subjected to irreparable mutilation. He tells the story with
perfect frankness and with hardly more than formal expressions of
compunction, and thereafter follows the narrative of their
separation, he to a monastery, she to a convent, and of his care
for her during her conventual life, or at least for that part of it
that had passed before the "History" was written. Through the whole
story it is Héloise who shines brightly as a curiously beautiful
personality, unselfish, self sacrificing, and almost virginal in
her purity in spite of her fault. One has for her only sympathy and
affection whereas it is difficult to feel either for Abélard in
spite of his belated efforts at rectifying his own sin and his
life-long devotion to his solitary wife in her hidden cloister.

The whole story was instantly known, Abélard's assailants were
punished in kind, .and he himself shortly resumed his work of
lecturing on philosophy and, a little later, on theology.
Apparently his reputation did not suffer in the least, nor did
hers; in fact her piety became almost a by-word and his name as a
great teacher increased by leaps and bounds: neither his offence
nor its punishment seemed to bring lasting discredit. This fact,
which seems strange to us, does not imply a lack of moral sense in
the community but rather the prevalence of standards alien to our
own. It is only since the advent of Puritanism that sexual sins
have been placed at the head of the whole category. During the
Middle Ages, as always under Christianity, the most deadly sins
were pride, covetousness, slander and anger. These implied inherent
moral depravity, but "illicit" love was love outside the law of
man, and did not of necessity and always involve moral guilt.
Christ was Himself very gentle and compassionate with the sins of
the flesh but relentless in the case of the greater sins of the