The Star in the West

THE VIRGIN 93 the other extremity we shall inevitably discover dis use ; polarity is universal ; hot , cold ; good , bad , etc. This duality is in reality only apparent , there being no definite line of division . So in Love , if one system of Ethics tends towards abuse , then we may be certain that the reverse will be uselessly sterile , and that the only possible system to follow will as usual lie directly between these extremes , and in this case , in the region of Use . If now , supposing at one end of our pole we find Lust seated crimson as a rose , then at the other we shall find Chastity white as a lily . This system of extremes has during the world's history exerted an overwhelming force on the will of man . Beholding a satyr he worshipped a virgin ; feel ing the ills of the flesh , he conceived the bliss of the soul . This diametric opposition , verging ever towards the extreme circumference of utility , has given and is giving birth to numerous world - wide systems and philosophies . The taboos of the South Seas , the restrictions laid on widow - remarriage in India , the purdah of the Mussulman , the veil of the Vestal , the numerous accounts of Virgin - mothers , all find their origin in this idea . The laws of the Vedas , of Manu , of Buddha , the codes of Confucius and Lao - Tze , the Talmudic books of the Jews , and the Koran of the Mohamedans , all maintain its direct influence and restrictions ; and in the West in the old mythologies of Teuton and Celt , in the old Norse sagas , more so in the Roman and Grecian law , and still more so on the Christian edicts of Constantine , Theodoric , Athalaric , and Jus tinian , and the innumerable codes of the Middle Ages : all of which growing one into the other have produced that truly revolting state of affairs belting the world