Duty and honour was what the world prevailed upon, in those days of old.

Now, we commonly prevail upon love.

But it is no foreign concept. Love has and continues to be one of the strongest forces guiding the human hand.

There are unhappy stories in the end, stories that began in tragedy and ended in grief.

But there are fleeting moments-moments too short to truly grasp-made evermore beautiful in their brevity.

Did not Ramesses build for his queen the most magnificent tomb, honoring her in death, and giving her the greatest honor of all: no mention of himself in her tomb?

Her statues were equal to him, as they were, in his eyes, equal in life.

Did he not say, she was "the one for whom the sun shines". In a brief expression, he showed the world-for centuries to come-how beloved she was to him.

"My love is unique — no one can rival her, for she is the most beautiful woman alive. Just by passing, she has stolen away my heart’." - Ramesses II, for his queen Nefertari

Was not the passionate love between Cleopatra and Mark Antony the very thing that destroyed a kingdom?

There is gentle love-love of calmness and peace-and there is love that in its power, takes and detroys all in its path.

Edward IV risked rebellion by making the daughter of a knight his Queen above all others. And was not Elizabeth Wydeville called a witch for the power she held due to Edward's love for her?

Henry and Elizabeth, scions of warring houses, of Lancaster and York, united and brought peace, and unto this union, found love and stability in each other.

Was not Anne the Greensleeves of Henry's heart? He sought her for a decade, and his passions are recorded well today. He changed his country for her, his church, and tore apart heaven and earth to make her his wife.

Did not Suleiman change the very structure of harems for his Roxelana, his love of "the joyful face". He made her his wife, breaking centuries of tradition, just for a life of love.

Selim followed his father's path in love, and made Nurbanu his Empress. As did Kosem, for not only did she hold the might of the Ottoman Empire in her grasp, but also the heart of Ahmed the Padisah.

And we look at the Taj Mahal, admire its marble walls and minarets, and know how it is the monument of love an Emperor bore his wife. Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal are names well-known, and so is the love they carried in their hearts.

There is love for but a period, for few years, and there is life-long love.

Oh, and so it was! For the Virgin Queen, she loved one above all others in her court. Robert Dudley was her dear friend and how she cared for him, and they for each other.

Was not Dante madly in love with the Beatrice he met as a child? She was his inspiration, his guiding light in the perils of hell.

And oh, how Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon loved, disobeying her royal brother's commands and bringing his wrath upon their heads. Married in secret, yet it seems theirs was a love that inspired their descendants.

For Mary and Katherine Grey did the same as their grandmother; married in secret men whom they were madly in love with, such that they faced the might of Queen Elizabeth's Tudor temper.

In these examples alone, one can see. Love is nothing modern. Love has always been passionate, and calming, and clandestine in its nature. It can rise up and make dynasties, or it can tear countries apart.

It can bring about unions between different families, or it can be the reason those families are torn apart.

So you see, love-or the commonness of it- is not a modern thing. Indeed, it is a mistake to think so.

"For loves lawe is out of reule.“

"It hath and schal ben everemor That love is maister wher he wile.“
-John Gower, Confessio Amantis, 1390