Were it not so, the storehouses
of the soul would stand empty. New values are created, but the old
verities endure; as a rule they are relegated to a lower sphere, to
inferior social layers, but they persist and frequently merge into the
new. This law applies without exception to the relationship between the
sexes; we shall come upon it again and again. During the second stage,
characterised by the spiritual love foreign to the ancients, the purely
sexual impulse continued as an unimpaired force, but it had lost its
prestige and was not only regarded as ignoble and base, but also
stigmatised as sinful and demoniacal. The hearts of men were stirred by
new ideals.
A similar attitude, perhaps not quite so uncompromising because the
contrast was less pronounced, existed in classical Greece. The more
highly developed, self-conscious Hellenic genius, shrinking from
promiscuous intercourse, had systematised the instinct and set up a new
ideal in Platonic love. But below the surface raged the unbridled
natural force, and in perfect harmony with the Greek spirit--it was not
hysterically hidden, but assigned a place in the new system.
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