It's not quite fair to say these books shrug at the dying of the light, but they hardly rage either; instead, they wax philosophical, urging their audience to value love and seize the day.
The Decameron may ultimately value love and noble deeds above all else, but it nevertheless contains a great deal of sadism, mental cruelty and misogyny, all three of which combine in the controversial story of Griselda with which the book pointedly, yet ambiguously, ends.
Why then do we still bother with marriage at all? Gillard argues that we need to think beyond marriage to develop alternative institutions to value intimacy: "We could come up with other institutions that value partnerships, value love, value lifetime commitment".
"Like any other family we do value love and togetherness, we have hopes, dreams, concerns, worries as families across the country and we certainly hope the court issues a uniform marriage equality ruling so that families like ours receive equal protection under the law," he said.
Because Leos value love very, very highly.
Do you know anyone who does not value love?
