ,,vii ,,the ,,renaissance ,nominally with ,bluebeard the ,middle ,ages cease4 ,in the parturitions of that curious period order emerged from chaos1 language from dialects1 nations from hordes1 ideals from dirt4 ,medivalism was the prelude1 mediocre and in minor key1 to the great concert of civilization of which the first chorus was the ,renaissance1 the second the ,reformation1 the third the ,revolution1 and of which ,democracy1 the fourth1 but presumably not the last1 is swelling now4 ,meanwhile the world was haggard4 ,the moral pendulum1 that had oscillated between mud and ether1 was back again at the starting point4 ,death1 ,fortune1 ,love1 the three blind fates of life1 were the only recognized divinities4 ,but beyond the monotonous fog that discolored the sky beauty was waiting4 ,with the fall of ,constantinople it descended4 ,the result was the ,renaissance4 ,to the ,renaissance many contributed2 mainly the dead1 the artists of the past1 but also the living1 the prophets of the future4 ,medivalism was a forgetting1 the ,renaissance a recovery4 ,it was an epoch from which the mediocre1 in departing1 saw as it went the re-establishment of altars to beauty4 ,in the midst of feudal barbarism1 at an hour when ,france was squalid1 ,germany uncouth1 when ,english nobles could barely read1 when ,europe generally had a contempt for letters which was not due to any familiarity with them1 but when ,italy--a century in advance of other lands--was merely corrupt1 at that hour1 the wraiths of ,greece mingling with the ghosts of ,rome1 made the mistress of the old world sovereign of the new4 ,not in might but in art and intellect1 again the ,eternal ,city ruled supreme4 ,from the annals of the epoch bravi peer and swarm--soldati di gran diavolo1 men more fiendish than animal1 artists that contrived to drape the abominable with cloths which1 if crimson1 were also of gold2 poets refined by generations of scrupulous polish but disorganized by a form of corruption that was the more unholy in that it proceeded not from the senses but the mind4 ,for centuries luxury had been reaccumulating about them4 ,to it1 after the fall of ,byzance1 an unterrified spirit of beauty came4 ,in between was a sense of equality1 one that a recently discovered hemisphere was to assimilate1 but which meanwhile enabled a man of brains to rise from nowhere to anything1 permitting a mercer to breed popes and an apothecary ,lorenzo the ,magnificent4 ,these factors1 generally unconsidered1 induced a tone that could change instantly from the suave to the tragic1 the tone of a people that had no beliefs except in genius and no prejudices except against stupidity1 a tone ethically nul and intellectually great1 the only imaginable one that could produce combinations artistic and viperish as the ,borgias1 sthetic and vulperine as the ,medici4 ,monsters such as they1 did not astonish4 ,columbus1 in enlarging the earth1 and ,copernicus in unveiling the skies1 had so astounded that the ability to be surprised was lost4 ,men could only admire and create4 ,these occupations were not hindered by the pontiffs4 ,what the latter were1 diarists and historians--,infessura and ,gregorovius--have told4 ,as their pages turn1 pagan ,rome revives4 ,the splendid palaces had crumbled1 the superb porticoes were dust4 ,the victorious eagles of the victorious legions had flown to their eyries forever4 ,the shouting throngs1 the ivory chariots1 the baths of perfume and of blood1 these things long since had vanished4 ,there were friars where gladiators had been1 pifferari in lieu of augurs1 imperias instead of vestals1 in place of an emperor there was a pope4 ,in details of speech1 costume and mode there were further differences4 ,otherwise ,rome was as pagan1 murderous and gay4 ,in the thick air of the high-viced city the poison of the antique purple dripped4 ,but into the toxic a new ingredient had entered1 a fresh element1 a modern note4 ,in the ,rome of ,nero a sin was a prayer4 ,in the ,rome of ,leo ,x it was a taxable luxury4 ,anything1 no matter what1 was lawful provided an indulgence were bought4 ,the ,bank of ,pardons was established for the obvious proceeds1 but the latter were sanctified by their consecration to art4 ,among the results is ,st4 ,peter's4 ,it was in a very different light that ,luther contemplated them4 ,the true founder of modern society1 radical as innovators must be1 dangerous as reformers are1 it was with actual fury that he attacked the sale1 attacked confession1 the entire doctrine of original sin4 ,the hysteria of asceticism was as inept to him as the celibacy of the priesthood2 love he declared to be no less necessary than food and he preached to men1 saying1 ,if women are recalcitrant1 tell them others will consent2 if ,esther refuse1 let ,vashti approach4#fj ,beauty1 emerging meanwhile from her secular tomb1 had uttered a new ,fiat ,lux4 ,spontaneously as the first creation there resulted another in which art became an object of worship4 ,suddenly1 miraculously yet naturally1 there sprang into being a race of sculptors inferior only to ,pheidias1 a race of painters superior even to ,apelles1 real artists who were great men in an epoch really great4 ,it was said of ,raphael that he had resuscitated the corpse of ,rome4 ,benvenuto ,cellini was absolved of a murder by ,paul ,,iii on the ground that men like him were above the law4 ,julius ,,ii launched anathemas at any sovereign who presumed1 however briefly1 to lure from him ,michel ,angelo4 ,charles ,v1 ruler of a realm wider than ,alexander's1 stooped and restored a brush which ,titian had dropped1 remarking as he did so1 that only by an emperor could an artist be properly served4 ,the epoch in which appeared these exceptional beings and with them lettered bandits comparable only to tigers in the gardens of ,armide--the age which produced in addition to them1 others equally1 if differently1 great1 approached in its rare brilliance that of ,pericles4 ,even ,plato was there4 ,since ,god has given us the ,papacy1 said ,leo ,x1 let us enjoy it4 ,in the enjoyment he had ,plato for aid4 ,an estray from ,byzance1 tossed thence on the shores of the medival ,dead ,sea1 translated in the ,florentine ,academy1 printed in the ,venetian metropolis of pleasure and dedicated to the scholar pope1 no better aid to enjoyment could he or any one have had4 ,in the mystic incense of the liturgy to ,aphrodite was what prelates and patricians1 the people and the planet long had needed1 a doctrine of love4 ,in the ,republic ,plato stated that those who contemplate the immutable essence of things possess knowledge not views4 ,that was precisely what was wanted4 ,but what was wanted ,plato did not perhaps very adequately supply4 ,hitherto love had been regarded sometimes as the fusion of souls sometimes as that of the senses4 ,there had been asceticism4 ,there had also been license4 ,plato1 from whom something more novel was wanted1 seemed to offer but an antidote to both4 ,in the ,symposion love was represented as the rather vulgar instinct of persistence and beauty1 one and indivisible1 alone divine4 ,moreover1 from the austere regions of that abstraction came no explanation of the charm which feminine loveliness exercises over man4 ,on the other hand1 ,plato had told of two ,aphrodites1 one celestial1 the other common1 a distinction which doctors in quintessences utilized for the display of two forms of love1 one heavenly1 the other mundane1 simianizing in so doing1 what is human1 humanizing that which is divine and succeeding between them in producing for the world the modern conception of platonic affection1 which1 in so far as it relates to the reciprocal relations of men and women1 not for a moment had entered ,plato's sky-like mind4 ,the doctors were ,ficino--a ,hellenist whom ,cosmo dei ,medici had had trained for the sole purpose of translating ,plato--and ,bembo1 a prelate1 who already had written for ,lucrezia ,borgia a treatise on love4 ,what ,ficino advanced ,bembo expounded4 ,bembo's commentary was to the effect that earthly loveliness is a projection of celestial beauty irradiated throughout creation4 ,falling as light falls it penetrates the soul and repercuted creates love1 which consequently is a derivative of divine beauty transmitted through a woman's eyes4 ,to man the source of that beauty is1 however1 not the soul but the flesh4 ,from this error disillusion proceeds4 ,for the rightful enjoyment of beauty cannot consist in material satisfaction from which satiety1 weariness1 and aversion result1 but rather in disinterestedness1 which is the chief factor in abiding delight4#fa ,the theory1 casuistic and subtle1 appealed momentarily to a society that had no theories at all4 ,it particularly appealed to women4 ,matrimony had not always been propitious to them4 ,barring death or annulment the brand of the ceremony was ineffaceable4 ,in ,england ,henry ,,viii maintained the brand but1 by means of divorce which he prescribed for himself1 he rendered it cumulative1 a process which ,parliament1 subsequently petitioned by ,milton1 regularized4 ,in ,italy meanwhile the pseudo-platonism which ,ficino and ,bembo were expounding1 omitted any interference with it4 ,in the corpus juris amoris matrimony was held to be incompatible with love and pseudo-platonism1 going a step further1 eliminated even the possibility of it4 ,pseudo-platonism maintained that if happiness consists in love and love consists in yielding1 yielding itself has its degrees4 ,there is the yielding of the body and of the soul1 the yielding of the one without the other1 the yielding of the second without the first4 ,platonism1 as interpreted by pseudo-platonists1 was the yielding of the second1 matrimony the yielding of the first4 ,but into that yielding it had already shown that not delight but its contrary enters4 ,on fanciful tenets such as these the moral bigamy of ,provence returned1 with the difference that it enabled a lady to be as intangible to her husband as she had supposedly been to her knight4 ,a historian has related that a woman of position1 married to a man morally inferior and otherwise objectionable1 encountered these tenets and coincidentally1 in a person of greater distinction1 encountered also her ideal4 ,together1 in the most perfect propriety1 they departed and1 with analogous couples of their acquaintance1 assembled in a villa where1 reversing the ,decamerone1 they philosophized agreeably on the charm of the new distinction between love and love1 one of which1 the love matrimonial1 was worldly and mortal while the other1 vivifying to the soul1 was divine4#fb ,thereafter spiritual elopements became frequent4 ,but not general4 ,it was not every woman that was capable of putting but her soul in the arms of a lover nor was it every lover whom the ethereality of the proceeding pleased4 ,dilettantes of crystal flirtations became1 like poets1 omnipresent and yet rare4 ,the majority that entered the mazes of the immaterial did so with no other object than that of getting out4 ,when one of the parties did not lose her head the other lost his temper4 ,la ,bruyre had not then come1 but there are maxims which do not need expression to be appreciated and then as since men contended that when a woman's heart remained unresponsive it was because she had not met the one who could make it beat4 ,others1 less finely1 insisted that a woman who could love and would not should be made to4 ,love then had its martyrs1 platonism its agnostics4 ,that1 though1 was perhaps inevitable4 ,platonism1 whether real or imaginary1 has always been less a theory than a melody2 as such unsuited to every voice4 ,but at the time it was serviceable4 ,it deodorized1 however partially1 an atmosphere supercharged with pagan airs4 ,it turned some women into saints1 others into sisters of charity that penetrated the poverties of the heart and distributed there the fragrance of a divine largesse4 ,in that was its beauty and also its defect4 ,being in its essence poetic1 it could appeal only to epicures4 ,to mere kings like ,henry ,,viii1 to felons like ,henri ,,iii1 to the vulgar generally1 to people incapable of sentiment and eager only for sensations1 as the vulgar always are1 it was ,greek1 unapproachable when not unknown4 ,there were virtuose that drew from it delicious accords1 there were others that with it executed amazing pas seuls4 ,otherwise its exponents in attempting to convert life into a fancy ball and love in a battle of flowers failed necessarily4 ,the flowers wilted1 the dancers departed1 the music ceased4 ,the moral pendulum swung again from ether to earth4 ,in the downward trend ,venice perhaps assisted4 ,venice then was a salon floored with mosaics where ,europe and ,asia met4 ,suspended between earth and sky1 unique in construction1 orientally corrupt1 byzantinely fair1 a labyrinth of liquid streets and porphyry palaces in which masterpieces felt at ease1 it was the ideal city of the material world1 a magnet of such attraction that the hierodules of the renaissant ,aphrodite1 whose presence ,rome had found undesirable1 made it their home4 ,qualified1 navely1 perhaps1 but with much courtesy1 as ,benemerit1 they exercised a sway which history has not forgotten and became the renegades of pseudo-platonic love4 ,to enjoy their society1 to sup for instance with the bella ,imperia1 whose blinding beauty is legendary still1 or with ,tullia d',aragona1 who had written a tract of the ,infinity of ,perfect ,love1 princes came and lingered enchanted by their meretricious charm4 ,platonism had its renegades but it had also its saints--,leonora d',este1 ,vittoria ,colonna1 ,marguerite of ,france1 the three ,graces of the ,renaissance4 ,marguerite of ,france1 surnamed the ,marguerite des ,marguerites1 was a flower that had grown miraculously among the impurities of the ,valois weeds4 ,slightly married to a ,duc d',alenon and1 at his death1 as slightly to a ,king of ,navarre1 she held at ,pau a little court where1 ,marot1 her poet and lackey1 perhaps aiding1 she produced the ,heptamron1 a collection of nouvelles modelled after the ,decamerone1 a bundle of stories in which the characters discuss this and that1 but mainly love1 particularly the love of women qui n'ont cherch nulle fin que l'honnestet4 ,honnestet was what ,marguerite also sought4 ,in days very dissolute1 a sense of exclusiveness which whether natural or acquired is the most