It would be a profitless task to hunt for the first traces of the
various elements of Love in the records of all the nations of antiquity;
for we meet almost everywhere with the same old story of Romantic Love
impeded in its growth or its very existence by the degraded position of
women, and by the absence of opportunities for courtship, and for free
matrimonial choice. A few remarks, however, must be made concerning Love
among the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and our Aryan
kinsfolk in India, before passing on to Mediæval and Modern Love.