It is good that
religion should have its Werterism, in order that hereafter
Werterism may have its religion. But to my quotations--wherein the
reader will judge how difficult it has been for me to satisfy at
once the delicacy of the English mind and that historic truth which
the highest art demands.
'Erat inter eos honorabile connubium, et thorus immaculatus, non in
ardore libidmis, sed in conjugalis sanctimoniae castitate. For the
holy maiden, as soon as she was married, began to macerate her flesh
with many watchings, rising every night to pray; her husband
sometimes sleeping, sometimes conniving at her, often begging her,
in compassion to her delicacy, not to afflict herself indiscreetly,
often supporting her with his hand when she prayed.' ('And,' says
another of her biographers, 'being taught by her to pray with her.')
'Great truly, was the devotion of this young girl, who, rising from
the bed of her carnal husband, sought Christ, whom she loved as the
_true husband of her soul_.
'Nor certainly was there less faith in the husband who did not
oppose such and so great a wife, but rather favoured her, and
tempered her fervour with over-kind prudence.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220