refining of all1 suggested1 it may be1 her device3--,non inferiora secutus4 ,she would have nothing inferior4 ,one might know it from her portraits which bear an evident stamp of reserve4 ,in them she has the air of a great lady occupied only with noble things4 ,all other things1 husbands included1 were to her merely abject4 ,the impression which her portraits provide is not reflected in the phraseology of the ,heptamron4 ,the fault was not hers4 ,she used the current idiom4 ,prelates at the time employed in the pulpit expressions which to-day a coster would avoid4 ,terms that are usual in one age become coarse in the next4 ,but1 if her language was rude1 her sentiments were elevated4 ,in her life she loved but once and then1 idolatrously4 ,the object was her brother1 the very mundane ,franois ,ier1 who1 on a window-pane wrote with a diamond--the proper pen for a king--,toute femme varie1 an adage to which legend added ,bien fol est qui s'y fye and ,shakespeare variously adapted4 ,neither the adage nor its supplements applied to ,marguerite4 ,the two loves of pseudo-platonism she disentangled from their subtleties and1 with entire simplicity1 called one good1 the other evil4 ,hers was the former4 ,she was born for it1 said ,rabelais4 ,in the ,heptamron it is written3 ,perfect lovers are they who seek the perfection of beauty1 nobility and grace and who1 had they to choose between dying and offending1 would refuse whatever honor and conscience reprove4 ,there is the ,non inferiora secutus expounded4 ,the device may have appealed to ,leonora d',este4 ,tasso said that when he was born his soul was drunk with love4 ,leonora intoxicated it further4 ,of a type less accentuated than ,marguerite she was not more feminine but more gracious4 ,at ,ferrara1 in the wide leisures of her brother's court1 ,tasso1 ,stundenlang1 as ,goethe wrote1 sat with her4 ,vita della mia vita1 he called her in the easy rime amorose with which in saluting her he saluted the past1 ,dante and ,petrarch1 and saluted too the future1 preluding behind the centuries the arias wherewith ,cimarosa1 ,rossini and ,bellini were to enchant the world4 ,a true poet and a great one1 ,byron said of him3 ,victor unsurpassed in modern song ,each year brings forth its millions but how long ,the tide of generations shall roll on ,and not the whole combined and countless throng ,compose a mind like thine8 ,the treasures of that mind he poured at ,leonora's feet4 ,the cascade enraptured her and ,italy4 ,rome that for ,petrarch had recovered the old crown of pagan laurel saw there another brow on which it might be placed4 ,before that supreme honor came ,leonora died and ,tasso1 who for fifteen years had served her1 was insane4 ,beauty may be degraded1 it cannot be vulgarized4 ,with the beauty of their lives and love1 time has tampered but without marring the perfection of which both were made and to which at the time the love of ,vittoria ,colonna and ,michel ,angelo alone is comparable4 ,michel ,angelo1 named after the angel of justice1 as ,raphael was after the angel of grace1 separated himself from all that was not papal and marmorean4 ,only ,leonardo da ,vinci who had gone and ,ludwig of ,bavaria who had not come1 the one a painter1 the other a king1 but both poets were as isolating as he4 ,he was disfigured4 ,because of that he made a solitude and peopled it grandiosely with the grandeur of the genius that was his1 displaying in whatever he created that of which art had hitherto been unconscious1 the sovereignty not of beauty only but of right4 ,balzac wrote abundantly to prove the influence that names have on their possessors4 ,in the curious prevision that gave ,michel ,angelo his name there was an ideal4 ,he followed it4 ,it led him to another4 ,there he knelt before ,vittoria ,colonna who represented the soul of the ,renaissance as he did the conscience4 ,the love that thereafter subsisted between them was1 if not perfect1 then almost as perfect as human love can be2 a love neither sentimental nor sensual but gravely austere as true beauty ever is4 ,since the days of ,helen1 love had been ascending4 ,sometimes it fell4 ,occasionally it lost its way4 ,there were seasons when it passed from sight4 ,but always the ascent was resumed4 ,with ,michel ,angelo and ,vittoria ,colonna it reached a summit beyond which for centuries it could not go4 ,in the interim there were other seasons in which it passed from sight4 ,meanwhile like ,beauty in the medival night it waited4 ,from ,marguerite of ,france it had taken a device3--,non inferiora secutus4 ,,viii ,,love ,,in ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,century ,the modern history of love opens with laughter1 the rich faunesque laugh of ,franois ,ier4 ,in ,italy he had lost1 as he expressed it1 everything--fors l'honneur4 ,for his consolation he found there gallantry1 which ,montesquieu defined as love's light1 delicate and perpetual lie4 ,platonism is the melody of love2 gallantry the parody4 ,platonism beautifies virtue1 gallantry embellishes vice4 ,it makes it a marquis1 gives it brilliance and brio4 ,however it omit to spiritualize it does not degrade4 ,moreover it improves manners4 ,gallantry was the direct cause of the ,french ,revolution4 ,the people bled to death to defray the amours of the great sent in their bill4 ,love in whatever shape it may appear is always educational4 ,hugo said that the ,french ,revolution poured on earth the floods of civilization4 ,mignet said that it established a new conception of things4 ,both remarks apply to love4 ,but before it disappeared behind masks1 patches1 falbalas and the guillotine1 to reappear in the more or less honest frankness which is its ,anglo-,saxon garb to-day1 there were several costumes in its wardrobe4 ,in ,germany1 and in the ,north generally1 the least becoming fashions of the ,middle ,ages were still in vogue4 ,in ,spain was the constant mantilla4 ,originally it was white4 ,the smoke of the auto-da-f had1 in blackening it1 put a morbid touch of hysteria beneath4 ,in ,france1 a brief bucolic skirt1 that of ,amaryllis1 was succeeded by the pretentious robes of ,rambouillet4 ,in ,england1 the ,elizabethan ruff1 rigid and immaculate--when seen from a distance--was followed by the yielding ,stuart lace4 ,across the sea fresher modes were developing in what is now the land of ,mille ,amours4 ,in ,italy at the moment1 gallantry was the fashion4 ,franois ,ier adopted it1 and with it splendor1 the magnificence that goes to the making of a monarch's pomp4 ,in ,france hitherto every castle had been a court than which that of the king was not necessarily superior4 ,franois ,ier was the first of ,french kings to make his court first of all courts1 a place of art1 luxury1 constant display4 ,it became a magnet that drew the nobility from their stupid keeps1 detaining them1 when young1 with adventure2 when old1 with office1 providing1 meanwhile1 for the beauty of women a proper frame4 ,already at a garden party held on a field of golden cloth the first ,francis of ,france had shown the eighth ,henry of ,england how a king could shine4 ,he was dreaming then of empire4 ,the illusion1 looted at ,pavia1 hovered over ,fontainebleau and ,chambord1 royal residences which1 ,italian artists aiding1 he then constructed and where1 though not emperor1 for a while he seemed to be4 ,elsewhere1 in ,paris1 in his maison des menus plaisirs--a house in the rue de l',hirondelle--the walls were decorated with salamanders--the fabulous emblems of inextinguishable loves2 or else with hearts1 which1 set between alphas and omegas1 indicated the beginning and the end of earthly aims4 ,the loves and hearts were very many1 as multiple as those of ,solomon4 ,except by ,brantme not one of them was compromised4 ,franois ,ier was the loyal protector of what he called l'honneur des dames1 an honor which thereafter it was accounted an honor to abrogate for the king4#fc ,if1 said ,sauval1 the seraglio of ,henri ,,ii was not as wide as that of ,franois ,ier1 his court was not less elegant4 ,the court at that time had succumbed to the refinements of ,italy4 ,women who previously were not remarkable for fastidiousness1 had1 ,brantme noted1 acquired so many elegancies1 such fine garments and beautiful graces that they were more delectable than those of any other land4 ,brantme added that if ,henri ,,ii loved them1 at least he loved but one4 ,that one was ,dianne de ,poytiers4 ,brantme suspected her of being a magician1 of using potable gold4 ,at the age of seventy she was1 he said1 aussy fraische et aussy aymable comme en l'aage de trente ans4 ,hence the suspicion1 otherwise justified4 ,in ,france among queens--de la main gauche--she had in charm but one predecessor1 ,agnes ,sorel1 and but one superior1 ,la ,vallire4 ,the legendary love which that charm inspired in ,henri ,,ii had in it a troubadourian parade and a chivalresque effacement4 ,in its fervor there was devotion1 in its passion there was poetry1 there was humility in its strength4 ,at the ,louvre1 at ,fontainebleau1 on the walls without1 in the halls within1 on the cornices of the windows1 on the panels of the doors1 in the apartments of ,henri's wife1 ,catherine de' ,medici1 everywhere1 the initials ,d and ,h1 interlaced1 were blazoned4 ,dianne had taken for device a crescent4 ,it never set4 ,no other star eclipsed it4 ,when she was sixty her colors were still worn by the king who in absence wrote to her languorously3 ,madame ma mye1 je vous suplye avoir souvenance de celuy quy n'a jamais connu que ung ,dyeu et une amye1 et vous assurer que n'aurez poynt de honte de m'avoyr donn le nom de serviteur1 lequel je vous suplye de me conserver pour jams4#fd ,dianne too had but ung ,dyeu et un amy--one ,god and one friend4 ,it was not the king4 ,more exactly it was a king greater than he4 ,this woman who fascinated everybody even to ,henri's vampire-wife was1 financially1 insatiable4 ,the exactions of the ,pompadour and the exigencies of the ,du ,barry were trumpery beside the avidity with which she absorbed castles1 duchies1 provinces1 compelling her serviteur to grant her all the vacant territories of the realm--a fourth of the kingdom4 ,at his death1 beautiful still1 aussy fraische et aussy belle que jamais1 she retreated to her domain1 slowly1 royally1 burdened with the spoils of ,france4 ,brantme was right4 ,she did drink gold4 ,she was an enchantress4 ,she was also a precedent for women who in default of royal provinces for themselves got royal dukedoms for their children4 ,by comparison ,catherine de' ,medici is spectral4 ,in her train were perfumes that were poisons and with them what was known as moeurs italiennes1 customs that exceeded anything in ,suetonius and with which came hybrid-faced youths whose filiation extended far back through ,rome1 through ,greece1 to the early ,orient and who1 under the ,valois1 were mignons du roi4 ,apart from them the atmosphere of the queen had in it corruption of decay1 an odor of death from which ,henri ,,ii recoiled as from a serpent1 issued1 said ,michelet1 from ,italy's tomb4 ,cold as the blood of the defunct1 at once sinister and magnificent1 committing crimes that had in them the grandeur of real majesty1 the accomplice if not the instigator of the ,hugenot massacre1 ,satan gave her four children3--,franois ,,ii1 the gangrened husband of ,mary ,stuart2 ,charles ,,ix1 the maniac of ,st4 ,bartholomew2 ,henri ,,iii who1 pomp deducted1 was ,heliogabalus in his quality of ,imperatrix1 and the ,reine ,margot1 wife of ,henri ,,iv4 ,it would have been interesting to have seen that couple1 gallant1 inconstant1 memorable1 popular1 both1 to employ a ,gallicism1 franchement paillards4 ,but it would have been curious to have seen ,margot1 as a historian described her1 carrying about a great apron with pockets all around it1 in each of which was a gold box and in each box1 the embalmed heart of a lover--memorabilia of faces and fancies that hung1 by night1 at her bed4#fe ,all the world published her as a goddess1 another historian declared1 and thence she took pleasure all her life in being called ,venus ,urania1 as much to show that she participated in divinity as to distinguish her love from that of the vulgar1 for she had a higher idea of it than most women have4 ,she affected to hold that it is better practised in the spirit than in the flesh1 and ordinarily had this saying in her mouth3 ',voulez-vous cesser d'aimer1 possdez la chose aime4'#ff ,the historian added3 ,i could make a better story about it than has ever been written but ,i have more serious matters in hand4 ,what ,dupleix omitted ,brantme supplied4 ,to the latter the pleasure of but beholding ,margot equalled any joy of paradise4 ,henri ,,iv must have thought otherwise4 ,he tried to divorce her4 ,margot objected4 ,the volage ,henri had become interested in the beaux yeux of ,gabrielle d',estres4 ,margot did not wish to be succeeded by a lady whom she called an ordinary person4 ,but later1 for reasons dynastic1 she consented to abdicate in favor of ,marie de ,medici1 and1 after the divorce1 remained with ,henri on terms no worse than before1 visited by him1 a contemporary has stated1 reconciled1 counselled1 amused4#fg ,gabrielle1 astonishingly delicate1 deliciously pink1 apparently very poetic1 but actually prosaic in the extreme1 entranced the king who ceaselessly had surrendered to the fair warriors of the ,light ,brigade4 ,but to ,gabrielle the surrender was complete4 ,he delivered his sword to mes chers amours1 as he called her1 mes belles amours1 regarding as one yet multiple this fleur des beauts du monde1 astre clair de la ,france1 whose portrait1 painted as he expressed it in all perfection1 was in his soul1 his heart1 his eyes--temporarily that is1 but1 while it lasted1 so coercive that it lifted this woman into a sultana who shared as consort the honors of the triumphal entry of the first ,bourbon king into the ,paris that was worth to him a mass4 ,it was in the evening1 said ,l',estoile1 and on horseback he crossed the bridge of ,notre ,dame1 well pleased at the sight of all the people crying loudly ',live the ,king6' ,and1 it was laughingly1 hat in hand1 that he bowed to the ladies and demoiselles4 ,behind him was a flag of lilies4 ,a little in advance1 in a magnificent litter1 was ,gabrielle covered with jewels so brilliant that they offended 7offusquoient7 the lights4 ,however much or little the gems then affected the lights1 later they pleased the ,medician ,marie4 ,she draped herself with them4 ,in the interim a divorce had been got from ,margot4 ,death had brought another from ,gabrielle4 ,the latter divorce poison probably facilitated4 ,gabrielle1 through the sheer insolence of her luxury had made herself hated by the poverty-stricken ,parisians4 ,the detail is unimportant4 ,there was another hatred that she had aroused4 ,not ,henri's however4 ,when she died he declared that the root of his love1 dead with her1 would never grow again--only to find it as flourishing as ever1 flourishing for this woman1 flourishing for that1 budding ceaselessly in tropic profusion1 until the dagger put by ,marie in the hand of ,ravaillac1 extirpated it1 but not its blossoms1 which reflowered at ,whitehall4 ,henri's daughter1 ,henriette de ,france1 was mother of ,charles the ,second4 ,the latter's advent in ,puritan ,england effected a transformation for which history has no parallel4 ,in the excesses of sanctimoniousness in which the whole country swooned1 it was as though piety had been a domino and the ,restoration the stroke of twelve4 ,in the dropping of masks the world beheld a nation of sinners where a moment before had been a congregation of saints4 ,previously1 in the ,elizabethan age1 social conditions had made up in winsomeness what they lacked in severity4 ,whitehall1 under ,james1 became a replica1 art deducted1 of the hermaphroditisms of the ,valois court4 ,thereafter the quasi-divinity of the sovereign evaporated in a contempt that endured unsatiated until ,charles ,i1 who had discovered that a king can do no wrong1 discovered that he could lose his head4 ,in the amputation a crown fell which ,cromwell disdained to gather4 ,meanwhile the false spirit of false godliness that generated ,british cant and ,american hypocrisy made a nation1 as it made ,new ,england1 glum4 ,in ,parliament where a ,bible lay open for reference1 it was resolved1 that no person should be admitted to public service of whose piety the ,house was not assured4 ,in committees of ways and means1 members asked each other had they found the ,lord4 ,amusements were sins2 theatres1 plague-spots2 trifles1 felonies2 art was an abomination and love a shame4#fh ,israel could not have been more depressing than ,england was then4 ,a reaction was indicated4 ,even without ,charles it would have come4 ,but when the arid air was displaced by the ,gallic atmosphere which he brought1 ,england turned a handspring4 ,the godliness that hitherto had stalked unchecked was flouted into seclusion4 ,anything appertaining to ,puritanism was jeered away4 ,only in the ultra-conservatism of the middle-classes did prudery persist4 ,elsewhere1 among criminals and courtiers1 the new fashion was instantly in vogue4 ,the memoirs and diaries of the reign disclose a world of rakes and demi-reps1 a life of brawls and assignations1 much drink1 high play1 great oaths1 a form of existence summarizable in the episode of ,buckingham and ,shrewsbury in which the former killed the latter1 while ,lady ,shrewsbury1 dressed as a page1 held the duke's horse1 and approvingly looked on4 ,the ,elizabethan and intermediate dramatists1 mirroring life as they saw it1 displayed infidelity as a punishable crime and constancy as a rewardable virtue4 ,by the dramatists of the ,restoration adultery was represented as a polite occupation and virtue as a provincial oddity4 ,men wooed and women were won as readily as they were handed in to supper1 scarcely1 ,macaulay noted1 with anything that could be called a preference1 the men making up to the women for the same reason that they wore wigs1 because it was the fashion1 because1 otherwise1 they would have been thought city prigs1 puritans for that matter4 ,love is not discernible in that society though philosophy is4 ,but it was the philosophy of ,hobbes who taught that good and evil are terms used to designate our appetites and aversions4 ,higher up1 ,charles ,,ii1 indolent1 witty1 debonair1 tossing handkerchiefs among women who were then1 as ,english gentlewomen are to-day1 the most beautiful in the world1 was suffering from that nostalgia for mud which affected the fifteenth ,louis4 ,the ,du ,barry1 who dishonored the scaffold as well as the throne1 has a family likeness to ,nell ,gwynne4 ,equally canaille1 the preliminary occupations of these grisettes differed only in taste4 ,one sold herrings1 the other hats4 ,the ,du ,barry's sole heirs were the cocottes of the ,second ,empire4 ,from ,nell1 the dukes of ,st4 ,albans descend4 ,from ,barbara ,palmer come the dukes of ,grafton2 from ,louise de la ,querouaille1 the dukes of ,richmond2 from ,lucy ,walters1 the dukes of ,buccleuch4 ,these ladies1 as ,nell called them1 were early miniatures of the ,chateauroux and the ,pompadour4 ,like them they made the rain and the fine weather1 but1 though dukes also1 not princes of the blood4 ,charles cared for them1 cared for others1 cared for more but always cavalierly1 indifferent whether they were constant or not1 yet most perhaps for ,nell1 succumbing ultimately in the full consciousness of a life splendidly misspent1 apologizing to those that stood about for the ridiculous length of time that it took him to die1 asking them not to let poor ,nelly starve and bequeathing to the ,georges the excellence of an example which those persons were too low to grasp4 ,anteriorly1 before ,charles had come1 at the period of ,london's extremest piety1 ,paris was languishingly sentimental4 ,geography1 in expanding surprises1 had successively disclosed the marvels of the ,incas1 the elder splendors of ,cathay and the enchantments of fairyland4 ,then a paradise virgin as a new planet swam into the general ken4 ,in ,perrault's tales1 which had recently appeared1 were vistas of the land of dreams4 ,directly adjoining was the land of love4 ,its confines extended from the ,htel de ,rambouillet4 ,in that house1 to-day a department store1 conversation was first cultivated as an art4 ,from the conversation a new theory of the affections developed4 ,for the first time people young and old learned the precious charm of sentiment4 ,the originator1 ,mme4 de ,rambouillet1 was a woman of much beauty who1 in days very lax1 added to the allurement of her appearance the charm of exclusiveness4 ,it was so novel that people went to look at it4 ,educated in ,italy1 imbued with its pretentious elegancies1 saturated with platonic strains1 physically too fragile and temperamentally too sensitive for the ribald air of a reckless court1 she drew society to her house1 where1 without perhaps intending it she succeeded in the chimerical4 ,among a set of people to whom laxity was an article of faith she made the observance of the ,seventh ,commandment an object of fashionable meditation4 ,she did more4 ,in gallantry there is a little of everything except love4 ,to put it there is not humanly possible4 ,mme4 de ,rambouillet did not try4 ,she did better4 ,she inserted respect4 ,in her drawing-room--historically the first salon that the world beheld--this lady1 in conjunction with her collaborators1 exacted from men that deference1 not of bearing merely1 but of speech1 to which every woman is entitled and which1 everywhere1 save only in ,italy1 women had gone without4 ,hitherto people of position had not been recognizable by their manners1 they had none2 nor by their language which was coarse as a string of oaths4 ,they were known by the elegance of their dress4 ,in the ,htel de ,rambouillet1 and thereafter little by little elsewhere1 they became known by the elegance of their address4 ,it was a great service and an enduring one and though1 through the abolition of the use of the exact term1 it faded the color from ink1 it yet induced the lexical refinement from which contemporaneous good form proceeds4 ,in polishing manners it sandpapered morals4 ,it gave to both the essential element of delicacy which they possess to-day4 ,subsequently1 under the dissolvent influences of ,versailles and through ridicule's more annihilating might1 though manners persisted morals did not4 ,but before the reaction came attar of rose was really distilled from mud4 ,gross appetites became sublimated4 ,instead of ribaldry there were kisses in the moonlight1 the caress of eyes from which recklessness had gone4 ,petrarchism returned1 madrigals came in vogue1 the social atmosphere was deodorized again4 ,into gallantry an affected sentimentality entered1 loitered awhile and languished away4 ,women1 hitherto disquietingly solid1 became impalpable as the ,queens of ,castile whom it was treason to touch4 ,presently1 when1 in the ,prcieuses ,ridicules1 ,molire laughed at them1 the shock was too great1 they disintegrated4 ,in the interim1 sentiment dwindled into nonsense and love1 evaporating in pretentiousness1 was discoverable1 if anywhere1 only on a map4 ,that surprising invention was the work of ,mlle4 de ,scudry1 one of the affiliated in the ,htel de ,rambouillet4 ,a little before1 ,honor d',urf had written a pastoral in ten interminable volumes4 ,entitled ,astre it was a mirror for the uncertain aspirations of the day1 a vast flood of tenderness in which every heart-throb1 every reason for loving and for not loving1 every shape of constancy and every form of infidelity1 every joy1 every deception1 every conscience twinge that can visit sweethearts and swains was analyzed1 subdivided and endlessly set forth4 ,to a world still in fermentation it provided the laws of ,love's ,twelve ,tables1 the dream after realism1 the high flown after the matter of fact4 ,its vogue was prodigious4 ,whatever it omitted ,mlle4 de ,scudry's ,cllie1 another novel1 equally interminable1 equally famous1 equally forgotten1 supplied4 ,the latter story which was translated into all polite tongues1 ,arabic included1 taught love as love had never been taught before4 ,it taught it as geography is taught to-day1 providing for the purpose a ,carte du ,tendre1 the map of a country in which everything1 even to ,i hate you1 was tenderly said4 ,a character described it4 ,the first city at the lower end of the map is ,new ,friendship4 ,now1 inasmuch as love may be due to esteem1 to gratitude1 or to inclination1 there are three cities called ,tenderness1 each situated on one of three different rivers that are approached by three distinct routes4 ,in the same manner1 therefore1 that we speak of ,cumes on the ,ionian ,sea and ,cumes on the ,sea of ,tyrrhinth1 so is there ,tenderness-on-,inclination1 ,tenderness-on-,esteem1 and ,tenderness-on-,gratitude4 ,yet1 as the affection which is due to inclination needs nothing to complete it1 there is no stopping place on the way from ,new ,friendship there4 ,but to go from ,new ,friendship to ,tenderness-on-,esteem is very different4 ,along the banks are as many villages as there are things little and big which create that esteem of which affection is the flower4 ,from ,new ,friendship the river flows to a place called ,great ,wit1 because it is there that esteem generally begins4 ,beyond are the agreeable hamlets of ,pretty ,verses and ,billets ,doux1 after which come the larger towns of ,sincerity1 ,big ,heart1 ,honesty1 ,generosity1 ,respect1 ,punctuality1 and ,kindness4 ,on the other hand1 to go from ,new ,friendship to ,tenderness-on-,gratitude1 the first place reached is ,complaisance1 then come the borough of ,submission1 and1 next1 ,delicate-,attentions4 ,from the latter ,assiduousness is reached and1 finally1 ,great ,services4 ,this place1 probably because there are so few that get there is the smallest of all4 ,but adjoining it is ,obedience and contiguous is ,constancy4 ,that is the most direct route to ,tenderness-on-,gratitude4 ,yet1 as there are no routes in which one may not lose one's way1 so1 if1 after leaving ,new ,friendship1 you went a little to the right or a little to the left1 you would get lost also4 ,for if1 in going from ,great ,wit1 you took to the right1 you would reach ,negligence1 keeping on you would get to ,inequality1 from there you would pass to ,lukewarm and ,forgetfulness1 and presently you would be on the lake of ,indifference4 ,similarly if1 in starting from ,new ,friendship you took to the left1 one after another you would arrive at ,indiscretion1 ,perfidiousness1 ,pride1 ,tittle-,tattle1 ,wickedness and1 instead of landing at ,tenderness-on-,gratitude1 you would find yourself at ,enmity1 from which no boats return4 ,the vogue of ,astre was enormous4 ,that of ,cllie exceeded it4 ,throughout ,europe1 wherever lovers were1 the map of the ,pays du ,tendre was studied4 ,but its indications1 otherwise excellent1 did not prevent ,mlle4 de ,scudry from reaching ,emnity herself4 ,the ,abb d',aubignac produced a history of the ,kingdom of ,coquetry in which were described ,flattery ,square1 ,petticoat ,lane1 ,flirtation ,avenue1 ,sweet ,kiss ,inn1 the ,bank of ,rewards and the ,church of ,good-by4 ,between the abb and the demoiselle a conversation ensued relative to the priority of the idea4 ,it was their first and their last4 ,the one real hatred is literary hate4 ,meanwhile the puerilities of ,cllie platitudinously repeated across the ,channel1 resulted at ,berlin in the establishment of an ,academy of ,true ,love4 ,then1 into the entire nonsense1 the ,cid blew virilly a resounding note4 ,in that splendid drama of ,corneille1 ,rodrigue and ,chimne1 the hero and heroine1 are to love what martyrs were to religion1 all in all for it and for nothing else whatever4 ,they moved to the clash of swords1 to the clatter of much duelling1 a practice which ,richelieu opposed4 ,said ,boileau3 ,en vain contre le ,cid un ministre se ligue1 ,tout ,paris pour ,chimne a les yeux de ,rodrigue4 ,they merited the attention4 ,theirs was real love1 a love struggling between duty and fervor1 one that effected the miracle of an interchange of soul1 transferring the entity of the beloved into the heart of the lover and completed at last by a union entered into with the pride of those who recognize above their own will no higher power than that of ,god4 ,admirable and emulative the beauty of it passed into a proverb3--,c'est beau comme le ,cid4 ,the ,cid was a ,spaniard4 ,but of another age4 ,melancholy but very proud1 the ,spaniard of the seventeenth century lived in a desert which the ,inquisition had made4 ,the ,holy ,office that had sent ,christ to the ,aztecs brought back ,vizlipoutzli1 a ,mexican deity whose food was hearts4 ,his carnivorousness interested the priests at home4 ,they put night around them1 a night in which there was flame1 fireworks of flesh at which a punctilious etiquette required that royalty should assist and which1 while inducing the hysteria that there entered into love1 illuminated the path of empire from immensity to nothingness4 ,at the close of the seventeenth century1 ,spain1 bankrupt through the expulsion of the ,jews1 barren through loss of the ,moors1 was a giant1 moribund and starving4 ,only the ,holy ,office1 terribly alive1 was terribly fed4 ,every man was an object of suspicion and every man was suspicious4 ,the secret denunciation1 the sudden arrest1 the dungeon1 the torture1 the stake1 these things awaited any one4 ,the nation1 silent1 sombre1 morbid1 miserably poor1 none the less was draped proudly enough in its tatters4 ,the famine1 haughty itself1 that stalks through the pages of ,cervantes is the phantom of that pride4 ,beside it should be placed the rigid ceremonial of an automaton court where laughter was neither heard nor permitted1 where men had the dress and the gravity of mutes1 where women counted their beads at balls1 where a minutious etiquette that inhibited a queen from looking from a window and assumed that she had no legs1 regulated everything1 attitudes1 gifts1 gestures1 speech1 the etiquette of the horrible ,escorial through which gusts of madness blew4 ,other courts had fools4 ,the court of ,spain had ,embevecidos1 idiots who were thought to be drunk with love and who1 because of their condition1 were permitted1 like grandees1 to wear the hat in the presence4 ,on festivals there were other follies1 processions semi-erotic1 wholly morbid1 through cathedrals haunted by entremetteuses1 through chapels in which hung ,madonnas that fascinated and shocked1 ,virgins that more nearly resembled ,infantas serenaded by caballeros than queens of the sky and beneath whose indulgent eyes rendez-vous were made by lovers whom1 elsewhere1 etiquette permitted only the language of signs4#fi ,to journey then from ,madrid to ,paris was like passing from a picture by ,goya to a tale of ,perrault4 ,paris at the time was marvelling at two wonders1 an earthly ,olympus and real love4 ,the first was ,versailles1 the second ,la ,vallire4 ,louis ,,xiv created the one and destroyed the other4 ,already married1 attentive meanwhile to his brother's wife1 he was coincidentally pris with their various maids of honor4 ,among them was a festival of beauty in the festival of life1 a girl of eighteen who had been made for caresses and who died of them1 the only human being save ,louis ,,xiv that ever loved the fourteenth ,louis4 ,other women adulated the king4 ,it was the man that ,louise de la ,vallire adored4 ,to other women his sceptre was a fan4 ,to her it was a regret4 ,could he have been some mere lieutenant of the guards she would have preferred it inexpressibly4 ,the title of duchess which he gave her was a humiliation which she hid beneath the name of ,soeur ,louise de la ,misricorde4 ,for her youth which was a poem of love had the cloister for climax4 ,that love1 a pastime to him1 was death to her4 ,at its inception she fled from it1 from the sun1 from the ,sun-,king1 and flinging at him a passionate farewell1 flung herself as passionately into a convent4 ,louis stormed it4 ,if necessary he would have burned it4 ,he strode in booted and spurred as already he had stalked into ,parliament where he shouted3--,l',etat c'est moi4 ,mlle4 de la ,vallire c'tait lui aussi4 ,the girl1 then prostrate before a crucifix1 was clinging to the feet of a ,christ4 ,but her god was the king4 ,he knew it4 ,when he appeared so did she4 ,for a moment1 ,louis1 he to whom ,france knelt1 knelt to her4 ,for a moment the monarch had vanished4 ,a lover was there4 ,from a chapel came an odor of incense4 ,beyond1 a knell was being tolled4 ,for background were the scared white faces of nuns1 alarmed at this irruption of human passion in a retreat where hearts were stirred but by the divine4 ,a moment only4 ,louis1 with his prey1 had gone4 ,thereafter for a few brief years1 this girl who1 had she wished could have ruled the world1 wanted1 not pomp1 not power1 not parade1 love1 merely love1 nothing else4 ,it was very ambitious of her4 ,yet1 precisely as through fear of love she had flung herself into a cloister1 at the loss of it she returned there1 hiding herself so effectually in prayer that the king himself could hardly have found her--had he tried4 ,he omitted to4 ,louis then was occupied with the ,marquise de ,montespan4 ,of trying he never thought4 ,on the contrary4 ,mme4 de ,montespan was very fetching4 ,a year later1 in the ,church of the ,carmlites1 in the presence of the patient queen1 of the impatient marquise1 of the restless court--complete1 save for ,louis who was hunting--,mlle4 de la ,vallire1 always semi-seraphic but then wholly soul1 saw the severe ,bossuet slowly ascend the pulpit1 saw him bow there to the queen1 make the sign of the cross and1 before he motioned the bride to take the black veil which was a white shroud1 heard1 above the sobs of the assistants1 his clear voice proclaim3-- ',et dixit qui sedebat in throno3 ,ecce nova facio omnia4' ,behind the bars1 behind the veil1 wrapped in that shroud1 for thirty-six years ,louise de la ,misricorde1 dead to love and dead to life1 expiated her ambition4 ,the fate of ,louis ,quatorze was less noble4 ,the ,olympus in which he was ,jupiter with the ,montespan for ,venus became a prison4 ,the jailer was ,mme4 de ,maintenon4 ,intermediately was the sun4 ,that was his emblem4 ,about him the spheres revolved4 ,to him incense ascended4 ,a nobody by comparison to ,alexander1 unworthy of a footnote where ,csar is concerned1 through sheer pomp1 through really royal magnificence1 through a self-infatuation at once ridiculous and sublime1 through the introduction of a studied politeness1 a ceremonial majestic and grave1 through a belief navely sincere and which he had the ability to instil1 that from him everything radiated and to him all1 souls1 hearts1 lives1 property1 everything1 absolutely belonged1 through these things1 in a gilded balloon1 this pigmy rose to the level of heroes and hung there1 before a wondering world1 over a starving land1 until the wind-inflated silk1 pierced by ,marlborough1 collapsed4 ,in the first period ,versailles was an opera splendidly given1 the partition by ,lully1 the libretto by ,molire1 in which the monarch1 as tenor1 strutted on red heels1 ogling the prime donne1 eyeing the house1 warbling airs solemn yet bouffe4 ,in the second the theatre was closed4 ,don ,juan had turned monk4 ,the kingdom of ,louis ,,xiv was no longer of this world4 ,it was then only that he was august4 ,in the first period was the apogee of absolutism1 the incarnation of an entire nation in one man who in pompous scandals1 everywhere imitated1 gave a ceremonious dignity to sin4 ,over the second a biblical desolation spread4 ,,ix ,,love ,,in ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century ,to the cradle of the eighteenth century came the customary gifts1 in themselves a trifle unusual4 ,queen ,anne sent the dulness of perfect gentility4 ,queen ,maintenon gave bigotry4 ,louis ,,xiv provided the spectacle of a mythological monster4 ,but ,molinos1 a ,spanish fairy1 uninvited at the christening1 malignantly sent his blessing4 ,the latter1 known as quietism1 was one of love's aberrations4 ,it did not last for the reason that nothing does4 ,besides the life of a century is long enough to outgrow many things1 curses as well as blessings4 ,for the time being1 however1 throughout ,europe generally and in certain sections of ,america1 quietism found adherents4 ,the new evangel1 originally published at ,rome1 had a woman1 ,mme4 ,guyon1 for ,st4 ,paul4 ,its purport ,boileau summarized as the enjoyment in paradise of the pleasures of hell4 ,as is frequently the case with summaries1 that of ,boileau was not profound4 ,diderot called it the true religion of the tender-hearted4 ,diderot sometimes nodded4 ,quietism was not that4 ,a little before rose-water had been distilled from mud4 ,quietism reversed the process4 ,from the lilies of mysticity it extracted dirt4 ,in itself an etherealized creed of predeterminism1 it put fatalism into love4 ,the added ingredient was demoralizing4 ,already ,maria d',agreda1 a ,spanish nun1 had written a tract that made ,bossuet blush4 ,the doctrine of ,molinos made him furious4 ,against it1 against ,mme4 ,guyon1 against ,fnlon who indorsed her1 against all adherents1 he waged one of those memorable wars which the world has entirely forgotten4 ,it had though its justification4 ,morbid as everything that came from ,spain1 quietism held that temptations are the means that ,god employs to purge the soul of passion4 ,it taught that they should not be shunned but welcomed4 ,the argument advanced was to the effect that1 in the omnisapience of the divine1 man is saved not merely by good works but by evil deeds1 by sin as well as by virtue4 ,in the ,roman circus1 the ,christian1 once subtracted from life1 was subtracted also from evil4 ,what then happened to his body was a matter of indifference to him4 ,in quietism that indifference was solicited before subtraction came4 ,it was disclosed as a means of grace to the living4 ,through the exercise of will1 or1 more exactly through its extinction1 the ,christian was told1 to separate soul from body4 ,the soul then1 asleep in ,god1 lost to any connection between itself and the flesh1 was indifferent1 as the martyr1 to whatever happened4 ,the result is as obvious as it was commodious4 ,the body1 artificially released from all restraint and absolved from any responsibility1 was free to act as it listed4 ,in discussing the doctrine1 ,fnlon declared that there are souls so inflamed with the love of ,god and so resigned to ,his will that1 if they believed themselves damned1 they would accept eternal punishment with thanksgiving4 ,for propagating this insanity ,fnlon was accorded the honors of a bishopric which was exile4 ,mme4 ,guyon received the compliment of a lettre de cachet which was prison4 ,the ,roman ,inquisition cloistered ,molinos4 ,that was fame4 ,the doctrine became notorious4 ,moreover1 there was in it something so old that it seemed quite new4 ,society1 always avid of novelties1 adopted it4 ,but presently fresher fashions supervened4 ,in ,france these were originated by the ,regent1 in ,england by ,germany4 ,at the accession of ,louis ,,xiv1 ,germany1 for nearly thirty years1 had been a battlefield4 ,the war waged there was in the interests of religion4 ,the ,holy ,office was not unique in its pastimes4 ,there was fiendishness everywhere1 cruelty married to mania1 in which ,germany joined4 ,germany employed the serviceable rack1 the thumbscrew1 the wheel1 vats of vitriol1 burning oil1 drawing and quartering4 ,occasionally there were iron cages in which the wicked were hung on church steeples with food suspended a little higher1 just out of reach4 ,occasionally also criminals were respited and released when1 through some miracle of love there were those that agreed to marry them4#gj ,that indulgence occurred after the ,peace of ,westphalia4 ,germany1 then1 decimated and desolate1 was so depopulated that the ,franconian ,estates legalized bigamy4 ,every man was permitted two wives4 ,meanwhile barbarism had returned4 ,domestic life had ceased4 ,respect for women had gone4 ,love had died with religion4 ,from the nervous strain recovery was slow4 ,it was a century before the pulse of the people was normal4 ,previously love1 better idealized by the ,minnesnger than by the minstrel1 had been put on a pedestal from which convulsive conditions shook it4 ,later1 when it arose again1 it was in two forms which1 while distinct1 were not opposed4 ,in one was the influence of ,france1 in the other the native ,schwrmerei4 ,the former affected kings1 the latter appealed to urbaner folk among whom it induced an attitude that was maudlin when not anarchistic4 ,the anarchistic attitude was represented by artists generally4 ,for these love had no laws and its one approach was the swift current running from ,new ,friendship to ,tenderness-on-,inclination4 ,similarly the conservatives landed at a village that ,cllie overlooked1 ,tenderness-on-,sympathy1 a spot where1 through sheer contagion1 everybody engaged in duels of emotion during which principals and seconds fell on each other's neck1 wept1 embraced1 swore affection auf immerdar--beyond the tomb and1 in the process1 discovered elective affinities1 the ,wahlverwandtschaften of which ,goethe later told1 relationships of choice that were also anarchistic4 ,the influence of ,france brooded over courts4 ,at ,versailles love strolled on red heels through a minuet4 ,in the grosser atmosphere of the ,german ,residenzen it kicked a chahut in sabots4 ,in all the world there was but one ,versailles4 ,in ,germany there were a hundred imitations1 gaunt1 gilded1 hideous barracks where ,louis ,quatorze was aped4 ,in one of them1 at ,karlsruhe1 the ,margrave ,karl ,wilhelm peopled a ,teuton ,trianon with nameless nymphs4 ,in another1 at ,dresden1 the ,elector ,augustus of ,saxony became the father of three hundred and fifty children4 ,at ,mannheim1 ,bayreuth1 ,stuttgart1 ,brunswick1 ,darmstadt1 license was such that the ,court of ,charles the ,second would have seemed by comparison puritan4 ,beyond them1 outside their gates and garden vistas1 the people starved or1 more humanely1 were whipped off in herds to fight and die on the ,rhine and ,danube4 ,but within1 at the various ,wilhelmshhe and ,ludwigslust1 kinglets danced with their ,frauen4 ,at ,versailles it was to the air of ,amaryllis that the minuet was walked4 ,in the ,german ,residenzen it was to the odor of schnapps that women chahuted4 ,the women lacked beauty4 ,they lacked the grace of the ,latin1 the charm of the ,slav1 the overgrown angel look of the ,english1 the prettiness that the ,american has achieved4 ,but in girlhood generally they were endearing1 almost cloying1 naturally constant and1 when otherwise1 made so by man and the spectacle of court corruption4 ,european courts have always supplied the neighborhood with standards of morals and manners4 ,those of eighteenth-century ,germany were coarse4 ,the tone of society was similar4 ,berlin1 an observer wrote1 is a