"for a married man or husband who has been joined to a woman for some time it is easier. Indeed, lasting and constant love in matrimony is even very rare. Thus among the things that are approved by God and men alike Ecclesiasticus enumerates a man and his wife who agree well with each other (Ecelus. 25:1). The Germans also praise a happy marriage as the highest good. “Ah, this is a good marriage!” they exclaim. For Satan commonly sows the seeds of hatreds and quarrels by which hearts are torn apart, with the result that they pollute themselves with adultteries and promiscuous lusts. In the beginning, before they contract matrimony, they burn inflamed with mutual ardor; but after they have entered the matrimonial compact, the devil, who tries to quench their ardor in various ways, is soon present. He can blow hot and cold from the same mouth. And when a youth is aflame with love and lust, this is not simple and natural love but the breath of the devil. Thus Job says: “Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth” (Job 41:19). Accordingly, he blows into the blood of a harlot and a whoremonger and kindles a most vehement fire. On the other hand, he blows cold breath into the hearts of married people, and as a result of this the fervor of married love grows cold. Hence these and similar words of adulterers have arisen: “Wife is a name for respectability, but woman is a name for pleasure.” Among such people a wife’s passion for her husband ceases, and vice versa. For the devil blows a horrible cold and frost from the north. Accordingly, he who wants to take a wife should seek from God the grace to live with a woman in mutual love, in order that their hearts may not be drawn apart, and when concord remains between married people, that the devil may not butt in with his icicle. Then the blessing and gift of God are manifest."
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