[Ansteorra] St Valentine day lovers or love

[John Atkinson]

On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:30 PM,  <marlyna at aol.com> wrote:
> I have read that at one time marriage was outlawed because single men made better soldiers.  Valentine, a priest, secretly married couples.

That particular legend is an expansion of the Golden Legend's vita.
The law is unattested to in any credible source, and indeed shows a
lack of understanding of how the Empire's economy and military system
actually worked.  Emperors tended to encourage marriage as being more
stable and more likely to produce healthy children.  After all,
taxpayers don't spring from the ground full-formed, and neither do
Soldiers.

Chunk any website that references this alleged marriage ban
(occasionally attributed to Claudius II) in bin with the rest of
internet 'sources' of mythology.  It all dates back to the 15th
century at the earliest and is manufactured from whole cloth.  It does
not help that the reference cited is a greeting card company.

Ioannes Dalassenos
mka John M. Atkinson
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again. We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani