d years; that a dove contemplated herself with
her right eye and God with her left; that the cockatrice kills animals
by breathing upon them; that a viper fears to gaze upon a naked man;
that the nature of the wolf is such that if the man sees him first, the
wolf is deprived of force and vigor, but if the wolf first sees the man,
his power of speech will vanish in the twinkling of an eye.
Furthermore, there were curious ideas current concerning the mystic
power of precious stones, and many were the lapidaries which were
written for the edification of the credulous world. The diamond was held
in somewhat doubtful esteem, inasmuch as the French word _diamant_,
minus its first syllable, signified a "lover"; the beryl, of uncertain
hue, made sure the love of man and wife; and Marbodus is authority for
the statement that "the emerald is found only in a dry and uninhabitable
country, so bitterly cold that nothing can live there but the griffins
and the one-eyed arimasps that fight with them."

But the men and women of Provence could not forever stand with mouths
agape in eager wonder and expectation; these were tales of interest, no
doubt, and their truth was not seriously questioned, but this was not
life, and they knew it. There was red blood in their veins, the
heartbeat was quick and strong, and love had charmed them all. It must
not be supposed, however, that this was a weakly and effeminate age,
that all were carpet knights, and that strong and virile men no longer
could be found, for such was not the case. All was movement and action,
the interests of life were many, and warfare was the masculine vocation,
but in the very midst of all this turmoil and confusion there sprang up
a courtly ideal of love and a reverence for women which is almost
without parallel. The sanctity of the marriage tie had not been
respected during the feudal days, the union for life between men and
women had, generally, other causes than any mutual love which might
exist between the two, and the right of divorce was shamefully misused.
While in other parts of Europe women sought relief from this intolerable
condition of affairs by giving their love to Christ and by becoming His
bride in mystic marriage through the Church, in bright Provence, aided
by the order of chivalry, they were able to do something for the ideals
of love in a more definite way and to bring back to earth that
all-absorbing passion which women had been bestowing upon the Lord