town where1 if fortis may be construed honest1 there is neither vir fortis nec foemina casta4 ,the example of neglect of all moral and social duties raised before the eyes of the people by the king show them vice too advantageously4#ga ,in other words and in another tongue1 similar remarks were made of ,hanover4#gb ,from there came ,george the ,first4 ,after him trooped his horrible ,herrenhausen harem4 ,since the departure of ,charles the ,second1 ,london life had been relatively genteel4 ,throughout the ,georgian period it was the reverse4 ,the memoirs of the period echo still with shouts and laughter1 with loud1 loose talk1 with toasts bawled over brimming cups1 with the noise of feasting1 of gaming and of pleasure4 ,the pages turn to the sound of fiddles4 ,from them arises the din of an immense ,sir ,roger de ,coverley1 in which the dancers go up and down1 interchanging hearts and then all hands round together4 ,in ,england at the time a king1 however vulgar1 was superterrestrial1 a lord was sacro-sanct1 a gentleman holy and a lady divine4 ,the rest of the world was composed of insects1 useful1 obsequious1 parasitic that swarmed beneath a social order less coarse than that of ,germany1 less amiably than that of ,france1 but as dissolute and reckless as either1 a society of macaronis and rouged women1 of wits and prodigals1 of dare-devils and fatted calves1 a life of low scandals in high places1 of great fortunes thrown into the gutter1 of leisurely suppers and sudden elopements--runaways that had in their favor the poetry of the post-chaise1 pistol-shots through the windows and the dignity of danger--a life mad but not maudlin1 not sober but strong1 free from hysteria and sentimentality1 and in which1 apart from the bacchanalian ,london world1 there must have been room1 as there always is1 for real love and much sweetness besides1 yet which1 in its less alluring aspect was very faithfully followed by colonial ,new ,york4 ,meanwhile the world that made the pace and kept it1 saw it reflected back from boards and books1 in plays and novels1 some of which are not now even mentionable4 ,that pace1 set by a boozing sovereign is summarizable in a scene that occurred at the death-bed of ,queen ,caroline1 when the latter told old ,george ,,ii4 to marry again1 while he blubbered3 ,non1 non1 j'aurai des matresses1 and she retorted1 ,ah6 mon ,dieu6 ,cela n'empche pas4#gc ,these ,germans talked ,french4 ,it was the fashion1 one adopted in servile homage of the ,grand ,monarque4 ,at the latter's departure the ,regency came4 ,with the ,restoration ,england turned a moral handspring4 ,with the ,regency1 ,france turned a double one4 ,the ,regency was the first act of the ,revolution4 ,the second was ,louis ,quinze4 ,the third was the ,guillotine--a climax for which great ladies rehearsed that they might die1 as they had lived1 with grace4 ,moscow1 meanwhile1 was a bloody sewer1 ,vienna a reconstruction of the cities that overhung the ,bitter ,sea4 ,in ,paris were the beginnings of humanitarianism1 the commencements of to-day1 preludes quavering and uncertain1 hummed over things intolerably base1 but none the less audible1 none the less there4 ,in them was the dawn of liberty1 the rebirth of real love1 an explosion of evil but also of good4 ,said ,tartuffe3 ,le scandale du monde est ce qui fait l'offense ,et ce n'est pas pcher que pcher en silence4 ,under the ,maintenon rgime the theory had been very fully exploited4 ,multiple turpitudes were committed but in the dark4 ,under the ,regency they occurred openly1 unhypocritically1 in the daylight4 ,the mud that was there was dried by the sun4 ,it ceased to be unwholesome4 ,though vile it was not vicious4 ,moreover1 in the air was a carnival gayety1 put there by the ,regent1 who1 while not the best man in the world was not the worst1 an artistic ,lovelace that gave the tone to a ,neronian society1 already in dissolution1 one that ,law tossed into the ,niagara of bankruptcy and ,cartouche held up1 a society of which ,branger said3 ,tous les hommes plaisantaient1 ,et les femmes se prtaient ,a la gaudriole4 ,mme4 de ,longueville being in the country was asked1 would she hunt4 ,mme4 de ,longueville did not care for hunting4 ,would she fish1 would she walk1 would she drive8 ,no1 she would not4 ,mme4 de ,longueville did not care for innocent pleasures4 ,mme4 de ,longueville was a typical woman of the day4 ,life to such as she was a perpetual bal d'opra and love1 the image of ,fragonard's ,cupid1 who1 in the picture of the ,chemise enleve1 divested it of modesty with a smirk4#gd ,modesty then was neither appreciated nor ingrained4 ,the instinct of it was lacking4 ,it was a question of pins1 a thing attachable or detachable at will4 ,women of position received not necessarily in a drawing-room1 or even in a boudoir but in bed4 ,in art and literature there was an equal sans-gne4 ,in affairs of the heart there was an equivalent indifference4 ,there was no romance1 no dream1 no beyond4 ,chivalric ideals were regarded as medival bric-a-brac and fine sentiments as rubbish4 ,even gallantry with its mimic of being jealous and its pretended constancy was vieux jeu4 ,love1 or what passed for it1 had become a fugitive caprice1 lightly assumed and as readily discarded1 without prejudice to either party4 ,on s'enlace4 ,puis1 un jour1 ,on s'en lasse4 ,c'est l'amour4 ,it had1 however1 other descents1 a fall to depths of which history hitherto had been ignorant4 ,meanwhile the ,regent had gone4 ,louis ,,xv had come4 ,with him were the real sovereigns of the realm1 ,mme4 de ,chateauroux1 ,petticoat ,i2 the ,pompadour1 ,petticoat ,,ii2 the ,du ,barry1 ,petticoat ,,iii--legitimatized queens of love1 with courts of their own1 with the rights1 prerogatives and immunities of princesses of the blood1 the privilege of dwelling with the king1 of receiving foreign ambassadors and of pillaging ,france4 ,sire1 said ,choiseul1 the people are starving4 ,louis ,,xv answered3 ,i am bored4 ,the boredom came from precocious pleasures that had left him1 without energy or conviction1 a cold1 dreary brute1 ,asiatic and animal1 a sort of ,oriental idol gloomy and gilded1 who1 while figuratively a spoke in the wheel of monarchy then rolling down to '#hi1 personally was a minotaur in a feminine labyrinth which he filled1 emptied1 renewed1 indifferent to the inmates as he was to his wife1#ge wringing for the various ,petticoats prodigal sums from a desolate land1 supplying incidentally to fermiers gnraux and grands seigneurs an example in ,tiberianism which1 assured of immunity1 they greedily followed and1 generally1 making himself so loathed that when he died1 delight was national4 ,it was in those days that ,casanova promenaded through palace and cottage1 convent and inn1 inveigling in the course of the promenade three thousand women1 princesses and soubrettes1 abbesses and ballet girls1 matrons and maids4 ,the promenade1 which was a continuous sin1 he recited at length in his memoirs4 ,during the recital you see a hideous old man1 slippered and slovenly1 fumbling in a box in which are faded ribbons1 rumpled notes1 souvenirs and gages d'amour4 ,richelieu was another of that type which the example of the throne had created and which de ,sade alone eclipsed4 ,it was then there appeared in ,petersburg1 in ,vienna1 in ,london1 wherever society was1 a class of men1 who depraved women for the pleasure of it1 and a class of women who destroyed men for destruction's sake1 men and women who were the hyenas of love1 monsters whose treachery was premeditated and malignant1 and who1 their object attained1 departed with a laugh1 leaving behind but ruin4 ,ruin was insufficient4 ,something acuter was required4 ,that something was found by de ,sade4 ,in ways which ,bluebeard had but outlined1 the ,marquis de ,sade1 lineal descendant of ,petrarch's ,laura1 mingled kisses with blood4 ,into affection he put fright1 into love he struck terror1 he set the infernal in the divine4 ,it was the logical climax to which decadence had groped and to it already the austere guillotine was attending4 ,there love touched bottom4 ,it could not go lower4 ,but though it could and did remount it did not afterward reach higher altitudes than those to which it had previously ascended4 ,in the eighteenth century the possible situations of its infinite variety were1 at least temporarily1 exhausted4 ,thereafter the frailties of great ladies1 the obscurer liaisons of lesser ones1 attachments perfect and imperfect1 loves immaculate and the reverse1 however amply set forth1 disclose no new height4 ,as the pages of chronicles turn and faces emerge1 lovers appear and vanish4 ,in the various annals of different lands their amours1 pale or fervid as the case may be1 differ perhaps but only in atmosphere and accessories4 ,on antecedent types no advance is accomplished4 ,recitals of them cease to enlighten4 ,love had become what it has since remained1 a harper strumming familiar airs1 strains hackneyed if delicate1 melodies very old but always new1 so novel even that they seem original4 ,to the music of it history discloses fresher mouths1 further smiles1 tears and kisses4 ,history will always do that4 ,wrongly is it said that it repeats itself4 ,except with love it never does4 ,in life as in death change is the one thing constant4 ,between them love alone stands changeless4 ,since it first appeared it has had many costumes1 a wardrobe of tissues of every hue4 ,but in character it has not altered4 ,influences favorable or prejudicial might degrade it or exalt4 ,in abasements and assumptions love1 like beauty1 being one and indivisible1 remained unchangeably love4 ,what varied was the costume4 ,x ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,attraction ,to renounce your individuality1 to see with another's eyes1 to hear with another's ears1 to be two and yet but one1 to so melt and mingle that you no longer know are you you or another1 to constantly absorb and constantly radiate1 to reduce earth1 sea1 and sky and all that in them is to a single being1 to give yourself to that being so wholly that nothing whatever is withheld1 to be prepared at any moment for any sacrifice1 to double your personality in bestowing it--that is love4 ,so ,gautier wrote1 very beautifully as was his beautiful custom4 ,but in this instance inexactly4 ,that is not love4 ,it is a description1 in gold ink1 of one of love's many costumes4 ,every poet has provided one4 ,all give images and none the essence4 ,yet that essence is the sphinx's riddle4 ,its only ,o,edipus is philosophy4 ,philosophy teaches that the two fundamental principles of thought are self-preservation and the preservation of the species4 ,every idea that has existed or does exist in the human mind is the result of the permutations and combinations of these two principles and their derivatives4 ,of the two the second is the stronger4 ,its basis is a sentiment which antiquity deified1 primitive ,christianity scorned1 chivalry nimbused and the ,renaissance propelled over the paths easy or perilous which it has since pursued4 ,but into the precise nature of that sentiment metaphysics alone has looked4 ,plato was the first that analyzed it4 ,for the few thereafter the rich courses of his ,banquet sufficed4 ,they regaled themselves on it4 ,but for humanity at large1 to whom the feast was ,greek1 there was only the descriptions of poets and the knowledge1 agreeable or otherwise1 which personal experience supplied4 ,in either case the noumenon1 the ,ding an sich1 the thing in itself1 escaped4 ,it was too tenuous perhaps for detention or else too obvious4 ,plato himself did not grasp it4 ,the omission ,schopenhauer discerned4 ,schopenhauer was an idealist4 ,the forms of matter and of man he arranged in two categories1 which he called ,representation and ,will4 ,in his system of philosophy everything not produced by the one is the result of the other4 ,among the effects of the latter is love4#gf ,this frivolity--the term is ,schopenhauer's--is1 he declared1 a manifestation of the ,genius of the ,species1 who1 behind a mask of objective admiration1 deludes the individual into mistaking for his own happiness that which in reality concerns but the next generation4 ,love is ,will projecting itself into the creation of another being and the precise instant in which that being emerges from the original source of whatever is into the possibilities of potential existence1 is the very moment in which two young people begin to fancy each other4 ,the seriousness with which on first acquaintance they consider each other is due to an unconscious meditation concerning the child that they might create4 ,the result of the meditation determines the degree of their reciprocal inclinations4 ,that degree established1 the new being becomes comparable to a new idea4 ,as is the case with all ideas it makes an effort to manifest itself4 ,in the strength of the effort is the measure of the attraction4 ,its degrees are infinite while its extremes are represented by ,venus ,pandemos and ,venus ,urania--ordinary passion and exalted affection4 ,but in its essence love is always and everywhere the same1 a meditation on the composition of the next generation and the generations that thence proceed--,meditatio compositionis generationis futur e qua iterum pendent innumer generationes4 ,the character of the meditation1 its durability or impermanence1 is1 ,schopenhauer continued1 in direct proportion to the presence of attributes that attract4 ,these attributes are1 primarily1 physical4 ,attraction is induced by health1 by beauty1 particularly by youth1 in which health and beauty are usually combined1 and that because the ,genius of the ,species desires above all else the creation of beings that will live and who1 in living1 will conform to an integral type4 ,after the physical come mental and temperamental attributes1 all of which1 in themselves1 are insufficient to establish love except on condition of more or less perfect conformity between the parties4 ,but as two people absolutely alike do not exist1 each one is obliged to seek in another those qualities which conflict least with his or her own4 ,in the difficulty of finding them is the rarity of real love4 ,in connection with which ,schopenhauer noted that frequently two people1 apparently well adapted to one another1 are1 instead of being attracted1 repelled1 the reason being that any child they might have would be mentally or physically defective4 ,the antipathy which they experience is induced by the ,genius of the ,species who has in view only the interests of the next generation4 ,to conserve these interests1 nature1 ,schopenhauer explained1 dupes the individual with an illusion of free will4 ,in affairs of the heart the individual believes that he is acting in his own behalf1 for his own personal benefit1 whereas he is but acting in accordance with a predetermined purpose for the accomplishment of which nature has instilled in him an instinct that moves him to her ends1 and so forcibly that rather than fail he is sometimes compelled to sacrifice what otherwise he would do his utmost to preserve--honor1 health1 wealth and reputation4 ,it is illusion that sets before his eyes the deceiving image of felicity4 ,it is illusion which convinces him that union with some one person will procure it4 ,whatever efforts or sacrifices he may consequently make he will believe are made to that end only yet he is but laboring for the creation of a predetermined being who has need of his assistance to arrive into life4 ,but1 once the work of nature accomplished1 disenchantment ensues4 ,the illusion that duped him has vanished4 ,according to ,schopenhauer love is1 therefore1 but the manifestation of an instinct which1 influenced by the spirit of things1 irresistibly attracts two people who1 through natural conformity1 are better adapted to conjointly fulfil nature's aims than they would be with other partners4 ,schopenhauer added that in such circumstances1 when two individuals complete each other and common and exclusive affection possesses them both1 their affection represents a special mission delegated by the ,genius of the ,species1 one which consequently assumes a character of high elevation4 ,in these cases1 in addition to physical adaptation there is1 he noted1 a mental and temperamental concordance so adjusted that the parties alone could have achieved nature's aims4 ,in actuating them to that end the ,genius of the ,species desired1 for reasons which ,schopenhauer described as inaccessible1 the materialization of a particular being that could not otherwise appear4 ,in the series of existing beings that desire had no other sphere of action than the hearts of the future parents4 ,the latter1 seized by the impulsion1 believe that they want for themselves that which as yet is but purely metaphysical1 or1 in other words1 beyond the circle of actually existing things4 ,in this manner1 from the original source of whatever is1 there then darts a new being's aspiration for life which aspiration manifests itself in the actuality of things by the love of its potential parents1 who1 however1 once the object of the ,genius of the ,species attained1 find1 to their entire astonishment1 that that love is no more4 ,but meanwhile1 given that love1 and the potential parents may become so obsessed by it that they will disregard anything which1 ordinarily1 would interfere4 ,this disregard1 ,schopenhauer further explained1 is due to the ,genius of the ,species to whom the personal interests of the individual1 laws1 obstacles1 differences of position1 social barriers and human conventions are so many straws4 ,caring only for the generation to be lightly he dismisses them4 ,it is his privilege1 ,schopenhauer declared4 ,our existence being rooted in him1 he has over us a right anterior and more immediate than all things else4 ,his interests are supreme4 ,that point1 ,schopenhauer concluded1 antiquity perfectly understood when it personified the ,genius of the ,species as ,eros1 a divinity who1 in spite of his infantile air1 is hostile1 cruel1 despotic1 demoniac and none the less master of gods and of man4 ',tu1 deorum hominumque tyranne1 ,amor6' ,for a philosopher ,schopenhauer is very graphic4 ,it is his great charm and possibly his sole defect4 ,in the superabundance of his imagination there was not always room for the matter of fact4 ,then too he had a theory4 ,everything had to yield to it4 ,the trait1 common to all metaphysicians1 von ,hartmann shared4 ,in the latter's ,philosophie des ,unbewussten the ,genius of the ,species becomes the ,unconscious1 the same force with a different name1 a sort of anthropomorphic entity lurking on the back stairs of ,spencer's ,unknowable and from there ruling omnipotently the lives and loves of man4 ,both systems are ingenious4 ,they are profound and they are admirable4 ,they have been respectfully received by the doct4 ,but in their metaphysics of the heart there is a common error4 ,each confounds instinct with sentiment4 ,moreover1 assuming the validity of their hypothetical idol1 there are phenomena left unexplained1 the ordinary case for instance of an individual inspiring but not requiting another's love4 ,in one of the two parties to it the entity obviously has erred4 ,according to ,schopenhauer and von ,hartmann the entity is the unique cause of love1 which itself is an instinct that deludes into the furtherment of nature's aims4 ,but in an unrequited affection such furtherment is impossible4 ,in which event if philosophy is not at fault the entity must be2 the result being that it lacks the omnipotence claimed4 ,demonstrably it has some power1 it is even clear that that power is great1 but in the same sense that occultists deny that death is1 so may true lovers deny that the entity exists4 ,for them it is not4 ,without doubt it is the modern philosophic representative of ,eros1 but of ,eros ,pandemos1 son and heir of the primitive ,aphrodite whom ,plato described4 ,love does not proceed from that source4 ,the instinct of it certainly does but not sentiment which is its basis4 ,commonly instinct and sentiment are confused4 ,but1 if a distinction be effected between their manifestations1 it will be recognized that though desire is elemental in both1 in instinct desire is paramount while in sentiment it is secondary and frequently1 particularly in the case of young women1 it is dormant when not absent1 even though they may be what is termed wildly in love4 ,instinct is a primitive and general instigation1 coeval and conterminous with life4 ,love is a specific emotion1 exclusive in selection1 more or less permanent in duration and due to a mental fermentation in itself caused by a law of attraction1 which ,plato called imeros and ,voltaire the myth of happiness invented by ,satan for man's despair4 ,imeros is the longing for love4 ,the meditation which ,schopenhauer described may enter there1 and usually does1 whether or not the parties interested are aware of it4 ,but it need not necessarily do so4 ,when ,hlose was in her convent there could have been no such meditation1 yet1 she loved ,abailard as fervently as before4 ,moreover1 when the work of nature is accomplished1 disenchantment does not1 as ,schopenhauer insisted1 invariably ensue4 ,disenchantment results when the accomplishing is due to instinct but not when sentiment is the cause4 ,had instinct alone prevailed humanity would hardly have arisen from its primitive state4 ,but the evolution of the sentiment of love1 in developing the law of attraction1 lifted men from animality1 angels from the shames of ,ishtar1 and heightened the stature of the soul4 ,the advance effected is as notable as it is obvious1 but its final term is probably still remote4 ,ages ago the sphinx was disinterred from beneath masses of sand under which it had brooded interminably4 ,in its simian paws1 its avian wings1 in its body which is that of an animal1 in its face which is that of a sage1 before ,darwin1 before history1 in traits great and grave1 the descent of man was told4 ,there remains his ascent4 ,future monuments may tell it4 ,meanwhile evolution has not halted4 ,undiscernibly but indefatigably its advance proceeds4 ,its culmination is not in existing types4 ,if humanity descends from apes1 from humanity gods may emerge4 ,the story of ,olympus is but a tale of what might have been and what might have been may yet come to pass4 ,even now1 if the story were true and the old gods could return1 it is permissible to assume that they would evaporate to ghostland eclipsed4 ,the inextinguishable laughter which was theirs is absent from the prose of life4 ,commerce has alarmed their afflatus away4 ,but the telegraph is a better messenger than they had1 the motor is surer than their chariots of dream4 ,in contemporary homes they could have better fare than ambrosia and behold faces beside which some of their own might seem less divine4 ,the prodigies of electricity might appear to them more potent than the thunderbolts of ,zeus and1 at the sight of modern engines1 possibly they would recall the titans with whom once they warred and sink back to their sacred seas outfaced4 ,in the same manner that we have exceeded them it is also permissible to assume that posterity will exceed what we have done4 ,from its parturitions gods may really come1 beings that is1 who1 could contemporaneous man remain to behold them1 would regard him as he regards the ape4 ,that advance1 if effected1 love will achieve4 ,in its history1 already long1 yet relatively brief1 it has changed the face of the earth4 ,it has transformed laws and religions4 ,it has reversed and reconstructed every institution human and divine4 ,as yet its evolution is incomplete4 ,but when the final term is reached1 then1 doubtless1 the words of the ,apocalypse shall be realized1 for all things will have been made anew4 ,,finis ,,histori ,,amoris ,,index ,,abailard and ,hlose1 story of1 #acf-acg ,,academe of ,athens1 #df2 of ,mitylene1 #df1 #dg2 its teaching to women1 #eh-ei ,,actium1 #ic ,,adam and ,,eve1 married before mated1 #a2 their union a ,persian conceit1 #a ,,adultery1 as represented by the ,restoration ,dramatists1 #bbc ,,alaric1 #abj ,,alchemy1 #aic ,,alcibiades1 #dc ,,milius ,,paulus1 #hc ,,sculapius1 created to heal the body1 #fe ,,affinities1 ,elective1 #bda ,,agreda1 #bch ,,alexander1 his bad influence on ,greek worship of beauty1 #ei2 his decensus ,averni1 #fc-fd2 the prototype of the ,roman ,csars1 #fd ,,albigenses1 the1 #age ,,anacreon1 his treatment of love1 #ed2 compared with ,sappho's singing1 #ed ,,ana,,tis1 #e ,,andr1 ,matre1 #aeb ,,andromeda1 the ,friend of ,sappho1 #dg ,,anne1 ,queen1 #bcg ,,antoninus ,,pius1 #ajh ,,antoninus1 ,,marcus1 #ajh ,,antony1 #ij2 his treatment of ,cleopatra1 #ia2 his conquest by ,cleopatra1 #ia-ib2 his marriage with ,cleopatra1 #ib2 his divorce of ,octavia1 #ic2 war with ,octavius1 #ic-id2 deserted by ,cleopatra1 #ic2 his ruin by ,cleopatra1 #id-ie ,,apelles1 #fa ,,aphrodite1 worship of1 in ,greece1 #ca1 #cb2 ,de ,musset on1 #ca2 ,homer's idea of1 different from ,hesiod's1 #ca2 ,hesiod's1 #cd2 death of1 in ,greece1 #fd2 inspired sculpture in her death1 #fd2 ,urania1 #bh-dj2 ,pandemos1 #ee2 ,pandemos1 love inspired by1 #fg2 ,urania1 love inspired by1 #fg2 degraded by ,rome1 #ajd ,,apis1 #ajd ,,apollonius of ,tyana1 his view of ,helen of ,troy1 #cf ,,aquinas1 ,thomas1 #aic ,,arabian ,nights1 ,the1 #aci-adj ,,arabs1 in ,spain1 #afc-afg ,,aragon1 the source of the gaya cienca1 #agb ,,aristophanes1 #bi2 ,athenian women in1 #db2 his explanation of the duality of love1 #fi-gj ,,aristotle1 #fa ,,armenia1 its contribution to ,babylon1 #c ,,art1 ,greek1 bad influence of1 on the worship of ,aphrodite1 #cb ,,arthur1 ,king1 story of1 #aeb ,,asceticism1 its persistence1 #aah-aai ,,ashtaroth1 #e2 ruled in ,juda1 #aa2 reviled by the ,hebrew ,prophets1 #aa1 #ab ,,aspasia1 the age of1 #ec-fd2 her relation with ,pericles1 #ef2 her story1 #ef-eg2 the ruler of ,pericles1 #fb2 her power over ,pericles1 #fc2 what she did for woman1 #fb2 her revelation of womanly power1 #fc ,,astarte1 #e2 came to ,rome from ,syria1 #ajd ,,astronomy1 relation to love1 #fh ,,athens1 in the age of ,pericles1 #ei-fj2 and ,sparta1 duel between1 #fj-fa ,,atthis1 lover of ,sappho1 #di ,,attila1 #aba2 his death1 #aba ,,attraction1 the law of1 #bei ,,augustus1 age of1 #aja-ajf2 his turpitude1 #ajb ,,baal1 #aj1 #aa ,,bacon1 ,friar1 #aic ,,babylon1 influence of ,semiramis on1 #c2 influence of ,nineveh on1 #c1 #d2 contribution of ,armenia to1 #c2 the daughters of1 #d2 the inspirer of ,solomon1 #ac ,,bacchus1 ,antony's tutelary god1 #ia ,,beatrice and ,dante1 #ih2 ,dante's love for1 #agg-ahj ,,beauty1 the religion of ,greece1 #bh1 #bi2 its worship by the ,greeks1 #eh-ei2 its stimulating force1 #gj-ga2 the secret of life1 #hg2 the secret of death1 #hg2 at the beginning of the ,reformation1 #bja2 as advanced by ,ficino and expounded by ,bembo1 #bjd1 #bje2 may be degraded but never vulgarized1 #baa ,,bembo1 #bjd ,b,,ranger1 on ,society1 #bdi ,,bertheflede1 story of1 #abe ,,bluebeard1 #aia-aig2 an example of hmatomania1 #aid-aif ,,boccaccio1 #agg1 #agh2 the ,decameron of1 #ahh-aij2 his work the signal for the ,renaissance1 #ahi-aij ,,boeotia1 the scene of ,lesbian rites1 #df ,,borgias1 the1 #bjj ,,bossuet1 #ace2 and ,quietism1 #bch ,,brahmanism1 its evil influence on the poetry of the ,vedas1 #i ,,broceliande1 #aeb ,,brant,,me1 #bae1 #baf1 #bag1 #bai ,,buddha1 his teachings the same as ,christ's1 #aac ,,byzance1 in the ,middle ,ages1 #aci2 the teacher of ,english civilization1 #ada ,c,,sar1 ,,julius1 his treatment of women1 #he2 his temperament1 #hi2 ,cato's opinion of1 #hi2 his treatment of ,cleopatra1 #hi ,c,,sars1 the palace of1 abandoned to orgies1 #ajf ,,caligula1 his vileness1 #ajb ,,callicrates1 #eg ,,calpurnia1 #he ,,calypso1 #ch1 #ci2 added coquetry to love1 #ec ,,carthage1 worship of ,venus in1 #f1 #g ,,casanova1 ,jacques1 #bdh ,,catherine of ,siena1 #acb ,,catiline1 his evil influence on ,rome1 #hd-he ,,cato1 his expression on woman's position in ,rome1 #gi2 his opinion of ,csar1 #hi ,,catullus1 his passing away with the republic1 #ig-ih2 his songs1 #ig-ih ,,celibacy1 penalized by the ,greeks1 #aaf2 taxed by the ,romans1 #aaf2 inculcated by the ,church1 #aaf2 how viewed variously1 #aaf-aag2 the ideal of the early ,christians1 #abj ,,cellini1 ,,benvenuto1 #bjb ,,cervantes1 #bca ,,chald,a1 the ideas of1 with regard to ,nature1 #c2 originated picture of ,pandora1 #dj ,,champagne1 ,countess of1 #afj ,,charaxus1 story of his love for ,rhodopis1 #de-df ,,charles ,,ii of ,england1 his influence on ,england1 #bba-bbd2 his court1 #bbc2 his mistresses1 #bbd ,,chastity1 the pride of ,spartan women1 #dd ,,chateauroux1 ,mme4 de1 #bdg ,,chivalry1 origin of1 #ach2 ,muslim1 #ada2 adopted by the ,church1 #adb2 ,age of1 how it regarded love1 #ade-adf2 ridiculed out of existence1 #adi2 killed by the invention of gunpowder1 #adi2 code of love in1 #aec-aee2 its merits1 #aeh2 ,courts of ,love1 #aee2 subtle case in1 #aef2 other cases1 #aeh-afj2 wrongly derived from ,germany1 #afg2 rightly originated in the ,moors1 #afg-afh ,,christ1 the new messenger of love1 #aaa2 the bringer of good news1 #aaa-aab2 his teaching1 #aab-aac2 preceded by ,buddha1 #aac2 his opinion of woman1 #aac2 his treatment of woman1 #aae2 women the brides of1 #acc ,,christianity1 unable to better ,homeric faith1 #cj2 ,roman hatred of1 #abj2 misinterpreted by the early ,church1 #ace2 conquered by ,muhammadanism1 #ach ,,christians1 ,roman persecution of1 #aah-aai ,,chrysostom1 on woman1 #abh ,,church1 ,early ,christian1 corner-stone of1 #aab ,,church1 the1 adopts the code of ,chivalry1 #adb ,,church1 the ,early1 its struggles1 #aai ,,church1 the later1 its restrictions on marriage1 #adg1 #adh2 its divorce laws1 #adh ,,cicero1 his exposition of stoicism1 #ajh ,,cinderella1 story of1 in the story of ,rhodopis1 #de-df ,,circe1 #ch1 #ci ,,clement1 #aah ,,clement of ,alexandria1 #aac ,,cleopatra1 ,isis unveiled1 #hf2 her beauty1 #hh2 her headiness1 #hi2 how treated by ,csar1 #hi2 how treated by ,antony1 #ia2 her conquest of ,antony1 #ia-ib2 her ambitious dreams1 #ib2 her desertion of ,antony1 #ic2 her schemes for ,octavius1 #id2 her evil influence on ,antony1 #id-ie2 her death1 #if ,,cloister1 the1 #abh-abi ,,constantinople1 the ,fall of1 #aih2 its consequences1 #aii-bjj ,,convents1 of ,corinth and ,miletus1 #eh ,,copernicus1 #bjj ,,coquetry1 the kingdom of1 by the ,abb d',aubignac1 #bbi ,,cordova1 ,caliphs of1 #afd-afe ,,corinna1 #ajj ,,corinth1 the hetair of1 #ef2 convents of1 #eh ,,corneille1 his ,rodrigue and ,chimne1 #bcj2 his ,cid1 #bcj-bca ,,correggio1 #acb ,,courts of ,love1 #aee-aeg ,,crassus1 #hd ,,crusades1 the1 #ach ,,cynthia and ,propertius1 #ih ,,dante1 and ,beatrice1 #ih2 his idea of ,fortune1 #cc2 his poetry founded in ,provenal verse1 #agb2 his early life and career1 #agg-ahd2 ,voltaire's opinion of1 #aha2 ,tennyson's opinion of1 #aha2 his influence1 #ahb2 and ,petrarch1 compared1 #ahf-ahg ,d',,aubignac1 ,abb1 his ,kingdom of ,coquetry1 #bbi ,d',,auvergne1 ,martial1 #aei ,,decamerone1 ,il1 its scope and influence1 #ahh-ij ,,demosthenes1 #fa ,,de ,,musset1 on ,aphrodite1 #ca ,,diane ,,de ,,poytiers1 #baf-bag ,,divans1 the1 of the ,moors1 #aga ,,divorce1 in ,greece in ,sappho's time1 #dc2 not obligatory under the ,csars1 #ajc2 how obtained under the ,csars1 #ajc2 under the later ,church1 #adh2 in ,england under ,henry ,,viii1 #bjd2 in ,italy1 #bje ,,don ,,quixote1 #adh-adi ,,du ,,barry1 ,duchesse de1 #bdd1 #bdg ,,dupleix1 his account of ,margot of ,france1 #bai ,d',,urf1 ,,honor1 his pastoral1 #bbg ,,ecclesiasticus1 his view of woman1 #aj ,,egypt1 position of women in1 #de2 influence of women of1 #df2 its acceptance of beauty1 #hg-hh2 the gods of1 #hg-hh ,,eleanor of ,england1 #ada ,,eleusinian mysteries1 #eg2 ,epiphanies1 #gb-gc ,,england1 born of ,shakespeare1 #ahb2 divorce in1 #bjd-bje2 ,puritan1 #bba2 ,elizabethan1 #bba-bbb2 ,early ,stuart1 #bba2 ,cromwellian1 #bbb2 under the ,georges1 #bdc ,,ennius1 #aje ,,epicurus1 #bi1 #fa ,,erato1 finds freedom in ,lesbos1 #df ,,erinna1 #dg ,,ermengarde of ,narbonne1 #afj ,,eros1 degraded by ,rome1 #ajd ,,euripides1 #bi ,,europe1 after the fall of ,rome1 #abf2 how influenced by ,islm1 #ada-adb2 before the ,renaissance1 #aih-aii2 in the eighteenth century1 #bdd-bde ,,eurydice and ,orpheus1 #cj ,,eve1 suggested by ,hesiod's ,pandora1 #dj ,,evolution1 #bfj ,,ewald1 on ,the ,song of ,songs1 #ae ,,ez ,,zahara1 #afd-afe ,,fabiola1 #adg ,,family1 the1 the outcome of a better treatment of1 #b ,f,n,,lon1 and ,quietism1 #bci ,,feudalism1 its origin1 #abe2 its bad influence on woman1 #adf2 marriage under1 #adf-adg ,,ficino1 #bjc-bjd ,,florence1 in the time of ,dante1 #agg ,,fragonard1 #bdf ,,francesca and ,paolo1 #ahb ,,fran,,ois ,i1 the king of ,gallantry1 #bac1 #bad2 the ,court of1 #bad ,,fright1 early man's first sensations1 #b ,,gabrielle d',estres1 #bai-bbj ,,gallantry1 as defined by ,montesquieu1 #bac2 the parody of love1 #bac2 embellishes vice1 #bac2 the direct cause of the ,french ,revolution1 #bac2 adopted by ,franois ,i1 #bad ,,gautier1 ,,th,,ophile1 his definition of love1 #bea ,,gay ,science1 the1 #afd-agf2 founded in ,aragon1 #agb ,,genius1 ascetic1 #aag ,,george ,,ii of ,england1 #bdd ,,germany1 at the time of ,louis ,,xiv1 #bci-bdj2 love in1 in the eighteenth century1 #bdj-bdd2 aping of ,louis ,,xiv1 #bda ,,gerson1 his catalogue of ravishment1 #acc ,,glycera1 #eg1 #eh ,,gorgo1 lover of ,sappho1 #di ,,gospels1 the1 #aac2 the lost gospels1 #aac ,,granada1 palaces of1 #afe ,,greece1 worship of ,ishtar in1 #f2 a gay nation1 #bh2 and ,juda1 contrasted1 #bh2 had many creeds1 but one religion1 #bh2 amours of1 a part of its worship of beauty1 #bi2 its gods real to it1 #bi-cj2 women in1 in ,sappho's time1 #da-db2 beautiful women deified in1 #eh2 sale of beauty in1 #ei2 its decadence1 #fd ,,greek poetry1 its splendors1 #fa ,,greeks1 the1 their appreciation of this world's gifts1 #eg ,,gr,,goire ,,de ,,tours1 #aai1 #abi ,,gregorovius1 his description of ,rome1 #bjj-bja ,,guyon1 ,mme41 and ,quietism1 #bcg-bci ,,gwynne1 ,,nell1 #bbd ,,hadrian1 #ajh ,h,,matomania1 #aid ,,hallam1 his opinion of knight-errantry1 #afa-afb ,,harlots1 in ,rome1 #hj-ha ,,hecate1 #bh ,,helen of ,troy1 her place in poetry1 #cd-ce2 her influence on the ,greek people1 #ce2 her degradation an evil influence1 #ce2 her idealization a source of inspiration1 #ce-cf2 as viewed by ,apollonius of ,tyana1 #cf2 and ,menelaus1 #cf-cg2 and ,paris1 #cg2 as a man's property1 #cg ,,henry ,,iv1 of ,france1 #bah2 and ,gabrielle d',estres1 #bai-bbj ,,heph,,stos1 #bh ,,herodotus1 on ,ishtar1 #e1 #f ,,hesiod1 his idea of ,aphrodite1 #ca2 ,eve suggested by his ,pandora1 #dj ,,hetaira1 the1 #ee ,,hetair1 the girls of the1 #ef-eg ,h,,lo,,se and ,abelard1 story of1 #acf-acg ,,heptam,,ron1 the1 #bji-baj ,,hermas1 #aah ,,hermits1 the outcome of ,christianity1 #aaf ,,home1 the outcome of a better treatment of woman1 #b ,,homer1 #bh2 his influence on ,greek thought1 #bi2 his faith in beauty1 #bi2 ,iliad and ,odyssey of1 #cj2 his idea of ,aphrodite1 #ca2 ,odyssey and ,iliad1 morality of1 #ch2 the sirens of1 #ci-dj ,,honor1 the chivalrous meaning of1 #adc ,,horace1 his view of the ,iliad1 #ch2 compared with ,sappho1 #dg2 the little fat man1 #ih-ii2 his art as sung by ,ponsard1 #ii-ajj ,,horus1 #hg ,,hugo1 ,,victor1 #bac ,,huns1 their invasion of ,rome1 #aba ,iliad1 the1 its view of woman1 #fb-fc ,,immortality1 love of1 #gj ,,infanticide1 in ,rome1 #aah ,,inquisition1 founded1 #agf ,,ishtar1 her influence in the world1 #d2 history of1 #e1 #f2 worship of1 identical with the ,hindu ,kama-dasi1 #f2 in ,greece1 #f2 rites of1 #f1 #g ,,isis1 #hg1 #hh ,,isl,m1 its influence on ,europe1 #ada-adb ,,islamism1 treatment of women under1 #afi-agj ,,jehovah1 the evolution of1 among the ,jews1 #aa1 #ab ,,jews1 their view of woman1 #aj2 their prophets reviled the worship of ,ashtaroth1 #aa1 #ab2 evolution of ,jehovah among the1 #aa1 #ab2 their message for ,rome1 #aaj-aa ,,joy1 the ,parliaments of1 #aej-afc ,,jud,a1 did not honor women1 #aj2 the position of the patriarch in1 #aj2 and ,greece1 contrasted1 #bh ,,julius ,,ii1 #bjb ,,juvenal1 #ajc ,,kama-,,dasi1 the ,hindu1 identical with worship of ,ishtar1 #f ,,knighthood1 its meaning1 #add ,,knight-,,errantry1 #afa-afb ,,koran1 a precept in1 #afh-afi ,,laced,,mon1 #fc2 its effect on ,sparta and ,greece1 #fc ,,lais1 her epitaph1 #eh2 wealth of1 #ei ,,laura and ,petrarch1 #ahc-ahh2 the quality of her love1 #ahg-ahh2 her position between ,dante and ,boccaccio1 #ahh ,,la ,,valli,,re1 #bcb-bcc ,,leonora ,d',,este1 #bjh2 her character1 #baj ,,leo ,x1 #bja2 his expression of the ,papacy1 #bjb ,,lepidus1 #ij ,,lesbos1 the women of1 #dd-de2 women of1 influenced by ,egypt1 #df ,l',,estoile1 ,,pierre ,,de1 #bai1 #bbj ,,life1 ,definition of1 #gj ,,london1 in the ,georgian period1 #bdc ,,longinus1 his reverence for ,sappho1 #dg ,,longueville1 ,mme4 de1 #bde-bdf ,,lorenzo1 the ,magnificent1 #bjj ,,louis ,,xiv1 of ,france1 #bcb-bcd2 his mistresses1 #bcb-bcf2 his kingdom1 #bcf ,,louis ,,xv1 of ,france1 #bdg ,,love1 absent from ,eden1 #a2 evolution of1 in history1 #g1 #h2 evil influence of theology on1 #h2 the ,gospel of1 ,the ,song of ,songs viewed as1 #ac1 #ad2 its change in ,sappho's time1 #ed2 ,plato's view of1 #fe-ff2 in the ,phdrus of ,plato1 #ff2 in the ,symposium of ,plato1 #ff2 argument on1 by ,plato1 #ff-fg2 not every love divine1 #fg2 two loves in the human body1 #fg2 in relation to astronomy1 #fh2 religion1 intermediary of1 #fh2 duality of1 explained by ,aristophanes1 #fh2 ,socrates's statement of the essence of1 #fi-gj2 exerted in happiness in immortality1 #gj2 higher mysteries of1 #ga2 its value to life1 #ga-gb2 how regarded by ,plato1 #gd2 the new ideal of1 through ,christ1 #aaa2 dispersed the darkness of the ,middle ,ages1 #ach2 how regarded in the ,age of ,chivalry1 #ade-adf2 exalted under ,feudalism1 #adh2 joy of1 its humanizing influence1 #aej2 ,courts of1 #aee-aeg2 code of1 in chivalry1 #aec-aee2 its merits1 #aeh2 cases of1 in chivalry1 #aeh-afj2 a picture of1 in medival times1 #afb-afc2 the religion of the troubadours1 #age2 to ,petrarch1 #ahh2 to ,dante1 #ahi2 as viewed by ,boccaccio1 #ahh-aij2 as viewed by ,plato1 #bjc2 ,platonic1 #bje-bjf2 as influenced by ,platonism1 #bje-bjg2 as influenced by ,venice1 #bjg2 as shown by ,marguerite of ,france1 #bji-baj2 a high summit reached in ,michael ,angelo and ,vittoria ,colonna1 #bab2 non inferiora secutus1 #bab2 in the seventeenth century1 #bac-bcf2 its modern history opens with laughter1 #bac2 its melody in ,platonism1 its parody in gallantry1 #bac2 always educational1 #bac2 in ,spain1 ,germany1 ,france1 and ,england in the seventeenth century1 #bad2 under ,franois ,i1 #bae2 under ,henry ,,iv1 of ,france1 #bah-bbb2 its degradation under the ,restoration1 #bbd2 the ,scudry map of1 #bbh-bcj2 in the eighteenth century1 #bcg-bej2 in ,germany in the eighteenth century1 #bda2 the dawn of its rebirth in the eighteenth century1 #bde2 the lowest depths of1 #bdi2 changes in form but never in character1 #bej2 as defined by ,gautier1 #bea2 the subject for philosophy1 #bea2 its basis1 #beb2 first analyzed by ,plato1 #beb2 its nature elaborated by ,schopenhauer1 #beb-beg2 a manifestation of the ,genius of ,species1 #bec2 its nature is will for the purpose of creation1 #bec2 used by ,nature as a means to an end1 #bed-bee2 ,nature's veil of illusion1 #bee2 the manifestation of an instinct1 #bee2 its purpose1 the materialization of a particular being1 #bef2 wrongly diagnosed by ,schopenhauer1 #bei-bfj2 its advance in evolution1 #bfj2 modern1 #bfj-bfa ,,lovers1 ,socrates's ideal1 #aga ,,lucretia1 #hb ,,lucrezia ,,borgia1 #bjd ,,lucullus1 #hd ,,luther1 the true founder of modern society1 #bja ,,lycurgus1 his laws on marriage1 #dd ,,macaulay1 #bbb1 #bbc ,,macon1 second council of1 on woman1 #abg ,,macrobius1 his description of ,roman ,saturnalia1 #ge-gf ,,mac,,nas1 lackey of ,augustus1 #ajb ,,mahabh,,rata1 the1 ,the ,vedic history of love1 #g1 #h ,,man1 early1 his attitude toward ,nature1 #b1 #c2 pleasure not known to him1 #b ,,manu1 laws of1 on marriage1 #h ,,margot1 wife of ,henry ,,iv of ,france1 #bah-bai ,,marguerite of ,france1 #bjh2 #bjh-baj2 the ,heptamron of1 #bji-baj ,,marius1 #abj ,,marriage1 laws of ,manu on1 #h2 position of women in ,greece in1 #db2 in ,sparta1 #dd2 in ,rome1 #gi-hj2 under the ,csars1 #ajc2 ,lex ,pappea ,poppoea1 #ajc2 as viewed by the ,early ,christian ,church1 #aad2 ,st4 ,sebastian on1 #aad2 ,st4 ,augustine on1 #aad2 made incumbent by ,hebrew law1 #aaf2 ,st4 ,paul on the dignity of1 #aai-abj2 under the feudal system1 #adf-adg2 how restricted by the later ,church1 #adg-adh2 in days of chivalry1 #aeg ,,mary ,,magdalen1 #aae ,,matrimony1 as interpreted by later ,platonism1 #bje ,,medli,,valism1 the prelude to the ,renaissance1 #aih ,,medici1 ,,catherine ,,de1 #bag ,,menander1 #eg ,,menelaus1 and ,helen of ,troy1 #cf-cg ,,michael ,,angelo1 #bjb2 his love for ,vittoria ,colonna1 #baa-bab ,,mignet1 #bac ,,miletus1 convents of1 #eh ,,minstrels1 the1 #afd ,,mithra1 #ajd ,,modesty1 in the eighteenth century1 #bdf ,,moli,,re1 his ridicule of the ,prcieuses1 #bbg ,,molinos1 #ace2 his ,quietism1 #bcg ,,moloch1 #aj1 #aa ,,monasteries1 #abh-abi ,,montespan1 ,marquise de1 #bcd-bce ,,montesquieu1 his definition of gallantry1 #bac ,,moors1 in ,spain1 #afc-afg2 their learning and poetry1 #aff2 originated chivalry1 #afg-afh2 their power in ,europe1 #afh2 their treatment of women1 #afi-agj ,,morbihan1 the paintings in1 #aif ,,moses1 his view of woman1 #aj1 #aa ,,moslems1 chivalry of1 #ada ,,muhammad1 conquers ,persia1 #aci2 the two things he really cared for1 #afh ,,nature1 early man1 attitude toward1 #b ,,nausicaa1 #ch ,,nebuchadnezzar1 #da ,,nepenthe1 an ,egyptian drug1 #cf ,,nineveh1 its influence on ,babylon1 #c1 #d ,,nostradamus1 #aec1 #aee ,,nuns1 #aca ,,octavius1 #ij2 a model citizen1 #ic2 his opinion of ,cleopatra1 #ic2 war with ,antony1 #ic-id2 his design against ,cleopatra1 #ie2 defeated by ,cleopatra's death1 #ie-if ,,odysseus1 #ch2 ,homer's service to1 #ch ,odyssey1 the1 its view of woman1 #fc ,,olympus1 kindly to its worshippers1 #cj2 influence of the gods of1 on ,greek mind1 #cc ,,omphale1 #ef ,,orpheus1 and ,eurydice1 #cj ,,osiris1 #hg1 #hh ,,ovid1 his picture of ,sappho1 #ea2 his ,art of ,love1 #ajj2 poet of pleasure1 #ajj-aja2 his banishment1 #aja ,,pallas1 #ei ,,palmer1 ,,barbara1 #bbd ,,pandora1 #dj2 picture of1 of ,chaldan origin1 #dj ,,pantheon1 ,roman1 a lupanar1 #aje ,,papacy1 the1 its war against the troubadours1 #agf2 as expressed by ,leo ,x1 #bjb ,,paris1 and ,helen1 #cg ,,paris1 love in1 under ,franois ,i1 #bae ,,patriarch1 the1 his position in ,juda1 #aj ,,paul ,,iii1 #bjb ,,paul1 ,st41 his humiliation of woman1 #aad2 on the dignity of marriage1 #aai-abj2 his view of ,christianity1 #acd-ace ,,pericles1 his relation with ,aspasia1 #ef2 his deification1 #fa2 ,age of1 the period of ,greek decline1 #fa ,,perseus1 on ,roman thought and life1 #ajd ,,petrarch1 his poetry1 #agb2 and ,laura1 #ahc-ahh2 and ,dante compared1 #ahf-ahg2 his love for ,laura1 #ahg-ahh ,,ph,,drus1 #gc-gd2 its theory of ,beauty1 #gc-gd ,,phaon1 his relation with ,sappho1 #di-ea ,,pheidias1 influence of his ,zeus on milius ,paulus1 #ca-cb ,,philip of ,macedon1 #fc ,,philippus1 #eg ,,phoenicia1 furnished girls for ,greek harems1 #f ,,phryne1 #eg2 as ,aphrodite1 #eg2 her acquital before the ,areiopagus1 #eg-eh2 ,praxiteles's statue of1 #eh2 her wealth1 #ei ,,pindar1 #fa ,,plato1 his opinion of ,sappho1 #dg2 healer of the mind1 #fe2 his teaching1 #fe2 his view of love1 #fe-ff2 his ,phdrus and ,symposion1 #fe-ff2 his ,phdrus1 #gc-gd2 his theory of beauty in the ,phdrus1 #gc-gd2 his ,republic1 #bjb2 his ,symposion1 #bjc ,,platonism1 its view of matrimony interpreted1 #bje2 its influence on love1 #bjf-bjg2 its three saints1 #bja2 the melody of love1 #bac2 beautifies virtue1 #bac ,,pleasure1 a later growth in man1 #b ,,pompadour1 ,mme4 de1 #bdg ,,pompeia1 #he ,,ponsard1 his poem on ,horace1 #ii-ajj ,,praxiteles1 his ,aphrodite1 #cb-cc2 his statue of ,phryne1 #eh ,,propertius and ,cynthia1 #ih ,,proven,,al1 poetry1 #aga-agb2 the foundation of ,dante and ,petrarch1 #agb ,,provence1 its troubadourian dogmas1 #age-agf ,,psyche1 story of1 #cj ,,publius ,,claudius1 #he ,,querouaille1 ,,louise ,,de ,,la1 #bbd ,,quietism1 the teaching of1 #bcg-bhi ,,radegonde1 ,story of1 #acj-aca ,,rambouillet1 ,htel de1 #bbe ,,rambouillet1 ,madame de1 #bbe-bbf2 her influence1 #bbg ,,raphael1 #bjb ,,ravaillac1 #bba ,,raymond1 ,lord1 of ,castel-,roussillon1 #afb-afc ,,reformation1 the1 its influence on love1 #bja ,,religion1 love's intermediary1 #fh ,,renaissance1 the1 due to ,greek thought1 #fj2 woman under1 #aea-aeb2 #aih-bab2 the three ,graces of1 #bjh ,,renan1 on ,the ,song of ,songs1 #ae ,,restoration1 the time of1 #bbb-bbc ,,retz1 ,,gilles ,,de1 #aia-aig ,,revolution1 the ,french1 the effect of ,gallantry1 #bac ,,rhodopis1 story of her relation with ,charaxus1 #de-df2 the original of ,cinderella1 #de ,,richelieu1 #bdh ,,roland1 the story of1 #adb-adc ,,romans1 their primal characteristics1 #ge-gf2 the ,saturnalia of1 #ge-gf ,,rome1 mission of1 #ge2 love secondary in1 #ge2 its treatment of the strange gods1 #gf-gg2 its attitude to slaves and children1 #gg2 its treatment of women1 #gg-gh2 ,st4 ,augustine's view of1 #hb2 puritan in poverty1 #hb-hc2 ,sylla's immoral influence on1 #hc-hd2 ,catiline's bad influence on1 #hd-he2 the ,triumvirate of1 #ij2 in the ,augustan age1 #aja-ajf2 amusements of1 #aja2 under the ,emperors1 #aja-aji2 degraded ,eros into ,cupid1 #ajd2 degraded ,aphrodite into ,venus1 #ajd2 later gods of1 #ajd-aje2 degraded under ,imperialistic sway1 #aje2 its ,pantheon a lupanar1 #aje2 its delight in sensuality1 #ajf-ajg2 its palaces abandoned to orgies1 #ajf-ajg2 more abandoned than ,nineveh or ,babylon1 #ajh2 ,imperialistic1 compared with age of ,pericles1 #aji2 first barbarian who invaded1 #aaj2 the message of the ,jews for1 #aaj-aaa2 persecution of early ,christians1 #aah-aai2 its fall1 #abj2 its hatred of ,christianity1 #abj2 invaded by the ,huns1 #aba2 its antiquity dead1 #aba2 the elements that went to make its greatness1 #abe2 its dissolution1 #abe2 ,european darkness after fall of1 #abf-abg2 as described by ,gregorovius1 #bjj-bja2 under the ,papacy1 #bja ,,round ,table1 ,knights of1 #aeb ,,roussillon1 ,g,,rard ,,de1 #aei ,,ruy ,,blas1 #aeg-aeh ,,sade1 ,marquis de1 #bdh-bdi ,,salamis1 battle of1 #fj2 its influence on ,greece1 #fj ,,salvation1 in weakness1 #acd ,,sappho1 #da-de2 how appreciated by the ancients1 #dg2 the girl ,plato1 #dg2 poems of1 #dh2 sources of ,odes of1 #dh2 portraits of1 #dh-di2 lover of ,atthis1 #di2 lover of ,gorgo1 #di2 contemporary knowledge of1 #di2 her relation with ,phaon1 #di-ej2 as told by ,swinburne1 #ej2 as pictured by ,ovid1 #ea2 emancipated love1 #ec2 her singing of love1 #ed2 her influence on the relation of women1 #ee ,,sauval1 #bae ,,scheherazade1 #adj ,,schopenhauer1 his exposition of love1 #beb-beg2 his error1 #bei-bfj ,,science1 the ,gay1 #aej-aea2 #afd-agf2 founded in ,aragon1 #agb ,,scud,,ry1 ,mlle4 de1 #bbg2 her map of love1 #bbh-bcj ,,semiramis1 her influence on ,babylon1 #c ,,seneca1 #ajc2 his condemnation of vice1 #ajh-aji ,,seville1 palaces of1 #afe ,,shakespeare1 his influence1 #ahb ,,sirens1 the ,homeric1 #ci-dj ,,slaves in ,rome1 #gg ,,society1 after the fall of ,rome1 #abf-abg ,,socrates1 his statement of the essence of love1 #fi-gj2 his ideal lovers1 #ga-gb2 his discourse on love1 #gj-gb2 #aag ,,solomon1 his view of woman1 #aa2 wholly ,babylonic1 #ac ,,solon1 his opinion of ,sappho1 #dg ,,song ,,of ,,songs1 ,the1 the ,gospel of love1 #ac1 #ad2 exposition of1 as a drama of love1 #ad1 #ae2 reset as a love drama1 #ae-bg ,,sophocles1 #fa ,,sorrow1 a sin1 #aej ,,spain1 the home of ,moorish chivalry1 #agj-aga2 at the close of the seventeenth century1 #bca-bcc2 ,court of1 at end of seventeenth century1 #bcb ,,sparta1 condition of women in1 #dc-dd2 and ,athens1 rivalry between1 #fj-fa ,,st4 ,,augustine1 his view of ,rome1 #hb2 on marriage1 #aad ,,st4 ,,basilius1 his praise of ,homer1 #ch ,,stoicism1 in ,rome1 #ajh ,,strabo1 on ,ishtar1 #e1 #f2 his view of ,sappho1 #dg1 #di ,,st4 ,,sebastian1 on marriage1 #aad ,,suetonius1 his character of ,caligula1 #ajb2 his ,prince and ,beast1 #ajg ,,swinburne1 compared with ,sappho1 #dg2 his ,ode to ,aphrodite1 #ej ,,sylla1 his moral destruction of ,rome1 #hc-hd ,,tacitus1 on women1 #ha ,,tanit1 #e ,,tasso1 #baj2 his love for ,leonora d',este1 #baj-baa ,,tenderness-on-,sympathy1 in ,germany1 #bda ,,tennyson1 his opinion of ,dante1 #aha ,,tertullian1 #ajc ,,thais1 monument to1 #eh ,,thebes1 #fc2 its fall1 #fa ,,themistocles1 son of1 #fa-fb ,,theology1 its base influence on love1 #h ,,theresa1 ,st41 story of1 #acb-acc ,,tiberius1 his laws on women1 #ha ,,tournaments1 #add-ade ,,tristram and ,isaud1 #add ,,troubadours1 the1 #agb-agd2 their religion1 #age2 opposed by the ,papacy1 #agf ,,vedas1 the1 on love1 #g1 #h2 the poetry of1 deformed by ,brahmanism1 #i ,,venice1 its evil influence on love1 #bjg ,,ventadour1 ,,bernard ,,de1 #agc ,,venus1 worship of1 #f2 name of ,hebrew origin1 #g2 her indifference to mortal aspirations1 #cc-cd ,,veronese1 #acb ,,versailles1 #bcb1 #bce ,,vespasian1 #ajh ,,virgin1 the1 aspirations to1 #acc2 the ,regina angelorum1 #acc2 reflected in art1 #acd ,,virginia1 #hb ,,vittoria ,,colonna1 #bjh2 her character1 #baa ,,voltaire1 his opinion of the ,divina ,commedia1 #aha ,,walters1 ,,lucy1 #bbd ,,westphalia1 ,peace of1 #bdj ,,widows1 under code of chivalry1 #afa ,,wives1 treatment of1 in ,sappho's time1 #ec-ed ,,woman1 early treatment of1 #a1 #b2 family life1 the outcome of better treatment of1 #b2 common property once1 #b2 man's early treatment of1 #b2 not honored in ,juda1 #aj2 incarnated sin to the ,jews1 #aj2 as viewed by ,ecclesiasticus1 #aj2 as viewed by ,moses1 #aj1 #aa2 as viewed by ,solomon1 #aa2 worshipped in the ,renaissance1 #ae2 a man's chattel1 #cg2 as viewed by ,homer1 #ci-dj2 beginning of her emancipation1 #dj2 what she represented in ,greece1 #eh2 her development through ,aspasia1 #fb2 how viewed by the ,iliad1 #fb-fc2 how viewed by the ,odyssey1 #fb-fc2 treatment of1 by ,rome1 #gg-gh2 her legal and actual position in ,rome1 #gh2 her supremacy in ,rome1 #gh-gi2 her position stated by ,cato1 #gi2 position of1 in ,rome compared with her position in ,greece1 #gi2 hampered by ,roman laws1 #hj-ha2 ,christ's opinion of1 #aac2 little thought of by ,st4 ,paul1 #aad2 her treatment of ,christ1 #aae2 condition of1 in dark ages1 #abg2 how regarded by the second council of ,macon1 #abg2 ,st4 ,chrysostom on1 #abh2 retreat to cloister1 #abi2 legend of a1 #aca-acb2 her enfranchisement in the ,middle ,ages1 #ace-acf2 her condition in the ,crusade times1 #ada2 the arbiter of knightly honor1 #adc-add2 badly influenced by ,feudalism1 #adf2 ,courts of ,love for1 #aee-aeg2 ,code of ,love for1 #aec-aee2 marriage of1 in days of chivalry1 #aeg2 her position in days of chivalry1 #aeh2 knightly homage for1 #aeh-aei2 widows under code of chivalry1 #afa2 position of1 in ,italy1 #afa2 beloved by ,muhammad1 #afh2 the ,koran on1 #afh-afi2 ,moorish treatment of1 #afi-agj2 seclusion under ,islamism1 #afi-agj2 her position in ,italy in ,bembo's time1 #bjd-bje ,,women1 lost in the deluge1 #aj2 in ,greece in ,sappho's time1 #da-db2 of ,lesbos1 #dd-de2 ,sappho's influence on1 #ee2 deification of1 in ,greece1 #eh2 ,tacitus on1 #ha2 laws of ,tiberius on1 #ha2 married1 reverenced in ,rome1 #ha-hb2 ,csar's treatment of1 #he2 as brides of ,christ1 #acc2 in ,germany in eighteenth century1 #bdb2 morals of1 in ,germany1 #bdb2 in the eighteenth century1 #bdf ,,xantippe1 #aag ,,zend ,,avesta1 the decalogue of the1 #aej ,footnotes3 #a ,herodotus1 ,i41 #aii4 #b ,strabo1 ,,xvi41 xi41 #ecb4 ,baruch1 ,,vi4 ,justinus1 ,,xviii4 ,st4 ,augustin3 ,civit4 ,dei1 ,,iv41 #aj4 ,eusebius3 ,vita ,constantini1 ,,iii41 #ec-ef4 ,cf4 ,juvenal1 ,satir4 #i3 ,nam quo non prostat femina templo8 #c ,renan3 ,le ,cantique des ,cantiques4 #d ,paraleipomena1 ,,xiii4 #e ,philostratus3 ,apollonius ,tyanensis1 ,,iv41 #af4 #f ,ethica ,s4 ,basilii4 #g ,brard3 ,les ,phniciens et l',odysse4 #h ,opera et ,dies1 #gj4 #i ,xenophon3 de ,republica ,lacedmoniorum4 #aj ,rossetti1 ,d4 ,g4 #aa ,epistol ,herodum1 ,,xv4 #ab ,athenus1 ,,xiii4 ,musonius3 de ,luxu4 ,becker3 ,charikles4 #ac ,saturnalia1 ,,iii41 #i4 #ad ,leg4 ,,xii ,tabularum1 ,tab4 quinta4 ,veteres voluerunt foeminas etiam perfect tatis1 propter animi lvitatem1 in tutela esse4 ,itaque1 si quis filio filive testamento tutorem dederit1 et ambo ad pubertatem pervenerint1 filius quidem desinit habere tutorem1 filia vero nihilominus in tutela permanet4 #ae ,valerius ,maximus1 ,,ii41 i4 ,pliny1 ,,xiv41 #ac4 #af ,juris humani et divini communicatio4--,modestin4 #ag ,leg4 ,,xii4 ,tabularum4 ,valerius ,maximus1 ,,vi41 i4 ,livy1 ,x41 #ca2 ,,xxv41 #b4 ,tacitus3 ,annal41 ,,ii41 #he4 ,ulpianus3 de ,ritu ,nuptiarum4 #ah ,cicero3 de ,arusp4 ,quod in agro ,latiniensi auditus est strepitus cum fremitu4 ,ibid3 ,providete ne reipublica status commutetur4 #ai ,michelet3 ,histoire ,romaine4 ,saltus3 ,imperial ,purple4 #bj ,plutarch3 ,antonii vita4 ,cf4 ,michelet1 op4 cit4 #ba ,suetonius3 ,augustus1 ,,xviii4 ,velleius ,paterculus1 ,,ii4 lxxxiii4 ,vergil3 neid1 ,,viii4 ,horace3 ,epod41 #i4 #bb ,cod4 #b1 de inutil4 ,stipulat4 #bc ,matthew xvi4 #ba4 #bd ,stromata1 ,,iii41 #f-i4 #be ,timothy ii4 #aa-ab4 #a ,corinthians ix4 #i4 #a ,corinthians vii4 #ch4 #bf ,concil4 ,trident41 sess4 ,,xxiv41 canon #aj4 #bg ,augustin3 ,de bono conjugio4 #bh ,matthew xix4 #ab4 ,revelations xiv4 #bi ,st4 ,justin3 ,apolog41 ,i41 #ad1 #ce4 #cj ,clement3 ,strom41 ,,iii41 #f4 ,hermas3 ,similit41 ,,ix41 ii4 ,nobiscum dormi non ut maritus1 sed ut frater4 ,hermas3 ,visio1 ,i41 #b4 ,conjugi tu qu futura est 7incipit esse7 soror tua4 #ca ,boetius1 ,lib4 ,,xvii4 ,quidam dominus quem vidi1 primam sponsarum carnalem cognitionem ut suam petebat4 ,du ,cange3 ,marchetum4 ,marcheto mulieris dicitur virginalis pudiciti violatio et delibatio4 #cb ,rcits des ,temps ,mrovingiens4 #cc ,acta ,sanctorum4 #cd ,michelet3 ,histoire de ,france4 #ce ,i ,corinthians xii4 #g-i4 #cf ,michaud3 ,histoire des ,croisades4 #cg ,eginhard3 ,vita ,karoli ,,ix4 #ch ,summa ,hostiensis1 ,,iv4 ,de ,sponsalibus4 #ci ,beaumanoir1 ,,lvii4 ,tout mari peut battre sa femme1 pourvu que ce soit modrment et sans que mort s'ensuivre4 #dj ,st4 ,jerome3 ,vita ,s4 ,fabiol4 #da ,juris ,pontificii ,analecta4 #db ,ste4 ,palaye3 ,l'ancienne ,chevalerie4 #dc ,matre ,andr1 chapelain de la cour royale de ,france4 ,manuscrit de la ,bibliothque nationale1 ,no4 #hgeh4 #dd ,des personnages de grands renoms estant venus visiter le pape ,innocent ,,iii ,avignon1 furent our les definitions et sentences d'amour prononces par les dames4--,nostradamus4 #de ,martial d',auvergne3 ,les ,arrts d',amour4 #df ,assises de ,jrusalem4 #dg ,conde3 ,historia de la dominacion de los ,arabes en ,espaa4 #dh ,ex ,arabibus versum simili sono concluendorum artem accepimus4 ,huet4 #di ,de orden del cardenal ,cisneros se abrazaron mas de ochenta mil volmenes como si no tuvieran mas libros que su ,alcoran4--,aledrs2 ,descripcion de ,espaa4 #ej 444 ,fue muy buen caballero1 y se decia de l que tenia las diez prendas que distinguen los nobles y generosos1 que consisten en bondad1 valentia1 caballeria1 gentileza1 poesia1 bien hablar1 fuerza1 destreza en la lanza1 en la espada y en el tirar del arco4 ,conde1 ,,ii41 #fc4 #ea ,dans les pays soumis l',islam on ne voit aucune femme publique4--,viardot3 ,hist4 des ,arabes4 #eb ,conde1 ,,ii41 #ic4 #ec ,escolano3 ,historia de ,valencia4 ,la lengua maestria de la ,espaa es la lemosina4 #ed ,con l'altre donne mia vista gabbate4 #ee ,epistol sine titulo4 #ef ,lobineau3 ,histoire de ,bretagne4 #eg ,manuscrit de la ,bibl4 nationale1 ,no4 #dic1 ,f4 #eh ,saltus3 ,the ,pomps of ,satan4 #ei ,michelet3 ,hist4 de ,france4 #fj ,luther3 ,tisch-,reden4 #fa ,castiglione3 ,il ,cortegiano4 ,ficino3 ,il comento sopra il convito4 #fb ,firenzuola3 ,ragionamenti4 #fc ,sauval3 ,mmoires ,historiques concernant les amours des rois de ,france4 #fd ,guiffrey3 ,lettres indites4 #fe ,tallemant des ,reaux3 ,historiettes4 #ff ,dupleix3 ,histoire de ,louis ,,xiii4 #fg ,pierre de l',estoile3 ,mmoires et journaux4 #fh ,macaulay3 ,history of ,england4 #fi ,saint-,victor3 ,l',espagne sous ,charles ,,ii4 #gj ,menzel3 ,germany4 #ga ,earl ,malmesbury's ,diaries and ,correspondence4 #gb ,scherr3 ,deutsche ,kulturgeschichte4 #gc ,hervey3 ,memoirs4 #gd ,goncourt3 ,la ,femme au dix-huitime sicle4 #ge ,il lui fit sept enfants sans lui dire un mot4--d',argenson4 #gf ,die ,welt als ,wille und ,vorstellung4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,passages in italics are indicated by underscore4 ,superscripted letters are shown in brackets4 ,some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed4 ,obvious errors have been silently closed1 while those requiring interpretation have been left open4 ,the following misprints have been corrected3 at corrected to as 7page #aca7 hubsands corrected to husbands 7page #afi7 ,wmen corrected to ,women 7page #bae7 it corrected to is 7page #bfj7 ,sapho corrected to ,sappho 7index7 at corrected to as 7index7 teh corrected to the 7index7 ,the following spellings have been standardized in the index3 ,helose standardized to ,hlose ,muhammedanism standardized to ,muhammadanism ,islam standardized to ,islm ,,heptameron standardized to ,,heptam,,ron ,,muhammed standardized to ,,muhammad ,,gerard standardized to ,g,,rard ,,scudery standardized to ,,scud,,ry ,mohammed standardized to ,muhammad