Of all the rhetorical commonplaces in literature and conversation, none
is more frequently repeated than the assertion that Love, as depicted in
a thousand novels and poems every year, has existed at all times, and in
every country, immutable as the mountains and the stars.
Only a few months ago one of the leading German writers of the period,
Ernst Eckstein, wrote an essay in which he endeavoured to prove that not
only was Love as felt by the ancient Romans the same as modern Love, but
that it was identical with the modern sentiment even in its minutest
details and manifestations. He based this bold inference on the fact
that in Ovid’s _Ars Amoris_ directions are given to the men regarding
certain tricks of gallantry—such as dusting the adored one’s seat at the
circus, fanning her, applauding her favourites, and drinking from the
cup where it was touched by her lips.
Curious and interesting these hints are, no doubt. But a closer
examination of Roman literature and manners shows that Dr. Eckstein has
been guilty of the common blunder of generalising from a single
instance. Gallantry is one of the essential traits of modern Love; and
far from having been a common practice in ancient Rome, the interest of
Ovid’s remarks lies in the fact that they give us the _first_ instance
on record of an attempt at gallant behaviour on the part of the men; as
will be shown in detail in the chapter on Roman Love.
And as with Gallantry, so with the other traits which make up the group
of emotions known to us as Love. We look for them in vain among modern
savages, in vain among the ancient civilised nations. Romantic Love is a
modern sentiment, less than a thousand years old.
Conjugal Love is, indeed, often celebrated by Greek, Hebrew, and other
ancient writers, but regarding Romantic—or pre-matrimonial—Love (which
alone forms the theme of our novelists), they are silent. The Bible
takes no account of it, and although Greek literature and mythology seem
at first sight to abound in allusions to it, critical analysis shows
that the reference never is to Love as we understand it. Greek Love, as
will be shown hereafter, was a peculiar mixture of friendship and
passion, differing widely from the modern sentiment of Love.
It is because among the Romans the position of woman was somewhat more
elevated and modern than among the Greeks, that we find in Roman
literature a vague foreshadowing of _some_ of the elements of modern
Love.
In the Dark Ages there is a relapse. The germs of Love could not
flourish in a period when women were kept in brutal subjection by the
men, and their minds refused all nourishment and refinement. The
Troubadours of Italy and France proved useful champions of woman, as did
the German Minnesingers, by teaching the mediæval military man to look
upon her with sentiments of respect and adoration. Yet their conduct
rarely harmonised with their preaching; and the cause of Romantic Love
gained little by their poetic effusions, which were almost invariably
addressed to married women.
Not till Dante’s _Vita Nuova_ appeared was the gospel of modern Love—the
romantic adoration of a maiden by a youth—revealed for the first time in
definite language. Genius, however, is always in advance of its age, _in
emotions as well as in thoughts_; and the feelings experienced by Dante
were obviously not shared by his contemporaries, who found them too
subtle and sublimated for their comprehension. And, in fact, they _were_
too ethereal to quite correspond with reality. The strings of Dante’s
lyre were strung too high, and touched by his magic hand, gave forth
harmonic overtones too celestial for mundane ears to hear.
It remained for Shakspere to combine the idealism with the realism of
Love in proper proportions. The colours with which he painted the
passion and sentiment of modern Love are as fresh and as true to life as
on the day when they were first put on his canvas. Like Dante, however,
he was emotionally ahead of his time, as an examination of contemporary
literature in England and elsewhere shows. But within the last two
centuries Love has gradually, if slowly, assumed among all educated
people characteristics which formerly it possessed only in the minds of
a few isolated men of genius.
Before we proceed to prove all these assertions in detail, it will be
well to cast a brief glance at the analogies to human Love presented by
cosmic, chemical, and vegetal phenomena; as well as to distinguish
Romantic Love from other forms of human and animal affection. This will
enable us to comprehend more clearly what modern Love is, by making
apparent what it is not.