Famous Affinities of History is a unique classic in the literature of history. This work contains many romantic stories to tell of the part which women have played in determining the destinies of nations.Sometimes it is a woman's beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again it is another woman's rich possessions that incite invasion and lead to bloody wars. Marriages or dowries, or the refusal of marriages and the lack of dowries, inheritance through an heiress, the failure of a male succession-in these and in many other ways women have set their mark indelibly upon the trend of history.Classic Love Stories from History.THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, of all love stories that are known to human history, the love story of Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the most remarkable.Many men in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love of woman. Kings have incurred the odium of their people, and have cared nothing for it in comparison with the joys of sense that come from the lingering caresses and clinging kisses.Cold-blooded statesmen, such as Parnell, have lost the leadership of their party and have gone down in history with a clouded name because of the fascination exercised upon them by some woman, often far from beautiful, and yet possessing the mysterious power which makes the triumphs of statesmanship seem slight in comparison with the swiftly flying hours of pleasure.