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diff --git a/old/60219-0.txt b/old/60219-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 37b767d..0000000 --- a/old/60219-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11024 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Sexes in Science and History, by Eliza Burt Gamble - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Sexes in Science and History - An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man - -Author: Eliza Burt Gamble - -Release Date: September 1, 2019 [EBook #60219] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEXES IN SCIENCE AND HISTORY *** - - - - -Produced by MWS, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - -Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations -in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other -spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. - -The precise location of footnote 256 is speculative since it is not -indicated in the original. - -Italics are represented thus _italic_. - - - - - The Sexes in Science - and - History - - An Inquiry into the Dogma of Woman’s - Inferiority to Man - - By - - Eliza Burt Gamble - - _A revised edition of “The Evolution of Woman”_ - - - G. P. Putnam’s Sons - New York and London - The Knickerbocker Press - 1916 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1893 - Under the title _The Evolution of Woman_, by - G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS - - COPYRIGHT, 1916 - for the revised edition, by - G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS - - The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - -PREFACE TO NEW EDITION - - -This volume is a revised edition of _The Evolution of Woman_ published -by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1894. - -In this later work much added evidence appears going to prove the -correctness of the theory advanced in the former work. In it the -subject of sex-development has been brought down to the present time -and in this later investigation it is found that each and every fact -connected with the biological and sociological development of the last -twenty years is in strict accord not only with the facts set forth in -_The Evolution of Woman_ but with the conclusions therein arrived at. - -In the concluding chapters of this volume the results of the separate -development of the two diverging lines of sex demarcation are set -forth. I have endeavoured to show that present conditions are the -legitimate outcome of the ascendency gained during the later ages of -human history by the egoistic or destructive agencies over the higher -or constructive forces developed in human nature. - - E. B. G. - - - - -PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION - - -After a somewhat careful study of written history, and after an -investigation extending over several years of all the accessible facts -relative to extant tribes representing the various stages of human -development, I had reached the conclusion, as early as the year 1882, -that the female organism is in no wise inferior to that of the male. -For some time, however, I was unable to find any detailed proof that -could consistently be employed to substantiate the correctness of this -hypothesis. - -In the year 1885, with no special object in view other than a desire -for information, I began a systematized investigation of the facts -which at that time had been established by naturalists relative to the -development of mankind from lower orders of life. It was not, however, -until the year 1886, after a careful reading of _The Descent of Man_, -by Mr. Darwin, that I first became impressed with the belief that -the theory of evolution, as enunciated by scientists, furnishes much -evidence going to show that the female among all the orders of life, -man included, represents a higher stage of development than the male. -Although at the time indicated, the belief that man has descended from -lower orders in the scale of being had been accepted by the leading -minds both in Europe and America, for reasons which have not been -explained, scientists, generally, seemed inclined to ignore certain -facts connected with this theory which tend to prove the superiority of -the female organism. - -Scarcely considering at the outset whether my task would eventually -take the form of a magazine article, or whether it would be extended to -the dimensions of a book, I set myself to work to show that some of the -conclusions of the savants regarding the subject of sex-development are -not in accord with their premises. - -While writing the first part of this volume, and while reasoning on the -facts established by scientists in connection with the observations -which have been made in these later years relative to the growth of -human society and the development of human institutions, it seemed -clear to me that the history of life on the earth presents an unbroken -chain of evidence going to prove the importance of the female; and, -so struck was I by the manner in which the facts of science and those -of history harmonize, that I decided to embrace within my work some -of the results of my former research. I therefore set about the task -of tracing, in a brief manner, the growth of the primary characters -observed in the two diverging sex-columns, according to the facts and -principles enunciated in the theory of natural development. - -It is not perhaps singular, during an age dominated by theological -dogmatism, and in which no definite knowledge relative to the -development of life on the earth had been gained, that man should -have regarded himself as an infinitely superior being. Neither is it -remarkable that woman, who was supposed to have appeared later on the -scene of action than did her male mate, and who owed her existence to -a surgical operation performed upon him, should have been regarded -simply as an appendage, a creature brought forth in response to the -requirements of the masculine nature. - -The above doctrines when enunciated by theologians need cause little -surprise, but with the dawn of a scientific age it might have been -expected that the prejudices resulting from those doctrines might -disappear. When, however, we turn to the most advanced scientific -writings of the present century, we find that the prejudices which -throughout thousands of years have been gathering strength are by no -means eradicated, and any discussion of the sex question is still -rare in which the effects of these prejudices may not be traced. Even -Mr. Darwin, notwithstanding his great breadth of mental vision and -the important work which he accomplished in the direction of original -inquiry, whenever he had occasion to touch on the mental capacities -of women, or more particularly on the relative capacities of the -sexes, manifested the same spirit which characterizes the efforts -of an earlier age; and throughout his entire investigation of the -human species, his ability to ignore certain facts which he himself -adduced, and which all along the line of development tend to prove the -superiority of the female, is truly remarkable. - -We usually judge of a man’s fitness to assume the rôle of an original -investigator in any branch of human knowledge, by noting his powers -of observation and generalization, and by observing his capacity to -perceive connections between closely related facts; also, by tracing -the various processes by which he arrives at his conclusions. The -ability, however, to collect facts, and the power to generalize and -draw conclusions from them, avail little, when brought into direct -opposition to deeply rooted prejudices. - -The indications are strong that the time has at length arrived when -the current opinions concerning sex capacity and endowment demand a -revision, and when nothing short of scientific deductions, untainted by -the prejudices and dogmatic assumptions of the past, will be accepted. - -As has been stated, the object of this volume is to set forth the -principal data brought forward by naturalists bearing on the subject -of the origin and development of the two lines of sexual demarcation, -and by means of the facts observed by explorers among peoples in the -various stages of development, to trace, so far as possible, the -effect of such differentiation upon the individual, and upon the -subsequent growth of human society. - - E. B. G. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION iii - - PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION v - - - PART I - - _THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION_ - - CHAPTER - - I.—DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORGANISM 3 - - II.—THE ORIGIN OF SEX DIFFERENCES 14 - - III.—MALE ORGANIC DEFECTS 35 - - IV.—THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS AND THE MORAL SENSE 63 - - V.—THE SUPREMACY OF THE MALE 74 - - - PART II - - _PREHISTORIC SOCIETY_ - - I.—METHOD OF INVESTIGATION 95 - - II.—THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES AMONG EARLY MANKIND 104 - - III.—THE GENS WOMEN UNDER GENTILE INSTITUTIONS 123 - - IV.—THE ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE 159 - - V.—THE MOTHER-RIGHT 203 - - VI.—THEORIES TO EXPLAIN WIFE-CAPTURE 215 - - - PART III - - _EARLY HISTORIC SOCIETY_ - - I.—EARLY HISTORIC SOCIETY FOUNDED ON THE GENS 243 - - II.—WOMEN IN EARLY HISTORIC TIMES 269 - - III.—ANCIENT SPARTA 285 - - IV.—ATHENIAN WOMEN 318 - - V.—ROMAN LAW, ROMAN WOMEN, AND CHRISTIANITY 347 - - VI.—THE RENAISSANCE 367 - - VII.—CONCLUSION 380 - - INDEX 403 - - - - - The Sexes in Science and History - - - - - PART I - - The Theory of Evolution - - - - -CHAPTER I - -DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORGANISM - - -Sex is not only the basic fact underlying physical life but it is also -the fundamental principle involved in the origin and development of -religion. Throughout the history of mankind, the God-idea has ever -been, male or female, according to the relative importance of the two -sex principles in human affairs. - -Scientists declare that they are now able to trace the development -of the two diverging lines of sex-demarcation from the time of their -separation, or from the time when these principles were confined within -one and the same individual. In order to understand the origin of sex, -it becomes necessary to recall, briefly, the theory of the development -of life on the earth as set forth by the savants. - -As science deals only with matter, a mechanical theory of the universe -is inevitable. As science is wholly materialistic, it is perfectly -consistent in its declaration that the senses and the intellect -constitute the only means whereby truth may be discovered. Modern -philosophy, on the other hand, which deals less with matter itself -than with the causes which underlie the development of matter, affirms -that a character has been developed in human beings which in its -capacity to discern truth, far transcends the intellect. That character -is intuition. But as we are dealing only with scientific observations, -philosophical speculations do not here concern us. - - The fundamental idea, which must necessarily lie at the bottom of all - natural theories of development, is that of a gradual development of - all (even the most perfect) organisms out of a single, or out of a - very few, quite simple, and quite imperfect original beings, which - came into existence, not by supernatural creation, but by spontaneous - generation.[1] - -[1] Haeckel, _History of Creation_, 1884, vol. i., p. 75. - -According to the theory of evolution as elaborated by scientists, the -history of man begins with small animated particles, or Monera, which -appeared in the primeval sea. These marine specks were albuminous -compounds of carbon, generated by the sun’s heat, which made their -appearance as soon as the mists which enveloped the earth were -sufficiently cleared away to permit the rays of the sun to penetrate -them and reach the surface of the globe. Concerning the origin of -the principle of life which these particles contained, or regarding -the development of organic bodies from inorganic substances, the -more timid among naturalists declare that in the present state of -human knowledge it is impossible to know anything, while others of -them, more bold, or more confident of the latent powers of the human -intellect, after having elaborated a natural or mechanical explanation -for the development of all organic forms, are not disposed to accept -a supernatural theory for the beginning of life. For example, since -organic structures represent the development of matter according to -laws governing the chemical, molecular, and physical forces inherent -in it, it is believed that the gulf separating organic and inorganic -substances is not so difficult to span as has hitherto been supposed. -Among those who hold this view may be ranked the celebrated naturalist, -Ernst Haeckel. - -Regarding the phenomena of life this writer observes: “We can -demonstrate the infinitely manifold and complicated physical and -chemical properties of the albuminous bodies to be the real cause -of organic or vital phenomena.”[2] Indeed, in whatever manner the -vital force within them originated, naturalists agree that from these -particles have been derived all the forms, both animal and vegetable, -which have ever existed upon the earth. - -[2] _History of Creation_, vol. i., p. 331. - -As speculations concerning the origin of matter lie without the -domain of natural or scientific inquiry, they form no part of the -investigations of the naturalist. So far as is known, matter is -eternal, and all that may be learned concerning it must be gleaned -by observing the changes, chemical and molecular, through which it -is manifested. By those who have observed the laws which govern the -manifold changes in matter, the fact is declared that the various -manifestations in form and substance constitute the only creation -of which we may have any knowledge; and, moreover, that the genesis -of existence is going on as actively in our time as at any previous -period in the history of matter. So far as human knowledge extends, no -particle of matter has ever been created and none ever destroyed. This -continuous process of transmutation of substance and change of form, in -other words the phenomena designated Life, may have been in operation -during all the past, and may continue forever. - -As all speculations concerning the origin of matter have been -unavailing, so all attempts to solve the problem of the origin of -life have proved futile. The experiments recently carried on in -the Rockefeller Institute, in which by means of chemical processes -detached organs from the bodies of animals have been made to perform -their normal functions, are interesting and instructive, but these -experiments furnish no clue to the origin of the force which animates -living organic matter. Why the nucleated cells which we call a heart -should pulsate whilst those which we call a liver should secrete bile, -nobody knows. - -That all life on the earth has been derived from one, or at most from a -few original forms, is said to be proved by ontogeny, or the history -of the germ, which in its development passes through a number of the -forms which mark the ascending scale of life. - -Through the study of comparative anatomy, the fact has been discovered -that the individuals composing the various orders of the great -vertebrate series are all moulded “on the same general plan”; that up -to a certain stage in the development of the several germs—for instance -those of the man, the ape, the horse, the dog, etc.,—they are not -distinguishable the one from the other, and that it is only at a later -stage of development that they take on the peculiarities belonging to -their own special kind. The number and variety of forms which appear -in the animal and vegetable world make it difficult to conceive of the -idea that all have sprung from one, or at most from a few original -types, yet the chain of evidence in support of this theory seems quite -complete. - -Natural Selection, by which it is demonstrated that organized matter -must move forward simply through the chemical and physical forces -inherent in it, furnishes a key to all the phenomena of life, both -animal and vegetable, which have ever appeared on the earth. Natural -Selection, we are told, depends for its operation on the interaction of -two processes or agencies, namely, Inheritance and Adaptation. Through -Inheritance germs receive from their parents a plastic form which, as -all development is a function of external physical conditions, is -itself nothing more than a “manifestation of the remains of antecedent -physical impressions.” This inherited form causes them to go forward -in a predestined course, while through Adaptation there is a constant -tendency to change that predestined form imposed upon them by their -parents to one better suited to their changing physical conditions. - -According to the theory of Natural Selection, organic structures vary -to meet the requirements of changed conditions; or, when existing -circumstances are such that they are forced into new and unusual modes -of life, they branch off into different directions; thus new varieties -are formed, or possibly new species. Such portions of a group, however, -as remain sheltered from conditions unsuited to their present line -of development, retain their ancient forms. This change of structure -by which organisms or portions of organic bodies are modified so as -to perform more complicated functions, or those better suited to -their environment, is denominated differentiation; hence the degree -of differentiation attained by a structure determines the stage of -development which it has reached. - -But to return to our single-celled animal—the simplest form of life -on the earth. Except that by the action of the surrounding forces its -surface has become somewhat hardened, this little animal is the same -throughout, in other words, it is homogeneous. The hardening of the -outer portion constitutes the first process of differentiation, and -therefore the first step in the order of progress. - -Comparing the simplest form of life, the little carbon-sac found in the -sea, with the germ from which animals and plants are derived, Haeckel -says: - - Originally every organic cell is only a single globule of mucus, like - a Moneron, but differing from it in the fact that the homogeneous - albuminous substance has separated itself into two different parts, a - firmer albuminous body, the cell-kernel (nucleus), and an external, - softer albuminous body, the cell-substance or body (protoplasma).[3] - -[3] _History of Creation_, 1884, vol. i., p. 187. - -From its body, which, when at rest, is nearly spherical, it is almost -constantly casting forth certain “finger-like processes” which are -as quickly withdrawn, only to reappear on some other portion of its -surface. The small particles of albuminous matter with which it -comes in contact adhere to it, or are drawn into its semi-fluid body -by displacement of the several albuminous particles of which it is -composed, and are there digested, being “absorbed by simple diffusion.” -Its only activity consists in supplying itself with nourishment, and -even during this process it is said to display a negative or passive -quality rather than real action. The particles absorbed that are not -assimilated, are expelled through the surface of the body in the same -manner as they are taken into it. - -At first, we are told, our animal is only a simple cell, in fact that -it is not a perfect cell, for as yet the cell-kernel or nucleus has -not been separated from the cell-substance or protoplasm. When its -limit of size has been reached it multiplies by self-division, or by -simply breaking into parts, each part performing the same functions -of nutrition and propagation as its predecessor. Later, however, when -a parent cell bursts, the newly developed cells no longer separate -from it, but, by cohering to it and to each other, form a cluster of -nucleated cells, while around this aggregation of units is formed a -wall. Still its food is absorbed. Subsequently, however, a mouth and -prehensile organs for seizing its food are developed, and the divisions -between the cells are converted into channels or pipes through which -nourishment is conveyed to every part of the body. In process of time, -limbs for locomotion appear, together with bones for levers, and -muscles for moving them. Finally, a brain and a heart are evolved, and -although at first the heart appears as only a simple pulsating vessel, -later this animal finds itself the possessor of a perfect system of -digestion, circulation, and excretion, by which food, after having been -changed into blood and aërated or purified by processes carried on in -the system, is pumped to every part of the body. With the formation -of different chemical combinations, and the development, through -increasing specialization of the various kinds of tissues, and finally -of the various organs, that intimate relationship observed between -the parts in homogeneous and less differentiated structures no longer -exists; hence, in response to the demand for communication between -the various organs, numberless threads or fibres begin to stretch -themselves through the muscles, and collecting in knots or centres in -the brain and spine, establish instantaneous communication between the -different parts, and convey sensation and feeling throughout the entire -organism. - -A division of labour has now been established, and each organ, being -in working order and fashioned for its own special use, performs its -separate functions independently, although its activity is co-ordinated -with that of all other organs in the structure. - -This far in the history of life on the earth sex has not been -developed, or, more correctly stated, as the two sexes have not been -separated, our animal is still androgynous or hermaphrodite—the -reproductive functions being confined in one and the same individual. -Within this little primeval animal, the progenitor of the human race, -lay not only all the possibilities which have thus far been realized by -mankind, but within it were embodied also the “promise and potency” of -all that progress which is yet to come, and of which man himself, in -his present undeveloped state, may have only a dim foreshadowing. - -From the time of the appearance of life on the earth to that of the -separation of the sexes, myriads of centuries may have intervened. -Only when through a division of labour these elements became detached, -and the special functions of each were confided to two distinct and -separate individuals, did the independent history of the female and -male sexes begin. - -No fact is more patent, at the present time, than that sex constitutes -the underlying principle throughout nature. Although it may not be -said of the simplest forms of life that sexual difference has been -established, yet we are assured that among the ciliated Infusorians -“male and female nuclear elements have been distinguished.” This -primitive condition, however, is supposed to be rather a state -antecedent to sex than a union of sexes in one organism. Among all the -higher orders of life, whether animal or vegetable, the sex elements, -female and male, are recognized as the two great factors in creation. - -As, among all the animals in which there has been a separation of -sexes, there has been established a division of labour, the consequent -specialization of organs and the differentiation of parts form the -true line of demarcation in the march of the two diverging columns. -Doubtless in the future, when our knowledge of the history of life on -the earth has become more extended, it will be found that it is only -by tracing the processes of differentiation throughout the two entire -lines of development that we may hope to unravel all the mysteries -bound up in the problem of sex, or to understand the fundamental -differences in character and constitution caused by this early division -of labour. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE ORIGIN OF SEX DIFFERENCES - - -We have observed that, according to naturalists, the earliest forms of -life which appeared on the earth were androgynous or hermaphrodite, -that the two elements necessary for reproduction were originally -confined within one and the same individual within which were carried -on all the functions of reproduction. Later, however, a division of -labour arose, and these two original functions became detached, after -which time the reproductive processes were carried on only through the -commingling of elements prepared by, or developed within, two separate -and distinct individuals. - -As the belief is entertained by our guides in this matter that -greater differentiation, or specialization of parts, denotes higher -organization, it is believed that the division of labour by which the -germ is prepared by one individual and the sperm by another individual, -as is the case at the present time with all the higher orders of life, -constitutes an important step in the line of progress. Here this line -of argument ceases, and, until very recent times, concerning the -course of development followed by each sex little has been heard. This -silence on a subject of such vital importance to the student of biology -is not perhaps difficult to understand; the conclusion, however, -is unavoidable that the individual which must nourish and protect -the germ, and by processes carried on within her own body provide -nourishment for the young during its prenatal existence, and sometimes -for years after birth, must have the more highly specialized organism, -and must, therefore, represent the higher stage of development. Indeed, -it is admitted by scientists that the advance from the egg-layers to -the milk-givers indicates one of the most important steps in the entire -line of development; and yet the peculiar specialization of structure -necessary for its accomplishment was for the most part carried on -within the female organism. - -Concerning the origin of sex in the individual organism little seems -to be known; as a result, however, of observations on the development -of the reproductive organs in the higher vertebrates, and especially -in birds, it is believed that there exists a “strict parallelism -between the individual and the racial history,”—that the three main -stages in the development of the chick, viz.: (1) germi-parity, (2) -hermaphroditism, and (3) differentiated unisexuality, correspond to the -three great steps of historic evolution. - -By a careful investigation of the facts connected with the development -of unisexual forms, we are enabled to discover the early beginnings of -the characteristics which distinguish the two sexes throughout their -entire course. We are told that with animals which have their sexes -separate, in addition to strictly sexual difference - - the male possesses certain organs of sense or locomotion, of which the - female is quite destitute, or has them more highly developed, in order - that he may readily find or reach her; or again the male has special - organs of prehension for holding her securely. These latter organs, of - infinitely diversified kinds, graduate into those which are commonly - ranked as primary.[4] - -[4] Darwin, _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 207. - -The female, on the other hand, in addition to those sexual characters -which are strictly primary, has “organs for the nourishment or -protection of her young, such as the mammary glands of mammals, and -the abdominal sacks of the marsupials.” In addition to these she is -frequently provided with organs for the defence of the community; -for instance, “the females of most bees are provided with a special -apparatus for collecting and carrying pollen, and their ovipositor is -modified into a sting for the defence of the larvæ and the community.” -We are assured by Mr. Darwin that many similar cases could be given.[5] - -[5] _Ibid._, p. 208. - -Here, then, with almost the first or primary step toward sexual -differentiation, may be observed the establishment of that peculiar -bias which upon investigation will be seen to extend all along the two -lines of sexual demarcation, and which (to anticipate the conclusions -of our argument), as soon as mankind is reached, appears in the male as -extreme egoism or selfishness, and in the female as altruism or care -for other individuals outside of self. - -We are assured, however, that it is not alone to the reproductive -organs and their functions that we are to look for the chief -differences in the constitution and character of the sexes. Neither is -it entirely to Natural Selection that we are to seek for the causes -which underlie the specialization peculiar to the two diverging lines -of sexual demarcation; in addition to primary sexual divergences, there -are also “secondary sexual characters” which are of great importance to -their possessor. Indeed, from the prominence given to Sexual Selection -by Mr. Darwin, it would seem that it played a part in the development -of males quite equal to that of Natural Selection itself. - -Now the difference between Natural Selection and Sexual Selection is -that, whereas, in the former, characters are developed and preserved -which are of use to the individual in overcoming the unfavourable -conditions of environment, by the latter, only those characters are -acquired and preserved which assist the individual in overcoming the -obstacles to reproduction; or, to use Mr. Darwin’s own language: - - [Sexual Selection] depends on the advantage which certain individuals - have over others of the same sex and species solely in respect of - reproduction.... [Where] the males have acquired their present - structure, not from being better fitted to survive in the struggle - of existence, but from having gained an advantage over other males, - and from having transmitted this advantage to their male offspring - alone, sexual selection must here have come into action.... A slight - degree of variability leading to some advantage, however slight, - in reiterated deadly contests would suffice for the work of sexual - selection; and it is certain that secondary sexual characters are - eminently variable. Just as man can give beauty, according to his - standard of taste, to his male poultry, or more strictly can modify - the beauty originally acquired by the parent species, can give to - the Sebright bantam a new and elegant plumage, an erect and peculiar - carriage—so it appears the female birds in a state of nature, have by - a long selection of the more attractive males, added to their beauty - or other attractive qualities.[6] - -[6] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, pp. 209-211. - -Thus, according to Mr. Darwin, it is through a long selection by -females of the more attractive males that the present structure of the -latter has been acquired. If, in a short time, a man can give elegant -carriage and beauty to his bantams, according to his standard of -beauty, he can see no reason to doubt that female birds, by selecting -during thousands of generations the most melodious or beautiful males, -according to their standard of beauty, might produce a marked effect. -He says: - - To sum up on the means through which, as far as we can judge, sexual - selection has led to the development of secondary sexual characters. - It has been shown that the largest number of vigorous offspring will - be reared from the pairing of the strongest and best armed males, - victorious in contests over other males, with the most vigorous and - best-nourished females, which are the first to breed in the spring. If - such females select the more attractive, and at the same time vigorous - males, they will rear a larger number of offspring than the retarded - females, which must pair with the less vigorous and less attractive - males.... The advantage thus gained by the more vigorous pairs in - rearing a larger number of offspring has apparently sufficed to render - sexual selection efficient.[7] - -[7] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 220. - -Although the belief is common among naturalists that the appearance of -secondary sexual characters belonging to males is greatly influenced -by female choice, a majority of writers upon this subject are not -in sympathy with Mr. Darwin’s theory concerning the origin of these -variations. It is believed by them that Sexual Selection “may account -for the perfecting, but not for the origin, of these characters.” - -It is useless, however, to rehearse the opinions of the various writers -who have dealt with this subject. It is perhaps sufficient to state -that the great beauty of males has usually been accepted as evidence -of their superiority over the females. - -In his chapter, “The Male generally more Modified than the Female,” -Mr. Darwin remarks: “Appearances would indicate that not the male -which is most attractive to the female is chosen, but the one which -is least distasteful.” He says that the aversion of female birds for -certain males renders the season of courtship one of great anxiety and -discomfiture, not only to many of the more poorly endowed aspirants, -but to those also which are more magnificently attired—that the pairing -ground becomes a field of battle, upon which, while parading their -charms to the best advantage, is sacrificed much of the gorgeous -plumage of the contestants. On the wooing ground are displayed -for the admiration and approval of the females, all the physical -attractions of the males, as well as the mental characters correlated -with them, namely, courage, and pugnacity or perseverance. According -to Mr. Darwin, with the exception of vanity, no other quality is in -any considerable degree manifested by male birds, but to such an -extent has love of display been developed in many of them, notably -the pea-fowl, that, “in the absence of females of his own species, -he will show off his finery before poultry and even pigs.” We are -assured that the higher we ascend in the animal kingdom the more -frequent and more violent become two desires in the male: “the desire -of appearing beautiful, and that of driving away rivals.” According -to Mr. Darwin’s theory of development, because of the indifference -of the female among the lower orders of life to the processes of -courtship, it has been necessary for the male to expend much energy -or vital force in searching for her—in contending with his rivals for -possession of her person, and in performing various acts to please -her and secure her favours. While excessive eagerness in courtship is -the one all-absorbing character of male fishes, birds, and mammals, -we are assured that with the females, pairing is not only a matter of -indifference, but that courtship is actually distasteful to them, and, -therefore, that the former must resort to the various means referred to -in order to induce the latter to submit to their advances. - -We are informed that the female is sometimes charmed through the power -of song; that at other times she is captivated by the diversified -means which have been acquired by male insects and birds for producing -various sounds resembling those proceeding from certain kinds of -musical instruments; and not unfrequently she is won by means of -antics or love dances performed on the ground or in the air. On the -pairing-ground, combs, wattles, elongated plumes, top-knots, and -fancy-coloured feathers are paraded for the admiration and approval of -the females. Led by the all-absorbing instinct of desire, - - the males display their charms with elaborate care and to the best - effect; and this is done in the presence of the females.... To suppose - that the females do not appreciate the beauty of the males, is to - admit that their splendid decorations, and all their pomp and display, - are useless; and this is incredible.[8] - -[8] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 496. - -Topknots, gaudy feathers, elongated plumes among birds, huge tusks, -horns, etc., among mammals, the mane of the lion, and the beard of -man, may be noticed among the many characters which have been acquired -through Sexual Selection. - -Although the immense teeth, tusks, horns, and various other weapons or -appendages which ornament the males of many species of mammals, have -all been developed through Sexual Selection for contending with their -rivals for the favours of the females, it is observed that the “most -pugnacious and best armed males seldom depend for success on their -ability to drive away or kill their rivals,” but that their special aim -is to “charm the female.” Mr. Darwin quotes from a “good observer,” who -believes that the battles of male birds “are all a sham, performed to -show themselves to the greatest advantage before the admiring females -who assemble around.”[9] - -[9] _Ibid._, p. 367. - -In _The Descent of Man_ is quoted the following from Mr. Belt, who, -after describing the beauty of the _Florisuga mellivora_, says: - - I have seen the female sitting on a branch, and two males displaying - their charms in front of her. One would shoot up like a rocket, then - suddenly expanding the snow-white tail, like an inverted parachute, - slowly descend in front of her, turning round gradually to show off - back and front.... The expanded white tail covered more space than - all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand feature in the - performance. Whilst one male was descending, the other would shoot up - and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in a fight - between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or the most - pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not.[10] - -[10] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 443. - -Audubon, who spent a long life in observing birds, has no doubt that -the female deliberately chooses her mate. Of the woodpecker he says -the hen is followed by half a dozen suitors, who continue performing -strange antics “until a marked preference is shown for one.” Of the -red-winged starling it is said that she is pursued by several males -“until, becoming fatigued, she alights, receives their addresses, and -soon makes a choice.”[11] Mr. Darwin quotes further from Audubon, who -says that among the Virginia goat-suckers, no sooner has the female -“made her choice than her approved gives chase to all intruders, and -drives them beyond his dominions.” - -[11] _Ibid._, p. 416. - -It is said that among mammals the male depends almost entirely upon -his strength and courage to “charm the female.” With reference to the -struggles between animals for the possession of the females, Mr. Darwin -says: - - This fact is so notorious that it would be superfluous to give - instances. Hence the females have the opportunity of selecting one - out of several males, on the supposition that their mental capacity - suffices for the exertion of a choice.[12] - -[12] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 212. - -We are assured that among nearly all the lower orders of life the -female exhibits a marked preference for certain individuals, and that -an equal degree of repugnance is manifested towards others, but that -the male, whose predominant character is desire, “is ready to pair -with any female.” On this subject Mr. Darwin remarks: “The general -impression seems to be that the male accepts any female.” He says it -frequently occurs that while two males are fighting together to win -the favours of a female, she goes away with a third for whom she has -a preference. Mr. Darwin quotes from Captain Bryant, who says of a -certain species of seals: - - Many of the females on their arrival at the island where they breed, - appear desirous of returning to some particular male, and frequently - climb the outlying rock to overlook the rookeries, calling out and - listening as if for a familiar voice. Then changing to another place - they do the same again.[13] - -[13] _Ibid._, p. 523. - -Little seems to be known of the courtship of animals in a state of -nature. Among domesticated species, however, many observations have -been made by breeders going to prove that the female exerts a choice -in pairing. Concerning dogs, Mr. Darwin quotes from Mr. Mayhew, who -says: “The females are able to bestow their affections; and tender -recollections are as potent over them as they are known to be in other -cases where higher animals are concerned.” Of the affection of female -dogs for certain males the same writer says it “becomes of more than -romantic endurance,” that they manifest a “devotion which no time can -afterwards subdue.” - -On concluding his chapter on choice in pairing among quadrupeds, Mr. -Darwin remarks: - - It is improbable that the unions of quadrupeds in a state of nature - should be left to mere chance. It is much more probable that the - females are allured or excited by particular males, who possess - certain characters in a higher degree than other males.[14] - -[14] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 525. - -As the female among birds selects her partner, he thinks it would be a -strange anomaly if among quadrupeds, which stand higher in the scale -and have higher mental powers, she did not also exert a choice.[15] - -[15] It should be noted, in passing, that, according to this reasoning, -the female of the human species would also be likely to exercise her -will power in the selection of a mate. Evidences are indeed at hand -going to prove that until a comparatively recent time in the history -of the human race women controlled the sexual relation. As will be -shown in Part II., during the primitive ages of human existence the -position of woman was much higher than was that occupied by man. During -the earlier ages, and under more natural conditions, women selected -their mates, and among the human species, as among the lower orders, it -became necessary for the male to please the female if he would win her -favours; hence, through Sexual Selection, it is believed, was acquired -the greater size of man. - -Because of the indifference of the female to the attentions of the -male, in order to carry on the processes of reproduction, it was -necessary among the lower orders that the male become eager in his -pursuit of her, and as a result of this eagerness excessive passion -was developed in him. As the most eager would be the most successful -in propagating, they would leave the greatest number of offspring -to inherit their characters—namely, in males, passion and pugnacity -correlated with the physical qualities acquired through Sexual -Selection. - -On the subject of the acquirement of secondary sexual characters, Mr. -Darwin says: “The great eagerness of the males has thus indirectly led -to their much more frequently developing secondary sexual characters.” -Indeed, by all naturalists, the fact is recognized that the appearance -of these characters is closely connected with the reproductive function. - -Later experiments have confirmed the observations of Mr. Darwin -concerning the intelligence of the female among the lower orders of -life. Among these experiments are those recently made by Professor -Harper, of the Department of Biology, in the Northwestern University. -Professor Harper announces that in all the experiments conducted by -him, the female animal showed a greater degree of perception, or -intelligence, than the male. He says: “In all my experiments, I found -that the female displayed a remarkable quickness in grasping ideas -which the male after numerous sluggish efforts finally accomplished.” -Professor Harper declared that these facts regarding animals apply with -equal force to human beings. - -Regarding the power of the female to appreciate the beauty of the -males, Mr. Darwin says: - - No doubt this implies powers of discrimination and taste on the part - of the female which will at first appear extremely improbable; but by - the facts to be adduced hereafter, I hope to be able to show that the - females actually have these powers.[16] - -[16] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 211. - -In commenting on the fact that the female Argus pheasant appreciates -the exquisite shading of the ball-and-socket ornaments, and the elegant -patterns on the wing-feathers of the male, Mr. Darwin writes: - - He who thinks that the male was created as he now exists, must admit - that the great plumes which prevent the wings from being used for - flight, and which are displayed at courtship and at no other time, - in a manner quite peculiar to this species, were given to him as - ornaments. If so he must likewise admit that the female was created - and endowed with the capacity for appreciating such ornaments. Every - one who admits the principle of evolution, and yet feels great - difficulty in believing the high taste implied by the beauty of the - males, and which generally coincides with our own standard, should - reflect that the nerve cells of the brain in the highest as in the - lowest members of the vertebrate series are derived from those of the - common progenitor of this great kingdom. - -In referring to the remarkable patterns displayed on the male Argus -pheasant, designs which have been developed through Sexual Selection, -Mr. Darwin says: - - Many will declare that it is utterly incredible that a female bird - should be able to appreciate fine shading and exquisite patterns. It - is undoubtedly a marvellous fact that she should possess this almost - human degree of taste. He who thinks that he can safely gauge the - discrimination and taste of the lower animals may deny that the female - Argus pheasant can appreciate such refined beauty; but he will then - be compelled to admit that the extraordinary attitudes assumed by the - male during the act of courtship, by which the wonderful beauty of his - plumage is fully displayed, are purposeless; and this is a conclusion - which I, for one, will never admit.[17] - -[17] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 400. - -Here, then, in the female bird we see developed in a remarkable degree -the power of discrimination, the exercise of taste, a sense of beauty, -and the ability to choose—qualities which the facts brought forward by -scientists show conclusively to have been acquired by the female and by -her transmitted to her offspring. Regarding males, outside the instinct -for self-preservation, which, by the way, is often overshadowed by -their great sexual eagerness, no distinguishing characters have -been acquired and transmitted, other than those which have been the -result of passion, namely, pugnacity and perseverance. This excessive -eagerness which prompts them to parade their charms whenever such -display is likely to aid them in the gratification of their desires is -developed only in the male line. - -According to the law of heredity, those modifications of the male -which have been the result of Sexual Selection appear only in the sex -in which they originated. It will be well for us to remember that -according to Mr. Darwin’s theory of pangenesis, sexes do not differ -much in constitution before the power of reproduction is reached, but -that after this time the undeveloped atoms or - - gemmules which are cast off from each varying part in the one sex - would be much more likely to possess the proper affinities for uniting - with the tissues of the same sex, and thus becoming developed, than - with those of the opposite sex.[18] - -[18] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 232. - -We are given to understand that secondary sexual characters are -extremely variable, also that variability denotes low organization; -secondary sexual characters indicate that the various organs of the -structure have not become specialized for the performance of their -legitimate functions. Highly specialized forms are not variable. - -To sum up the argument thus far: It has been observed that through -the separation of the sexes, and the consequent division of labour, -there have been established two diverging lines of development. While -the male pheasant has been inheriting from his male progenitors -fantastic ball-and-socket ornaments, and huge wings which are utterly -useless for their legitimate purpose, the female, in the meantime, -has been receiving as her inheritance only those peculiarities of -structure which tend toward uninterrupted development. Within her -have been stored or conserved all the gain which has been effected -through Natural Selection, and as a result of greater specialization -of parts, there have been developed certain peculiarities in her brain -nerve-cells, by which she is enabled to exercise functions requiring a -considerable degree of intelligence. - -Although this power of choice, which we are given to understand -is exercised by the female throughout the various departments of -the vertebrate kingdom (evidences of it having been observed among -creatures even as low in the organic scale as fishes), implies a degree -of intelligence far in advance of that manifested by males, it is -admitted that the qualities which bespeak this superiority, namely, the -power to exercise taste and discrimination, constitute a “law almost as -general as the eagerness of the male.”[19] - -[19] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 222. - -We are assured by Mr. Darwin that in the economy of nature those -ornaments of the male Argus pheasant which serve no other purpose -than to please the female and secure her favours, and which have -been acquired at great expense of vital force, are of the “highest -importance to him,” and that his success in captivating the female -“has more than compensated him for his greatly impeded power of -flight and his lessened capacity for running.” Yet it is plain that -his compensation for this immense expenditure of vital force has not -lain in the direction of higher specialization, but that while by the -acquirement of these characters the processes of reproduction have -doubtless been aided, the injury to the male constitution has been deep -and lasting. - -Upon this subject Mr. Darwin himself says: - - The development, however, of certain structures—of the horns, for - instance, in certain stags—has been carried to a wonderful extreme; - and in some cases to an extreme which, as far as the general - conditions of life are concerned, must be slightly injurious to the - male.[20] - -[20] _Ibid._, p. 227. - -He thinks, however, that - - Natural Selection will determine that such characters shall not be - acquired by the victorious males if they would be highly injurious, - either by expending too much of their vital powers or by exposing them - to any great danger. - -According to Mr. Darwin, as these characters enable them to leave a -more numerous progeny, their advantages are in the long run greater -than those derived from more perfect adaptation to their conditions of -life. It is plain, however, that this advantage, although it enables -them to gratify their desires, and at the same time to perpetuate their -species, does not imply higher development for the male organism. - -We have been assured by our guides in these matters that in the -processes of evolution there is no continuous or unbroken chain of -progress, that growth or change does not necessarily imply development, -but, on the contrary, only as a structure becomes better fitted for -its conditions, and only as its organs become more highly specialized -for the performance of all the duties involved in its environment, may -it be said to be in the line of progress. If this be true, particular -attention should be directed to the fact that as secondary sexual -characters do not assist their possessor in overcoming the unfavourable -conditions of his environment, they are not within the line of true -development, but, on the contrary, as their growth requires a great -expenditure of vital force, and, as is the case among birds, they often -hinder the free use of the legs in running and walking, and entirely -destroy the use of the wings for flight, they must be detrimental to -the entire structure. For the reason that females have managed to do -without them, the plea that the great tusks, horns, teeth, etc., of -mammals have been acquired for self-defence, is scarcely tenable. - -On the subject of the relative expenditure of vital force in the two -lines of sexual demarcation, Mr. Darwin remarks: - - The female has to expend much organic matter in the formation of her - ova, whereas the male expends much force in fierce contests with his - rivals, in wandering about in search of the female, in exerting his - voice, pouring out odoriferous secretions, etc.... In mankind, and - even as low down in the organic scale as in the Lepidoptera, the - temperature of the body is higher in the male than in the female, - accompanied in the case of man by a slower pulse.[21] - -Yet he concludes: “On the whole the expenditure of matter and force -by the two sexes is probably nearly equal, though effected in very -different ways and at different rates.”[21] - -[21] _The Descent of Man_, p. 224. - -However, as has been observed, the force expended by the male in fierce -contests with his rivals, in wandering about in search of the female, -and in his exertions to please her when found, does not constitute -the only outlay of vitality to which he is subjected; but in addition -to all this, there still remains to be considered that force which has -been expended in the acquirement of characters which, so far as his own -development is concerned, are useless and worse than useless; namely, -in birds, combs, wattles, elongated plumes, great wings, etc., and in -mammals great horns, tusks, and teeth—appendages which lie outside -the line of true development, and, as we have seen, are of no avail -except to aid in the processes of reproduction and to assist him in the -gratification of his desires; in fact, as these excrescences hinder -him in the performance of the ordinary functions of life, they may be -regarded in the light of actual hindrances to higher development. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MALE ORGANIC DEFECTS - - -We have observed that through the great sexual ardour developed at -puberty within the male of the lower species, numberless variations -of structure have been acquired, characters which, as they are the -result of undeveloped atoms cast off from the varying parts in his -progenitors, denote low organization. We have seen also that these -characters require for their growth an immense amount of vital force, -which, had the development of the male been normal, would have been -expended in perfecting the organism, or would have been utilized in -fitting it to overcome the adverse conditions of his environment. -Secondary sexual characters, being so far as males are concerned, -wholly the result of eagerness in courtship, cannot appear before -the time for reproduction arrives, and as it is a law of heredity -that peculiarities of structure which are developed late in life, -when transmitted to offspring, appear only in the sex in which they -originated, these variations of structure are confined to males. - -According to Mr. Darwin’s theory little difference exists between the -sexes until the age of reproduction arrives. It is at this time, the -time when the secondary sexual characters begin to assert themselves, -that the preponderating superiority of the male begins to manifest -itself. - -Although, according to Mr. Darwin, variability denotes low organization -and shows that the various organs of the body have not become -specialized to perform properly their legitimate functions, it is to -characters correlated with and dependent upon these varying parts -that the male has ultimately become superior to the female. If these -characters, namely, pugnacity, perseverance, and courage have been -such important factors in establishing male superiority, too much care -may not be exercised in analyzing them and in tracing their origin and -subsequent development. - -Sexual Selection resembles artificial selection save that the female -takes the part of the human breeder. She represents the intelligent -factor or cause in the operations involved. If this be true, if it is -through her will, or through some agency or tendency latent in her -constitution that Sexual Selection comes into play, then she is the -primary cause of the very characters through which man’s superiority -over woman has been gained. As a stream may not rise higher than its -source, or as the creature may not surpass its creator in excellence, -it is difficult to understand the processes by which man, through -Sexual Selection, has become superior to woman. - - He who admits the principle of Sexual Selection will be led to the - remarkable conclusion that the nervous system not only regulates most - of the existing functions of the body, but has indirectly influenced - the progressive development of various bodily structures and certain - mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, strength and - size of body, weapons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and - instrumental, bright colours, and ornamental appendages have all been - indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, through the exertion of - choice, the influence of love and jealousy, and the appreciation of - the beautiful in sound, colour, or form; and these powers of the mind - manifestly depend on the development of the brain.[22] - -[22] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 617. - -While the female has been performing the higher functions in the -processes of reproduction, through her force of will, or through her -power of choice, she has also been the directing and controlling agency -in the development of those characters in the male through which, when -the human species was reached, he was enabled to attain a limited -degree of progress. - -Since the origin of secondary sexual characters is so clearly manifest, -perhaps it will be well for us at this point to examine also their -actual significance, that we may be enabled to note the foundation upon -which the dogma of male superiority rests. - -Although the gay colouring of male birds and fishes has usually -been regarded as an indication of their superiority over their -sombre-coloured mates, later investigations are proving that these -pigments represent simply unspecialized material, and an effort of -the system to cast out the waste products which have accumulated as a -result of excessive ardour in courtship. The same is true of combs, -wattles, and other skin excrescences; they show a feverish condition of -the skin in the over-excited males, whose temperature is usually much -higher than is that of females. We are assured that the skin eruptions -of male fishes at the spawning season “seem more pathological than -decorative.”[23] In the processes of reproduction, the undeveloped -atoms given off from each varying part are reproduced only in the male -line. - -[23] Geddes and Thomson, _The Evolution of Sex_, 1890, p. 24. - -The beautiful colouring of male birds and fishes, and the various -appendages acquired by males throughout the various orders below -man, and which, so far as they themselves are concerned, serve no -other useful purpose than to aid them in securing the favours of the -females, have by the latter been turned to account in the processes of -reproduction. The female made the male beautiful that she might endure -his caresses. - -From the facts elaborated by our guides in this matter, it would seem -that the female is the primary unit of creation, and that the male -functions are simply supplemental or complementary. Parthenogenesis -among many of the lower forms of life would seem to favour this view. -We are given to understand that under conditions favouring katabolism, -the males among Rotifera wear themselves out, under which conditions -the females become katabolic enough to do without them. - - Among the common Rotifera, the males are almost always very different - from the females, and much smaller. Sometimes they seem to have - dwindled out of existence altogether, for only the females are known. - In other cases, though present, they entirely fail to accomplish their - proper function of fertilization, and, as parthenogenesis obtains, are - not only minute, but useless.[24] - -[24] _The Evolution of Sex_, 1890, p. 20. - -So long as food is plentiful, the females continue to raise -parthenogenetic offspring, but with the advent of hard times, when -food is scarce or of a poor quality, the parthenogenetic series is -interrupted by the appearance of males. Although, unaided by the male, -the female of certain species is able to reproduce, he has never been -able to propagate without her co-operation. - -Concerning the conditions which underlie the production of females and -males we have the following from _The Evolution of Sex_, by Geddes and -Thomson: - - Such conditions as deficient or abnormal food, high temperature, - deficient light, moisture, and the like, are obviously such as would - tend to induce a preponderance of waste over repair—a katabolic habit - of body,—and these conditions tend to result in the production of - males. Similarly, the opposed set of factors, such as abundant and - rich nutrition, abundant light and moisture, favour constructive - processes, _i.e._, make for an anabolic habit, and these conditions - result in the production of females.[25] - -[25] _The Evolution of Sex_, p. 50. - -Among the lower orders of animal life, notably insects, we are -assured that an excess of females denotes an excess of formative -force, and that an excess of males indicates a deficiency on the -part of the parents. In the case of bees, the queen, which is the -highest development, is produced only under the best circumstances of -nutrition, while the birth of the drone, which is the lowest result of -propagation, is preceded by extremely low conditions. - -The working bee which, being an imperfect female, may not be -impregnated, will, however, give birth to parthenogenetic offspring, -such offspring always being male. In the case of Aphides, the sex -depends on the conditions of nutrition. During the summer months while -food is plentiful and nutritious, females are parthenogenetically -produced, but with the return of autumn and the attendant scarcity of -food, together with the low temperature, only males are brought forth. -In seasons in which food is abundant, Cladocera and Aphides lose the -power to copulate; they nevertheless multiply parthenogenetically at a -marvellous rate of increase, - - giving birth to generation after generation of parthenogenetic - females, so long as the environment remains favourable, but giving - birth, as soon as the conditions of life become less favourable, to - males and to females which require fertilization.[26] - -[26] Prof. W. K. Brooks, _Pop. Science Monthly_, vol. xxvi., p. 327. - -It is stated also that if caterpillars are shut up and starved before -entering the chrysalis stage, the butterflies which make their -appearance are males, while the highly nourished caterpillars are sure -to come out females. In the case of moths unnutritious food produces -only males. - -Experiments show that when tadpoles are left to themselves the average -number of females is about fifty-seven in the hundred, but that under -favourable conditions the percentage of females is greatly increased. -The following is the result of one series of observations by Yung. -In the first brood, by feeding one set with beef, the percentage of -females was raised from fifty-four to seventy-eight; in the second, -with fish, the percentage rose from sixty-one to eighty-one, which in -the third set, when the nutritious flesh of frogs was supplied, only -eight males were produced to ninety-two females.[27] - -[27] Geddes and Thomson, _The Evolution of Sex_, 1890, p. 42. - -It is stated that although scarcity of food is an important factor -in determining the appearance of males, temperature also plays an -important part in their production. Kurg having found a few males in -midsummer in pools which were nearly dried up was induced to attempt -their artificial production. So successful was he, that “he obtained -the males of forty species, in all of which the males had previously -been unknown.” He proved that - - any unfavourable change in the water causes the production of males, - which appear as it dries up, as its chemical constitution changes, - when it acquires an unfavourable temperature, or, in general, when - there is a decrease in prosperity. - -From which observations and many others quoted from Düring, Professor -Brooks concludes that “among animals and plants, as well as in mankind, -a favourable environment causes an excess of female births, and an -unfavourable environment an excess of male births.”[28] According to -Rolph, also, the percentage of females increases with the increase of -favourable conditions of temperature and food. - -[28] _Popular Science Monthly_, vol. xxvi., p. 328. - -Among insects the males appear first, thus showing that less time is -required to develop them from the larval state. Of this Mr. Darwin -says: “Throughout the great class of insects the males almost always -are the first to emerge from the pupal state, so that they generally -abound for a time before any female can be seen.”[29] - -[29] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 212. - -Recent observations show that among the human species nutrition -plays a significant part in determining sex. Statistics prove that in -towns and in well-to-do families there is a preponderance of girls, -while in the country, and among the poor, more boys are born; also, -that immediately following epidemics, wars, and famines, there is an -excess of male births. On examination, it was found that in Saxony “the -ratio of boy-births rose and fell with the price of food, and that the -variation was most marked in the country.”[30] - -[30] W. K. Brooks, _Popular Science Monthly_, vol. xxvi., p. 326. - -That the female represents a higher development than the male is -proved throughout all the various departments of nature. Among plants, -staminate flowers open before pistillate, and are much more abundant, -and less differentiated from the leaves, showing that they are less -developed, and that slighter effort, a less expenditure of force, is -necessary to form the male than the female. A male flower represents -an intermediate stage between a leaf and a perfect, or we might say, a -female flower, and the germ which produces the male would, in a higher -stage, produce the female.[31] In reference to the subject of the -relative positions of the female and male flowers in the Sedges, Mr. -Meehan observes: - -[31] Thomas Meehan, _Native Flowers and Ferns_, vol. i., p. 47. - - In some cases the spike of the male flowers terminates the scape; in - others the male flowers occupy the lower place; in others, again they - have various places on the same spike. It will be generally noted that - this is associated together with lines of nutrition,—those evidently - favoured by comparative abundance sustaining the female flowers. - -To this Mr. Meehan adds: - - And this is indeed a natural consequence, for, as vitality exists so - much longer in the female than the male flowers, which generally die - when the pollen has matured, it is essential that they should have - every advantage in this respect.[32] - -[32] _Native Flowers and Ferns_, vol. i., p. 39. - -The most perfect and vigorous specimens of coniferous trees are of the -female kind. In its highest and most luxuriant stage the larch bears -only female blossoms, but so soon as its vigour is lost male flowers -appear, after which death soon ensues. - -In _The Evolution of Sex_, by Geddes and Thomson, is the following: - - In phraseology which will presently become more intelligible and - concrete, the males live at a loss, are more katabolic,—disruptive - changes tending to preponderate in the sum of changes in their living - matter or protoplasm. The females, on the other hand, live at a - profit, are more anabolic,—constructive processes predominating in - their life, whence indeed the capacity of bearing offspring.[33] - -[33] _The Evolution of Sex_, 1890, p. 26. - -Among the lower orders of animals, there appears an excess of males, -and among the higher forms of life, man included, the fact that the -male is the result of the cruder, less developed germ, has been clearly -shown, not alone by the facts brought forward by Mr. Darwin, but by -those enunciated by all reliable writers on this subject. As a result -of the excessive eagerness in males, and the consequent expenditure -of vital force among the lower orders of life to find the female and -secure her favours, they are generally smaller in size, with a higher -body temperature and shorter life. Among the higher orders, the human -species, for instance, although man is larger than woman, he is still -shorter lived, has less endurance, is more predisposed to organic -diseases, and is more given to reversion to former types, facts which -show that his greater size is not the result of higher development. It -is noted that the liability to assume characters proper to lower orders -belongs in a marked degree to males of all the higher species—man -included. - -Doubtless man’s greater size (a modification which has been acquired -through Sexual Selection) has been of considerable value to him in -the struggle for existence to which he has been subjected, but the -indications are already strong that after a certain stage of progress -has been reached, even this modification of structure will prove -useless, if not an actual hindrance to him. On mechanical principles, -every increase of size requires more than a corresponding increase of -strength and endurance to balance the activities and carry on the vital -processes, yet such have been the conditions of man’s development, that -his excess of strength does not compensate for his greater size and -weight, while his powers of endurance fall below those of women. - -Although the conditions of the past have required a vast expenditure -of physical energy, the activities of the future will make no such -demand. Nature’s forces directed by the human will and intellect are -already lessening the necessity for an excessive outlay of bodily -strength. It may be truly said that electricity and the innumerable -mechanical devices now in use have well nigh supplanted the necessity -for great physical exertion. Even war, should it be continued, which -is not likely, will be conducted without it. Destructive weapons based -upon high-power explosives require little physical effort for their -manipulation. The pugilist represents the departing glory of male -physical strength. - -We are informed by Mr. Darwin that by a vast number of measurements -taken of various parts of the human body in different races, during -his Novara Expedition, it was found that the men in almost every case -presented a greater range of variations than women, and, as Mr. Wood -has carefully attended to the variations of the muscles of man, Mr. -Darwin quotes from him that “the greatest number of abnormalities -in each subject is found in males.” He adduces also the testimony of -several others who have practically investigated this subject, all of -whom agree in their statements that variations in the muscles are more -frequent in males than in females. These variations usually consist in -a reversion to lower types—a reversion in which muscles proper to lower -forms of life make their appearance. - -In an examination of forty male subjects, there was in nineteen of them -a rudimentary muscle found which is designated as the ischio-pubic, and -in three others of the forty was observed a ligament which represents -this muscle; but, in an examination by the same person of thirty female -subjects, in only two of them was this muscle developed on both sides, -whilst in three others the rudimentary ligament was present. Thus while -we observe that about fifty-five per cent. of the males examined were -possessed of muscles proper to lower orders, in only about seventeen -per cent. of the females under observation did this reversion appear. -In a single male subject, seven muscular variations proper to apes were -indicated. - -Numberless cases might be cited in which reversions and abnormalities -have been developed only in the male line. Of the porcupine men of the -Lambert family who lived in London last century, Haeckel says: - - Edward Lambert, born in 1717, was remarkable for a most unusual and - monstrous formation of the skin. His whole body was covered with - a horny substance, about an inch thick, which rose in the form of - numerous thorn-shaped and scale-like processes, more than an inch - long. This monstrous formation on the outer skin, or epidermis, was - transmitted by Lambert to his sons and grandsons, but not to his - granddaughters.[34] - -[34] _History of Creation_, 1884, vol. i., p. 178. - -According to the testimony of those who have made a study of the -various abnormalities in the human organism, the ears of men present -a greater range of variations than do those of women, and the cases -in which supernumerary digits appear in males are as two to one, -compared with females presenting the same structural defect. Of one -hundred and fifty-two cases of this kind tabulated by Burt Wilder, -eighty-six were males and thirty-nine females, the sex of the remaining -twenty-seven being unknown. Mr. Darwin wishes us to remember, however, -that “women would more frequently endeavour to conceal a deformity of -this kind than men.” Although it is quite natural for women to abhor -abnormalities and deformities, it is to be doubted if they would -succeed for any considerable length of time in concealing the deformity -of an organ which, like the hand, is usually uncovered, and which in -waking hours, is in almost constant use. - -One of the principal characters which distinguishes the human animal -from the lower orders is the absence of a natural covering for the -skin. That mankind have descended from hair-covered progenitors is -the inevitable conclusion of all those who accept the theory of the -evolution of species, the straggling hairs which are scattered over the -body of man being the rudiments of a uniform hairy coat which enveloped -his ancestors. - -We are informed that a hairy covering for the body, pointed ears which -were capable of movement, and a tail provided with the proper muscles, -were among the undoubted characters of the antecedents of the human -race. In addition to these, among the males, were developed great -canine teeth which were used as weapons against their rivals. - -As the lack of a hairy coat for the body constitutes one of the -principal characteristics which distinguishes man from the lower -animals, it would seem that a knowledge of the order of time in which -the two sexes became divested of their natural covering would serve as -a hint to indicate their relative stages of development. In a paper -read some years ago at a meeting of the Anthropological Institute -in London, Miss Bird (Mrs. Bishop) the well-known traveller, gave a -description of the Ainos, a race of people found chiefly in the island -of Yezo, and who, it is thought probable, were the original inhabitants -of Japan. The peculiarity of this people is, that the men are covered -with a thick coat of black hair. The women, we are told, “are not -hairy like the men,” but “have soft brown skins.” Upon this subject of -hairiness, Mr. Darwin says: - - As the body of woman is less hairy than that of man, and as this - character is common to all races, we may conclude that it was our - female semi-human ancestors who were first divested of hair, and that - this occurred at an extremely remote period before the several races - had diverged from a common stock. - -After our female ancestors had acquired the new character, nudity, they -must have transmitted it to their own sex, and by continually selecting -their mates from among the least hairy, in process of time males too -would become divested of their animal covering. Whether or not our -semi-human ancestors were subjected to the scorching heat of the torrid -zone, nudity must have been better suited to their improved condition, -not wholly, however, because of its greater beauty and comfort, but -because it was a condition better suited to cleanliness; and, as the -hairy coat had become a useless appendage, or was not necessary to -their changed conditions, it disappeared from the bodies of females, -while doubtless for ages it was retained upon the bodies of males. That -hairiness denotes a low stage of development, Mr. Darwin incautiously -admits, yet in dealing with this subject he is not disposed to -carry his admission to its legitimate conclusion by treating its -appearance on the body of man as a test in determining the comparative -development of the female and male organisms. - -Idiots, who, by the way, are more numerous among males than among -females, are frequently covered with hair, and by the acquirement of -other characters more often revert to lower animal types. Mr. Darwin -assures us that around sores of long standing stiff hairs are liable to -appear, thus showing that hair on the body is indicative of undeveloped -tissues and low constitutional conditions. The same writer, however, -does not neglect to inform us that the loss of man’s hairy covering -was rather an injury to him than otherwise; but whether or not the -diminution in the quality of prehension in his toes, the loss of -his canines, and the disappearance of his tail have likewise proved -detrimental to him, Mr. Darwin fails to state. - -The fact that throughout the vertebrate kingdom males possess -rudiments of the various parts appertaining to the reproductive system -which properly belong to females, is regarded as evidence that some -remote progenitor of this kingdom must have been hermaphrodite, or -androgynous, especially as it has been ascertained that at a very early -embryonic period both sexes possess true male and female glands. As -high in the scale of life as the mammalian class, males are said to -possess rudiments of a uterus, while at the same time mammary glands -are plainly manifest; which fact would seem to show that in the high -state of development indicated by this great class, male organs have -not through the processes of differentiation become specialized for the -performance of their legitimate functions. In reference to the subject -of atavism Mr. Darwin cites as a case of reversion to a former type, an -instance in which a man was the possessor of two pairs of mammæ. - -It is true that instances have been observed in which characters -peculiar to males have been developed in females. This phenomenon, -however, seldom appears among individuals of the higher orders, and -among the lower forms of life where it occurs, it is always manifested -under low circumstances of nutrition or in cases of old age, disease, -or loss of vitality. Instances are cited in which hens, after they have -become old or diseased, have taken on characters peculiar to males. - -In all “old-settled” countries women are in excess of men, and this -is true, notwithstanding the fact that more boys are born than girls. -Regarding the excess of the male over female births, Mr. Darwin quotes -from Professor Faye, who says: - - A still greater preponderance of males would be met with, if death - struck both sexes in equal proportion in the womb and during birth. - But the fact is, that for every one hundred still-born females, we - have in several countries from 134.6 to 144.9 still-born males.[35] #/ - Statistics show that during the first four or five years of life, more - male children die than female. - -[35] _The Descent of Man_, 1887, p. 243. - -Although whenever throughout Mr. Darwin’s _Descent of Man_ he has been -pleased to deal with the subject of structural variations, he has -given us to understand that they are injurious to the constitution, -and although he has shown that their appearance is much more frequent -in men than in women, yet he does not seem to realize whither his -admissions are leading him. He has proved by seemingly well-established -facts that the female organism is freer from imperfections than the -male, and therefore that it is less liable to derangements; also, that -being more highly specialized, it is less susceptible to injury under -unfavourable conditions; yet, in attempting to explain the reason -why so many more male than female infants succumb to the exigencies -of birth, he expresses the opinion that the size of the body and -“especially of the head” being greater in males, they would be “more -liable to be injured during parturition.” - -Among the reasons urged by Mr. Darwin to account for the excess of -women over men in all “old-settled” countries, is that of the exposure -of grown men to various dangers, and their tendency to emigrate. -Doubtless there is more emigration among men than among women, still -men do not usually emigrate to a wilderness and rarely to sparsely -settled countries. When men emigrate from one civilized country, they -usually go to another civilized country; yet in all old-settled -countries women are in excess of men. While the dangers to which men -are exposed because of their greater physical activity have been many, -and the accidents liable to occur from their harder struggle for -existence more numerous than those to which women have been subjected, -still it would seem that the danger to female life, incident to the -artificial relations of the sexes under our present semi-civilized -conditions, is more than an offset for that to which men are liable. - -The fact must be borne in mind, however, that the diseases and -physical disabilities of women, at the present time, although -dangerous to health and life, are not organic, and will therefore -disappear as soon as through higher conditions they are allowed the -free expression of their own will in matters pertaining to the sexual -relation. As the diseases peculiar to the female constitution are not -caused by structural defects, but, on the contrary, are due to the -overstimulation of the animal instincts in her male mate, or, to the -disparity between her stage of development and his, they have not -materially injured her constitution nor shortened her average duration -of life, neither have they lessened her capacity for improvement. - -With reference to the women of Greenland, Cranz says that while they - - remain with their parents they are well off; but from twenty years of - age till death, their life is one series of anxieties, wretchedness, - and toil, yet, in spite of all their cares, toils, and vexations the - women commonly arrive at a greater age than the men.[36] - -[36] _History of Greenland_, vol. i., p. 152. - -That the imperfections of the male organism are already beginning -to interpose themselves between man and many of the occupations and -activities of advancing civilization, is only too apparent. - -Sight, far more than any other sense, is the most intellectual, -yet in the development of the visual organs it has been proved -that men are especially deficient. Dr. Andrew Willson assures us -that “colour-blindness is a condition which is certainly capable -of transmission to the progeny. In one family the males alone were -affected through seven generations.” - -In an examination which was carried on some years ago under the -supervision of Dr. Jeffries, among the pupils of the Boston schools, in -which were 14,469 boys and young men, and 13,458 girls and young women, -it was found that about one male in every twenty-five was colour-blind, -while the same defect among the girls and young women was extremely -rare, only 0.066 per cent. of them being thus affected.[37] - -[37] _Pop. Science Monthly_, vol. xix., p. 567. - -At a convention held in the city of Chicago for the purpose of -organizing an association for educational reform, the teacher of -drawing in the St. Paul schools made a statement that “four per cent. -of all male pupils were colour-blind, while only one-tenth of one per -cent. of female pupils were so affected.” No explanation was offered -for this strange fact; indeed, it was pronounced a mystery, “even -oculists and surgeons having given it up as impenetrable.” - -That defective vision is beginning to interfere with the activities -of men, is shown by the fact that in many instances, in later times, -colour tests have been required to determine fitness of applicants for -positions in various departments of commercial enterprise. In this -country, during the last fifty years, much attention has been given -to the subject of visual defects in seamen, railroadmen, and other -persons occupying positions of responsibility in which unimpaired -vision is an important qualification. In response to a request sent by -the German Government through its minister to the Surgeon-General of -the United States Army, for statistical and other information on the -subject of colour-blindness, Mr. Charles E. Pugh, General Manager of -the Pennsylvania Railroad, in September, 1884, sent to William Thomson, -M.D., surgical expert for the same company, the following statement: - - Total number examined on lines east of Erie 25,158 - Colour-blind 481 - Defective vision 661 - -Of this report Dr. Thomson says: - - The apparently small percentage of colour-blind in this table may be - ascribed to the non-application of men who knew their deficiency, - and to the fact that men in the service, knowing their defect, would - leave the road before examination, and thus escape detection, and be - enabled to gain employment on other roads where no examinations are - required.[38] - -[38] _Pop. Science Monthly_, vol. xxxi., p. 796. - -In several departments of the national government, attempts have been -made to guard against the dangers resulting from imperfect sight. In -the examination of recruits, the War Department at Washington, some -years ago, issued orders that bits of coloured pasteboard, or “test -cards” be used for determining the power of individuals to distinguish -objects at a distance, while worsteds of various hues were employed -to ascertain their ability to distinguish colour. In the Treasury and -Naval Departments were ordered similar examinations, in which the power -to distinguish colour was a necessary qualification in the case of all -persons seeking employment therein. - -In the examinations ordered by navigation and railroad companies to -protect themselves and the public against disaster resulting from -imperfect vision in their employees, tests have been made. Among -the requirements imposed by law, applying to engineers, brakemen, -and firemen, in the State of Connecticut, are the following: -“Unobstructed visual field, normal visual acuteness, and freedom from -colour-blindness.” - -If Dr. Jeffries’s investigation in the Boston public schools and the -report of the officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad are to serve -as a criterion in judging of the extent to which impaired vision -is developed in men, or if among them one in every twenty-five is -defective in the colour sense, the inference seems unavoidable that the -proportion of them unfitted for railroad and steamboat service, for -military duty, and for various important government positions, must be -large. Hence, by these tests alone may be observed something of the -extent to which, under the higher conditions which are approaching, the -imperfect development in men of this one organ (the eye) may cripple -their energies and check those activities which, in many instances, are -best suited to their tastes and inclinations. - -Nor is this defective vision developed in men a peculiarity which -is confined within the limits of our own country. In Europe, -investigations analogous to those instituted in America have been -followed by the same or similar results. Until a comparatively recent -time this subject has received little or no attention, for the reason -that the processes of civilization and the various activities of life -have not, hitherto, demanded a correct or highly developed colour -sense; but with the requirements of more highly civilized conditions, -in vocations demanding more diversified and complicated physical -and mental activities, it is plain that man, because of this organic -imperfection, must labour under continuous disadvantages. Then add -to defective vision his lack of physical endurance, his liability -to various organic affections caused by structural defects, and -his abnormal appetites which are constantly demanding for their -gratification the things which are injurious to his mental and physical -constitution, and we are enabled to judge, to some extent, of the -obstacles against which, in the struggle for existence, the future man -will find himself obliged to contend. - -Not only is man’s sense of sight less perfectly developed than is -woman’s, but his sense of touch is less acute. The hand, directed as it -is by the brain, is the most completely differentiated member of the -human structure. It may almost be said of the hand, that it assists the -brain in performing its functions. The female hand, however, is capable -of delicate distinctions which the male has no means of determining. A -dispatch from Washington says of the women of the Treasury Department: - - So superior is their skill in handling paper money that they - accomplish results that would be utterly unattainable without them. It - has been found by long experience that a counterfeit may go through - half the banks in the country without being detected, until it comes - back, often torn and mutilated, into the hands of the Treasury women. - Then it is certain of detection. They shut their eyes and feel of a - note if they suspect it. If it feels wrong, in half a minute they - point out the incongruities of the counterfeit. - -Although throughout the ascending scale of life, the female has -been expending all her energy in the performance of her legitimate -functions—functions which, as we have seen, are of a higher order than -those performed by the male, through causes which will be discussed -farther on in these pages, within the later centuries of human -existence—she has been temporarily overcome by the destructive forces -developed in the opposite sex, forces which are without the line of -true development, and which through overstimulation and encouragement -have overleaped the bounds of normal activity, and have therefore -become disruptive and injurious. - -During the past five thousand years, woman’s reproductive functions -have been turned into means of subsistence, and under the peculiar -circumstances of her environment, her “struggle for existence” has -involved physical processes far more disastrous to life and health -than are those to which man has been subjected. Owing to the peculiar -condition of woman’s environment, there has been developed within her -more delicate and sensitive organism an alarming degree of functional -nervousness; yet, with the gradual broadening of her sphere of -activity, and the greater exercise of personal rights, this tendency -to nervous derangement is gradually becoming lessened. That there is -reserve force in woman sufficient to overcome the evil results of the -supremacy of the animal instincts during the last five thousand or six -thousand years of human existence, from present indications seems more -than likely. - -Commenting on the subject of nervousness, and the degree in which it -is manifested in civilized countries, and especially among civilized -women, Dr. Beard says: - - Women, with all their nervousness—and, in civilized lands, women are - more nervous, immeasurably, than men, and suffer more from general - and special nervous diseases—yet live quite as long as men, if not - somewhat longer; their greater nervousness and far greater liability - to functional diseases of the nervous system being compensated for - by their smaller liability to acute and inflammatory disorders, and - various organic nervous diseases, likewise, such as the general - paralysis of insanity.[39] - -[39] _American Nervousness_, p. 207. - -According to Maudsley women “seldom suffer from general paralysis.” -This disease is frequently inherited, and is sometimes the result of -alcoholic and other excesses.[40] - -[40] Maudsley, _Physiology and Pathology of the Mind_, p. 360. - -Regarding the dangers to which women are exposed by excessive and -useless maternity, Dr. Beard remarks: - - The large number of cases of laceration at childbirth and the - prolonged and sometimes even life-enduring illness resulting - from them, are good reasons for the terror which the processes of - parturition inspires in the minds of American women today. - -However, that the dangers incident to parturition, and the excessive -nervousness which characterizes civilized women, are not necessary -adjuncts of civilization, but, on the contrary, are a result of the -unchecked disruptive forces developed in man, and the consequent drain -on the vital energies of woman, will be seen, so soon as through the -cultivation of the higher faculties developed in and transmitted -through females, the lower nature of males has finally been brought -within its legitimate bounds. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS AND THE MORAL SENSE - - -Man is pre-eminently a social animal. He seeks companionship and -depends largely upon his fellows for security and happiness. Nor is -this dependence upon others confined to the human species. Association, -or combination of interests, is manifested throughout the entire -organic scale. - -From Mr. Darwin’s reasoning it is evident that he regards association -as the basic principle underlying progress. He also thinks that -combination is impossible without sympathy or a desire for the welfare -of others outside of self. He is certain that associated animals have a -feeling of affection for the group and that “they sympathize with one -another in times of distress and danger.”[41] - -[41] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 102. - -This writer thinks that an animal like the gorilla, which possessing -great size and strength is able to defend itself against all its -enemies, would not become social and therefore would be unable to -advance. And this too, notwithstanding the fact that such an animal has -already developed pugnacity, courage, and perseverance, the characters -which are regarded as the source of the remarkable mental endowment of -man. - -We have seen that the greater size of the male is the result of Sexual -Selection and is therefore a secondary sexual character. “All the -secondary sexual characters of man are highly variable.”[42] In dealing -with this subject we must not lose sight of the fact that variability -denotes low organization. It shows that the organs of the body have not -become specialized to perform their legitimate functions. - -[42] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 559. - -Among monogamous animals difference in size between the sexes is -slight, but among polygamous species the male is considerably larger -than the female, this difference being correlated with numerous -variations of structure. - -Among early races males were considerably in excess of females so it -was customary for the former to fight desperately to win the favour -of the latter in much the same manner as their animal progenitors had -fought to secure their mates. These struggles were enacted in the -presence of the females, they always choosing the strongest and best -endowed leaving the weaker and uglier members of the group unmated -and therefore unable to propagate their misfortunes. This exercise of -choice by the female in pairing is the primary fact in the history of -human progress. The appalling effects of the withdrawal from women of -this fundamental prerogative will be referred to later in these pages. - -That pugnacity, courage, and perseverance are the result of man’s -strong sexual nature is shown wherever this subject is touched upon in -_The Descent of Man_. Special attention is directed to the fact that -eunuchs are deficient in these qualities. - -That the greater size and strength of the male, together with courage, -pugnacity, and perseverance, have been of great value to him in -deciding the contests between rivals in courtship is quite true. It is -clear, however, that these characters are in no wise responsible for -the origin and development of the higher faculties. Even Mr. Darwin’s -premises, when carried to their legitimate conclusions, furnish -sufficient evidence to prove that the social instincts and the moral -sense have been developed quite independently of these characters. - -According to the reasoning of the savants it is only through that -specialization of organs which has resulted in the separation of the -sex elements, and the consequent division of functions, that the social -instincts have originated, and that it is to processes involved in such -specialization, or differentiation, that the higher faculties and the -moral sense have arisen. It is indeed plain from their reasoning that -matter, or perhaps I should say the force inherent in matter, had to be -raised to a certain dynamic order before the peculiar quality of brain -and nerve necessary for the development of these faculties could be -manifested through it. - - As there are different kinds of matter, so there are different modes - of force, in the universe; and as we rise from the common physical - matter in which physical laws hold sway up to chemical matter and - chemical forces, and from chemical matter again up to living matter - and its modes of force, so do we rise in the scale of life from - the lowest kind of living matter with its corresponding force or - energy, through different kinds of histological elements, with their - corresponding energies or functions, up to the highest kind of living - matter and corresponding mode of force with which we are acquainted, - viz., nerve element and nerve force. But, when we have got to nerve - element and nerve force, it behooves us not to rest content with the - general idea, but to trace, with attentive discrimination, through - the nervous system the different kinds of nervous cells, and their - different manifestations of energy. So also shall we obtain the - groundwork for a true conception of the relations of mind and the - nervous system.[43] - -[43] Maudsley, _Physiology and Pathology of the Mind_, p. 60. - -We have seen that the nervous system not only regulates most of the -existing functions of the body, but that it has indirectly influenced -the development of various bodily structures and certain mental -qualities, and that these powers of mind depend on the development of -the brain. - -By our guides in this matter, we are assured that the most important -difference observed between man and the lower animals is the -conscience; hence, if we would understand how it has been possible for -man to rise to his present position, we must know something of the -processes involved in the development of the social instincts, through -which have originated conscience and a desire for the welfare of others -outside of self. The importance of these instincts in the development -of conscience is thus set forth by Mr. Darwin: - - Any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, the - parental and filial affections being here included, would inevitably - acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual - faculties had become as well, or nearly as well, developed as in man. - -Sympathy, we are told, is the foundation-stone of the social instincts. -From facts which are everywhere presented among the forms of life -below man, it is evident that sympathy was developed at an early stage -of animal life. It is doubtless strongly manifested in our ape-like -progenitors, and it was probably this instinct which subsequently led -to a community of interest and the coherence of the tribe. - -In a consideration, therefore, of this question of sex development -and the origin of the progressive principle, if, as we are assured, -sympathy constitutes the foundation-stone of the social instincts, -and if it is to these instincts that we are to look for the origin -of the moral sense, or conscience— a faculty which constitutes the -fundamental difference between the human species and the lower orders -of life—the question naturally arises: In which of the two diverging -lines of sexual demarcation has arisen sympathy, or an interest in -the well-being of others? For an answer to our question we must look -carefully to the facts connected with the development of the sexes -within one of which have been acquired characters tending toward the -welfare of society, or of individuals outside of self; within the -other, characters looking only toward selfish gratification. Within the -former, the maternal instinct predominates; within the latter, passion. - -Mr. Darwin admits that “parental and filial affection lies at the base -of the social instincts,” and gives as his opinion that this quality is -the result of Natural Selection—that those individuals which bestowed -upon their offspring the greatest care and attention, would survive -and multiply at the expense of others in which this instinct was less -developed. Therefore, in pursuing the inquiry of sex-function and -sex-development, a question of considerable significance is at this -point suggested: Within which parent is observed the greater tendency -to bestow care and attention upon offspring? - -We are assured that “the animal family is especially maternal.” So -soon as a female bird has laid her eggs, she is animated only by one -desire; neither the promise of abundant food nor the fear of bullets -is able to divert her purpose. Although the males among the more highly -developed birds assist in rearing the family, amongst various species -it is only the female which cares for the young. The male duck has -no interest in his progeny, neither has the male eider. Of the male -turkeys Mr. Letourneau says that they - - do much worse: they often devour the eggs of their females, and - thus oblige the latter to hide them. Female turkeys join each other - with their young ones for greater security, and thus form troops of - from sixty to eighty individuals, led by the mothers, and carefully - avoiding the old males, who rush on the young ones and kill them by - violent blows on the head with their beaks.[44] - -[44] _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 29. - -The males of various other species, jealous of the attentions of the -mothers during the time that their efforts are directed toward the -maintenance of their brood, often kill their young. Regarding the -subject of paternal care, Mr. Letourneau observes: “It is important to -notice that amongst birds, the fathers devoid of affection generally -belong to the less intelligent, and are most often polygamous.” - -By observing the habits of cuckoos the fact has been ascertained -that among them the maternal instinct is almost entirely lacking. -Of the cuckoo it has been remarked that it is a “discontented, -ill-conditioned, passionate, in short, decidedly unamiable bird.” Its -note is typical of its habits and character. - - The same abruptness, insatiability, eagerness, the same rage, - are noticeable in its whole conduct. The cuckoos are notoriously - unsociable, even in migration individualistic. They jealously guard - their territorial “preserves,” and verify in many ways the old myth - that they are sparrow-hawks in disguise. The parasitic habit is - consonant with their general character. - - The species consist predominantly of males. The preponderance is - probably about five to one; though one observer makes it five times - greater. In so male a species, it is not surprising to find degenerate - maternal instincts.[45] - -[45] Geddes and Thomson, _The Evolution of Sex_, p. 276. - -Regarding spiders and the greater number of insects, we are told that -the males entirely neglect their young; it is - - in the female that the care for offspring first awakens. And this is - natural, for the eggs have been formed in her body; she has laid them, - and has been conscious of them; they form, in a way, an integral part - of her individuality.... With insects maternal forethought sometimes - amounts to a sort of divining prescience which the doctrine of - evolution alone can explain.[46] - -[46] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 22. - -Among the males of mammals below man the love of offspring seems to be -almost entirely wanting. - - We must here remark, that whatever the form of sexual association - among mammals, the male has always much less affection for his young - than the female. Even in monogamous species, when the male keeps with - the female, he does so more as chief than as father. At times he is - inclined to commit infanticide and to destroy the offspring, which, by - absorbing all the attention of his female, thwart his amours. Thus, - among the large felines, the mother is obliged to hide her young ones - from the male during the first few days after birth, to prevent his - devouring them.[47] - -[47] _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 34. - -The fact is obvious that among the orders of life below man but little -paternal affection has been developed, and with a more extended -knowledge of the past history of the human race comes the assurance -that under earlier conditions of society, and in fact, until a -comparatively recent time, little notice was taken of the paternal -relation—that kinship and all the rights of succession were reckoned -through the mother. In other words, motherhood was the primary bond by -which society was bound together. - -Although under higher conditions of civilized life, males have at -length come to manifest much interest in the well-being of their -offspring, yet that paternal affection is not a primary instinct -is shown by the fact that such interest, even at the present time, -extends only to those individuals born in wedlock. Men are solicitous -only for the welfare of those who are to succeed to their names and -fortunes; hence, although in later times the paternal instinct has been -considerably re-enforced, it is plain that the interest of fathers for -their offspring has in the past been largely the result of custom, -association, pride, desire for self-perpetuation or duplication, or -some other form of self-aggrandizement. - -Mr. Darwin says: “The feeling of pleasure from society is probably -an extension of the parental or filial affections, since the social -instinct seems to be developed by the young remaining for a long time -with their parents.”[48] Although Mr. Darwin does not admit it, from -his reasoning it is plain that the maternal instinct is the root -whence sympathy has sprung, and that it is the source whence the -cohesive quality in the tribe originated. Regarding the importance of -association or combination in early groups Mr. Darwin remarks: - -[48] _The Descent of Man_, p. 105. - - When two tribes of primeval man, living in the same country, came - into competition, if (other circumstances being equal) the one tribe - included a great number of courageous, sympathetic, and faithful - members, who were always ready to warn each other of danger, to aid - and defend each other, this tribe would succeed better and conquer the - other.... Selfish and contentious people will not cohere, and without - coherence nothing can be effected. A tribe rich in the above qualities - would spread and be victorious over other tribes.... Thus the social - and moral qualities would tend slowly to advance and be diffused - throughout the world.[49] - -[49] _The Descent of Man_, p. 130. - -Since, then, it has been proved by scientists that without an -association of interests and the coherence of the tribe the social -instincts must have remained weak, and since it has been shown by them -that without concerted action the higher faculties, including the moral -sense, could not have been developed; and since, furthermore, the -influences which have led to this development are those growing out of -the maternal instincts, may we not conclude that all of those qualities -which make man pre-eminently a social animal—his love of society, his -desire for the good-will of his kind, his perception of right and -wrong, and, finally, that sympathy which at last gradually extending -beyond the limits of race and country proclaims the brotherhood of man -and the unity of life on the earth—all these characteristics, are but -an extension of maternal affection, an outgrowth of that early bond -between mother and child, which, while affecting the entire line of -development, still remains unchanged and unchangeable. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE SUPREMACY OF THE MALE - - -An unprejudiced review of the facts relative to the differentiation -of the two sexes, as set forth by naturalists, reveals not only the -primary principles involved in human progress, but shows also the -source whence these principles originated. These facts serve also to -explain that “mental superiority” of man over woman observed by Mr. -Darwin and others in the present stage of human growth. - -Notwithstanding the superior degree of development which, according -to the facts elaborated by scientists, must belong to the female in -all the orders of life below mankind, Mr. Darwin would have us believe -that so soon as the human species appeared on the earth the processes -which for untold ages had been in operation were reversed, and that -through courage and perseverance, or patience, qualities which were -the result of extreme selfishness, or which were acquired while in -pursuit of animal gratification, man finally became superior to woman. -The following furnishes an example of Mr. Darwin’s reasoning upon this -subject. He says: - - The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes - is shown by man’s attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he - takes up, than can woman—whether requiring deep thought, reason, or - imagination, or merely the use of the senses and the hands. If two - lists were made of the most eminent men and women in poetry, painting, - sculpture, music (inclusive both of composition and performance), - history, and philosophy, with half-a-dozen names under each subject, - the two lists would not bear comparison.... - - Now, when two men are put into competition, or a man with a woman, - both possessed of every mental quality in equal perfection, save - that one has higher energy, perseverance, and courage, the latter - will generally become more eminent in every pursuit, and will gain - the ascendency. He may be said to possess genius—for genius has been - declared by a great authority to be patience; and patience, in this - sense, means unflinching, undaunted perseverance.[50] - -[50] _The Descent of Man_, p. 564. - -Doubtless, for the purpose of strengthening his position, Mr. Darwin -quotes the following from John Stuart Mill: “The things in which man -most excels woman are those which require most plodding and long -hammering at single thoughts.” And in summing up the processes by which -man has finally gained the ascendency over woman he concludes: - - Thus man has ultimately become superior to woman. It is, indeed, - fortunate that the law of the equal transmission of characters to both - sexes prevails with mammals; otherwise it is probable that man would - have become as superior in mental endowment to woman, as the peacock - is in ornamental plumage to the peahen.[51] - -[51] _The Descent of Man_, p. 565. - -Notwithstanding this conclusion of Mr. Darwin, in view of the facts -elaborated by himself, we cannot help thinking that it is indeed -fortunate that the law of the equal transmission of characters to -both sexes prevails with mammals, otherwise it is probable that man -would never have had any higher ambition than the gratification of his -animal instincts, and would never have risen above those conditions in -which he struggled desperately for the possession of the female. All -the facts which have been observed relative to the acquirement of the -social instincts and the moral sense prove them to have originated in -the female constitution, and as progress is not possible without these -characters, it is not difficult to determine within which of the sexes -the progressive principle first arose. Even courage, perseverance, -and energy, characters which are denominated as thoroughly masculine, -since they are the result of Sexual Selection, have been and still are -largely dependent on the will or choice of the female. - -In his zeal to prove the superiority of man over woman, and while -emphasizing energy, perseverance, and courage as factors in -development, Mr. Darwin seems to have overlooked the importance of -the distinctive characters belonging to the female organism, viz., -perception and intuition, combined with greater powers of endurance, -the first two of which, under the low conditions occasioned by the -supremacy of the animal instincts, have thus far had little opportunity -to manifest themselves. A fairer statement relative to the capacities -of the two sexes and their ability to succeed might have been set forth -as follows: - -When a man and a woman are put in competition, both possessed of -every mental quality in equal perfection, save that one has higher -energy, more patience, and a somewhat greater degree of physical -courage, while the other has superior powers of intuition, finer and -more rapid perceptions, and a greater degree of endurance (the result -of an organism freer from imperfections), the chances of the latter -for gaining the ascendency will doubtless be equal to those of the -former as soon as the animal conditions of life are outgrown, and the -characters peculiar to the female constitution are allowed expression. -Mr. Darwin’s quotation from J. Stuart Mill, that the things in which -man excels woman are those which require most plodding and long -hammering at single thoughts, is evidently true, and corresponds with -the fundamental premises in the theory of development as set forth -by all naturalists. The female organism is not a plodding machine, -neither is the telephone nor the telegraph, yet these latter devices -accomplish the work formerly done by the stagecoach much more rapidly, -and in a manner better suited to civilized conditions. So soon as women -are freed from the unnatural restrictions placed upon them through the -temporary predominance of the animal instincts in man, their greater -powers of endurance, together with a keener insight and an organism -comparatively free from imperfections, will doubtless give them a -decided advantage in the struggle for existence. While patience is -doubtless a virtue, and while during the past ages of human experience -it has been of incalculable value to man, it will not, under higher -conditions, be required in competing for the prizes of life. - -Woman’s rapid perceptions, and her intuitions which in many instances -amount almost to second sight, indicate undeveloped genius, and -partake largely of the nature of deductive reasoning; it is reasonable -to suppose therefore that as soon as she is free, and has for a few -generations enjoyed the advantages of more natural methods of education -and training, and those better suited to the female constitution, she -will be able to trace the various processes of induction by which she -reaches her conclusions. She will then be able to reason inductively up -to her deductive conceptions. - -The worthlessness of Mr. Darwin’s comparison between men and women in -performing the various activities of life is already clearly apparent. -Although less than half a century has elapsed since _The Descent -of Man_ was written women are already successfully competing with -men in nearly all the walks of life both high and low, and this too -notwithstanding the fact that these occupations have heretofore been -regarded as belonging exclusively to men. We have seen that Mr. Darwin -mentions music as a vocation in which man’s superiority over woman is -manifested, yet already in the United States, there is not one male -musician who would be willing to match his skill against that of any -one of the four best woman performers. - -It is a well understood fact that neither individuals nor classes -which upon every hand have been thwarted and restrained, either by -unjust and oppressive laws, or by the tyranny of custom, prejudice, or -physical force, have ever made any considerable progress in the actual -acquirement of knowledge or in the arts of life. Mr. Darwin’s capacity -for collecting and formulating facts seems not to have materially aided -him in discerning the close connection existing at this stage of human -progress between the masculinized conditions of human society and the -necessary opportunities to succeed in the higher walks of life; in -fact, he seems to have forgotten that all the avenues to success have -for thousands of years been controlled and wholly manipulated by men, -while the activities of women have been distorted and repressed in -order that the “necessities” of the male nature might be provided for. -Besides, it seems never to have occurred to him that as man has still -not outgrown the animal in his nature, and as the intellectual and -moral age is only just beginning to dawn, the time is not yet ripe for -the direct expression of the more refined instincts and ideas peculiar -to the female organism, and, as thus far, only that advancement -has been made which is compatible with the supremacy of the lower -instincts, woman’s time has not yet come. - -Although women are still in possession of their natural inheritance, a -finer and more complex organism comparatively free from imperfections, -and although, as a result of this inheritance, their intuitions -are still quicker, their perceptions keener, and their endurance -greater, the drain on their physical energies, caused by the abnormal -development of the reproductive energies in the opposite sex, has, -during the ages of man’s dominion over her, been sufficient to preclude -the idea of success in competing with men for the prizes of life. -Although an era of progress has begun, ages will doubtless be required -to eradicate abuses which are the result of constitutional defects, and -especially so as the prejudices and feelings of mankind are for the -most part in harmony with such abuses. - -If we examine the subject of female apparel, at the present time, we -shall observe how difficult it is to uproot long-established prejudices -which are deeply rooted in sensuality and superstition; and this is -true notwithstanding the fact that such prejudices may involve the -comfort and even the health of half the people, and seriously affect -the welfare of unborn generations. An examination of the influences -which have determined the course of modern fashions in woman’s clothing -will show the truth of this observation. - -Of all the senses which have been developed, that of sight is -undoubtedly the most refined, and when in the human species it is -cultivated to a degree which enables its possessor to appreciate the -beautiful in Nature and in Art, we are perhaps justified in designating -it as the intellectual sense. In point of refinement, the sense of -hearing comes next in order, yet among creatures as low in the scale of -being as birds, we find that females not only appreciate the beautiful, -but that they are charmed by pleasing and harmonious sounds, and that -if males would win their favour it must be accomplished by appeals -through these senses to the higher qualities developed within them. - -Although the female of the human species, like the female among the -lower orders of life, is capable of appreciating fine colouring, and -to a considerable extent the beautiful in form, the style of dress -adopted by women is not an expression of their natural ideas of taste -and harmony. On the contrary, it is to Sexual Selection that we must -look for an explanation of the incongruities and absurdities presented -by the so-called female fashions of the past and present. The processes -of Sexual Selection, which, so long as the female was the controlling -agency in courtship, worked on the male, have in these later ages been -reversed. For the reason that the female of the human species has so -long been under subjection to the male, the styles of female dress and -adornment which have been adopted, and which are still in vogue, are -largely the result of masculine taste. Woman’s business in life has -been to marry, or, at least, it has been necessary for her, in order -to gain her support, to win the favour of the opposite sex. She must, -therefore, by her charms, captivate the male. - -With the progress of civilization and since women as economic and -sexual slaves have become dependent upon men for their support, no male -biped has been too stupid, too ugly, or too vicious to take to himself -a mate and perpetuate his imperfections. This unchecked freedom of the -male to multiply his defects is responsible for present conditions. - -As for thousands of years women have been dependent on men not only -for food and clothing but for the luxuries of life as well, it is -not singular that in the struggle for life to which they have been -subjected they should have adopted the styles of dress which would -be likely to secure to them the greatest amount of success. When we -remember that the present ideas of becomingness or propriety in woman’s -apparel are the result of ages of sensuality and servitude, it is not -remarkable that they are difficult to uproot, and especially so as many -of the most pernicious and health-destroying styles involve questions -of female decorum as understood by a sensualized age. - -Mr. Darwin calls attention to the fact that women “all over the world” -adorn themselves with the gay feathers of male birds. Since the -beautiful plumage of male birds has been produced according to female -standards of taste, and since it is wholly the result of innate female -ideas of harmony in colour and design, it is not perhaps remarkable -that women, recognizing the original female standards of beauty, should -desire to utilize those effects which have been obtained at so great -an expenditure of vital force to the opposite sex, especially as men -are pleased with such display, and, as under present conditions of male -supremacy, the female of the human species is obliged to captivate the -male in order to secure her support. - -Ever since the dominion of man over woman began a strict censorship -over her dress has been maintained. Although in very recent times women -are beginning to exercise a slight degree of independence in the matter -of clothes, still, because of existing prejudices and customs they have -not yet been able to adopt a style of dress which admits of the free -and unrestricted use of the body and limbs. It is believed that woman, -the natural tempter of man, if left to her own sinful devices, would -again as of old attempt to destroy that inherent purity of heart and -cleanliness of life which characterize the male constitution. Woman’s -ankles and throat seem to be the most formidable foes against which -innocent man has to contend, so the concealment of these offending -members is deemed absolutely necessary for his protection and safety. -Ecclesiastics, a class whose duty it has ever been to regulate and -control the movements of women, seem to think that the ankles and -throats of women were intended not for the use and convenience of their -possessors but as snares to entrap holy men. - -It would thus appear that the present fashions for female apparel have -a deeper significance than we have been in the habit of ascribing -to them. We are still living under conditions peculiar to a sensual -age, and have not yet outgrown the requirements which condemn women -to a style of dress which hinders the free movements of the body and -which checks all the activities of life. In one way the woman of the -present time may be said to resemble the male Argus pheasant, whose -decorations, although they serve to please his mate, greatly hinder his -power of motion and the free use of his body and limbs. - -When we consider that apparel is but one, and a minor one, of the -strictures under which women have laboured during the later era of -human existence and when we consider all the ignoble and degrading uses -to which womanhood has been subjected, the wonder is not that women -have failed in the past to distinguish themselves in the various fields -of intellectual labour in which men have achieved a limited degree of -success, but that they have had sufficient energy and courage left to -enable them even to attempt anything so far outside the boundary of -their prescribed “sphere,” or that they have been able to transmit to -their male offspring those powers through which they have gained their -present stage of progress. - -With regard to Mr. Darwin’s comparison of the intellectual powers of -the two sexes, and his assertion that man attains to a higher eminence -in whatever he takes up than woman—that, for instance, he surpasses her -in the production of poetry, music, philosophy, etc., the facts at hand -suggest that if within mankind no higher motives and tastes had been -developed than those derived from selfishness and passion, there would -never have arisen a desire for poetry, music, philosophy, or science, -or, in fact, for any of the achievements which have been the result of -the more exalted activities of the human intellect. However, because -of the subjection of the higher faculties developed in mankind, the -poetry, music, and painting of the past betray their sensuous origin -and plainly reveal the stage of advancement which has been reached, -while history, philosophy, and even science, judging from Mr. Darwin’s -methods, have not yet wholly emerged from the murky atmosphere of a -sensuous age. - -It will be well for us to remember that the doctrine of the Survival -of the Fittest does not imply that the best endowed, physically or -otherwise, have always succeeded in the struggle for existence. -By the term Survival of the Fittest we are to understand a natural -law by means of which those best able to overcome the unfavourable -conditions of their environment survive and are able to propagate their -successful qualities. We must bear in mind that neither the growth of -the individual nor that of society has proceeded in an unbroken or -uninterrupted line; on the contrary, during a certain portion of human -existence on the earth, the forces which tend toward degeneration have -been stronger than whose which lie along the line of true development. - -We are assured that the principles of construction and destruction are -mutually employed in the reproductive processes, that continuous death -means continuous life,—the katabolic or disruptive tendencies of the -male being necessary to the anabolic or constructive habits of the -female. As it is in reproduction, so has it been through the entire -course of development. Side by side, all along the line, these two -tendencies have been in operation; the grinding, rending, and devouring -processes which we denominate Natural Selection, alongside those which -unite, assimilate, and protect. As a result of the separation of the -sexes there have been developed on the one side extreme egoism, or -the desire for selfish gratification; on the other, altruism, or a -desire for the welfare of others outside of self. Hence, throughout -the later ages of human existence, since the egoistic principles -have gained the ascendency, may be observed the unequal struggle for -liberty and justice, against tyranny, and the oppressors of the masses -of the human race. From present appearances it would seem, that the -disruptive or devouring forces have always been in the ascendency. -The philosophy of history however, teaches the contrary. With a -broader view of the origin and development of the human race, and the -unexpected light which within the last few years has been thrown upon -prehistoric society and the grandeur of past achievement, a close -student of the past is able to discern a faint glimmering of a more -natural age of human existence, and is able to observe in the present -intense struggles for freedom and equality, an attempt to return to -the earlier and more natural principles of justice and liberty, and so -to advance to a stage of society in which selfishness, sensuality, and -superstition no longer reign supreme. - -The status of women always furnishes an index to the true condition -of society, one or two superficial writers to the contrary -notwithstanding. For this phenomenon there is a scientific reason, -namely: society advances just in proportion as women are able to -convey to their offspring the progressive tendencies transmissible -only through the female organism. It is plain, therefore, that mankind -will never advance to a higher plane of thinking and living until the -restrictions upon the liberties of women have been entirely removed, -and until within every department of human activity, their natural -instincts, and the methods of thought peculiar to them be allowed -free expression. The following is from Mr. Buckle’s lecture on “The -Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge”: - - I believe and I hope before we separate to convince you, that so far - from women exercising little or no influence over the progress of - knowledge, they are capable of exercising, and have actually exercised - an enormous influence; that this influence, is, in fact, so great that - it is hardly possible to assign limits to it; and that great as it is, - it may with advantage be still further increased. I hope, moreover, - to convince you that this influence has been exhibited not merely - from time to time in rare, sudden, and transitory ebullitions, but - that it acts by virtue of certain laws inherent in human nature; and - that, although it works as an undercurrent below the surface, and is - therefore invisible to hasty observers, it has already produced the - most important results, and has affected the shape, the character, and - the amount of our knowledge. - -Through the processes involved in the differentiation of sex and the -consequent division of functions, it has been possible during the past -six thousand or seven thousand years (a mere tithe of the time spent -by mankind upon the earth) for women to become enslaved, or subjected -to the lower impulses of the male nature. Through the capture of women -for wives, through the exigencies of warfare, the individual ownership -of land, and the various changes incident to a certain stage of human -existence, the finer sensibilities which characterize women have been -overshadowed, and the higher forces which originated within them -and which are transmitted in the female line, have been temporarily -subdued by the great sexual ardour inherent in the opposite sex; it is -not, therefore, singular that the degree of progress attained should -appear to be wholly the result of male activity and acumen. Yet, -notwithstanding the degradation to which women in the position assigned -them by physical force have been obliged to submit, their capacity for -improvement has suffered less from the influences and circumstances of -their environment than has that of men. As the higher faculties are -transmitted through women equally to both sexes, in the impoverishment -of their inheritance on the female side, men have suffered equally -with women, while, through their male progenitors, they have inherited -appetites and habits (the result of a ruder and less developed -structure) which weaken and degrade the entire constitution. - -Doubtless, so soon as women have gained sufficient strength to enable -them to maintain their independence, and after the higher faculties -rather than the animal propensities rule supreme, men, through the -imperfections in their organism, and the appetites acquired through -these imperfections, will, for a considerable length of time, find -themselves weighted in the struggle for supremacy, and this, too, by -the very characters which under lower conditions are now believed to -have determined their success. - -It is not unlikely, however, that through Sexual Selection the -characters or qualities unfavourable to the higher development of man -will in time be eliminated. The mother is the natural guardian and -protector of offspring; therefore, so soon as women are free they will -doubtless select for husbands only those men who, by their mental, -moral, and physical endowments are fitted to become the fathers of -their children. Only those women will become mothers who hope to secure -to their offspring immunity from the giant evils with which society -is afflicted. In this way, and this way only, may these evils be -eradicated. - -Under purer conditions of life, when by the higher powers developed -in the race the animal propensities have become somewhat subdued by -man, we may reasonably hope that the “struggle for existence,” which -is still so relentlessly waged, will cease, that man will no longer -struggle with man for place or power, and that the bounties of earth -will no longer be hoarded by the few, while the many are suffering for -the necessities of life; for are we not all members of one family, and -dependent for all that we have on the same beneficent parent—Nature? - -Although the two principles, the constructive and destructive, are -closely allied, the higher faculties have been acquired only through -the former—the highest degree of progress is possible only through -union or co-operation, or, through the uniting and binding force, -maternal love from which has been developed, first, sympathy among -related groups, and later an interest which is capable of extending -itself not only to all members of the human race, but to every sentient -creature. There is, therefore, little wonder that for thousands of -years of human existence, the female principle was worshipped over the -entire habitable globe as the source of all light and life—the Creator -and Preserver of the Universe. - -We are only on the threshold of civilization. Mankind may as yet have -no just conception of their possibilities, but so soon as, through -the agencies now in operation for the advancement of the race, the -“necessities” of the male nature no longer demand and secure the -subjection of women and the consequent drain on the very fountain -whence spring the higher faculties, a great and unexpected impetus will -be given to progress. - -The fact that a majority of women have not yet gained that freedom of -action necessary to the absolute control of their own persons, nor -acquired a sufficient degree of independence to enable them to adopt -a course of action in their daily life which they know to be right, -shows the extent to which selfishness, twin brother to sensuality, -has clouded the conscience and warped the judgment in all matters -pertaining to human justice. So closely has women’s environment been -guarded that in addition to all the restrictions placed upon their -liberties, a majority of them are still dependent for food and clothing -on pleasing the men, who still hold the purse-strings. Yet Mr. Darwin, -the apostle of original scientific investigation, concludes: - -“If men are capable of decided prominence over women in many subjects, -the average mental powers in men must be above those of women.” - - - - - PART II - - Prehistoric Society - - - - -CHAPTER I - -METHOD OF INVESTIGATION - - -If the theory of the development of the human race, or more -particularly that of the two diverging lines of sex demarcation as set -forth in the foregoing chapters be correct, it is plain that by it a -new foundation is laid for the study of mankind. - -If, contrary to the generally accepted idea, within the female organism -have been developed those elements which form the basis of human -progress, or, if the higher faculties are transmitted through the -mother, henceforth all examinations into primitive conditions and all -research into the causes which underlie existing institutions must -be carried on with reference to this particular fact. Only through -a thorough understanding of the principles or forces which govern -human development, and a just appreciation of the source whence these -principles have sprung, may we hope to gain a clear understanding -of the past history of the race, or to perceive the true course to -be pursued toward further development. Through the investigation of -facts revealed in the records of Geology, and through the study of -comparative Embryology and Anatomy, or through an understanding of -Zoölogy and Anthropology, man has well-nigh solved the problem of his -origin, or has almost proved his connection with and development from -the lower orders of life, but of the countless ages which intervened -between the era of our ape-like progenitors and the dawn of organized -society, little may be known without a correct knowledge of the -inheritance received by mankind from creatures lower in the scale of -being. Only by a careful study of the constitutional bias acquired -throughout the entire line of development, are we enabled to note the -motives or forces by which primitive society was controlled, or to form -a just conclusion relative to the early conditions of human society and -its subsequent progress. - -Through the attention which in these later years has been directed -toward surviving tribes in the so-called middle and later stages of -savagery, and in the three successive periods of barbarism, have -doubtless been revealed many of the processes by which mankind have -reached their present condition. Much of the information, however, -which has been obtained by these inquiries still lacks that accuracy in -detail demanded by exact science; but, so soon as the array of facts -which the last half-century has brought to bear upon this subject shall -have been correctly interpreted, logically arranged, intelligently -classified, and without prejudice brought into line with the truths -involved in the theory of natural development, there will doubtless -be approximated a system of truth which will furnish a safe and -trustworthy foundation for a more thorough research into the history of -the human race. - -Although the facts relative to existing undeveloped races, which -have been laid before the reading public through the patience and -industry of investigators in this particular branch of inquiry, have -been of incalculable value as furnishing a foundation for a correct -understanding of the origin of the customs, manners, ceremonies, -governments, languages, and systems of consanguinity and affinity of -a primitive race, and although without these efforts little knowledge -of the early history of mankind could be obtained, yet, as a majority -of the theories built upon these observations have been based on -long-established prejudices relative to the earliest conditions -surrounding human society and the forces by which it was controlled, -many false conclusions have been the inevitable result. - -We have seen that owing to the ascendency which the masculine element -in human society gained during the period designated as the Latter -Status of barbarism, the popular ideas evolved since that time -concerning the origin and development of government, social usages, -religion, and law, have been in accordance with the then established -assumption that within the male organism lies not only the active, -aggressive element, but the progressive principle as well. It is -not, therefore, singular that at the present time all the lines of -investigation which are being directed toward man in a primitive state, -or which are being conducted for the avowed purpose of ascertaining the -successive steps by which our social, civil, and religious institutions -have been reared, should continue to be carried on under the _a priori_ -assumption that the male organism is by nature superior to that of the -female. - -As in all the theories relative to the development of species the -male is the principal factor, so in the theories brought forward to -explain the development of human institutions the female has played -only an insignificant part; but, as all later facts bearing upon this -subject furnish indisputable evidence of the early importance of the -female element, not only among the lower orders of life but under -earlier human conditions as well, we may reasonably expect from these -data the establishment, in the not distant future, of a complete chain -of evidence in support of a more rational and consistent theory of -development than has yet been put forth, not only of the origin of the -higher faculties, but of the organization of human society and the -growth of its various institutions. - -As, hitherto, all the theories advanced relative to the evolution of -the human race and the establishment of society on a political and -territorial basis have been founded on preconceived notions of the -superiority of the characters peculiar to the male, it is believed, or -at least assumed, that the ascendency gained by man over woman during -the Latter Status of barbarism constitutes a regular, orderly, and -necessary step in the direct line of progress; and, as under masculine -supremacy, a certain degree of advancement has been possible, it is -assumed that the nobler animal, man, having gained the ascendency over -the weaker animal, woman, his progress in the future is to increase -in a sort of geometrical ratio, while she, still bound by physical -disabilities and weighted by the baneful effects of past limitations -and restrictions, must continue far in the rear of her better endowed -and more thoroughly equipped male mate. However, in this conception of -the facts of biology, woman is not left without a crumb of comfort; -for, in the forlorn and helpless condition to which it condemns her, -she is given to understand that if for many successive generations -girls be constantly trained in masculine methods, they may eventually -be able to admire, and possibly in a measure to comprehend, some of the -less stupendous mental achievements of their brothers; but, according -to the savants, any attempt on the part of women to compete with men in -the higher walks of life must result in increased physical weakness, in -the immediate degeneration of the female sex, and in disaster and ruin -to the entire race. - -When we remember that investigations into the conditions surrounding -primitive society have for the most part been conducted under the -influence of prejudices similar to those which have prompted the -above assumptions, it is not singular that in a majority of cases in -which the early status of women has been discussed, and in which the -organization of society, the fundamental principles of government, the -origin of the institution of marriage, the monogamic family, and the -growth of the god-idea, have been the topics under discussion, the -conclusions arrived at have been not wholly warranted by the facts at -hand. - -In an investigation of the subject of human development, we must -bear in mind the fact that all the principal existing institutions -have sprung from germs of thought which originated under primitive -conditions of the race. Government, language, marriage, the modern -family, and our present system of the accumulation and distribution -of wealth, have all been evolved from the necessities of early human -existence, or from primitive ideas conceived according to the peculiar -bias which had been given to the female and male organisms prior to -the appearance of mankind upon the earth, and which have since been -developed in accordance with the laws which govern human growth. - -With their reasoning faculties still undeveloped, and, according to our -guides, wholly destitute of a moral sense, human beings at the outset -of their career could have had no guiding principle other than those -instincts which they inherited from their mute progenitors. Therefore, -in order fully to understand the status of the human race as it emerged -from its animal conditions, we must bear in mind the nature of the -inheritance which it had received during its passage from a formless -lump of carbon, or an infinitesimal jelly dot in the primeval sea, to a -creature endowed with sympathy, affection, courage, and perseverance. -We must not lose sight of the fact that passion, the all-absorbing -quality developed in males belonging to the orders lower in the scale -of being, must have been conveyed without diminution or material change -to man. Neither must we forget that those qualities in the female which -had been developed for the protection of the germ, and by which she -was enabled to hold in check the abnormally developed appetites of the -male, were still in operation. - -That Nature disdains arbitrary rules, and that she pays little heed to -the proprieties established by man, are facts everywhere to be observed -among the lower orders of life. She nevertheless jealously guards the -germ and the young of the species. The mother is the natural guardian -of prenatal and infant life, and as such, under natural conditions, is -usually able to control the sexual relation. - -Failing to note the fact that among the orders of life below mankind -the female chooses her mate, and failing also to observe that through -the natural adjustment of the sexual relations his instincts are -checked by her will, nearly if not all the writers upon this subject -have declared that women and men at the outset of the human career -lived in a state of “lawlessness” or “promiscuity,” similar no doubt to -that which at the present time would prevail in a community in which -women were utterly devoid of influence, and in which there were no laws -regulating the intercourse of the sexes. - -By the most trustworthy writers on the subject of the primitive -conditions of the human race, it is believed that the most archaic -organization of society was that founded on the basis of sex, but, as -in the infancy of the race, prior to the inauguration of the system -based on sex, and during the long ages which were spent merely in -gaining a subsistence, no organized form of society existed, it is held -that the order which is observed among creatures lower in the scale -of life was suspended, and that the universal law which had hitherto -regulated the relations of the sexes, and which throughout the ages of -life on the earth had held in check the lower instincts of the male, -became immediately inoperative. - -Here the common ground of belief ceases, and each writer branches off -upon his own peculiar line of argument, appropriating and arranging the -facts observed by explorers and investigators in the various lines of -inquiry according to his own preconceived notions, or as best suits the -particular scheme of development which he essays to establish. - -In the following pages the attempt will be made to show that the facts -which in these later years have been brought to light concerning the -development of the human race are in strict accord with the facts as -enunciated by scientists relative to the development of the orders -of life below man, and that together they form a connected chain of -evidence going to prove not only that the higher faculties had their -origin in the female but that the progressive principle has also been -confided to her. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES AMONG EARLY MANKIND - - -We have seen that an investigation of the instincts and habits of -creatures lower in the scale is necessary to an understanding of the -relations which must have existed between the sexes among primitive -races. - - Among birds and mammals, the greater differentiation of the nervous - system and the higher pitch of the whole life is associated with - the development of what pedantry alone can refuse to call love. Not - only is there often partnership, co-operation, and evident affection - beyond the limits of the breeding period, but there are abundant - illustrations of a high standard of morality, of all the familiar - sexual crimes of mankind, and every shade of flirtation, courtship, - jealousy, and the like. There is no doubt that in the two highest - classes of animals at least, the physical sympathies of sexuality have - been enhanced by the emotional, if not also intellectual, sympathies - of love.[52] - -[52] Geddes and Thomson, _The Evolution of Sex_, p. 266. - -It has been observed that among the orders of life below mankind, -except among polygamous species, the female chooses the individual -which is best endowed—the one whose beauty appeals to her æsthetic -taste, or which through his stronger development is best fitted to -assist her in the office of reproduction. - -Among the more intelligent species of birds, genuine affection has been -observed, strict monogamy and life-long unions having been established -between mated pairs. Among others, although the conjugal bond is not -life-lasting, so long as the mother-bird is caring for her brood, -constancy to one another is the undeviating rule. We are assured that -with the female Illinois parrot, “widowhood and death are synonymous,” -and that “when a wheatear dies, his companion survives him scarcely a -month.”[53] - -[53] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 27. - -All eagles are monogamous. Golden eagles live in couples and remain -attached to one another for a hundred or more years, without even -changing their domicile.[54] The conjugal unions of bald-headed eagles, -although they are under no “legal restrictions,” last until the death -of one of the partners. Among birds, although incubation rests with -the mother, the father usually assists his companion. He not only -takes her place if she desires to leave the nest for a moment, but -also provides her with food.[55] So perfect is the bird family life -that Brehm declares that “real genuine marriage can only be found -among birds.”[56] Upon this subject we are informed that “examples -of wandering fancy are for the most part rare among the birds, the -majority of whom are monogamous, and even superior to most men in the -matter of conjugal fidelity.”[57] - -[54] J. G. Wood, _Natural History_, p. 262. - -[55] Westermarck, _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 11. - -[56] Brehm, _Bird-Life_. - -[57] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 27. - -Concerning mammals, it is observed that although polygamy is frequent -“it is far from being the conjugal regime universally adopted; monogamy -is common, and is sometimes accompanied by so much devotion that it -would serve as an example to human monogamists.”[58] Bears, weasels, -whales, and many other animals choose their mates and go in pairs. -Several kinds of monkeys are strictly monogamous.[59] Chimpanzees are -sometimes polygamous and sometimes monogamous. It is stated what when a -strong male has succeeded in driving away the other males of the group, -the females, although in a position to subjugate him, are nevertheless -kind and even tender toward him. They are doubtless too much occupied -with their legitimate functions to rebel, but so soon as the young -of the horde are grown, the usurper is driven from their midst. A -little observation will show us that even among polygamous species, -it is affection rather than strength which keeps the members of a -group together. Although among most of the lower orders the female -exercises a choice in the selection of her mate, still among animals of -polygamous habits the female is said to manifest genuine affection for -the father of her offspring. - -[58] _Ibid._, p. 35. - -[59] Darwin, _The Descent of Man_, p. 590. - - The polygamic regime of animals is far from extinguishing affectionate - sentiments in the females towards their husband and master. The - females of the guanaco lamas, for example, are very faithful to - their male. If the latter happens to be wounded or killed, instead - of running away, they hasten to his side, bleating and offering - themselves to the shots of the hunter in order to shield him, while, - on the contrary, if a female is killed, the male makes off with all - his troop; he only thinks of himself.[60] - -[60] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage and the Family_, p. 32. - -Although among animals a stray male will sometimes drive away or kill -all the other males of the group, and himself become the common mate of -all the females, they peaceably accepting the situation, so far as I -can find, female insects, birds, and mammals, although they generally -control the sexual relation, have never been given to polyandry; the -reason for this can be explained only through a careful analysis of -the fundamental bias of the female constitution. We must bear in mind -that although among the orders of life below mankind the male is ready -to pair with any female, she, on the other hand, when free to choose, -can be induced to accept the attentions only of the one which by his -courage, bravery, or personal beauty has won her favours. We have noted -the fact that in the earliest ages of the human race this choice was -exercised by women, but we have no reason to believe that anything -resembling “promiscuity” ever prevailed among primitive races. It is -true that under earlier conditions the institution of marriage as it -exists at the present time had not appeared; yet the law which had -been impressed on the higher organism of the female, until overcome by -males through means which will be treated of later in these pages, had -sufficed to keep the animal instincts under subjection, or at least on -a level with those of the lower species which structurally had been -left behind. - -From facts to be gathered, not alone from among the lower orders, but -from observations among human beings as well, it would seem that any -degree of affection for more than one individual at the same time is -contrary to the female nature. A female insect, or bird, which feels a -preference for a particular mate will pair with no other, hence, among -orders where the female instincts control the relations between the -sexes, “lawlessness” or promiscuity would not prevail. - -A little observation and reflection, I think, will show us that the -affection of the female is a character differing widely from the sex -instinct of the male—that, while selfishness constitutes the underlying -principle of the latter, the former involves not only care for the -young and the unity of the group, but, when human conditions are -reached, it involves also country, civilization, and the ultimate -brotherhood of mankind. - -If we bear in mind the conditions surrounding the orders of life from -which the human race has sprung, and if we remember the nature of -the characters inherited by mankind from these orders, together with -the important fact that the lower instincts among them were under -subjection to the higher faculties, we shall be enabled to see that -the more degraded of the extant savage tribes cannot represent the -primitive race as it emerged from the animal type. - -Mr. Tylor must have been mindful of the altruistic character of early -races when he remarked: “Without some control beyond the mere right -of the stronger, the tribe would break up in a week, whereas in fact -savage tribes last on for ages.”[61] - -[61] _Anthropology_, p. 405. - -Concerning the relations of the sexes under unorganized society nothing -may be known from actual observation, as, at the present time, no tribe -or race is to be found under absolutely primitive conditions. Perhaps -from no extant people is there so little information in reference to -the earliest human state to be gleaned as from the lowest existing -races. Among many of these tribes the rules which it has been necessary -to establish for the regulation of the relations between the sexes -are rigorously enforced, while among others a laxity prevails which -would seem to indicate an almost total lack of those higher instincts -which are observed among nearly all the lower orders of beings. The -following fact, however, in regard to these races, has been observed: -the more primitive they are, or the less they have come in contact with -civilization, the more strictly do they observe the rules which have -been established for the governance of the sexual relation. On this -subject Mr. Parkyns says: - - I don’t believe that there exists a nation, however high in the scale - of civilization, that can pick a hole in the character of the lowest, - without being in danger of finding one nearly, if not quite, as big - in its own. The vices of the savage are, like his person, very much - exposed to view. Our own nakedness is not less unseemly than his, - but is carefully concealed under the convenient cloak which we call - “civilization,” but which I fear he, in his ignorance, poor fellow, - might, on some occasions, be led to look upon as hypocrisy.[62] - -[62] _Life in Abyssinia_, vol. ii., p. 152. - -In the West Indian Islands where Columbus landed, lived tribes which -are represented as having been “the most gentle and benevolent of the -human race.” Regarding these Mr. Tylor remarks: - - Schomburgk, the traveller, who knew the warlike Caribs well in their - home life, draws a paradise-like picture of their ways, where they - have not been corrupted by the vices of the white men; he saw among - them peace and cheerfulness and simple family affection, unvarnished - friendship, and gratitude not less true for not being spoken in - sounding words; the civilized world, he says, has not to teach them - morality, for, though they do not talk about it, they live in it.[63] - -[63] Tylor, _Anthropology_, p. 406. - -The men who with Captain Cook first visited the Sandwich Islands -reported the natives as modest and chaste in their habits; but, later, -after coming in contact with the influences of civilization, modesty -and chastity among them were virtues almost entirely unknown. The same -is true of the people of Patagonia. - -Barrow says of the Kaffir woman that she is “chaste and extremely -modest,” and we are told that among this people banishment is the -penalty for incontinence for both women and men. Of the reports which -from time to time come from the aborigines of certain portions of -Australia relative to the lewdness of the women, Mr. Brough Smyth says -that they are irreconcilable with the severe penalties imposed for -unchastity in former times amongst the natives of Victoria.[64] This -writer is of the opinion that the lewd practices reported are modern, -and that they are the result of communication with the poor whites. We -are assured that the women of Nubia are virtuous, that public women -are not tolerated in the country.[65] Also that in Fiji adultery is one -of the crimes generally punished with death.[66] - -[64] Quoted by Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, p. 61. - -[65] Burckhardt’s _Travels in Nubia_, p. 146. - -[66] Seeman, _A Mission to Viti_, p. 191. - -Marsden observes that in Sumatra “the old women are very attentive to -the conduct of the girls, and the male relations are highly jealous -of any insults that may be shown them.”[67] The same writer says that -prostitution for hire is unknown in the country; adultery is punishable -by fine, but the crime is rare. Regarding the conduct of men toward -women he remarks: “They preserve a degree of delicacy and respect -toward the sex which might justify their retorting on many of the -polished nations of antiquity the epithet of barbarism.”[68] - -[67] _History of Sumatra_, p. 230. - -[68] _Ibid._, p. 226. - -Crantz says that among the Greenlanders single persons have rarely -any connection.[69] According to the testimony of St. Boniface, the -punishment for unchastity among the early Germans was death to the man, -while the woman was driven naked through the streets.[70] - -[69] _History of Greenland_, vol. i., p. 145. - -[70] _Epistle of St. Boniface to Ethelbald._ - -Among the Central Asian Turks we are assured that a fallen girl is -unknown. Mr. Westermarck, quoting from Klemm, states that although -among the Kalmucks and gypsies the girls take pride in having gallant -affairs, they are “dishonoured if they have children previous to -marriage.” The same writer quotes also from Winwood Reade, who says -that among the Equatorial Africans “a girl who disgraces her family by -wantonness is banished from her clan; and, in cases of seduction, the -man is severely flogged.”[71] - -[71] _History of Human Marriage_, p. 62. - -Mr. Westermarck adduces much testimony going to show that the -“lawlessness” of lower races is due not to inherent vicious tendencies, -but to the evil associations of civilized peoples. He is of the opinion -that the licentiousness among many of the South Sea Islanders owes its -origin to the intercourse of the natives with Europeans; and of the -tribes who once inhabited the Adelaide Plains, quoting from Mr. Edward -Stephens who went to Australia half a century ago, he says: - - Those who speak of the natives as a naturally degraded race, either do - not speak from experience, or they judge them by what they have become - when the abuse of intoxicants and contact with the most wicked of the - white race have begun their deadly work. As a rule, to which there - are no exceptions, if a tribe of blacks is found away from the white - settlement, the more vicious of the white men are most anxious to make - the acquaintance of the natives, and that, too, solely for purposes of - immorality.... I saw the natives and was much with them before those - deadly immoralities were well known ... and I say it fearlessly, that - nearly all their evils they owed to the white man’s immorality and to - the white man’s drink.[72] - -[72] _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 68. - -We are informed that wherever certain vices prevail among the lower -races in America, Africa, or Asia, they have been carried to them by -the whites. Were it necessary to do so, scores of examples could be -adduced going to show that among primitive tribes, until corrupted by -our later civilization, chastity is the universal rule. - -Although many of the writers who have dealt with this subject have -discoursed freely on the laxity of the conjugal bond among so-called -primitive tribes, and the lawlessness which characterizes lower races -in their sexual relations, they have failed to account satisfactorily -for some of the customs and usages which appear connected with many -of the early forms of marriage,—forms which would seem to indicate a -degree of modest reserve on the part of these peoples which fail to -comport with the popular theory concerning their lawlessness and innate -indecency. - -We have seen that although among the orders of life below mankind there -are no arbitrary laws governing the relations of the sexes, there -nevertheless exists a system of natural marriage which in no wise -resembles promiscuity. Now it was under this natural system controlled -by the higher instincts developed within the female organism, that the -extreme “lawlessness” indicated by the savants prevailed—lawlessness -seeming to denote that state of female independence in which women were -personally free, or in which they were not held in actual bondage as -captive wives. In the reasoning of many of our guides in this matter it -is implied, if not actually asserted, that the freedom of women which -is now known to have prevailed in earlier times denotes a state of -laxity in morals, a condition of society directly contrary to the facts -which they themselves have recorded relative to existing tribes under -less advanced conditions of life, and which would seem to argue for -these peoples a sense of decency which among the masses in civilized -countries is almost entirely wanting. At the dawn of human existence, -had no higher instincts been developed than passion, or the desire for -selfish gratification, whence could have arisen this reserve, and these -ideas of chastity and modesty which are observed among many of the less -developed peoples, notably those which have not come in contact with -the higher races? Upon this subject Mr. Tylor remarks: “Yet even among -the rudest clans of men, unless depraved by vice or misery and falling -to pieces, a standard of family morals is known and lived by.”[73] - -[73] _Anthropology_, chap, xvi., p. 405. - -Observing the habits of the lower animals, Mr. Darwin cannot believe -that promiscuous intercourse prevailed among the early races of -mankind. - - At a very early period, before man attained to his present rank in the - scale, many of his conditions would be different from what now obtains - amongst savages. Judging from the analogy of the lower animals he - would then either live with a single female, or be a polygamist.[74] - -[74] _The Descent of Man_, p. 594. - -We have much evidence going to prove that the marriage contracts among -the lower races are well kept. According to Cook, in Tahiti, although -nothing more is necessary for the consummation of a valid marriage than -an agreement between the parties, these contracts are usually well -kept. In case of the disaffection of either party, a divorce is easily -obtained. We are assured, however, that although the Tahiti women have -the undisputed right to dissolve the marriage contract at will, they -are nevertheless “as faithful to their husbands as in any part of the -world.” The Veddahs, who are ranked among the most primitive races, are -a strictly monogamous people.[75] Of the extreme modesty of married -pairs among many of the lower races we have much proof. Among the -Fijians, husbands and wives do not usually spend the night together, -except as it were by stealth, and it is said to be contrary to their -ideas of delicacy that they should sleep under the same roof.[76] -Wholly from a sense of reserve or modesty, the Arab wife remains for -months, possibly for a whole year, with her mother before taking up -her abode in her husband’s tent. The extreme delicacy of the customs -regulating the behaviour of married pairs in ancient Sparta are well -understood. According to Xenophon and Strabo, it was the custom, not -only among the Spartans but among the Cretans also, for married pairs -to meet clandestinely. The same custom prevailed in ancient Lycia. -Lafitau says that among the North American Indians the husband visits -his wife only by stealth.[77] - -[75] _Ibid._, p. 591. - -[76] Seeman, _A Mission to Viti_, p. 191. - -[77] Quoted by Sir John Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, p. 82. - -It is stated by trustworthy authorities that among various tribes, -during the period of gestation and lactation, the person of the wife -is sacred; that the rule of chastity, or continence, between married -pairs, during this season, is absolutely inviolate. In Fiji, women -furnish natural nourishment to their children for three or four years, -during which time their persons are respected. - - The relatives of the women take it as a public insult if any child - should be born before the customary three or four years have elapsed, - and they consider themselves in duty bound to avenge it in an equally - public manner. - -Mr. Seeman says: - - I heard of a white man, who, being asked how many brothers and sisters - he had, frankly replied, “ten.” “But that could not be,” was the - rejoinder of the natives, “one mother could scarcely have so many - children.” - -When told that these children were born at annual intervals, and that -such occurrences were common in Europe, they were very much shocked, -and thought it explained sufficiently why so many white people were -“mere shrimps.” After childbirth, among the Fijians, husband and -wife separate and live apart for three and even four years, “so that -no other baby may interfere with the time considered necessary for -suckling the children, in order to make them strong and healthy.”[78] - -[78] Seeman, _A Mission to Viti_, p. 191. - -Through such wise regulations as these, governing the sexual relations, -the drain on the vital forces observed among the women of civilized -countries is avoided, and it was doubtless to these rules and others -of a similar character that women, throughout untold ages of human -existence, were enabled to maintain a position of independence and -supremacy. We are informed that among the Fijians the birth of a child -is cause for a perfect jubilee; that parental and filial affection -is among the manifest virtues of this people. After referring to the -truthfulness and honesty of the Dyaks of Borneo, Mr. Wallace says that -“in several matters of morality they rank above most uncivilized, and -even above many civilized, nations. They are temperate in food and -drink, and the gross sensuality of the Chinese and Malays is unknown -among them.”[79] Although the usual checks to population are absent -among the Dyaks—namely, starvation, disease, war, infanticide, and -vice,—still the women in the Dyak tribe rarely had more than three or -four children. In a village in which there were one hundred and fifty -families, in only one of them were there six children, and only six -with five children. - -[79] _The Malay Archipelago._ - -In whatever direction we turn, evidences are abundant going to prove -that under simpler and more natural conditions, and before corrupted by -our later civilization, mankind were governed largely by the instincts -developed within the female constitution, and that long after her -supremacy over the male was lost, the effects of these purer conditions -were manifest in the customs, forms, and usages of the people. - -From the evidence at hand it seems more than likely that many of the -extant tribes have at some remote period been civilized, and that -through some natural catastrophe, the unfavourable conditions of -climate and soil, or some other equally disadvantageous cause, they -have again sunk to a low plane of existence from which they have been -unable to rise. From available facts one is almost led to believe -that at a period in the remote past, and while living under purer -conditions, a high stage of civilization was reached, a civilization -which in many respects was equal if not superior to that of the -present. Be this as it may, whenever the environment of a people is -such that after having reached a certain stage it is unable to advance, -it does not remain stationary, but on the contrary follows a line of -retrogression; or, whenever the conditions of a race or tribe are such -that the higher faculties which tend towards progress lie dormant, -the lower forces which incline toward retrogression and which are -peculiarly active in low organisms still continue in operation. - -Although the social arrangement of the native Australians seems to be -founded on classes based on sex—the earliest form of society—still we -find them practising polygamy and monogamy side by side, at the same -time securing their wives by capture in exactly the same fashion as did -the early Greeks and Romans. It is apparent, therefore, that although -this people have not been able to advance in the arts of life, as far -as the relations of the sexes are concerned they have taken about -the same course as have all the other tribes and races in which the -supremacy of the male has been gained. For unknown reasons, during -thousands of years, the developing agencies have been quiescent, hence -no check to the animal instincts has been interposed; the Australians -have therefore departed widely from the conditions which surrounded -early human society—conditions under which the maternal instincts -developed in the lower orders of life were still sufficiently strong -to guard the constructive processes and to continue the chain of -uninterrupted progress. - -As among the lowest existing tribes—peoples which during countless -ages have been unable to advance—only the ruder elements in the human -composition have been developed, it is plain that from these tribes -little if any information concerning an earlier or more natural age, -when the animal instincts were controlled by the higher characters -developed in human nature, may be obtained; but from those peoples -within the several successive stages of development whose environment -has been such as to admit of some degree of improvement in the arts of -life, and in whom therefore the higher characters developed in their -mute progenitors have not been in a state of retrogression, may be -obtained a clue to many of the processes by which our present social -fabric has been raised. Among such peoples will be retained certain -symbols, habits, and traditions representing former modes of life, -from which may be reconstructed much of the previous history of the -race. For instance, by means of the symbol of wife-capture, a form -of marriage which is universal among tribes in a certain stage of -development, has been furnished much trustworthy information relative -to the institution of marriage and the development of the modern -family. It matters not that the origin of these symbols is so remote -that their true significance is lost by the peoples who practise them, -they nevertheless repeat with unerring fidelity the past experiences -of the race and reveal the origin of later institutions. - -As the various tribes and races of mankind have probably sprung from a -common progenitor, and as the “nerve cells in the brain of all classes -and orders have had the same origin,” their development, although not -identical as to time and manner of detail, has been similar in outline -and in general results; so it is thought that a correct knowledge of -the development of any tribe or race from savagery to civilization must -necessarily involve the general history of all the tribes and races of -mankind. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE GENS—WOMEN UNDER GENTILE INSTITUTIONS - - -The earliest form of organized society was that into classes founded -on the basis of sex,[80] under which the right of individuals to -intermarry was restricted to one-fourth of the group. This division -of the early race, and the regulations prohibiting conjugal relations -with three-fourths the members of the related community, is thought -to represent the first coercive abridgment or formal restriction of -the then existing conjugal rights, and was inaugurated for the purpose -of averting the evil effects arising from intercourse between near -relations. Of this early form of society, however, and of the ages -during which no organized form existed, little may be known except that -which is suggested by the instincts and habits of the highest animals, -and that which may be inferred from an investigation of the next -higher organization, that into gentes on the basis of kin. Although -untold ages intervened between the ancient division of society into -classes founded on the basis of sex, and the higher and more important -organization into gentes on the basis of kin, this last-named plan for -the further development of mankind became universal at a comparatively -early stage of human history. - -[80] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 52. - -By an investigation of the fundamental principles of the gens, we -shall be enabled to observe the similarity existing between the -instincts which governed early human action and those which controlled -the highest orders of life below mankind. All facts bearing on the -primitive conditions of the human race, which in these later times -have been brought to light through the investigations directed -toward peoples in the various stages of development, only serve to -emphasize the importance of the altruistic principle in the formation -of organized society and in the establishment of human institutions. -Although the gens is the earliest form of organized society of which we -have any accurate knowledge, still as within it were encysted the germs -of all the principles of justice and equality which our better human -nature is beginning again to recognize, and which must characterize a -higher stage of progress, a knowledge of its underlying principles is -necessary to a correct understanding, not only of the past development -of the race and all the existing human institutions, but of the course -to be pursued toward the future advancement of mankind. Of the gens, -Mr. Morgan says: - - The gentile organization opens to us one of the oldest and most widely - prevalent institutions of mankind. It furnished the nearly universal - plan of government of ancient society, Asiatic, European, African, - American, and Australian. It was the instrumentality by means of which - society was organized and held together. Commencing in savagery, and - continuing through the three sub-periods of barbarism, it remained - until the establishment of political society, which did not occur - until after civilization had commenced. The Grecian gens, phratry, - and tribe, the Roman gens, _curia_, and tribe find their analogues - in the gens, phratry, and tribe of the American aborigines. In like - manner, the Irish _sept_, the Scottish _clan_, the _phrara_ of the - Albanians, and the Sanskrit _ganas_, without extending the comparison - further are the same as the American-Indian gens, which has usually - been called a clan. As far as our knowledge extends, this organization - runs through the entire ancient world upon all the continents, and it - was brought down to the historical period by such tribes as attained - to civilization.... Gentile society wherever found is the same in - structural organization and in principles of action; but changing from - lower to higher forms with the progressive advancement of the people. - These changes give the history of the development of the same original - conceptions.[81] - -[81] _Ancient Society_, pp. 62, 63. - -Early society, as observed under gentile institutions, was established -on purely personal and social relations, or, on the basis of the -relations of the individual to the rest of the community, a community -in which each member could trace her or his origin back to the head of -the gens who was a woman. Under gentile institutions, or until the -latter stage of barbarism was reached, each individual, female and -male, constituted a unit in an aggregation or community whose interests -were identical, and as such, to a certain extent, was held responsible -for the safety and general welfare of every member composing the group. - -Extreme egoism, as it is the outgrowth of a later age, was unknown; -and sympathy, the chief promoter of the well-being of mankind, a -sprout from the well-established root, maternal affection, was the -predominant characteristic of these primitive groups and the bond -which held society together. Although the manner of reckoning descent -had been changed from the female to the male line, the purely social -organization of the gens, on the basis of kin, was, as has been -observed, in operation at the beginning of our present civilization, at -which time political society supervened, and individuals were no longer -recognized through their relations to a gens or tribe, but through -their relations to the state, county, township, or deme, to which -institutions they must henceforward look for protection and for the -redress of injuries done either to person or property. - -Although, until a comparatively recent time, the writers who have dealt -with the subject of primitive society have been of the opinion that the -tribe constituted the earliest organization of society, and that the -gens and the family followed, later investigations show conclusively -that the gens, next to the remote and obscure division into classes, -represents the oldest and most widely spread form of organized society, -and that it was through segmentation or division of this archaic group -that the tribe was formed. - - The natural way in which a tribe is formed is from a family or group, - which in time increases and divides into many households, still - recognizing one another as kindred, and this kinship is so thoroughly - felt to be the tie of the whole tribe, that even when there has been - a mixture of tribes, a common ancestor is often invented to make an - imaginary bond of union.[82] - -[82] Tylor, _Anthropology_, p. 405. - -The gens, until a comparatively recent time in the history of the human -race, was composed of a female ancestor, all her children and all the -children of her daughters, but not of her sons. The sons’ children and -their descendants belonged to the gens of their respective mothers. The -family, as it appears at the present time, was unknown. The gens was -founded on thoroughly democratic principles, each individual composing -the group, both female and male, having a voice in the regulation and -management of all matters pertaining to the general government of the -community. Any injury done to a gentilis was a wrong committed against -the entire gens of which she or he was a member, hence to her or his -kinsmen each individual looked for protection and for redress of -personal wrongs. - -The fundamental doctrine of tribal life is unity of blood. Although the -early groups, under the system of female descent, were united by the -actual bond of kinship as traced through mothers, later, when descent -came to be traced through fathers, kinship was to a considerable extent -feigned. Kinship, under the system of male descent, meant not that -the blood of the great father actually flowed in the veins of all the -members of the group, but that under a pretence of unity of blood, they -were bound together by common duties and responsibilities from which -no one of them could escape. By the terms of the compact, every member -must stand by her or his own clan. In fact, in all their movements, -they must act as one individual; their interests were identical and the -quarrel of any member of the group became the quarrel of all counted -within the bond of kinship. If homicide were committed, they judged -and punished the culprit, but if one of their number was slain by an -outsider, the law of blood-feud, which demanded blood in return, was -immediately put into execution. Of the gens Mr. Morgan says: - - Within its membership the bond of kin was a powerful element for - mutual support. To wrong a person was to wrong his gens; and to - support a person was to stand behind him with the entire array of this - gentile kindred.[83] - -[83] _Ancient Society_, p. 76. - -Although in the later ages of gentile government, all the members of -a group were not necessarily bound by blood, from the nature of the -rights conferred, and the obligations imposed, the bond uniting them -was doubtless stronger than that which now unites mere kindred. Of this -tie uniting early groups J. G. Frazer says: - - All the members of a totem clan regard each other as kinsmen or - brothers and sisters, and are bound to help and protect each other. - The totem bond is stronger than the bond of blood or family in the - modern sense.[84] - -[84] _Totemism_, p. 57. - -As Arabia, at the time of Mohammed, was still under gentile -organization, there is perhaps at the present day no country which -affords a better opportunity for the study of several of the successive -stages of human development. At the time indicated, the entire -Arabian peninsula was composed of a multitude of groups varying -in civilization, which were bound together by common privileges, -obligations, and responsibilities and by a real or pretended bond of -kinship traced through males. - -In early Arabia a group bound together by a real or feigned unity of -blood was the type or unit of society. Sometimes a confederation of -these smaller groups was formed, but so strong was the bond between -the more closely related groups that they soon broke up into their -original units. The genealogists assert that these groups which were -patriarchal tribes founded on male descent are subdivisions of an -original stock. - -At the time of the Prophet the Arabians claimed to trace their descent -from two brothers the sons of Wâil. Prof. W. Robertson Smith informs -us, however, that the name of one of these “brothers” is a feminine -appellation and that it is the designation of a tribe and not of a -person. He says: “The gender shows that the tribal name existed before -the mythical ancestor was invented,” and adds: “The older facts down -to the time of Al-Farazdac personify Taghlib as the daughter not the -son of Wâil. It is not unlikely that the mythical legend of Taghlib and -Bakr originated at a time when the female principle in human affairs -and in the Deity was beginning to give place to the male.”[85] - -[85] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, p. 14. - -Within the traditions of the oldest races of which we have any account, -are evidences of a desperate struggle between two races or between the -followers of two opposing principles. In all parts of Arabia “these two -races maintained their ancestral traditions of bitter and persistent -feud.” - -Although in Arabia, in the time of the Prophet, descent was traced in -the male line, the evidence is almost unlimited, going to show that -it was not always so, but, on the contrary, that at an earlier age, -relationships were reckoned through women, mothers being the recognized -heads of families and tribal groups. In his work on _Kinship and -Marriage in Early Arabia_, Prof. W. R. Smith says: - - If a kinship tribe derives its origin from a great father, we may - argue with confidence that it had the rule that children were of - their father’s tribe and kin; while on the other hand if we find, in - a nation organized on the principle of unity of tribal blood, tribes - which trace their origin to a great mother instead of a great father, - we can feel sure that at some time the tribe followed the rule that - the children belong to the mother and are of her kin. Now among the - Arabs the doctrine of the unity of tribal blood is universal, as - appears from the universal prevalence of the blood-feud. And yet among - the Arab tribes we find no small number that refer their origin to a - female eponym. Hence it follows that in many parts of Arabia kinship - was once reckoned not in the male but in the female line. - -In reply to the suggestion that the several families of polygamous -fathers might be designated by the names of their several mothers, -Professor Smith observes: - - The point before us, however, is not the use of the mother’s name by - individuals for purposes of distinction, but the existence of kindred - groups whose members conceive that the tie of blood which unites them - into a tribe is derived from and limited by descent from a common - ancestress. That the existence of such a group proves kinship through - women to have been once the rule is as certain as that the existence - of patronymic groups is evidence of male kinship. In most cases of the - kind the female eponym is mythical, no doubt, and the belief in her - existence is a mere inference from the rule of female kinship within - the tribe, just as mythical male ancestors are inferred from a rule of - male kinship. But even if we suppose the ancestress to be historical, - the argument is much the same, for where the bond of maternity is so - strong that it binds together the children of the same mother as a - distinct kindred group against the other children of their father, - there also we may be sure that the children of one mother by different - fathers will hold together and not follow their father. And this is - the principle of female kinship.[86] - -[86] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, pp. 26, 27. - -It is stated that the designation of tribal unity by a feminine -appellation “is not an arbitrary fiction of later facts,” but that it -is “one of the old standing figures of Semitic speech.” In Hebrew, -_em_, which means mother, means also stock, race, or community. - -The name for a tribal group in Arabia was _hayy_, a term which -indicates life. It is observed that in Hebrew and Arabic _hayy_ is used -in the same sense. “_Hawwa_ is simply a phonetic variation of _hayy_ -with a feminine termination,” and “Eve, or _Hawwa_, is so called -because she is the mother of all living, or, more literally, of every -_hayy_.” We are given to understand that, originally, there was no rule -of reckoning kinship in Arabia except by the female line, and that the -change in descent from the female to the male line affected society to -its very roots. - -There seems to be little, if any, doubt that a system of reckoning -descent through women once prevailed throughout all the tribes and -races of mankind. In Greece, as late as the beginning of the historic -period, traces of this early custom are to be observed, and, indeed, at -the present time, among many peoples, evidences of it are still extant. -The fact that throughout an earlier age of human existence descent -and all the rights of succession were traced through women, is at the -present time so well established as to require no detailed proofs to -substantiate it. Noting this custom among early races, and observing -also the natural conclusions to be drawn from such a state of society, -a few writers who have dealt with the subject of primitive races have -taken much pains to show that it does not naturally follow that under -these usages the influence of women was supreme; and their theories to -explain this (to them) no doubt singular phenomenon show the extent to -which prejudice and long-established habits of thought have influenced -their investigations. On this subject C. Staniland Wake remarks: - - There is strong reason for believing that the practice of tracing - kinship in the female line was very widely observed from a very early - period, but this is very different from the establishment of the - supremacy of women. Where this was found it was due to the development - of the gentile institution and the female kinship which accompanied - it, on which, indeed, that institution was founded.[87] - -[87] _Marriage and Kinship_, p. 16. - -If, however, during the earlier ages of human existence a system of -kinship through women had been established which was able to produce -the gentile institution, or, if this institution, which was “founded” -on female kinship and dependent upon it, was able through untold ages -to direct all the processes of evolution, even though no other evidence -were at hand to prove it, then women’s influence must have been -well-nigh supreme. - -So deeply intrenched has become the idea of woman’s subjection that it -is impossible for many male writers to contemplate a state of society -in which women are not dominated and controlled by men. - -Mr. Herbert Spencer’s theory to explain the universal system of kinship -traced through woman involves the same idea of woman’s subserviency to -man, especially in the sexual relation, and is an illustration of the -reasoning usually employed in dealing with this subject. - -Although “the very lowest races now existing, Fuegians, Australians, -and Andamanese, show us that, however informally they have originated, -sexual relations of a more or less enduring kind exist,” he is certain -that among the earliest races a state of “lawlessness” must have -prevailed and that “promiscuity” must have been the rule among them; -and this too notwithstanding the fact that among the lower orders -of life from which man has descended, and among the earliest races -of mankind the female chooses her mate and refuses to pair with any -individual except the one of her choice. To account for the universal -system of reckoning descent through the female, Mr. Spencer says that -as the connection between mother and child is more “obvious” than -that existing between the father and his offspring the custom arose -of reckoning descent through females.[88] The fact is observed that -maternal affection without which organized society would have been -impossible, and which alone can explain the system of kinship traced -through women, is entirely ignored by Mr. Spencer. - -[88] _Sociology_ vol. i., p. 665. - -Noting the reasoning employed by many writers to prove that in the -earliest ages of human existence, the maternal bond was ignored, and -that the child was accounted as being related only to the group, Mr. -Darwin remarks: - - But it seems almost incredible that the relationship of the child - to its mother should ever be completely ignored, especially as the - women in most savage tribes nurse their infants for a long time, and - as the lines of descent are traced through the mother alone, to the - exclusion of the father.[89] - -[89] _Descent of Man_, p. 588. - -We must bear in mind that under archaic usages not only did mothers -nurse their infants two, three, and even four years, but that maternity -was the bond which held together related groups and the source whence -proceeded all property rights and tribal honours; also, that under -the system of female kinship, male parentage was known but habitually -disregarded. Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Spencer can see no reason -for concluding that in the most primitive groups there were no -“individual possessions of women by men.”[90] - -[90] _Sociology_, vol. i., p. 665. - -The late Sir A. Smith, who had travelled widely in South Africa and was -acquainted with the habits of savages there and elsewhere, expressed -the strongest opinion that “no race exists in which woman is considered -as the property of the community.”[91] The reasoning employed by Mr. -Spencer to disprove the early supremacy of women seems scarcely to -justify his lofty pretensions to intellectual greatness. - -[91] Quoted by Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 588. - -In a state of society in which women were the recognized heads of -families and eponymous groups where children took the mother’s name, -and in which all rights of succession were traced through them, it is -reasonable to suppose that female influence was in the ascendency over -that of the male, and especially so as primitive human beings were -largely controlled by instincts inherited from the orders of life in -which the female chooses her mate and controls the sex-functions. - -A knowledge of the customs and tribal usages of the Iroquois Indians -throws much light on the early position of women. When this tribe first -came under the observation of Europeans it was in the first stage of -barbarism, and as the manner and order of development of the various -races of mankind are said to be substantially the same, and as many of -the facts connected with the history of this truly interesting people -through nearly three ethnical periods are accessible, it is thought -that by it, as well as by the Arabians, is afforded an excellent -opportunity for the study of the general history of mankind during -these periods. To Mr. Morgan we are indebted for the results of a -thorough research into the customs, manners, and laws of this people. - -Through a knowledge of the rights, privileges, and obligations which -were conferred and imposed on the members of the Iroquois gens while -in the second state of barbarism, we are enabled to perceive the -principles of true democracy upon which gentile institutions are based; -and this is important, for the reason that later in this work I intend -to trace the decline of those principles of liberty and equality -established under female influence and to show the reasons for the -subsequent rise of monarchy, aristocracy, and slavery. - -The rights, privileges, and obligations of the Iroquois tribe of -Indians, as enunciated by Mr. Morgan, are as follows: - - The right of electing its sachem and chiefs. The right of deposing its - sachem and chiefs. The obligation not to marry in the gens. Mutual - rights of inheritance of the property of deceased members. Reciprocal - obligations of help, defence, and redress of injuries. The right of - bestowing names upon its members. The right of adopting strangers into - the gens. Common religious rites. A common burial place. A council of - the gens.[92] - -[92] _Ancient Society_, p. 71. - -As this writer truly remarks: “These functions and attributes gave -vitality as well as individuality to the organization, and protected -the personal rights of its members.” - -Eligibility to the office of chief was based on personal merit, and -continuance in office depended on the acknowledged fitness of the -individual occupying it. The qualifications required for this office -were personal bravery, ability to lead, and eloquence in council. -The chief exercised no kingly authority over the tribe by which he -was appointed; on the contrary, his personality was respected and -his counsels heeded, not because of his official prerogatives, but -on account of the qualities by which his character was dignified; -therefore so soon as he proved himself unworthy of the trust confided -to him he was deposed by the same agency which had elected him. Hence -may be observed the truly democratic character of the gens. - -Concerning the position occupied by women, and the influence which -they exerted in the management of the clan, Ashur Wright, who was for -many years missionary to the Senecas, in 1873, wrote to Mr. Morgan the -following: - - As to their family system when occupying the old long houses, it - is probable that some one clan predominated, the women taking in - husbands, however, from the other clans; and sometimes, for a novelty, - some of their sons bringing in their young wives until they felt brave - enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female portion ruled the - house, and were doubtless clannish enough about it. The stores were in - common; but woe to the luckless husband or lover who was too shiftless - to do his share of the providing. No matter how many children or - whatever goods he might have in the house, he might at any time be - ordered to pick up his blanket and budge; and after such orders it - would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey. The house would - be too hot for him; and, unless saved by intercession of some aunt or - grandmother, he must retreat to his own clan; or, as was often done, - go and start a new matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were - the great power among the clans, as everywhere else. They did not - hesitate, when occasion required, “to knock off the horns,” as it was - technically called, from the head of a chief, and send him back to - the ranks of the warriors. The original nomination of the chiefs also - always rested with them.[93] - -[93] _Ancient Society_, p. 455. - -In the Lower Status of barbarism we find intermarriage within the gens -prohibited, and the obligation not to marry those accounted as kin as -strong as a religious duty. - -Although during the latter ages of savagery the idea of property was -slightly developed, it is thought that it lay nascent until the latter -part of the first period of barbarism. Indeed, until the first stage -of barbarism was reached, the idea of personal possession had gained -only a slight foothold in the mental constitution of mankind. Egoism, -selfishness, or the desire to better one’s individual condition at the -expense of the rest of the gens was unknown. All lands were controlled -by the group, and as the property of early society consisted for the -most part of personal effects and proprietary rights in communal houses -and gardens, one of the most fruitful causes for dissensions in more -advanced stages of society was avoided. Under primitive conditions, -quarrels arising over disputed ownership within the gens were unknown, -and liberty, equality, and fraternity, the cardinal virtues and -principles of early society were able to flourish undisturbed by the as -yet unheard of vices inherent in the excessive desire for property. - -In reference to some of the small uncivilized communities which he -visited, Mr. Wallace says that each man respects the rights of his -fellow, - - and any infraction of these rights rarely or never takes place. In - such a community all are nearly equal. There are none of those wide - distinctions of education and ignorance, wealth and poverty, master - and servant, which are the product of our civilization; there is none - of that widespread division of labour, which, while it increases - wealth, produces also conflicting interests; there is not that severe - competition and struggle for existence or for wealth which the dense - population of civilized countries inevitably creates.[94] - -[94] _The Malay Archipelago._ - -Under the archaic rule of the gens, at the death of a male, whether -married or single, his possessions descended to his sister’s children; -while at the death of a female, her property, including her personal -effects, was distributed among her sisters and her children and the -children of her daughters, but the children of her sons were not -included among her heirs. The sons’ children belonged to the gentes -of their respective mothers, and as descent and all the relationships -to which rights of succession were attached were traced only in the -female line, and as property until the middle of the Second Status of -barbarism was strictly confined to the gens in which it originated, -children could receive nothing from their fathers. Wives and husbands, -as they belonged to separate gentes, received nothing from one another. -In later times, when tribal honours were confined within certain -families or groups, as descent and property rights were all traced -in the female line, each male was dependent upon his female blood -relations, not only for his common inherited privileges in the gens, -but for any civil or military distinction to which he might attain. - -Where female kinship prevails, a Rajah’s son may become a hodman, -taking the state of his mother—while the son of the Rajah’s sister -mounts the throne.[95] - -[95] McLennan, _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 103. - -Among the Rocch tribe, a people among which descent is traced in the -female line, a man goes on marriage to live with his wife and her -mother, of whose family he is a subordinate member.[96] - -[96] C. Staniland Wake, _Marriage and Kinship_, p. 306. - - A Rocch man goes, on his marriage, like the _beena_ husband of Ceylon, - to live with his wife and her mother; on his marriage, all his - property is made over to his wife, and on her death her heirs are her - daughters.[97] - -[97] _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 103. - -For the same reason that wives and husbands were debarred from sharing -in each other’s property, their bodies, or more properly speaking, -their bones, were separated at death, as were also the bones of father -and child. The bones of the children always rested beside those of the -mother. It was impious to mix the bones of unrelated persons. To such -an extent was the Motherright recognized under archaic usages that the -child belonged exclusively to the mother and her relations, the father -having no recognized proprietary right to his offspring. Indeed, so -lightly was the paternal relation regarded that the father was supposed -to have little if any interest in his own children. - -Although the bond between a man and his offspring was weak, toward his -sister’s children, as they belonged to the same gens with himself, a -considerable degree of manly interest was manifested; indeed, it has -been stated that about the same solicitude was evinced by him for their -welfare, as was shown at a later time by fathers for the members of -their own household. - -Observing the care manifested for a sister’s children among various -tribes, certain writers have declared that the relationship existing -between a child and its mother’s brother is more important than any -other—that the brother is practically the head of his sister’s family. -However, if we bear in mind the relative positions of the sexes in -primitive groups, that women controlled their homes, and that all the -rights of succession were traced through them, we shall doubtless be -led to the conclusion that mothers themselves were the real heads -of their own families, and that although they may have delegated to -their brothers, who until marriage were permitted to reside with them, -certain manly offices, they nevertheless reserved to themselves the -exclusive right to the control and management of their own households. -As the land belonged to the gens, and as the gentes were controlled by -women, mothers were absolutely independent. - -Each child received a name soon after birth, but at the age of sixteen -or eighteen this name was discarded and another adopted. Special -rights were thus conferred and specified obligations were imposed. On -receipt of this name, the incumbent took upon himself all the duties -and responsibilities devolving upon a member of the group and by it was -entitled to all its rights and privileges. The greatest precautions -were taken with respect to the adoption of names. The office of naming -the different members belonged to the female relations and the chiefs. -We are informed that the mother might, if she chose, transfer her child -to another gens. This was accomplished by simply giving it the name of -the gens in which she desired its adoption. It is claimed that among -the Shawnees and Delawares the mother claimed the right to transfer -her child to another gens than her own.[98] It would seem from this, -that among certain tribes, the mother, if she desires, may transfer -her child to the gens of its father. It is observed, however, that the -transference of a child from its mother’s gens is a “wide departure -from archaic usages, and exceptional in practice.” - -[98] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 79. - -It has been shown that under early usages wealth was never transferred -from the gens in which it originated; but later, when property began -to be claimed by individuals, and wealth was amassed in the hands of -males, it is not unlikely that mothers, considering only the future -welfare of their children, in case the father was rich and powerful, -would occasionally take advantage of their established privileges to -remove their children to his gens, in order that they might share in -his possessions. - -Something of the humanity practised in early groups may be observed in -the custom of adoption, which, at a certain stage in their development, -prevailed among them. In the earlier ages of gentile institutions, -women and children taken prisoners in war, were usually adopted into -some gens. Adoption not only conferred gentile rights, but also the -nationality of the tribe. A person adopted into a gens was treated ever -afterwards as though born within the group. “Slavery which in the Upper -Status of barbarism became the fate of the captive, was unknown among -tribes in the Lower Status in the aboriginal period.”[99] - -[99] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 80. - -According to Mariner: - - It is customary in the Tonga Islands for women to be what they call - mothers to children or grown-up young persons who are not their own, - for the purpose of providing them, or seeing that they are provided, - with all the conveniences of life.[100] - -[100] Quoted by Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, p. 96. - -According to Mr. E. J. Wood, among the Kaffirs, although the men -inherit the property, their influences being in the ascendency, every -woman has someone who acts as her father whether her own father be -living or not. Kaffir law provides for the protection of all women, -and so long as a male relation lives a girl has a protector. It goes -even farther than this, and protects women who have been bereft of all -their male relations. For such as these provision is made for their -adoption into other groups, in which case, although they are received -as dependents, they are protected as daughters.[101] - -[101] _Uncivilized Races of the World_, vol. i., p. 78. - -This practice of adoption is observed among various peoples. Among -certain tribes in which descent is traced through women, a woman offers -her breast to the person she is adopting, this being the strongest -symbol of the unity of blood. Thus may be noted the fact that the -fundamental idea, or principle, of tribal life is maternity, or the -maternal instinct—that the uniting force which binds a child to its -mother is the one which is supposed to unite the various members of a -primitive group. So strongly has the maternal instinct as a binding -principle taken root, that among certain peoples even where the manner -of reckoning descent and the rights of succession have been changed -from the female to the male line, whenever an individual wishes to -be adopted into a gens he takes the hand of the leader of the group -and sucking one of his fingers, declares himself to be his child by -adoption; henceforth the new father is bound to assist him as far as he -can.[102] Adoption “by the imitation of nature” was practised by the -Romans down to the time of Augustus. - -[102] Parkyns, _Life in Abyssinia_, vol. i., p. 174. - -It has been observed that under the matriarchal system the mother was -the only recognized parent, hence, when the father began to assume -the rights and prerogatives which had hitherto belonged only to her, -in order to make valid his claim, it was thought proper for him to go -through various of the preliminaries attendant on childbirth. - -Of all the forms practised among lower races there is none, perhaps, -which is more singular than is that of putting the father instead of -the mother to bed in the event of the birth of a child. Concerning this -custom, Mr. Tylor quotes from Klemm the following: - - Among the Arawaks of Surinam, for some time after the birth of his - child the father must fell no tree, fire no gun, hunt no large game; - he may stay near home, shoot little birds with a bow and arrow, and - angle for little fish; but his time hanging heavy on his hands, the - most comfortable thing he can do is to lounge in his hammock.[103] - -[103] _Early History of Mankind_, p. 296. - -Mr. Tylor quotes also from the Jesuit missionary, Dobrizhoffer, who -gives the following account of the Abipones: - - No sooner do you hear that the wife has borne a child, than you will - see the Abipone husband lying in bed, huddled up with mats and skins, - lest some ruder breath of air should touch him, fasting, kept in - private, and for a number of days abstaining religiously from certain - viands; you would swear it was he who had had the child. - -The custom of putting the father to bed when a child is born is called -_la couvade_, and traces of it are yet to be found in France. It is -also practised among the Basques, and according to C. Staniland Wake, -was anciently observed in Corsica, among the Iberians of Spain, and in -the country south of the Black Sea. It is still practised in Southern -India, in Yunnan, in Borneo, in Kamchatka, and in Greenland. It is said -also to be in use among the various tribes in South America.[104] The -persistency of this practice shows the importance formerly attached -to the maternal functions, and, as has been suggested, was doubtless -inaugurated at a time when descent was being changed from the female to -the male line. - -[104] _Marriage and Kinship_, p. 262. - -It was perhaps in the latter part of the Middle Status of barbarism -that descent and the rights of succession began to be traced through -males. When, through causes which will be noticed later in this work, -property began to accumulate in the hands of men, children became the -recognized heirs of their fathers and the foundation for the present -form of the family was laid. However, long after descent began to -be reckoned through males, absolute paternity was not necessary to -fatherhood. During the earlier ages of male supremacy, fatherhood, like -brotherhood, was a loose term and signified simply the head of a house, -or the “lord” or owner of the mother. It mattered little whether a man -had previously lent his wife to a friend, or whether he had shared -her favours with several brothers, all the children “born on his bed” -belonged to him and were of his family. - -Later in these pages will be observed the fact that the change in -reckoning descent, which occurred at a comparatively late period in -the history of the human race, is directly connected with the means of -subsistence. So long as land was held in common by the members of the -gens, and so long as women were able to manage the means of support, -their independence was secure, and they were able to exercise absolute -control over their own persons, their homes, and their offspring. Under -these conditions men were obliged to please the women if they would win -their favours. - -From facts which have been demonstrated by various writers on the -subject of the early conditions of the human race, it is more than -probable that women were the original tillers of the soil, and that, -during the first period of barbarism, while the hunters and warriors -were engaged in war and the chase, occupations best suited to their -taste, women first discovered the art of producing farinaceous food -through cultivation, and through this discovery a hitherto exclusive -diet of fish and game was changed for a subsistence in part vegetable. - -It is conjectured also that the first domestication of animals was -brought about through a probable “freak of fancy.” That individuals -among these animals were first caught by hunters, conveyed by them to -their homes, and there tamed through the tenderness and sympathy of -women, is considered more than likely. There are, however, so far as I -know, no actual facts upon which to base such a conclusion. - -The increase of subsistence through horticulture and the domestication -of animals marks an important era in the history of mankind. By this -means the human race was enabled to spread itself over distant areas, -and through the improved condition of nutrition alone, by which the -physical conditions were improved and the mental energies strengthened, -the arts of life were multiplied and the course of human activities -directed into higher and more important channels. Indeed, through the -numerous benefits derived from the one source of increased and improved -subsistence, the entire mode of life was changed or materially modified. - -The religious idea, which subsequently comprehended a complicated -system of mythology based on phallic worship, at this early age, -consisted simply of a recognition of the bounties of earth. The -principal office connected with the religious ceremonies of the -Iroquois tribe of Indians, at the stage of development in which it was -first known to Europeans, seems to have been “Keeper of the Faith,” -a position occupied alike by both sexes. The Keepers of the Faith -were chosen by the wise members of the group; they were censors of -the people, with power to report the evil deeds of persons to the -council. “With no official head, and none of the marks of a priesthood, -their functions were equal.”[105] For the most part, their religious -services consisted of festivals held at stated seasons to celebrate -the return of the bounties of Nature. A notable fact in connection -with this subject is, that during the earlier ages of barbarism the -religious idea was thoroughly monotheistic, and idolatry was unknown, -religious worship, for the most part, consisting of a ceremony of -thanksgiving, with invocations to the Great Mother-Nature to continue -to them the blessings of life. As altruism waned and egoism advanced, -however, supernaturalism, or a belief in unseen forces, became more -and more pronounced, until, in the Latter Status of barbarism, when -the supremacy of man had become complete, the gens became merely the -“centre of religious influence and the source of religious development.” - -[105] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 82. - -The earlier governmental functions were administered through a council -of chiefs elected by the gentes. The thoroughly democratic character -of the gens may be observed in the fact that any member, female or -male, who desired to communicate with the council on matters of public -interest, might express her or his opinion either in person or through -an orator of her or his own selection.[106] Hence, we observe that -government originated in the gens, which was a pure democracy. - -[106] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 117. - -Regarding the council of the gens, Mr. Morgan remarks: - - It was a democratic assembly because every adult male and female - member had a voice upon all questions brought before it. It elected - and deposed its sachem and chiefs, it elected Keepers of the Faith, it - condoned or avenged the murder of a gentilis, and it adopted persons - into the gens. It was the germ of the higher council of the tribe, and - of that still higher of the confederacy, each of which was composed - exclusively of chiefs as representatives of the gentes.... - - All the members of an Iroquois gens were personally free, and they - were bound to defend each other’s freedom; they were equal in - privileges and in personal rights, the sachem and chiefs claiming no - superiority; and they were a brotherhood bound together by the ties of - kin. Liberty, equality, and fraternity, though never formulated, were - cardinal principles of the gens. These facts are material because the - gens was the unit of a social and governmental system, the foundation - upon which Indian society was organized.... At the epoch of European - discovery the American Indian tribes generally were organized in - gentes with descent in the female line. The gens was the basis of the - phratry, of the tribe, and of the confederacy of tribes.[107] - -[107] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 85. - -From the foregoing it would seem that the gens—the earliest -organization of society of which we have any accurate knowledge—was -founded on the “mother-right” or on the supremacy of women. We are -assured that the gentile organization is not confined to the Latin, -Grecian, and Sanskrit-speaking tribes, but that it has been found “in -other branches of the Aryan family of nations, in the Semitic, Uralian, -and Turanian families, among the tribes of Africa and Australia, and of -the American aborigines.”[108] - -[108] _Ibid._, p. 64. - -A tribe was composed of several gentes, the chiefs of which formed the -council. This council was invested with the power to declare war and to -regulate terms of peace, to receive embassies and make alliances; it -was in fact authorized to perform all the governmental functions of the -tribe. The duties performed by the council of chiefs may be regarded -as the first attempt at representative government. In process of time, -as the affairs of the tribe became more complicated, a need arose for -a recognized head, one who when the council was not in session could -lead in the adjustment of matters pertaining to the general interest -of the group. In response to this demand, one of the sachems was -invested with a slight degree of authority over the other chiefs. Hence -arose the military chieftain of the Latter Status of barbarism. That -the powers delegated to the incumbent of this office differed widely -from those of a modern monarch, is shown in the fact that as he had -been elected by the members of the group he could by them be deposed. -We have seen that the powers exercised by sachem and chief were alike -transmitted through women. The mother is the natural guardian of the -family; so soon therefore as the actions of the leaders of the group -were not in accord with those principles of equality and justice which -had characterized society since its organization, they were deposed, -or, as in the case of the Senecas described by Ashur Wright, they had -their “horns knocked off” through the influence of women. - -At the head of the family, or gens, producing and controlling the -principal means of subsistence, and forming the line of descent and -inheritance, women, until the closing ages of the Middle Status of -barbarism, were without doubt the leading spirits, and thus far the -progress of mankind had been in strict accord with those principles -which since the separation of the sexes had governed development. - -In process of time, however, the simple form of government which -has been described was found inadequate to meet the demands arising -from the more complicated requirements of increasing numbers and -the general growth of society; therefore, during the opening ages -of the Latter Status of barbarism, a form of government was evolved -which was better suited to their changed conditions. When the idea -of a coalescence of tribes, or of a combination of forces for common -defence had taken root, and when under such confederation the council -of chiefs had become co-ordinated with a military leader for the -general management and defence of the community, it was thought that an -important step had been taken in progressive governmental functions. -Yet, along with the higher development of the governmental idea is to -be observed also a growing tendency toward the usurpation of power. -Scarcely was the office of military chieftain created, than we find the -people inaugurating measures with which to protect themselves against -encroachments upon their liberties, and devising means whereby they -might be enabled to check the personal ambition of their leaders. - -The extreme egoism developed within the male constitution was already -manifesting itself in the excessive greed for gain, and in the -inordinate thirst for military glory; hence, as a safeguard against -usurpation, in the earliest stages of the Latter Status of barbarism, -we find the tribe electing two military chieftains instead of one, -two leaders invested with equal powers and responsibilities and -subjected to the same restrictions and limitations in the exercise -of authority. The Spartan government upon its first appearance in -history is characterized by the existence of two war-chieftains, who, -by historians of later ages, have been designated as kings; a closer -investigation, however, of the functions performed by them shows that -they were lacking in nearly all the prerogatives which characterize a -modern sovereign. - -So jealously had the rights of the people been guarded that the -_basileus_ or war-chief of the Latter Status of barbarism, who is said -to represent the germ of our present king, emperor, and president, had -not succeeded in drawing to himself the powers exercised by a monarch -of modern times. The selection of a military leader, during the Latter -Status of barbarism, doubtless represents the first differentiation -of the civil from the military functions of government, and indicates -a virtual acknowledgment of the fact that society had outgrown the -primary and more simple form of government administered by the council -of chiefs. - -The third stage in the development of the idea of government was -represented by a council of chiefs, a military commander, and an -assembly of the people. In this further growth of the administrative -functions may be discovered the same solicitude for individual liberty -and the rights of the community which had characterized the former -stage of development, and also the fact that still greater precautions -were deemed necessary to insure the people against tyranny and -the usurpation of their established rights. The council of chiefs, -although representing a pure democracy, and co-ordinated with two -military chieftains, between whom was an equal division of power and -responsibility, was found to be an insufficient safeguard against -despotism; hence the measures devised for the management of the -confederacy must henceforth be subjected to an Assembly of the People, -which, although of itself unable to originate or propound any plan -of government, was invested with the power to accept or reject any -measures offered for adoption by the council. - -The gens was able to carry mankind through to the opening ages of -civilization, at which time the council of chiefs was transformed -into a senate, and the Assembly of the People assumed the form of the -popular assembly, from which have been derived our present Congress and -the two houses of the English Parliament. - -By a careful study of the growth of government, it is discerned that -liberty, fraternity, and equality were the original and natural -inheritance of the human family, and that tyranny, injustice, and -oppression are excrescences which subsequently fastened themselves upon -human institutions through the gradual rise of the egoistic principle -developed in human nature. We have seen that until the beginning of the -Latter Status of barbarism, the gens constituted a sovereign power in -the tribe; women controlled the gens, and sachem and chief were alike -invested with the authority necessary for leadership because they could -trace their descent to some female ancestor who was the acknowledged -head of the people, and whose influence and patronage must have -extended over all the individuals included within the recognized bond -of kinship. - -With the deposing power in the hands of women, and with the precautions -which were taken by them against injustice or usurpation of rights, it -is plain that unless some unusual or unprecedented circumstances had -come into play, they never could have lost that supremacy which, as the -natural result of their development, had been maintained by females -since the separation of the sexes. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE - - I will be master of what is mine own; - She is my goods, my chattels; she’s my house, - My household stuff, my field, my barn, - My horse, my ox, my ass, my everything. - - _The Taming of the Shrew._ - - -It is an obvious fact that so far as her sex relations are concerned -the position of civilized woman is lower than that of the female animal. - -The question which presents itself at this stage of our inquiry is: -What were the causes which led to the overthrow of female supremacy or -what were the processes by which man gained the undisputed right to the -control of woman’s person? By contrasting the industrial position of -women under gentile institutions with that of later times, after they -had become the sexual slaves of men, it will be seen that the question -of economics is deeply involved in this change. Although the early -independence of women is now recognized, the fact of their industrial -supremacy is for the most part ignored. Indeed the part performed by -woman in originating and developing human industries is seldom referred -to by those dealing with this subject. - -As the activities best suited to the tastes of primitive man were -confined to war and the chase, those occupations and pursuits which -were necessary for the preservation of the group were carried on by -women. The reason for this is obvious. Fathers were not regarded as -being related to their offspring. The mother was the only recognized -parent. As the land was held in common, women were economically free. -They were absolutely independent of men for their support. Under these -conditions the importance of women’s position may be easily perceived. - -Not only did women establish the first industries, but they invented -and constructed the tools and implements by which these industries -were carried on. Women were the first tillers of the soil. It was they -who conceived the idea of preserving seeds whereby farinaceous food -might be produced. Corn was not only raised by them but by them it -was ground and further prepared for use. They built clay granaries in -which to store their food products and tamed the cat to protect them. -Implements for tilling the soil, and devices for grinding the grain -were invented by women. They were the first architects and the first -builders. They first conceived the idea of making cloth with which to -protect the body. They were the first spinners and the first weavers. -They invented the first spindles and the first looms. Their attempts -at decoration were the beginning of art. - -As these pioneers in industry were without means of transportation -other than their backs, some of the difficulties which they encountered -may be readily perceived. It must be borne in mind that for primitive -women there was no accumulated store of knowledge and no previous -race-experiences; neither were there any established rules or -precedents to guide them. All methods and utilities had to be worked -out by woman’s unaided brain. When the conditions under which these -pioneers in industry laboured are considered, and when one reflects -on the obstacles which must have presented themselves at every step -along their untried pathway, it would almost seem that their early -achievements were quite as remarkable as are those which have since -been accomplished by men. - -The fact is observed that woman assumed the rôle of protector and -provider, not as is commonly asserted because she was compelled by -man to become a beast of burden, but because she was the recognized -guardian not only of infant life but of the public welfare. Later, -after the primitive groups began to coalesce to form the tribe, after -wife-capture became prevalent and men thereby secured the right to the -control and ownership of individual women, a right which they still -claim, then and not till then did women become beasts of burden. Then -and not till then did man gain the right to the control of woman’s -person. - -It is now known that wife-capture is the origin of our present form -of marriage, and that the establishment of the family with man at its -head rests on the same basis. It is also known that through forcible -marriage and the economic conditions which it entailed, woman became -a dependent, a mere appendage to her male mate. The dominion of man -and the assumed inferiority of woman are the direct results of the -authority which he was able to exercise over her in the marital -relation. - -We have seen that prior to the decline of female influence women taken -prisoners in war were not regarded as the legitimate property of their -captors. On the contrary, female captives were adopted into the gens -and invested with the same status of personal independence enjoyed by -the original members of the group. Later, however, female prisoners -began to be regarded as the special booty of their captors, and as -belonging exclusively to them; and although in primitive times marriage -outside the limits of related groups was prohibited, owing to the -esteem in which military chieftains came to be held, this claim was at -length allowed them. Any courageous young warrior, conscious of his -popularity, might gather about him a band of his clansmen and march -against a neighbouring tribe, the women taken prisoners during such -expeditions being the special prizes of their captors. - -These prisoners were entitled to none of the privileges of the -community into which they were taken; and as the hostility felt toward -unrelated tribes had become so strong as to be shared by women, the -captive woman could no longer look for pity even from her own sex. - -From this time in the history of the race may be traced the decline -of woman’s power and the subjection of the natural female impulses. -As, at this stage, within the limits of their own tribe, women held -the balance of power in their own hands, and as they still exercised -unqualified control over their own persons, the acknowledged ownership -of one woman, who, being a “stranger,” was without power or influence, -would be an object much to be desired, and one for which a warrior -would not hesitate to brave the dangers of a hostile camp. Hence, -female captives were in demand, and the women of warring tribes were -sought after singly and in groups. In process of time wars for wives -became general and under the new regime women had the fear of captivity -constantly before their view as a condition more to be dreaded than -death. - -In the _Mahabharata_ of India it is stated that formerly “women were -unconfined and roved about at their pleasure, independent.” Finally, -marriage was instituted and a woman was bound to a man for life. One -of the eight forms of legalized marriage in the code of Manu was that -of capture _de facto_ and was called _Racshasa_. This particular form -of conjugal union was practised exclusively by the military classes, -among which, the women taken in battle were the acknowledged booty of -their captors. A definition of this kind of marriage is as follows: -“The seizure of a maiden by force from her house while she weeps and -calls for assistance, after her kinsmen and friends have been slain in -battle or wounded, and their houses broken open, is the marriage called -_Racshasa_.” - -Capture as the prescribed form of marriage for warriors may be traced -through thousands of years and among various peoples. Of the three -legalized forms of marital union in Rome, that by capture was the one -in use among the plebeians, the patricians at the same time practising -_Confarreatio_ and _Usus_. In Arabia, as late as Mohammed’s time, the -carrying off of women was recognized as a legal form of marriage.[109] - -[109] W. Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, p. 73. - -That capture constituted a legal form of marriage among the Israelites, -or that women taken captives in war were appropriated as sexual slaves, -is shown by their religious history, in which the instructions given -to the Lord’s chosen people after they had taken a city was to “smite -every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the -little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city” they were to -take unto themselves. This, it will be noticed, is to be done “unto -the cities which are very far off,” and which “are not of the cities of -these nations.”[110] - -[110] Deuteronomy, chap. xx., 13, 14, 15. - -When the Israelites 12,000 strong marched against the Midianites, they -were commanded by Moses to slay all the males, adults and children, -and all the women except the virgins. These virgins of whom there -were 32,000 were to be spared and utilized as wives by the victorious -Israelites. The fact will be noted that these women had been taken -from their own people, hence they were wholly without influence or -power. They were dependents and therefore subject to the will of their -masters. They were sexual slaves or wives. - -In Australia, among the North American Indians, the tribes of the -Amazon and the Orinoco, in Hindustan and Afghanistan, marriage by -actual capture is still practised, and many of the details connected -with the _modus operandi_ have been given by various writers. The -following from Sir George Gray, relative to this form of marriage as it -exists at the present time among some of the native Australian tribes, -is quoted by Mr. J. F. McLennan. - -Although a woman give no encouragement to her admirers, - - many plots are laid to carry her off, and in the encounters which - result from these, she is almost certain to receive some violent - injury, for each of the combatants orders her to follow him, and in - the event of her refusing, throws a spear at her. The early life of a - young woman at all celebrated for beauty is generally one continued - series of captivity to different masters, of ghastly wounds, of - wanderings in strange families, of rapid flights, of bad treatment - from other females, amongst whom she is brought a stranger by her - captor; and rarely do you see a form of unusual grace and elegance, - but it is marked and scarred by the furrows of old wounds; and many - a female thus wanders several hundred miles from the home of her - infancy, being carried off successively to distant and more distant - points.[111] - -[111] _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 40. - -In an account describing the search for wives by the natives of Sydney, -Collins says: - - The poor wretch is stolen upon in the absence of her protectors. Being - first stupefied with blows, inflicted with clubs or wooden swords, - on the head, back, and shoulders, every one of which is followed by - a stream of blood, she is then dragged through the woods by one arm, - with a perseverance and violence that it might be supposed would - displace it from its socket. This outrage is not resented by the - relations of the female, who only retaliate by a similar outrage when - they find an opportunity. This is so constantly the practice among - them that even the children make it a play game, or exercise.[112] - -[112] Quoted by Sir J. Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, p. 108. - -By various travellers and explorers, the fact has been observed that -certain symbols representing force in their marriage ceremonies are in -use among nearly if not all extant tribes which have reached a certain -stage of growth. To such an extent, in an earlier age, has the forcible -carrying-off of women prevailed, that among most of these tribes a -valid marriage may not be consummated without the appearance of force -in the nuptial ceremonies. In reference to these symbols, we have the -following passage from Mr. McLennan: - - Meantime, we observe that, whenever we discover symbolical forms, - we are justified in inferring that in the past life of the people - employing them, there were corresponding realities; and if, among the - primitive races which we examine, we find such realities as might - naturally pass into such forms on an advance taking place in civility, - then we may safely conclude (keeping within the conditions of a sound - inference) that what these now are, those employing the symbols once - were.[113] - -[113] _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 5. - -Among primitive tribes, the area controlled by each was small, -therefore vigilance in maintaining their possessions was one of their -chief duties, and hostility to surrounding tribes a natural condition. -Subsequently, however, when friendly relations began to be established -with hitherto hostile tribes, they are found entering into negotiations -to furnish each other with wives. It was at this time that marriage by -sale or contract was instituted, an arrangement by which the elder men -in the tribe could be accommodated with foreign wives, at the same time -that their own daughters and sisters became to them a source of revenue. - -In Uganda many men obtain wives by exchanging daughters and sisters -with each other. Of this practice C. Staniland Wake says: - - This is not an unusual mode of proceeding in different parts of - the world. The perpetuation of the monopoly of women enjoyed to a - great extent by the older men of the tribe among the Australians - is, according to Mr. Howitt, encouraged by those having sisters or - daughters to exchange with each other for wives.[114] - -[114] _Marriage and Kinship_, p. 207. - -Not unfrequently actual capture is practised side by side with -fiction—violent seizure being in active operation among the same tribes -at the same time with the symbol, the frequency of actual violence -depending partly on the extent to which hostility prevails between the -tribes, and partly on the degree of “uniformity established by usage in -the prices paid for wives.” Among certain tribes, when a dispute arises -concerning the price to be paid for a bride, if the man is able to -seize the woman and carry her off to his tent, the law recognizes her -as his wife and nothing is left for the relations to do in the matter -but to accept his terms as to the price. - -The peoples among which actual capture is at present practised, and -those among which wives are procured by sale or contract, represent two -different stages in the development of the institution of marriage, and -it is owing to this fact that the symbols used among the latter may be -traced to the realities in which they originated. - -Of the Bedouins of Mt. Sinai, Burckhardt says that marriage is a -matter of sale and purchase, in which the inclination of the girl is -disregarded. - - The young maid comes home in the evening with the cattle. At a short - distance from the camp she is met by the future spouse and a couple - of his young friends, and carried off by force to her father’s tent. - If she entertains any suspicion of their designs she defends herself - with stones, and often inflicts wounds on the young men, even though - she does not dislike the lover, for, according to custom, the more she - struggles, bites, kicks, cries, and shrieks, the more she is applauded - ever after by her own companions.[115] - -[115] Quoted by E. J. Wood, _The Wedding Day_, etc., p. 60. - -In reference to the Mezeyne Arabs the same writer observes that a -similar custom prevailed within the limits of the Sinai Peninsula, but -not among the other tribes of that province. - - A girl having been wrapped in the Abba at night, is permitted to - escape from her tent, and fly into the neighbouring mountains. - The bridegroom goes in search of her next day, and remains often - many days before he can find her out, while her female friends are - apprised of her hiding-place, and furnish her with provisions. If - the husband finds her at last (which is sooner or later, according to - the impression that he has made upon the girl’s heart), he is bound - to consummate the marriage in the open country, and to pass the night - with her in the mountains. The next morning the bride goes home to her - tent, that she may have some food; but again runs away in the evening - and repeats these flights several times, till she finally returns to - her tent. She does not go to live in her husband’s tent until she is - far advanced in pregnancy; if she does not become pregnant, she may - not join her husband till a full year from the wedding-day.[116] - -[116] Quoted by E. J. Wood, _The Wedding Day_, etc., p. 60. - -Cranz says that in Greenland “some females, when a husband is proposed -to them will fall into a swoon, elope to a desert place, or cut off -their hair.... In the latter case they are seldom troubled with further -addresses.” The refractory bride is dragged - - forcibly into her suitor’s house, where she sits for several days - disconsolate, with dishevelled hair, and refuses nourishment. When - friendly exhortations are unavailing, she is compelled by force and - even with blows to receive her husband. Should she elope, she is - brought back and treated more harshly than before.[117] - -[117] _History of Greenland_, vol. i., p. 146. - -Wherever friendly relations have been established between the tribe of -the wife and that of the husband, he pays a price to her relatives -for the privilege of removing her to his camp. This purchase price, -together with the simulated hatred of the woman’s friends, signifies a -sacrifice on the part of the wife and her family. In Nubia when a man -marries he presents his wife with a wedding-dress, and gives her also -a pledge for three or four hundred piastres, half of which sum is paid -her in case of a divorce. Divorces, however, are very rare.[118] - -[118] Burckhardt, _Travels in Nubia_, p. 34. - -Among the Circassians, after the preliminaries have been settled by -the parents, the lover meets his bride-elect by night in some secluded -spot, and with the assistance of two or three of his best friends -seizes her and carries her away. Sometimes the pretended capture takes -place in the midst of a noisy feast. The woman is usually conducted -into the presence of a mutual friend, where, on the following day, -her friends, simulating anger, seek her and demand a reason for her -abduction. Although the affair is usually settled at once by the -bridegroom paying the accustomed price for his bride, custom requires -that there shall be still further manifestations of anger on the part -of her friends; so, on the following day, all the relatives of the -bride, armed with sticks, proceed to the place where the bride is in -waiting, there to meet the bridegroom and his friends who have come to -carry off the bride. A sham fight ensues, in which the bridegroom and -his party are always victorious. Among certain of the Arabian tribes -the bridegroom must force his bride to enter his tent, and in France, -as late as the seventeenth century, a similar custom prevailed. - -In describing a wedding dance in Abyssinia, Parkyns observes: - - This dance is performed by men armed with shields and lances, who - with bounds, feints, and springs attack others armed with guns, so as - to approach them, and at the same time avoid their fire, while the - gunners make similar demonstrations, and at last fire off their guns - either in the air or into the earth, and then, drawing their swords, - flourish them about as a finish. - -Finally the bridegroom fires off a gun and immediately rushes across to -where the bride and her female relations are stationed.[119] - -[119] _Life in Abyssinia_, vol. ii., p. 49. - -Tylor informs us that a Scandinavian warrior generally sought to gain -his bride by force, that he conceived it beneath his dignity to win -her by pacific means. That the affair might appear more heroic, he -waited until the object of his choice was about to wed another, and was -actually on her way to the nuptial ceremony, when with his friends he -would surprise the wedding cortege, seize the bride, and carry her off. -It has been said of Scandinavian marriages that they were matters of -deep anxiety to the friends both of the bride and groom, who, until the -wedding was over, remained at home in suspense fearing an attack of -the kind already mentioned. It was customary for a party of young men -to station themselves at the church door, and, as soon as the ceremony -was completed, to carry the news to the homes of the wedded pair. -“Within a few generations the same old practice was kept up in Wales, -where the bridegroom and his friends, mounted and armed as for war, -carried off the bride,” and in Ireland they used even to hurl spears at -the bride’s people, though at such a distance that no one was hurt.[120] - -[120] _Anthropology_, p. 404. - -In the Amazon valley the bride is always carried away by violence. -Among the Zulus, although a purchase price is paid for a woman, custom -requires that a wife, after having been captured, shall make three -attempts to return to her own home. - -Of the marriage customs in ancient Sparta, Plutarch says: “In their -marriages the bridegroom carried off the bride by violence.”[121] -In Rome we have the familiar example of the Sabine women, who were -captured or carried off by force. - -[121] _Lycurgus._ - -A notable fact in connection with the subject of capture is, that the -mother of the bride, or, in case the mother is dead, the nearest female -relative, is the individual who assumes the part of the principal -defender in this ceremony. She it is who attempts to rescue the bride, -and who more than any other mourns the fate of the captured wife. Among -primitive peoples, with the exception of the symbol of wife-capture -in marriage ceremonies, there is perhaps none more significant than -that typifying the hatred of the mother for the captor of her daughter. -Customs indicating estrangement or, actual aversion to sons-in-law, -usually, if not always, accompany marriage by capture. - -The fact that the change in the relative positions of the sexes, as -indicated by the _sadica_ and _ba’al_ forms of marriage in Arabia, -was not easily or speedily accomplished, is apparent not only in the -symbols of wife-capture everywhere practised among peoples in a certain -stage of development, but is strongly suggested also by the aversion -found to exist among these same peoples between mothers-in-law and -sons-in-law, whether appearing as a reality or as a symbol. - - Among the Arawaks of South America, it is unlawful for the son-in-law - to look upon the face of his mother-in-law. If they live in the same - house a partition separates them, and if by chance they must enter the - same boat, she must precede him so as to keep her back toward him. - -Among the Caribs, all the women talk with whom they will, but the -husband dare not converse with his wife’s relations except on -extraordinary occasions.[122] Mr. Tylor refers to the fact that - -[122] Quoted by Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_, p. 290. - - In the account of the Floridian expedition of Alvar Nuñez, commonly - known as Cabeca de Vaca, or Cow’s Head, it is mentioned that the - parents-in-law did not enter the son-in-law’s house, nor he theirs, - nor his brother-in-law’s, and if they met by chance, they went a - buckshot out of their way, with their heads down and eyes fixed on the - ground, for they held it a bad thing to see or speak to one another. - -It is observed by Richardson, an author quoted by Tylor, that among the -Crees, while an Indian lives with his wife’s family, his mother-in-law -must not speak to or look at him. In some portions of Australia, “the -mother-in-law does not allow the son-in-law to see her, but hides -herself if he is near, and if she has to pass him makes a circuit, -keeping carefully concealed within her cloak.” - -Among some of the tribes in Central Africa, from the moment a marriage -is contracted, the lover may not behold the parents of his future -bride. When a young man wishes to marry a girl, he dispatches a -messenger to negotiate with her parents regarding the presents required -and the number of oxen demanded. This being arranged, he may not again -look upon the father and mother of his intended wife; “he takes the -greatest care to avoid them, and if by chance they perceive him they -cover their faces as if all ties of friendship were broken.” We are -told, however, that this indifference is only feigned, that they feel -the same friendship as before, and in conversation extol one another’s -merit. Mr. Caillie says that this custom extends beyond the relations; -if the lover is of a different camp, he must avoid all the inhabitants -of the lady’s camp, except a few intimate friends who are permitted -to assist him in his love-making. A little tent is set up for him in -the neighbourhood, under which he is to remain during the day. If he -has occasion to cross the camp he must cover his face. He may not see -the face of his intended throughout the day, but at nightfall he may -creep silently to her tent and remain with her until the dawn. These -clandestine visits are continued for a month or two when the marriage -is solemnized. At the wedding festival the women collect round the -bride singing her praises and extolling her virtues.[123] - -[123] _Travels through Central Africa_, vol. i., p. 94. - -Gubernatis is authority for the statement that, in many parts of -Italy the bride is compelled to go through the process of weeping on -her wedding-day, also for the fact that one of the marriage customs -prevalent in Sardinia is identical with that which appeared among the -plebeians at Rome, namely, the pretence of tearing the bride from the -arms of her mother.[124] - -[124] See McLennan’s _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 189. - -From the facts which have been obtained relative to the practice of -wife-capture, it is only natural to suppose that the mother of the -captured wife would be her chief ally and defender; that such has been -the case seems to be clearly shown by the symbols of distrust and -aversion everywhere manifested between mothers-in-law and sons-in-law -among the various existing uncivilized races. The practice of -wife-capture exists either as a reality or as a symbol entering into -the marriage ceremonies among the tribes of Central Africa, the Indians -of North and South America, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Arabia, in -the hill tracts of India, among the Fuegians, and in the islands of the -Pacific Ocean, and wherever this system is found the symbol of hatred -between mother-in-law and son-in-law also prevails. - -The simulated anger and sham violence connected with marriage -ceremonies among friendly peoples, which are so far removed from a -time when actual capture was practised as to be ignorant of the true -significance of these symbols, show the extent to which marriage is -based on the idea of force on the one side and unwilling submission on -the other. - -As the numerous Arabian clans in the time of Mohammed represented the -varying stages of advancement from the second period of barbarism to -civilization, the constitution of Arab society at that time affords an -excellent opportunity for observing the growth of the institution of -marriage, and the various processes by which the former supremacy of -women was overthrown. - -One of the principal objects of war at the time of the Prophet is said -to have been the capture of women for wives, a practice which was -recognized as lawful. Under Islam the custom of forcibly carrying off -women for wives was universal and was carried on side by side with the -system of marriage by contract or sale. The position of the captured -woman, however, differed somewhat from that of the purchased wife. -The former, having been forcibly carried away from her home, lost the -protection of her friends, while the purchased wife, although she -relinquished the authority which had formerly been exercised by women -within the gens, and although she surrendered her person to her “lord,” -did not forfeit her right to the protection of her own family in case -of abuse. - -Although in Arabia, under the form of marriage by sale or contract, -the wife lost the right to the control of property belonging to her -own gens, she did not, as in Rome, forfeit her claim to the protection -of her kindred. If she received ill treatment within the home of her -husband, her relatives, who were still her natural protectors, were -bound to redress her wrongs. In Rome, on the contrary, under a system -representing a later stage in the development of marriage, the wife -was adopted into the stock of her husband whose rights over her person -were supreme, at the same time that her kindred renounced the right to -interfere in her behalf. - -It is to the fact, that in early Arabia the wife never relinquished her -hold upon her own relations, that we are to look for an explanation of -the high social position of Arabian women. We are assured that it is -“an old Arab sentiment, and not Moslem,” that women are entitled to -the highest respect, and that as mothers of the tribe they “are its -most sacred trust.” - -According to Professor W. R. Smith in Mohammed’s time, in addition -to the two forms of marriage mentioned, namely, that by capture and -that by sale or contract, there existed also a more ancient form -known as the _sadica_—a form of conjugal union which was a remnant of -the matriarchal system. By observing the facts connected with this -last-named institution, we shall be enabled to understand something -of the position occupied by women during the earlier ages of human -existence before wife-capture became prevalent. - -Among certain tribes just prior to Islam, upon the event of marriage, -the man presented the woman with a sum of money, which offering was -simply an acknowledgment of the favour which she was conferring upon -him. The husband went to live with the wife in her tent, and as the -contract was for no specified length of time, he was at liberty to go -whenever he tired of the conditions imposed on him by his wife and her -relations. Any children, however, that were born as a result of this -union belonged to the mother and became members of her _hayy_. If she -desired him to go, she simply turned the tent around, “so that if the -door had faced east it now faced west, and when the man saw this he -knew that he was dismissed and did not enter.” In relation to these -marriage customs Professor Smith says: “Here, therefore, we have the -proof of a well-established custom of that kind of marriage which -naturally goes with female kinship in the generation immediately before -Islam.” Of this kind of marriage the same writer observes: - - The _motă_ marriage was a purely personal contract, founded on consent - between a man and a woman, without any intervention on the part of - the woman’s kin.... Now the fact that there was no contract with the - woman’s kin—such as was necessary when the wife left her own people - and came under the authority of her husband—and that, indeed, her - kin might know nothing about it, can have only one explanation: in - _motă_ marriage the woman did not leave her home, her people gave up - no rights which they had over her, and the children of the marriage - did not belong to the husband. _Motă_ marriage, in short, is simply - the last remains of that type of marriage which corresponds to a law - of mother-kinship, and Islam condemns it, and makes it “the sister - of harlotry,” because it does not give the husband a legitimate - offspring, _i. e._, an offspring that is reckoned to his own tribe and - has rights of inheritance within it.[125] - -[125] Prof. W. R. Smith, _Kinship and Marriage_, p. 69. - -Before the separation of the Hebrews and Aramæans, the wife remained -within her own tent where she received her husband, the children of -such unions taking her name and becoming her heirs. This kind of -conjugal union is known to have been in existence in many portions of -the world. In Ceylon it is designated as the _beena_ marriage. - -In ancient Arabia, not only did women control their own homes, but -they owned flocks and herds, and were absolutely independent of male -relations. As late as the fourteenth century of our era, although the -women of certain Arabian tribes were willing to marry strangers, they -never followed them to their homes. - -Among the Bedouins it is a rare thing for a woman at marriage to leave -her home and kindred. When a woman marries a man he settles among her -kinsmen, and, as she presents him with a spear and a tent by way of -dowry, it would seem that he is expected to join her relations and -assist in the common defence. The marks of authority under gentile -rule are the possession of a tent and a lance; yet we find that these -are the objects which, under matriarchal usages, the wife tenders her -husband when he enters her family; the first doubtless as a symbol of -her protection, the second as indicating her authority and the services -which he is expected to render her and her people. Until a late period -in Rome it was the custom, during the solemnities of marriage, to pass -a lance over the head of the wife in token of the power which the -husband was about to gain over her.[126] - -[126] Ortolan, _History of Roman Law_, p. 80. - -Under the two types of marriage—namely, _motă_ and _ba’al_—the -positions of women were so diametrically opposed that both could not -continue, hence when under the pressure brought to bear upon them, -women began to accept the _ba’al_ form of marriage within their own -_hayy_, _motă_ unions were doomed. Of the more ancient form of marriage -in Arabia, under which the woman chooses her mate, evidences of which -are still extant in that country, and that by capture under which she -becomes the slave of her lord, Professor Smith says: - - There is then abundant evidence that the ancient Arabs practised - marriage by capture. And we see that the type of marriage so - constituted is altogether different from those unions of which - the _motă_ is a survival, and kinship through women the necessary - accompaniment. In the one case the woman chooses and dismisses her - husband at will, in the other she has lost the right to dispose of her - person and so the right of divorce lies only with the husband; in the - one case the woman receives the husband in her own tent, among her own - people, in the other she is brought home to his tent and people; in - the one case the children are brought up under the protection of the - mother’s kin and are of her blood, in the other they remain with the - father’s kindred and are of his blood. - - All later Arabic marriages under the system of male kinship, whether - constituted by capture or by contract, belong to the same type; in all - cases, as we shall presently see in detail, the wife who follows her - husband and bears children who are of his blood has lost the right - freely to dispose of her person; the husband has authority over her - and he alone has the right of divorce. Accordingly the husband, in - this kind of marriage, is called not in Arabia only, but also among - the Hebrews and Aramæans, the woman’s “lord” or “owner,” and wherever - this name for husband is found we may be sure that marriage is of the - second type, with male kinship, and the wife bound to the husband and - following him to his home.[127] - -[127] _Kinship and Marriage_, p. 75. - -Notwithstanding the humane enactments of Mohammed in the interest of -women, their position steadily declined, such enactments having been -overbalanced by the establishment of marriages of dominion, by the -growing idea that _sadica_ or _motă_ marriages were not respectable, -and that women could not depend upon their relations to take their -part against their husbands. The history of religion shows that -its growth has always followed the same course as have the ideas -concerning the relative importance of the sexes. The god-idea and the -fundamental doctrines of religion are always found to be in harmony -with the established principles and ideas relative to sex domination -and superiority. The religion of Mohammed was essentially masculine, -all its principles being in strict accord with male supremacy; it is -not, therefore, singular that when the weight of religion was added to -the already growing tendency toward _ba’al_ marriages that _sadica_ -marriages were doomed. - -In Arabia, as elsewhere, the duties of the purchased wife were -specific. The present which under the older form of marriage had been -given to the bride as a love-token, or as an acknowledgment of the -husband’s devotion to her, subsequently took the form of a purchase -price, and was claimed by her father and brothers as a compensation for -the loss sustained by the group through the removal of her offspring, -whose services belonged to their mother’s people. In other words, the -husband paid a price to the wife’s relations for the right to raise -children by her which should belong exclusively to his kin—children -which should she remain within her own home would belong to her -kindred. The wife was therefore removed to the husband’s _hayy_, where, -so far as the sexual relation was concerned, his rights over her were -supreme. - -We have observed that wherever the possessions of the gens continued -to be the property of all its members, and were controlled by women, -the man at marriage went to live with the woman; so soon, however, as -men began to claim the soil, and property began to accumulate in their -hands, the wife went to reside with her husband and his family as a -dependent. Among various tribes, the form of marriage in use depends on -the means of the contracting parties; if the man is able to pay to the -woman’s father or brothers the full price charged for her, she goes to -him as his slave—she is his property as much as is his dog or his gun; -if, however, he is unable to pay the amount charged, he goes to live -with her and her family, and becomes their slave. - -In Japan, among the higher classes, upon the marriage of the eldest -son, his bride accompanies him to his paternal home; but, on the other -hand, when the eldest daughter marries, her husband takes up his abode -with her parents. Eldest daughters always retain their own names, which -their husbands are obliged to assume. As the wife of an eldest son -becomes a member of her husband’s family, and the husband of an eldest -daughter joins the family of his wife and assumes her name, the eldest -son of a family may not marry the eldest daughter of another family. -Regarding the younger members of the household, if the husband’s family -provides the house, the wife takes his name, while if the bride’s -family furnishes the home the bridegroom assumes the name of the -wife.[128] - -[128] Quoted by C. S. Wake from Morgan’s _System_, etc., p. 428. - -In the marriage customs of various nations, and in their ideas relative -to the ownership and control of the home, may be observed something -more than a hint of the principal causes underlying the decline of -female power. Wherever women remain within their own homes, or with -their own relations, they are mistresses of the situation; but when -they follow the fathers of their children to their homes, they become -dependents and wholly subject to the will and pleasure of their -husbands. - -It is plain, however, that under a system of marriage by sale or -contract, although a woman might exercise little influence in the home -of her husband, so long as her relations stood ready to defend her she -would enjoy an immunity from abuse. The fact that a woman can count -upon her relations for protection against her husband, shows plainly -that in a certain stage of marriage by contract or sale, women are not -the abject slaves which they have been represented to be. Although in -the Fiji Islands a man may seize a woman and take her to his home, she -does not remain with him unless agreeable to her inclinations.[129] - -[129] Darwin, _The Descent of Man_, p. 598. - - Amongst the Abipones, a man, on choosing a wife bargains with her - parents about the price. But it frequently happens that the girl - rescinds what has been agreed upon between the parents and the - bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage.[130] - -[130] _Ibid._, p. 598. - -Among the Charruas of South America, divorce is quite optional. In -Sumatra, if a man carries off a virgin against her will, he incurs a -heavy fine, or if a man carries off a woman under pretence of marriage, -“he must lodge her immediately with some reputable family.”[131] - -[131] Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 193. - -Although in the earlier ages of marriage by sale or contract, daughters -were regarded as the property of their fathers, still that stage had -not been reached at which women were accounted simply as sexual -slaves. The Arabs practised marriage by sale or contract, yet they -jealously watched over their women,—they “defended them with their -lives and eagerly redeemed them when they were taken captive.” They -thought it better to bury their daughters than to give them in marriage -to unworthy husbands.[132] According to the testimony of J. G. Wood, -Kaffir women are very tenacious about their relations, probably, it -is thought, for the reason that husbands are more respectful toward -wives who have friends near them, than they are to those who have no -relations at hand to take their part.[133] Usually among the Kaffirs, -according to Mr. Shooter, although a man pays a price to the parents of -the woman whom he wishes to marry, the affair is by no means settled; -on the contrary, he must undergo the closest scrutiny by her before she -will consent to accept him. Bidding him stand, she surveys first one -side of him, then the other, the relations in the meantime standing -about awaiting her decision. Upon this subject Mr. Wood remarks: “This -amusing ceremony has two meanings: the first that the contract of -marriage is a voluntary act on both sides; and the second, that the -intending bridegroom has as yet no authority over her.”[134] - -[132] Professor Smith, _Kinship and Marriage_, p. 79. - -[133] _Uncivilized Races_, etc., p. 78. - -[134] _Ibid._, p. 79. - -Although under the system of marriage by sale or contract a woman -has a voice in the selection of her husband, and although she can -count on her kinsmen to protect her against abuse, still, practically, -the contract brings the wife under the same condition as a captured -wife; she follows her husband to his home, where, as a dependent, he -exercises control over her person and her children. In Arabia prior -to the time of the Prophet the wife could claim the protection of her -kindred against her husband, yet the principle underlying marriage by -contract and that by capture was the same, except that under the former -the husband paid a price for the woman’s sexual subjection, while under -the latter, not only in sexual matters, but in all others as well, he -was her “lord” and master. - -The Prophet says: “I charge you with your women, for they are with -you as captives (_awânî_).” Professor Smith informs us that according -to the lexicons _awânî_ is actually used in the same sense as married -women generally.[135] For long ages after _ba’al_ marriages had been -established, so degrading was the office of wife that women of rank -were considered too great to marry. - -[135] _Kinship and Marriage_, p. 77. - -After relating some interesting accounts of certain practices in common -with the custom of capture among the Brazilian tribes, Sir John Lubbock -says: - - This view also throws some light on the remarkable subordination of - the wife to the husband, which is so characteristic of marriage, - and so curiously inconsistent with all our avowed ideas; moreover it - tends to explain those curious cases in which Hetairæ were held in - greater estimation than those women who were, as we should consider, - properly and respectably married to a single husband. The former were - originally fellow-countrywomen and relations; the latter captives and - slaves.[136] - -[136] _Origin of Civilization_, p. 127. - -With the development of the egoistic principle, or when selfishness -and the love of gain became the rule of action, the protection of -her kindred, which in an earlier age a woman could count on against -her husband, was withdrawn, and daughters came to be looked upon as -a legitimate source of gain to their families. On this subject C. -Staniland Wake remarks: - - Women by marriage became slaves, and it was the universal practice for - a man who parted with his daughter to be a slave to require a valuable - consideration for her. Moreover, as a man can purchase as many slaves - as he likes, so he can take as many wives as he pleases.[137] - -[137] C. Staniland Wake, _Marriage and Kinship_, p. 199. - -Thus arose polygamy. - -In Rome, in the Latter Status of barbarism and the opening ages -of civilization, woman, at marriage, forfeited all the privileges -belonging to her as a member of her own family, while within that -of her husband no compensatory advantages were granted her. Even a -proprietary right in her own children was denied her, and from a legal -point of view the wife became the daughter of her husband, and not -unfrequently the ward of her own son. - -After the power gained by man over woman during the latter ages of -barbarism had reached its height, the family was based not on the -marriage of a woman and a man, but upon the power of a man over a woman -and her offspring, or upon the absolute authority of the male parent. -In Rome a man’s wife and children were members of his family not -because they were related to him but because they were subject to his -control. At this stage in the development of the family, the father had -the power of “uncontrolled corporal chastisement” and of life and death -over his children.[138] If it was his will to do so, he could even sell -them. Indeed, a son’s freedom from paternal tyranny could be gained -only by the actual sale of his person by his father. Relating to the -control exercised by the father over his children, it is observed that -he had the right “during their whole life to imprison, scourge, keep to -rustic labour in chains, to sell or slay, even though they may be in -the enjoyment of high state offices.”[139] If a father granted freedom -to his son, that son was no longer a member of his family. - -[138] Maine, _Ancient Law_, p. 133. - -[139] Ortolan, _History of Roman Law_, p. 107. - -That, with the exception of force, there is no quality in the male -constitution capable of binding together the various individuals born -of the same father, is apparent from the past history of the human -race. Mr. Parkyns, referring to the character of the Abyssinians, -observes that the worst point in the constitution of their society is -the want of affection among relations, “even though they be children of -one father.” He says that the animosities which keep the tribes in a -constant state of warfare do not exist among the offspring of the same -mother and father, but, as the children of polygamous fathers are more -numerous than own brethren, fraternal affection is a rare thing.[140] A -comparison between the family group under archaic usages at a time when -woman’s influence was in the ascendency, and the Roman family under -the older Roman law, will serve to show the wide difference existing -between the altruistic and egoistic principles as controlling agencies -in the home and in society. - -[140] _Life in Abyssinia_, p. 156. - -A significant fact in connection with this subject is here suggested, -that, although for untold ages women were leaders of the gens, so long -as their will was supreme, no human right was ever invaded, and no -legitimate manly prerogative usurped; but, on the contrary, all were -equal, and the principles of a pure democracy were firmly grounded. -Liberty and justice had not at that time been throttled by the extreme -selfishness inherent in human nature. - -Although the processes by which women at a certain stage of human -development lost their independence were gradual, they are by no means -difficult to trace. The history of human marriage as gathered from the -various tribes and races in the several stages of growth shows the -primary idea of the office of wife to have been that of sexual slavery, -and discloses the fact that it was the desire for foreign women who, -shorn of their natural independence, could be controlled, which caused -the overthrow of female supremacy. - -As during the earlier ages of human existence the women of the group -were absolutely independent of men for the means of support, they were -able to so control their own movements. Only foreign women—captives -stolen from their homes and friends—taken singly or in groups could -be subjugated or brought into the wifely relation. Indeed, until -the systematic practice of capturing women from hostile tribes for -sexual purposes had been inaugurated, and the subsequent agency of -repression—namely, ownership of the soil by males, had followed as a -natural consequence, the usurpation by man of the natural rights and -privileges of woman was impossible. The male members of the group had -not at that time the power to sell their sisters and other female -relations, but, on the contrary, defended them manfully against the -assaults of hostile tribes. The foreign captor, the wife-catcher, was -an enemy who was both feared and hated, and upon him were showered the -maledictions of the entire group upon which the assault had been made. -In retaliation for his offence, the men who had been bereft of a sister -must in their turn commit a like depredation; thus, through the removal -of women, the men of early groups gradually gained control of the -common possessions at the same time that they were being supplied with -foreign wives over whom they exercised absolute control. In process of -time, when wealth began to accumulate in the hands of men, and when -friendly relations began to be established between neighbouring tribes, -foreign wives, without influence, were received in exchange for the -free-born women of a man’s own clan; henceforward a resort to capture -was unnecessary. Distant tribes, however, were still liable to attack. -Wars were waged against the men, who were sometimes slain, sometimes -taken prisoners, the invaders taking possession of the lands and -compelling the women to accept the position of wife to them. Finally, -negotiations were entered into whereby women were uniformly taken from -their homes to become wives in alien groups. Later, the _ba’al_ form -of marriage came to prevail within the tribe. Professor Smith, quoting -from the advice given by an Arab to his son, says: “Do not marry in -your own _hayy_, for that leads to ugly family quarrels,” to which he -adds, - - there was a real inconsistency in the position of a woman who was - at once her husband’s free kinswoman and his purchased wife. It was - better to have a wife who had no claims of kin and no brethren near to - take her part.[141] - -[141] _Kinship and Marriage_, p. 105. - -Under earlier conditions of the human race women as bearers and -protectors of the young were regarded as the natural land-owners; -hence, they did not leave their own homes to follow the fathers of -their children. The woman who left her own relations for the _hayy_ of -her husband could no longer exercise control over the possessions of -her own gens, neither could she at a later period inherit property from -her kindred for the reason that her interests were identical with those -of her children and her children belonged to another clan. As property -could not be transferred from the group in which it originated, she was -disinherited. Through marriage women gave up their natural right to -the soil, and consequently to independence. A knowledge of the facts -connected with the origin of the institution of marriage, reveals the -fact that women lost their influence and power, not because of their -weakness, but because they were foreigners and dependents in the homes -of their husbands. - -The statement was made at the beginning of this chapter that the origin -of marriage and the establishment of the family with man at its head -involve the subject of economies. - -When property began to accumulate in the hands of men, when women -were forced to relinquish their right to the soil and thus to become -dependent on men for their support, their slavery was inevitable. -Later, when through the exigencies of the situation, woman went without -protest to the home of her master, there to become a pensioner upon his -bounty, her slavery was complete. - -In process of time, women bound to foreign tribes by the children which -they had borne, began to accommodate themselves to the situation, and -even to claim an interest in the home of their adoption, whereupon -friendly relations began to be established between the tribe of the -mother and that of the father. Hence may be observed the fact that -the maternal instinct was the agency by which the barriers between -unrelated groups were gradually broken down, and by which a spirit -of friendliness was established between hitherto hostile tribes. As -the coherence of the group and the combination of the gentes to form -the tribe had been possible only by means of this instinct, so the -confederacy of tribes to form the nation was accomplished in the same -manner. - -The change from female supremacy to male dominion is among the most -important of the evolutionary processes. From the facts underlying the -development of human society, and especially those underlying the two -diverging lines of sex-demarcation, it is evident that evolution does -not proceed in an undeviating line toward progress. It is perceived, -that seeming retrogressions always involve a gain—a gain which could -have been accomplished in no other way. - -Among the benefits derived from this change in the positions of the -sexes was the development of altruism in man. When fathers began to -take an interest in their own offspring, to care for them and to become -responsible for their welfare, an important step had been taken toward -the establishment of the principle of brotherhood among mankind. -The evolutionary processes indicate a constant tendency toward the -solidarity of the race, they may be said to represent a resistless -force ever drawing the human family together in a closer bond of union -and sympathy. Under female supremacy, combination, or association of -interests, was confined to the gens. The extension of these interests -which resulted from the new order was necessary before humanity could -proceed on its onward course. These changes could not have taken place -under the early system based on the supremacy of women. - -The facts brought out by scientists going to prove that the progressive -principle is confided to the female are accentuated by those -connected with the origin and subsequent development of marriage and -the family. That within the female lie the elements of progress is -clearly indicated, not only in the position which the female occupied -among the orders of life lower in the scale of being, and during the -earlier ages of human history, but also by her career as the slave of -man. Simply by means of the characters developed within the female -constitution, without material resources, and deprived of recognized -influence, women have been able to a certain extent, to dignify the -family and the home. - -It is more than likely that in the not distant future, even the -institution of marriage, through which women have been degraded, will -become so purified and elevated that its results, instead of being a -menace to higher conditions will constitute a continuous source of -progress and a promise of still higher achievement. Before this may be -accomplished, mothers must be absolutely free and wholly independent -of the opposite sex for the means of support. Marriage must be a co -partnership in which neither sex has the right to control the other. - -Although our present system of marriage took its rise in the practice -of forcing women into the marital relation, it must be borne in mind -that it was not inaugurated for the purpose of establishing monogamy. -On the contrary, the privileges of the captor remained the same within -his tribe as before the foreign woman was stolen. The theft was -committed for no other purpose than to augment the hitherto restricted -range of sexual liberties, and to give to the father absolute dominion -over the individuals born in his house. - -The system of marriage in vogue at the present time has never -restricted men to the possession of a single woman. Monogamy, as -established under male supremacy, means one husband for one woman, -while a man may have as many women as he is able or willing to support. -As women are still dependent upon men for the necessities of life, the -supply of the former is regulated by the demands of the latter. - -Marriage still retains its original meaning and significance, namely, -the ownership and control of women. With the exception of physical -force all the ceremonies, customs, ideas, and usages of primitive -marriage have been preserved. When a woman marries she is “given” to -her husband by her father or some other male relative. She promises -to obey her master and accepts a ring as a badge of her dependence -upon him. She relinquishes her own name and family, accepting as her -own the name and family of her husband. She follows him to his home -where, as she is supported by his bounty, she is subject to his will -and pleasure. Until women are economically free they will remain sexual -slaves. - -Of all the forms of human slavery which have ever been devised there -has probably never been one so degrading as is that which has been -practiced within the marital relation, nor one in which the extrication -of the enslaved has been a matter of such utter hopelessness. The -present struggle of women for freedom shows how deeply rooted is the -instinct which demands their subjection. - -The descent of woman has encompassed the lowest depths of human -degradation, but the end of the long and weary road which she has -traversed is nearly reached. Already the evolutionary processes which -are to release her from bondage are in operation. - -From available facts relative to the development of early mankind, -it is certain that it must have required centuries upon centuries of -time to subjugate women and bring them into harmonious relations with -men while occupying a position of sexual slavery; first, physical -force, second, dependence, and third the substitution of masculine -opinions for the instincts and ideas which are peculiar to the female -constitution. This accomplished the processes were begun which were to -rivet the chains by which they were bound and by means of which women -themselves in their weakened condition were to acquiesce in their own -degradation. Religion was the means employed. Apollo, according to -Greek mythology, issued an edict declaring that man is superior to -woman and must rule, and Athene herself finally accepted the edict. -Through religion, women came to regard themselves simply as appendages -to men, as tools or instruments for their pleasure and gratification, -and as possessing no inherent right either to liberty or happiness. - -Religion has its root in sex. As we have already seen the creative -force has ever been regarded as masculine or feminine according to -the relative importance of the two sexes in human society and in the -reproductive processes. So long as woman’s influence and power were in -the ascendency the mother was the only recognized parent. She was the -creator of offspring. Later, the abstract idea of female reproductive -power was manifested in the female deities. It required thousands upon -thousands of years to subdue women. It also required millenniums to -dethrone the female deities. - -When, with the rise of male power, man began to assume the rôle of -parent, he assumed also all the functions which had formerly belonged -to woman. As has been noted in another portion of this work he even -went to bed when a child was born. With this change in the physical -relations of the sexes, the creative principle soon began to assume -a masculine aspect. Male deities began to appear associated with the -goddesses. In process of time, as male power increased, the god-idea -became wholly masculine. The Jewish god is a personified idea of male -power and reproductive energy. This subject will be referred to later -in these pages. - -Thus the ancient plan of government which was the outgrowth of the free -maternal instinct, and which had guided humanity on its course for -thousands of years, finally succumbed to a system based on physical -force. When we remember the conditions surrounding early society we may -well believe that civilization was gained, not because of the fact that -male power succeeded in gaining the ascendency over female influence, -but in spite of it. - -Given a combination of circumstances involving the supremacy of the -lower instincts in mankind, and the individual ownership of land, the -subjection of women, monarchy, and slavery, with all their attendant -evils, namely, poverty, disease, crime, and misery were sure to follow. - -When we consider the fundamental bias of the two diverging lines of -sexual demarcation, it is not perhaps singular that the strong sexual -nature which has prompted males to vigorous physical action should for -a time have gained the ascendency over the higher qualities peculiar to -females; yet the material progress achieved under the inspiration and -direction of agencies like this will not, in a more enlightened stage -of existence, be regarded as embodying the results of the best efforts -of human activity, or as representing the highest capabilities of the -race. - -Probably no one will deny that the accumulation of wealth by -individuals, and the subsequent change in the relative positions of -the sexes, were necessary steps toward the establishment of society -on a political or territorial basis, or toward the breaking up of -kindred groups and the acknowledgment of the idea of the unity of the -entire human family. Neither will the proposition be contradicted -that the evils attending these changes namely, monarchy, slavery, -and the inordinate love of gain have been unavoidable adjuncts to -the development of the race; yet, who will doubt that under higher -conditions, as the animal recedes in the distance, these blots on the -records of human history will be regarded not as regular steps in the -advancement of mankind, but as by-paths which, owing to the peculiar -bias which had been given to the male organism among the lower forms -of life, the human race has been obliged to take in order to reach -civilization? - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE MOTHER-RIGHT - - -Among the most conspicuous of the writers who have dealt with the -subject of primitive society are Herr Bachofen, Mr. J. F. McLennan, -Sir John Lubbock, and Mr. L. H. Morgan. In 1861, the first-named of -these writers, a Swiss jurist, published an extensive work on the early -condition of society, entitled _Das Mutter-recht_ (The Motherright), -in which was first given to the world the fact that prior to the -establishment of a system of kinship through males, there everywhere -existed a system based on female supremacy, under which descent was -reckoned through women. - -Bachofen was first led to a belief in a former state of society in -which women were the recognized leaders through the evidence which -everywhere underlies the traditions and mythologies of extant nations. -Upon investigation he found indisputable evidence going to prove that -every family of the human race had undergone the same processes of -development or growth, and that among all peoples female influence was -once supreme. - -According to Bachofen’s theory, as there were at this early stage -of human existence no “laws” regulating the intercourse between the -sexes, human beings lived in a state of lawlessness, or hetairism. -Recognizing the difference in the reproductive instinct as manifested -in the two sexes, he says that becoming disgusted with their manner -of living women rebelled, and rising in arms, conquered their male -persecutors by sheer superiority in military skill; and that after they -had overthrown the degrading practices of communal or lawless marriage, -they established monogamy in its stead, under which system woman became -the recognized head of the family. - -Children, although they had hitherto succeeded to the father’s name, -were now called after the mother, and all rights of inheritance were -thereafter established in the female line. Not only did women take upon -themselves the exercise of domestic authority and control, but, acting -under a strong religious impulse, they seized the reins of popular -government and completed their title to absolute dominion by wielding -the political sceptre as well, thus declaring themselves unconditional -masters of the situation. - -At this juncture in human affairs, the belief began to be entertained -that motherhood was divine while the paternal office was regarded only -in the light of a human relation. Thus, through religion, women were -raised from a state of hetairism, or sexual slavery, to a position of -independence and self-respect. But that which was gained through a -supernatural impulse they were destined subsequently to lose through -the same source; for, when in Greece, the doctrine was promulgated that -the spirit of the child is derived from its father, paternity at once -assumed a divine character, and, as under the new order, the functions -of the mother were only to clothe the spirit, or simply to act as -“nurse” to the heaven-born production of the father, women lost their -supremacy, and under the new régime, maternity and womanhood again -trailed in the dust. - -According to Bachofen, however, the cause of mothers did not at once -cease to be the subject of contention and conflict, but ever and -anon fresh battles and renewed struggles proclaimed the discontent -and uneasiness of women and heralded the fact that the contest for -supremacy had not yet ended. But, in process of time, as resistance -proved ineffectual, mothers themselves gradually succumbed to the -new idea of the divine character of the father, and, without further -murmuring or complaint, accepted gracefully the position of nurse to -his children. - -The father now became the recognized head of the family, and men at -once seized the reins of government. Descent was henceforth traced in -the male line, and children took the father’s instead of the mother’s -name; in fact all relationships to which rights of succession were -attached were thereafter traced through fathers only. The complete -and final triumph of males having been established by the all-powerful -authority of Roman jurisprudence, the conflict between the sexes was -ended forever. Thus, according to Bachofen, was the supremacy of women -gained and lost. - -Through a profound study of the traditions, legends, symbols, and -mythologies of antiquity, this writer was enabled to discover the fact -that at an earlier age in human history women were the recognized -leaders of mankind; that their influence and authority were supreme -over both the family and the community, and that all relationships to -which rights of succession were attached were traced through them. -In attempting to account for this early period of gynecocracy (the -existence of which to Bachofen’s mind no doubt presented a singular -and intricate problem) it first became necessary to set forth a theory -concerning a former condition of society out of which such a state -could have been evolved. But as at the time _Das Mutter-recht_ made its -appearance, the theory of the development of the human species from -pre-existing orders had not been adopted by scientists, and as many -of the various means at present employed for obtaining a knowledge of -primitive races had not been brought into requisition, even the vast -learning of Bachofen did not suffice to furnish a satisfactory solution -of the problem. - -We have seen that in addition to the discovery that at an early age -in human experience female influence was supreme, he had arrived at -the conclusion that the natural instincts of women differ from those -of men; yet, notwithstanding this, so accustomed had he become to -the predominance of the masculine instincts in every branch of human -activity as to be unable to conceive of a state of society in which -the characters belonging to females could have controlled the sexual -relations. Evidently he was unable to connect these two facts, or to -perceive that that tendency or quality required for the protection of -the germ and the species, and which so early characterized the female -sex, had constituted the most primitive influence by which the human -race had been governed. As in the earliest ages of human existence no -arbitrary laws regulating marriage and the relations of the sexes had -been in operation, he could discern no condition under which society -could have existed other than that of “lawlessness” or “hetairism”—a -condition under which women were slaves, and men ruled supreme. - -As Herr Bachofen was doubtless unaware of the fact that the human -animal is a descendant from creatures lower in the scale of life, -the idea of connecting his history with theirs had probably by him -never been thought of; therefore, judging primitive society, not by -the instincts and the natural laws governing them which mankind had -inherited from their progenitors, but, on the contrary, measuring them -by the standards of later ages when the grosser or disruptive elements -had gained dominion over the finer or constructive qualities in human -nature, he was unable to discern any way in which the conditions of -female supremacy everywhere indicated in the traditions and mythologies -of antiquity could have originated, except in an uprising of women, and -a resort to arms for the protection of their womanly dignity. - -In referring to the military exploits of the women of Lycia, and, -in fact, of various portions of Africa and Asia, at a comparatively -late stage in human history, Bachofen says that the importance of -Amazonianism as opposed to Hetairism for the elevation of the feminine -sex, and through them of mankind, cannot be doubted. - -There seems to be considerable evidence going to prove that there have -been times in the past history of the race in which women were brave -in war and valiant in defending their rights. Indeed, the accounts -given of the struggles of the Amazons in maintaining their independence -against surrounding nations—notably, the Greeks—are tolerably well -authenticated.[142] - -[142] Concerning one of the encounters of this warlike people, the -following has been recounted by Plutarch (_Theseus_): - -“And it appears to have been no slight or womanish enterprise; for they -could not have encamped in the town, or joined battle on the ground -about the Pynx and the Museum, or fallen in so intrepid a manner upon -the city of Athens, unless they had first reduced the country round -about. It is difficult, indeed, to believe (though Hellanicus has -related it) that they crossed the Cimmerian Bosphorus upon the ice; but -that they encamped almost in the heart of the city is confirmed by the -names of places, and by the tombs of those that fell.” - -Although the fact seems to be well substantiated that in certain -portions of the earth, and at various periods in the history of the -race, women have maintained their independence and protected their -interests by force of arms, it seems quite as certain that actual -warfare carried on by them has been confined to peoples among which -male supremacy had but recently been gained, and among which a resort -to arms represented the last act of desperation to which they were -driven to maintain their dignity and honour. We have reason to believe, -however, that even these cases have been exceptional; at least, from -the facts at hand, we have no reason for thinking that at any stage in -the history of women’s career, armed resistance to masculine authority -has been uniform or protracted among them. - -According to scientists, among the lower orders of life, males are -considerably in the excess of females, and among less developed -races men are more numerous than women. It has been shown in a -former portion of this work that the advancement of civilization is -characterized by a corresponding increase in the number of women -among the adult population; hence their evident lack of numbers among -primitive peoples, to say nothing of their probable aversion to war -and bloodshed, would at once preclude the idea that their dominion -was achieved through armed resistance to a foe so superior in numbers -and in fighting qualities. By a natural law governing propagation— -a law which determines the numerical proportion of the sexes, and -which creates an excess in the number of that sex best suited to its -environment, primitive women, had they relied on physical force, would -have had little chance to maintain their independence. - -In a former portion of this work it has been observed that it was -neither to lack of numbers nor to their want of physical force that -women were divested of their power; that it was not through their -weakness, but through the peculiar course which the development or -growth of males had taken, that under certain conditions women became -enslaved. - -Not merely from the facts laid down by naturalists regarding the -peculiar development of the male, but from later researches into the -conditions and causes which have influenced progress, it is plain that -no restrictions on the range of sexual liberties could have originated -in males. Hence the demand for a more refined state of society must -have begun with females. This fact seems to have been perceived by -Bachofen, but, as according to his reasoning, at an early period of -human existence, women were slaves, exercising none of the powers -necessary to personal control, it is difficult to conceive of any -manner in which it was possible for them to rise to the social position -and moral dignity ascribed to them in _Das Mutter-recht_. - -According to the theory set forth by this writer, however, religion -was the cause of the important change which at this time took place -in the positions of the sexes. Although, according to him, the -religion which prevailed during the ages of “lawlessness” was of a low -“telluric chthonic” type, it was nevertheless the cause, or at least -one of the causes which led to the abandonment of promiscuity and the -establishment of the monogamic family. It will doubtless be remembered, -however, that this age of lawlessness or hetairism which Bachofen -has described, represents a very early stage of human existence, in -which, according to his reasoning, the baser instincts ruled supreme; -nevertheless, within it, he would have us believe that a religious -system had been evolved capable of lifting women from a state of -degradation to which they had been consigned by nature, or at least to -which they had always been committed, to a position of influence and -womanly dignity in which they were able to assume supreme control over -the forces by which they had been enslaved. With sexual desire as the -controlling influence in human affairs, and with women in bondage to -this power, it is difficult to conceive of any manner in which such a -religion could have arisen. - -As all religious systems are believed to represent growths, and to -indicate a result of the degree of progress attained, it is evident -that had a religion appeared at this early age which was capable of -elevating women from a condition of degradation, as indicated by the -early state described by Bachofen it could not have been the result of -natural development, but, on the contrary, must have proceeded directly -from a divine source; in which event it would doubtless have remained -upon the earth still further to aid development and bless the race. -Such, however, was not the outcome of this remarkable but premature -religion; for it is asserted by this writer that what women gained by -religion they afterward lost through the same source—that in Greece, -the loss first came through the oracle of Apollo, which declared the -father to be the real parent of the child. - -Bachofen assures us, also, that through the Bacchanalian excesses which -followed the dominion of males in Greece, hetairism was again restored, -and through this means gynecocracy reappeared. From this it would seem -that although under the earliest stage of hetairism women were without -power and wholly under the control of men, with the return, at a later -age, of a like state of society, the basis was at once laid for female -supremacy. - -It is evident that Herr Bachofen’s confusion arises from a -misconception of the early importance of women. Although perhaps more -than any other writer upon this subject he has been able to recognize -the true bias of the female constitution, yet, as he has mistaken -the relative positions of women and men at the outset of the human -career, and as he has been unable to perceive the previously developed -influences which governed these relations, he has failed to furnish -a satisfactory solution of the problem of the early supremacy of -women, which from the evidence adduced, not only by the traditions and -mythologies of past ages, but by later developments in ethnology, may -not be doubted. - -Prior to the appearance of mankind on the earth, had there been -developed within the female no higher element than that which -characterized the male, and had she appeared on the scene of human -action as the willing and natural tool of her less-developed male mate, -it is plain that she would have been unable to elevate herself to the -position of dignity which Bachofen assigns her, and which, until a -comparatively recent period in the human career, she had occupied. - -As among the orders of creation below mankind the structural organism -of the male has been materially changed through his efforts to please -the female and secure her favours, it is evident that under earlier and -more natural conditions of human life, the appetites developed within -him were still largely controlled by her will. From logical conclusions -to be drawn from the hypotheses of naturalists, it is not likely that -at the outset of human life those restrictions on the nature of the -male imposed by the female throughout the animal kingdom were suddenly -withdrawn, or that the destructive elements which all along the line -of progress had been in abeyance to the higher powers developed in -organized matter, were immediately and without good cause put in -absolute command over the constructive forces of life. - -With a better knowledge of the past history of mankind, comes the -assurance that such was not the case, but, on the contrary, that for -thousands of years women were the ruling spirits in human society; that -the cohesive quality—sympathy, which is the result of the maternal -instinct, and which conserves the highest interests of offspring, was -the underlying principle which governed human groups—in fact, that -it was the principle which made organization possible and progress -attainable. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THEORIES TO EXPLAIN WIFE-CAPTURE - - -The prevalence of wife-capture and the extent to which the symbol of -force in marriage ceremonies appears among tribes and races in the -various stages of development, have given rise to numerous speculations -and theories relative to the origin of these “singular phenomena.” -Notable among the works dealing with this subject are _Primitive -Marriage_, by Mr. J. F. McLennan, and the _Origin of Civilization_, by -Sir John Lubbock, both of which works followed closely the publication -of _Das Mutter-recht_ by Herr Bachofen. - -As at the time these works were published the fact of man’s descent -from the lower orders of life had not been established, and as nothing -was then known of the origin and development of organized society it -is not remarkable that theories concerning the early relations of the -sexes should prove worthless except perhaps to show the extent to which -established prejudices may warp the judgment and dwarf the intellectual -faculties even of those who are honestly seeking after truth. - -The avowed object of Mr. McLennan’s volume was to trace the origin -of wife-capture which is found to exist either as a legal symbol in -marriage ceremonies, or as a stern reality among peoples which have not -yet reached civilized conditions. This writer declares: “In the whole -range of legal symbolism there is no symbol more remarkable than that -of capture in marriage ceremonies.” - -After setting forth numerous examples to prove the prevalence of -wife-capture among uncivilized tribes and races, and after denouncing -as absurd the theories relative to the symbol of force entering into -the marriage ceremonies in Sparta and in Rome, Mr. McLennan observes: - - The question now arises, what is the meaning and what the origin of a - ceremony so widely spread that already on the threshold of our inquiry - the reader must be prepared to find it connected with some universal - tendency of mankind? - -Mr. McLennan’s answer to his own query is as follows: - - We believe the restriction on marriage to be connected with the - practice in early times of female infanticide which rendering women - scarce led at once to polyandry within the tribe and the capture of - women from without. - -In another portion of this work it has been shown that although -marriage was restricted within the gens, the earliest form of organized -society, this restriction did not extend to the tribe. Marriage was -forbidden among closely related groups. The gentes coalesced to form -the tribe. Although a man might not marry within his own gens, he was -not forbidden to marry within the tribe. - -In Mr. Morgan’s work on _Primitive Society_, published in 1871, are -to be found the systems of consanguinity and affinity of 139 tribes -and races representing, numerically, four-fifths of the entire human -family. These systems show conclusively that the restrictions on -marriage observed in the gens did not extend to the tribe. The author -of _Primitive Marriage_ has evidently mistaken a rule of the gens for a -binding tribal decree. - -Mr. McLennan’s theory relative to female infanticide is found to be -equally fallacious. Noting the numerical difference in the two sexes -among lower races, he says that as subsistence was scarce, and as war -was the natural and constant condition of primitive groups, only those -of their members would be spared who could contribute to the defence of -the tribe, or who would be able to aid in the supply of subsistence. -Males were possessed of strength, they were by organization and -inclination adapted to war and the chase, and could therefore be -depended upon to assist in defending the tribe against the assaults of -its enemies and in securing the necessary food for its requirements. -On the other hand, women being worthless in war and in the chase were -regarded as useless appendages, and as they constituted a source of -weakness to the tribe, large numbers of them were destroyed at birth. -Through this practice the balance of the sexes was greatly disturbed, -and wives could be obtained only by means of stealth or a resort -to force. Thus in process of time, the stealing of women became a -legitimate practice, and each warrior depended on his skill in this -particular direction to provide himself with a wife. - -Finally the children of these alien women began to intermarry and thus -the necessity for wife-capture no longer existed, and the practice -of stealing women for wives was superseded by a system through which -wives from other tribes were habitually obtained either by gift or -sale. Thereafter the symbol of wife-capture was retained in marriage -ceremonies. - -With a better understanding of peoples in a less developed state of -society, it is found that infanticide has been less prevalent among -them than was formerly supposed; that when through scarcity of food it -has been practised it has not been confined to females, neither has it -been carried on by tribes in the lowest stages of barbarism. - -Regarding this custom in Arabia, Prof. W. R. Smith says that our -authorities “seem to represent the practice of infanticide as having -taken a new development not very long before the time of Mohammed.” -This writer declares that the chief motive for infanticide was -“scarcity of food which must always have been felt in the desert.” - -Much has been written in the attempt to explain the practice of -infanticide which to some extent seems to have prevailed during a -certain stage of human development; but with the exception of those -cases in which children of both sexes were slain because of scarcity -of food, the one cause, namely, the dread of capture, is sufficient to -explain this unnatural practice. - -Although to a considerable extent, men had come to depend on foreign -tribes for their wives, they nevertheless found little pleasure in -furnishing their quota of women in return, and as mothers doubtless -preferred the death of their female children to the degradation and -suffering which was inevitable in case of capture, female infanticide -no doubt seemed the wisest and in fact the only expedient. - -The blood-tie of ancient society which bound together all those born -of the women of the group irrespective of their fathers, must have -emphasized the influence of mothers in the matter of infanticide. It is -not reasonable to suppose that the law of sympathy which had united the -members of a clan by a bond stronger than that which binds together the -members of a modern family was reversed without some deeper cause than -has thus far been assigned for it. It is indeed difficult to believe, -in opposition to all the facts before us, that a practice which -involved the destruction of the female members of the group would have -gained the sanction of the tribe to such an extent that it would have -become an established rule among them. - -Regarding the destruction of female infants among early races, Mr. -Darwin remarks: - - They would not at that period have lost one of the strongest of all - instincts common to all lower animals, namely the love of their young - offspring, and consequently they would not have practised female - infanticide.[143] - -[143] _Descent of Man_, p. 594. - -Another reason why female infanticide could not have prevailed to any -considerable extent is seen in the fact that any diminution in the -number of females, would have involved a scarcity of warriors, thus -weakening their means of defence. From available facts it is quite -evident that the practice of female infanticide throws no light on -wife-capture. - -Mr. McLennan declares that women among rude tribes are usually depraved -and inured to scenes of depravity from their earliest infancy; hence -when property began to amass in the hands of men, in order to assure -paternity, it became necessary, that women be brought under subjection. - -As the female, when free, is unwilling to pair with individuals for -whom she feels no affection, and as under earlier conditions of human -society women chose their mates, and so long as they remained together -were true to them, it is reasonable to suppose that paternity was -known, or at least that it might have been readily determined. - -Mr. Morgan informs us that the “Turanian, Ganowánian, and Malayan -systems of consanguinity show conclusively that kinship through males -was recognized as constantly as kinship through females,” that a man -had brothers and sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers traced through -males as well as through females. Although under gentile institutions -descent and all rights of succession were traced through mothers, -kinship through fathers was easily ascertained. - -Hence it is plain that Mr. McLennan’s assumption that women were -enslaved in order to assure paternity, that they became subject to the -dominion and control of men so that fathers might not be compelled to -support children not their own, is not supported by the evidence at -hand. - -That it was through capture, the forcible carrying away of women at -first singly and later in groups to foreign tribes, in which as aliens -and dependents they were shorn of their right to the soil, that males -were first enabled to arrogate to themselves the individual right to -property is a fact which has been overlooked by Mr. McLennan. - -From the facts at hand relative to the earliest social regulation -of mankind, that into classes on the basis of sex, it is evident -that it was inaugurated for no other purpose than the restriction -of the marital relation—a restriction to prevent the pairing of -near relations. Yet Mr. McLennan would have us believe that “the law -compelling marriage outside the recognized limit of near relationship -originated in no innate or primary feeling against marriage with -kinsfolk.” - -The repugnance of females among the lower orders of life to pairing -with those individuals which were distasteful to them, or for which -they felt no genuine affection, has already been referred to in these -pages. At the earliest dawn of human life there probably existed within -woman a naturally acquired aversion to pairing with near relations, -yet doubtless many ages elapsed before an idea of kinship sufficiently -definite to be incorporated into an arbitrary law for the government of -the group was formulated; but in due course of time, with the further -development of the higher characters, the idea of relationship began -to take shape, whereupon was inaugurated a movement which doubtless -represents one of the most important steps ever taken toward human -advancement. - -As the female among all the orders of life, when free, is unwilling -to pair with individuals for which she feels no affection, and as the -sex-instinct has ever been restricted or held in abeyance by her, and -as according to the savants, it was through the efforts of women that -from time to time during the earlier ages of human existence the range -of conjugal rights was abridged, it is reasonable to suppose that it -was woman who first objected to the pairing with near relations. - -The statement of Mr. McLennan that the women of primitive races were -depraved, that they were inured to scenes of depravity from their -earliest infancy is not borne out by facts. It has been shown in -another portion of this work that the most trustworthy writers, those -who have personally investigated tribes and races in the various stages -of development, agree that chastity was an unvarying rule among them, -that before they were corrupted by civilization, a condition of morals -existed nowhere to be found among the so-called higher races. - -After referring to a state of advanced social existence in which every -person knowing what is right would feel an irresistible impulse toward -right-living, Mr. Wallace remarks that among peoples low in the scale -of development “we find some approaches to such a perfect social -state.” He observes: “It is not too much to say that the mass of our -population have not at all advanced beyond the savage code of morals, -and have in many cases sunk below it.” - -Most of the reports which come to us regarding the immorality of lower -races are brought by missionaries, who, although unacquainted with the -language, customs, and habits of thought of the peoples whose countries -they visit, nevertheless feel called upon to furnish lengthy reports -of those benighted races which are “utterly destitute of Christian -training.” - -As the restrictions on marriage among early peoples were limited to -closely related groups, it is evident that the capture of wives was -not carried on because of any established law of exogamy, neither -was it practised because of the scarcity of women resulting from -female infanticide nor because of a desire for recognized paternity. -Wife-capture arose from a demand for foreign women, aliens, who, torn -from their homes and deprived of the protection of their own kinsfolk, -had no alternative but sexual slavery. These women were much more -desirable than the free-born women of a man’s own tribe. - -After having created a false and wholly unwarrantable hypothesis, an -hypothesis in which exogamy and endogamy, two principles which as -applied to tribes never existed, play a conspicuous part, Mr. McLennan -has thrust nearly all the facts which he has observed relative to -primitive society into false positions and forced them to do duty in -bolstering up his thoroughly imaginative theory to account for the -origin of wife-capture. It is perhaps needless to say that the whole -subject, so far as his contribution is concerned, is as much a mystery -as before he attempted a solution of the problem. - - * * * * * - -Sir John Lubbock, like J. F. McLennan, assumes that the earliest -organization of society was that of the tribe, and that a man was first -regarded as belonging only to a group. Subsequently, as the maternal -bond is stronger than that which unites a father to his offspring, -kinship with his mother and her relations was established. In course of -time he was accounted as a descendant of his father only, and lastly he -became equally related to both parents. - -Numerous illustrations are cited by this writer, going to show that -among certain peoples descent is still reckoned in the female line, and -that all the rights of succession, both as regards property and tribal -honours, are traced through women. - -In his _Origin of Civilization_ the fact is noted that in Guinea, -when a wealthy man dies, his property passes by inheritance, not to -his sons, but to the children of his sister. He quotes also from -Pinkerton’s _Voyages_ to show that the town of Loango is governed by -four chiefs who are sons of the king’s sisters, and from Caillie who -observes that in Central Africa the sovereignty remains always in the -same family, but that the son never succeeds to his father’s position. -These and numerous other instances, similar in character, are cited -from various parts of the world, going to prove that a system of -descent and inheritance through women was once general throughout the -races of mankind. - -With Herr Bachofen and Mr. McLennan, Sir John Lubbock is of the opinion -that the earliest conjugal unions of the human race were communal. -Communal marriage was founded on the supremacy of males, or, was based -on the undisputed right of men to the control of women. According to -this writer, communal marriage was succeeded by individual marriage -through capture. - -Although Lubbock coincides with McLennan in the belief that under -certain circumstances infanticide has been practised by the lower -races, he does not agree with him as to the extent to which it has -prevailed among them; neither is he of the opinion that it was confined -to the female sex. On the contrary, he cites trustworthy authority to -prove that boys were as frequently disposed of as were girls. - -Although with McLennan, Lubbock recognizes the prevalence of -wife-capture and the principle of exogamy, yet, according to the theory -of the former, marriage by capture arose from exogamy, while, according -to the latter, exogamy arose from marriage by capture. - -Lubbock accounts for wife-capture by the following theory: As under the -communal system, women of the tribe were the “common property” of the -men of the group, no individual male among them would have attempted -to appropriate one of these women to himself, for the reason that -such appropriation would have been regarded as an infringement on the -rights of the remaining males in the community. A warrior, however, -upon capturing a woman from a hostile people, might claim her as his -rightful possession, and hold her as against all the other members of -the tribe. Since the women of the group were so emphatically the common -property of the men, the exclusive right to one of them in progressive -tribes which had reached a state of friendliness would involve a symbol -of capture to make valid such a claim. This symbol, according to -Lubbock, has no reference to those from whom the woman has been stolen, -but is intended to bar the rights of other members of the tribe into -which she is brought. He thinks that “the exclusive possession of a -wife could only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of the -pre-existing communal rights,” and cites the account given by Herodotus -of the custom existing in Babylonia, where every woman once during -her lifetime must present herself at the temple, there to accept the -proposals of the first man who requests her to follow him. - -Although Lubbock declares that the symbol of violence in marriage -ceremonies “can only be explained by the hypothesis that the capture -of wives was once a stern reality,” he claims not to believe that the -early conditions under which men were compelled to capture their wives -by violence, or do without them, were in any degree the result of -feminine will in the matter. - -In referring to the fallacious theory of Mr. McLennan, that the capture -of women for wives arose from the practice of female infanticide, -which, by producing a scarcity of women, created a necessity for -marriage without the limits of the tribe, Sir John Lubbock, although -seemingly unable to recognize the actual force which was in operation -to prevent the “appropriation” of women by men, has nevertheless shown -himself able to perceive the reason why foreign women were captured, -and what the tendency in males was which demanded their presence. - -After referring to the fact that no male could appropriate to himself a -female belonging to the tribe, he says: - - Women taken in war were, on the contrary, in a different position. The - tribe, as a tribe, had no right to them, and men surely would reserve - to themselves exclusively their own prizes. These captives then would - naturally become wives in our own sense of the term. - -Foreign women would become dependents, their captors having the -undisputed right to the control of their persons. - -At the outset, Sir John Lubbock finds himself confronted with the -fact that a system of reckoning descent through women once prevailed -over the habitable globe. According to his own reasoning, this system -presupposes a condition of society under which property rights and -all rights of succession were traced through women, still we find -him offering the following belief concerning the matter. “I believe, -however, that communities in which women have exercised the supreme -power are rare and exceptional, if, indeed, they ever existed at all.” - -Were we not already acquainted with the prejudices of most of the -writers who have thus far dealt with this subject, in view of the facts -everywhere represented going to prove that a system of gynecocracy once -prevailed over the entire earth, this “belief” of Mr. Lubbock would be -truly remarkable, especially when we learn the reason given by him for -his conclusion. He says: - - We do not find in history, as a matter of fact, that women do assert - their rights, and savage women would, I think, be peculiarly unlikely - to uphold their dignity in the manner supposed.[144] - -[144] _Origin of Civilization_, p. 99. - -It is quite true that it is not observed “in history” that women assert -their rights. It has been shown, however, that prior to the historic -age, through capture and the individual ownership of land, women had -become dependent upon men and wholly subject to their control. After -thousands of years of subjection to male influence, the movements of -women, who are still dependent upon men, furnish little satisfactory -information regarding the character of free women at a time before -they had succumbed to the exigencies of brute force, and the unbridled -appetites of their male masters. Slaves seldom assert their rights, or, -if they do, of what avail is it? - -Were we in possession of no other facts in support of the theory of -an early age of female supremacy than that all relationships to which -rights of succession were attached were formerly traced through women, -the evidence in its favour would be sufficient to prove it true, but -this manner of reckoning descent represents only one of the many -indications of such an age which Lubbock himself has been constrained -to record; yet, because—during the historic age—an age throughout which -the masculine element has ruled supreme, women have not asserted their -rights, this writer feels inclined to ignore all the evidence bearing -upon the subject, at the same time declaring that women could not -have “upheld their dignity in the manner supposed”; that the female, -on gaining human conditions, could not have exercised the instincts -inherited by her from her dumb progenitors. - -If the females among insects, birds, and many species of mammals are -able to control the relations between themselves and their male mates, -why should it not be inferred that the female of the human species -would still be able to uphold the natural dignity of the female sex? - -As an argument in support of his theory that the influence of women -was never supreme, Sir John Lubbock alludes to the position of -Australian women as being one of “complete subjection,” and as the -native Australians represent perhaps the lowest existing stage of human -society, he doubtless thinks his argument unassailable. However, that -the position of Australian women cannot be taken as a reliable guide in -estimating primitive womanhood is shown by the writer’s own reasoning -when he says: - - It must not be assumed, however, that the condition of primitive - man is correctly represented by even the lowest of existing races. - The very fact that the latter have remained stationary, that their - manners, habits, and mode of life have continued almost unaltered for - generations, has created a strict, and often complicated, system of - customs, from which the former was necessarily free, but which has in - some cases gradually acquired even more than the force of law.[145] - -[145] _Origin of Civilization_, p. 2. - -Yet we find him comparing primitive women with this race which for -thousands upon thousands of years, because of its environment, or -through some cause which is not understood, has been unable to advance. - -While this writer perceives clearly that foreign women were much more -desirable for wives than those belonging to a man’s own tribe, he has -not been able to discover the reason why this was so, but, continuing -to babble about the “rights” of the men of the group, overlooks the -fact that native-born women were free, and as only those women who had -first been torn from their friends and shorn of their independence -could at this stage of human existence be forced into the position of -wife, it became necessary to secure them by violence from surrounding -tribes. He is not blind to the fact that it was a desire to extend -the limit of conjugal liberties on the part of males which prompted -wife-capture; yet he would have us believe that although women were -absolutely independent of men, and although they were the recognized -heads of families, and the source whence originated all the privileges -of the gens, it was in no degree owing to their influence that the -conjugal liberties of males were restricted within the tribe, but, on -the contrary, that this restriction was enforced out of regard for -the “proprietary rights” of the men of the group. He says: “We must -remember that under the communal system the women of the tribe were -all common property. No one could appropriate one of them to himself -without infringing on the general rights of the tribe.” - -As well might we say of the female bird for whose favours the male -fights until overcome by exhaustion and loss of blood, that she belongs -to him, or that he may appropriate her, as to say that the men of early -groups could “appropriate” women. From all the facts relative to the -condition of early society, it is plain that if either sex could with -propriety be designated as property it must have been the male. It is -evident that women were stolen from distant tribes for the express -purpose of sexual slavery, a position to which free, native-born women -could not be dragged; therefore, when Lubbock assures us that these -foreign women naturally “became wives in our own sense of the term,” -we may be sure that he is neither unmindful of the origin of our -present social system, nor of the true significance attached to the -position of wife. Indeed, he informs us that the “origin of marriage -was independent of all sacred and social conditions,” and proves -the same by actually producing the evidence. He has no hesitancy in -declaring that marriage is a masculine institution, established in the -interest (or supposed interest) of males; that it was “founded not on -the rights of the woman, but of the man,” and that there was not on -the woman’s part even the semblance of consent. In fact he declares -that he regards it as an illustration of the good old plan that “he -should take who has the power, and he should keep who can.” He says -also that it had nothing to do with mutual affection or sympathy, -that it was invalidated by no appearance of consent, and that it was -symbolized not by any demonstration of warm affection on the one side -and tender devotion on the other, but by brutal violence and unwilling -submission. To prove that the connection between force and marriage -is deeply rooted, Sir John Lubbock, like Mr. McLennan, has furnished -numerous examples of peoples among whom marriage by actual capture -still prevails, as well as many among which the system has passed into -a mere symbol. He is quite certain that the complete subjection of -the woman in marriage furnishes an explanation to those examples in -barbarous life in which women are looked upon as being too great to -marry—and cites the case of Sebituane, chief of the Bechuanas, who told -his daughter, Mamochisáne, that all the men were at her disposal—“she -might take any one, but ought to keep none.” - -This instance, together with numberless others which might be cited, -proves that long after the practice of appropriating solitary women for -sexual purposes had become general, the position of wife was considered -too degrading to be occupied by women of rank. - -Attention has been called to Lubbock’s idea concerning the “rights” -of the males of the group. We have seen that it is his opinion that -the exclusive possession of a woman could only be legally acquired by -a temporary recognition of the pre-existing communal rights, and that -the account in Herodotus of the debasement of Babylonian women was -cited by him as evidence to prove his position. He seems, however, to -forget that this custom, which was practised in various nations, is a -religious rite, and was inaugurated at a time when the adoration of the -sun, as the source of all life and light, had degenerated into the most -degrading phallic worship. To those who have given attention to the -growth of the god-idea, the supposed cases of “expiation for marriage,” -cited by Lubbock, are to be explained by the peculiar practices -inaugurated under fire and passion worship at a time long subsequent to -the establishment of _ba’al_ marriages. - -In his chapter on “The Origin of Marriage by Capture,” this writer -says: - - That marriage by capture has not arisen from female modesty, is, I - think, evident, not only because we have no reason to suppose that - such a feeling prevails especially among the lower races of man; but - also, firstly, because it cannot explain the mock resistance of the - relatives; and, secondly, because the very question to be solved - is why it became so generally the custom to win the female not by - persuasion but by force.[146] - -[146] _Origin of Civilization_, p. 106. - -That female modesty may not account for marriage by capture will -scarcely be disputed; it is not impossible, however, that disgust, or -aversion, on the part of women, may, in a measure, serve to explain it. - -Sir John Lubbock should bear in mind that “choice” in the matter of -pairing was an early prerogative of the female; that true affection, a -character differing widely from the sex instinct developed in the male -was necessary before she could be induced to accept the attentions of -the male. While the women among primitive peoples abhorred strangers or -foreigners, it may scarcely be said of them that they were too modest -to accept them as suitors. Evidently, modesty is not the term to be -employed in this connection. - -In seeking a reason to explain why force rather than persuasion was -used in the consummation of early marriages, we have to remember the -wide difference existing between the position of free women and that -of those who were obliged to accept the _ba’al_ form of marriage. If, -as we have reason to believe, as late as the beginning of the second -or Middle Status of barbarism, instead of following the father of her -children to his house as his slave, a woman remained in a home owned, -or at least controlled jointly by herself, her mother, her sisters, and -her daughters, it is plain that a state of female independence existed -which was incompatible with female subjection. Add to this the fact -that a woman’s children belonged exclusively to herself, or to her -family, and that all hereditary honours and rights of succession were -traced through females, and we have a set of circumstances which would -seem sufficient to explain why force was necessary to bring women into -the marital relation. - -That the capture of women for wives arose because the independence -of free women was a bar to the gratification of the lower instincts -in man, can, in the presence of all the facts at hand, scarcely be -doubted; and that women submitted to the position of wife only when -obliged to do so, or when deprived of liberty and dragged from home and -friends, is only too apparent. While modesty as a cause for capture -may not account for the resistance of the relations, the sacrifice of -a daughter may serve to explain even this knotty point. If the capture -of a free and independent girl from her mother by a band of marauders -from a hostile tribe for purposes of the most degrading slavery, cannot -account for the resistance of the mother-in-law, among most of the -so-called lower races, then indeed it is difficult to conjecture any -provocation or any set of circumstances which can account for it. - -This writer’s assertion that it is “contrary to all experience that -female delicacy diminishes with civilization,” proves conclusively that -he regards the slight degree of reserve which he is pleased to accredit -to women in modern times, as a result of civilization—a civilization, -too, which he evidently considers as wholly the result of masculine -achievement; in other words, he doubtless thinks that the degree of -self-respect observed among women at the present time is the result not -of the innate tendencies in the female constitution, but of masculine -tuition and training, an assumption which, when viewed by the light -which in recent years has been thrown upon the development of the two -diverging sex columns, is as absurd as it is arrogant and false. Some -time will doubtless elapse before Sir John Lubbock and the class of -writers which he represents will be willing to admit that civilization -has been possible only because of the checks to the animal nature of -the male, which are the natural result of the maternal instinct. - -With a system, however, under which for six thousand years every -womanly instinct has been smothered, and under which female activity -has been utilized in the service of the strong sex instinct developed -in males, the outward expression of female delicacy has doubtless -diminished; and, in their weakened mental and physical condition, -women, dependent not only for all the luxuries but the necessities -of life as well, upon pleasing the men, have doubtless given them, -blinded as they have become by the conditions of their own peculiar -development, some reason for believing that within the female as within -the male, passion has been the ruling characteristic. - -Sir John Lubbock, as well as other writers who have dealt with this -subject, should bear in mind the fact that female delicacy is a subject -which can be satisfactorily discussed only in relation to free and -independent women; hence the degree of its manifestation at any time -during the past six thousand years may bear little testimony concerning -the natural tendencies of women, or the condition of society under a -system where female influence was in the ascendency. - -To those individuals whose minds are not clouded by prejudice, the fact -will doubtless be apparent, that the valuable information which has -been presented by three of the foremost writers on the subject of the -early relations of the sexes and the origin of marriage, instead of -serving as evidence to substantiate the fallacious theories which they -have propounded, is found to lie in a direct line with the facts and -principles which have been put forward by scientists in the theory of -natural development. - -A review of the theories set forth by these three writers shows -that about the only point on which they agree is the lawlessness, or -promiscuity, of early races. As they have all started out with a false -premise, it is not singular that none of them has succeeded in setting -forth a consistent and reasonable hypothesis to account either for the -symbol of wife-capture, or for the early supremacy of women. - - - - - PART III - - Early Historic Society - - - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLY HISTORIC SOCIETY FOUNDED ON THE GENS - - -The result of recent research into the early organization of society, -the growth of the governmental idea, and the development of the -family, among tribes in the ascending scale, serve to throw new and -unexpected light upon the customs, ideas, institutions, and legends -of early historic peoples. Upon investigation it is observed that the -construction of Greek and Roman society corresponds exactly with that -of existing tribes occupying a lower plane in the scale of development, -and that all the institutions of these nations, although in a higher -state of advancement, involve the same original principles and ideas. - -That the Greek and Roman tribes before reaching civilization had -passed through exactly the same processes of development as have been -witnessed in the ascending scale among the North American Indians, -the Arabians, and all other extant peoples, is shown not alone by -the manner in which early society was organized and held together, -but by the similarity observed in their myths, legends, traditions, -institutions, and social usages. - -Whether or not a more advanced stage of civilization had been attained -by the progenitors of the Greeks and Romans is a question that does not -here concern us; for, if at any time prior to the appearance of these -peoples in history, a higher plane of life had been reached, it is -reasonable to suppose that such a state was gained under gentile forms -of society, especially as their various institutions at the beginning -of the historic period represent them as still to a considerable extent -governed by the ideas peculiar to the gens. - -The earliest authentic accounts which we have of the Greeks represent -them as composed of the Doric tribes, who were Hellenes, and the -Ionians, who were of Pelasgic origin. The Dorians were a conservative -people, exclusive in their tastes and intolerant of innovations, while -the Ionians, who occupied the seacoasts and the adjacent islands, -were restless, fond of novelty, and not averse to intercourse with -surrounding nations. - -Of the original inhabitants of Rome, it is observed that they consisted -of wandering tribes, bands of outlaws, and refugees from various -countries. Concerning the true origin of these peoples, however, and -of the history of their earliest settlements, they themselves were -evidently ignorant, and the fragmentary accounts of them which have -been preserved to us, when viewed independently of the light reflected -upon them by recent investigation, furnish but a dim picture in the -outline of which the most prominent figures appear only as indistinct -shadows or as objects without definite shape. It is true there was no -lack of myths and traditions which had come down to the Greeks and -Romans as genuine history, and which were doubtless regarded by them -as trustworthy accounts of their ancestors. Theseus who united the -Attic tribes, and Romulus who founded Rome, were heroes in whom the -divine and human were so nicely adjusted and so evenly balanced that -the history of their earthly career presents no shade of error either -in public or in private life. Indeed, both had sprung from immortal -sources, and their exploits were such as might be expected from the -mythical heroes of a forgotten age. - -Although Greek society when it first came under our observation was -under gentile organization, the gens had passed out of its archaic -stage. This ancient institution, which had carried humanity through -to civilization, was gradually losing its vitality; it had lost its -efficiency as a governing agency, and was about to give place to -political institutions. - -With the facts at present accessible regarding peoples in the lower -and middle stages of barbarism, the various steps in the growth of -government as administered in the upper or latter stage of barbarism -are clearly observed; also by close attention to the conditions -surrounding extant peoples in the latter stage of barbarism and the -opening ages of civilization, the processes involved in the transfer -of society from gentile to political institutions are easily traced, -together with the principal ideas and motives underlying the growth of -all the institutions belonging to early historic nations. - -Until civilization was reached the gens constituted the unit of -organized society. This fact, however, until a comparatively recent -time, seems to have been overlooked. Without attempting to explain -the origin of the gens and phratry as they existed in Greece, Mr. -Grote observes: “The legislator finds them pre-existing, and adapts or -modifies them to answer some national scheme.” Unacquainted as this -writer evidently was with the construction of primitive society, he -failed to observe that originally, in Greece, all the powers of the -legislator himself were derived from and circumscribed by the gens. -Indeed, that this organization upon which the superstructure of Grecian -society rested was the original source whence proceeded all social -privileges and all military rights and obligations, is a condition -which until a comparatively recent time has been overlooked. While -discussing the relations of the family to the gens, the gens to the -phratry, and the phratry to the tribe, Mr. Grote says: “The basis of -the whole was the house, hearth, or family—a number of which, greater -or less, composed the gens, or genos.”[147] - -[147] _History of Greece_, vol. iii., p. 54. - -Mr. Morgan has shown, however, that the family could not have -constituted the basis of the gens, for the reason that the heads of -families belonged to separate gentes. We are assured that the gens is -much older than the monogamic family, and therefore that the latter -could not have formed the basis of the gentile organization; but even -had the family preceded the gens in order of development, as its -members belonged to different gentes it could not have constituted the -unit of the social series. - -In order to gain a clear understanding of the processes and principles -involved in the early Grecian form of government, it first becomes -necessary briefly to review the various steps in the growth of the -governmental functions through two ethnical periods. - -The tribe is a community of related individuals possessed of equal -rights and privileges, and bound by equal duties and responsibilities. -It has been shown that in the Lower Status of barbarism the government -consisted of only one power—a council of chiefs elected by the people. -During the Middle Status of barbarism two powers appear,—the civil and -military functions have become separated, the duties of a military -commander being co-ordinated with those of a council of chiefs. The -military commander, however, has not succeeded in drawing to himself -the powers of a ruler or king. In the Second Status of barbarism -tribes have not begun to confederate. A single tribe, its members -bound together by the tie of kinship and united by common rights and -responsibilities, owning their lands in common, and each contributing -his share toward the common defence, so long as it was able to maintain -its independence, had little need for an elaborate form of government. -As yet no strifes engendered by envy and extreme selfishness had arisen -to disturb the simplicity of their lives, or to check the development -of those early principles of liberty and fraternity which were the -natural inheritance of the gens. A council of chiefs elected by the -gentes and receiving all its powers from the people had thus far -performed all the duties of government. - -After the Upper Status of barbarism is reached we find confederated -tribes dwelling together in walled cities surrounded by embankments, -and a state of affairs existing which called for a further -differentiation of the functions of government, and a redistribution of -the powers and responsibilities of the people. In process of time, with -the accumulation of property in masses in the hands of the few, and -the consequent rise of an aristocracy, a government founded on wealth, -or on a territorial basis, rather than on the personal relations of an -individual to his gens, was demanded; and, finally, those principles, -rights, and privileges which constitute a pure democracy, and which -had always formed the basis of gentile institutions were gradually -ignored; that personal influence which was originally exercised by each -and every gentilis being transferred to a privileged class—a class -which controlled the wealth, and at the head of which was the military -commander or _basileus_. Such was the condition of Grecian society as -it first appears in history. - -A comparison instituted by Mr. Morgan between the Iroquois gens and -that of the Greeks shows the former at the time when it first came -under European observation to have been in the archaic stage, with -descent and all the rights of succession traced in the female line; -while the latter, at the time designated as the heroic age, had not -only changed the manner of reckoning descent from the female to the -male line, but was evidently about to give place to political society -which, instead of being founded on kinship, was based on property and -territory, or upon a man’s relations to the township or deme in which -he resided. - -While the Iroquois tribe of Indians represents the gens in its original -vitality, the Greeks appear to have reached a stage at which the -archaic form of government instituted on the basis of kin was found -inadequate to meet their necessities; hence the confusion arising -from disputed authority, at the almost interminable struggle between -the various classes which had arisen, and the evident disaffection -and unrest manifest among the entire Grecian people during the ages -intervening between Codrus, nearly eleven hundred years B.C., and -Clisthenes, five hundred years later. - -That degree of jealousy with which individual liberty was guarded -during the earlier ages of historic Greece, that thirst for freedom, -and that restlessness under tyranny which characterized the Grecian -people throughout their entire career, are explained by the fact that -prior to the age of Clisthenes they were under gentile institutions, -the fundamental principles of which were liberty, equality, and -justice. From all the facts which may be gathered bearing upon this -subject, it is evident that although at the beginning of the historic -period the Greeks had lost much of that independence which belonged to -an earlier stage of human development, their institutions still partook -of the character of a democracy. - -Of the similarity of the customs and institutions of early historic -Greece and those of a more primitive age we have ample evidence. In -ancient Greece, as among the Iroquois tribe of Indians, “property -was vested absolutely in the clan, and could not be willed away from -it.”[148] Not only did the members of a clan hold their property in -common, but they were obliged to help, defend, support, and even -avenge those of their number who required their assistance. Young -females bereft of near relations were either furnished with husbands or -provided with suitable portions. Descent must still have been reckoned -in the female line, for foreigners admitted to citizenship were not -members of any clan, neither were their descendants, unless born of -women who were citizens. Citizens were enrolled in the clan and phratry -of their mothers.[149] - -[148] George Rawlinson, book v., essay ii. - -[149] _Ibid._ - -In the administration of the government, however, are to be noted a -few important changes. The complications which had arisen as a result -of the individual ownership of property, the change in the reckoning -of descent from the female to the male line which followed, and the -growth of the aristocratic element, had produced a corresponding change -in the control and management of the government. Solicitude for the -common weal, although still felt by the great mass of the people, had -among the rulers given place to extreme egoism, and that association -and combination of interests, which since the dawn of organized society -had characterized the gens, was rapidly giving way before the love of -dominion, the thirst for power, and the greed of gain—characters which -in process of time came to represent the mainspring of human action. - -With the changes which took place in the conditions of the people, -it is seen that the administrative functions became still further -differentiated. Co-ordinate with the Greek _basileus_ or war-chief are -to be observed not only a council of chiefs who were the heads of the -gentes, but also an assembly of the people, these three governmental -functions corresponding in a general way to our President, Senate, and -House of Representatives. - -The Ecclesia or general assembly at Sparta was originally composed -of all the free males who dwelt within the city. Although this body -originated no measures, it was invested with authority to adopt or -reject any proposed legislation or plan of action devised by the -chiefs. “All changes in the constitution or laws, and all matters of -great public import, as questions of peace or war, of alliances, and -the like, had to be brought before it for decision.”[150] Thus may be -observed the precautions which during the latter stages of barbarism -had been taken to guard the rights of the people, and to insure them -against individual and class usurpation. - -[150] George Rawlinson, book v., essay i. - -Curtius assures us that the Dorian people - - did not feel as if they were placed in a foreign state, but they were - the citizens of their own—not merely the objects of legislation, but - also participants in it, for they only obeyed such statutes as they - themselves had agreed to.[151] - -[151] _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i. - -Although Mr. Grote would have us believe that the assembly of the -people was simply a “listening agora,”[152] it is plain that it was -originally invested with sufficient power to protect the people against -despotism. In the further differentiation of the administrative -functions the powers of the subordinate officers are all drawn from -the sum of the powers invested in the three principal branches of -the government, the ill-defined duties of each giving rise to those -unabated dissensions and fierce and unrelenting strifes which in course -of time became such a fruitful source of devastation and bloodshed. - -[152] Vol. ii., p. 348. - -From what is known at the present time regarding Greek society prior -to the age of Theseus, it is not at all likely that it was organized -on monarchial principles, or that any form of government prevailed in -Greece other than that of a military democracy. It is true that by most -of the writers who have dealt with the subject of the government of the -early Greeks, the _basileus_ has been designated as king, and that he -has been invested by them with all the insignia of a modern monarch. -In later times, however, with a better understanding of the principles -underlying early society, this view of the matter is seen to be false. -Mr. Morgan, a writer who as we have seen has given much attention to -the constitution of gentile society, informs us that in the Lower and -also in the Middle Status of barbarism the office of chief was elective -or during good behaviour, “for this limitation follows from the right -of the gens to depose from office.”[153] - -[153] _Ancient Society_, p. 262. - -When descent was in the female line this office descended either to a -brother of the deceased chief or to a sister’s son, but later, when -descent began to be traced in the male line, the eldest son was usually -elected to succeed his father. Upon this subject Mr. Morgan says -further: - - It cannot be claimed, on satisfactory proof, that the oldest son of - the _basileus_ took the office, upon the demise of his father, by - absolute hereditary right.... The fact that the oldest, or one of - the sons, usually succeeded, which is admitted, does not establish - the fact in question; because by usage he was in the probable line of - succession by a free election from a constituency. The presumption on - the face of Grecian institutions is against succession to the office - of _basileus_ by hereditary right; and in favour either of a free - election, or of a confirmation of the office by the people through - their recognized organization, as in the case of the Roman rex. With - the office of _basileus_ transmitted in the manner last named, the - government would remain in the hands of the people. Because without an - election or confirmation he could not assume the office; and because, - further, the power to elect or confirm implies the reserved right to - depose.[154] - -[154] _Ancient Society_, p. 262. - -There is no lack of evidence at the present time going to prove -that all these early tribes were originally organized on thoroughly -democratic principles, and that there never was any dignity conferred -on the leader of the early Grecian hosts answering to the present -definition of king; also that prior to the time of Romulus, no -chieftain of the Latin tribes was ever invested with sufficient -authority to have constituted him an imperial ruler. The term -_basileus_, as applied to a leader of a military democracy in the early -ages of Grecian history, doubtless implies simply the war-chief of the -primitive tribe, an officer chosen from among the chiefs of the gentes -as a leader of the hosts in battle, but as claiming no civil functions, -and as possessing no authority outside the office of military -chieftain. - -The Homeric writings, which contain the earliest direct information -which we have of the Greeks, and in which are doubtless mirrored forth -a tolerably correct picture of the customs, institutions, and manners -of this people, when read by the light of more recently developed facts -relative to the early constitution of society, are invested with new -interest, and a fresh charm and a new significance are added to every -detail connected with the narrative. As to the extent of authority -attached to the office of military leader among the Greeks, Homer has -given us a fair illustration in the person of Agamemnon—“shepherd of -the people.” That the position of this chieftain differs widely from -that occupied by the king of succeeding ages is apparent. At the outset -we find the injured Achilles, after he has taunted the chieftain with -being the “greediest of men,” addressing him in the following language: - - Ha, thou mailed in impudence - And bent on lucre! Who of all the Greeks - Can willingly obey thee, on the march, - Or bravely battling with the enemy![155] - -[155] _The Iliad_, book i., Bryant’s translation. - -Then Pelides takes up the strain and with opprobrious words thus -addresses the son of Atreus: - - Wine-bibber with the forehead of a dog - And a deer’s heart. Thou never yet hast dared - To arm thyself for battle with the rest, - Nor join the other chiefs prepared to lie - In ambush,—such thy craven fear of death. - Better it suits thee, midst the mighty host - Of Greeks, to rob some warrior of his prize - Who dares withstand thee.[156] - -[156] _The Iliad_, book i., Bryant’s translation. - -Even the brawler Thersites, - - Squint-eyed, with one lame foot, and on his back - A lump, and shoulders curving towards the chest, - -dares to insult this chief—this king as he is represented by most -modern writers, and to his face taunt him with his injustice towards -Achilles. To Agamemnon he says: - - Of what dost thou complain; what wouldst thou more, - Atrides? In thy tents are heaps of gold; - Thy tents are full of chosen damsels, given - To thee before all others, by the Greeks, - Whene’er we take a city. Dost thou yet - Hanker for gold, brought by some Trojan knight, - A ransom for his son, whom I shall lead— - I, or some other Greek—a captive bound? - Or dost thou wish, for thy more idle hours, - Some maiden, whom thou mayst detain apart? - Ill it beseems a prince like thee to lead - The sons of Greece, for such a cause as this, - Into new perils. O ye coward race! - Ye abject Greeklings, Greeks no longer, haste - Homeward with all the fleet, and let us leave - This man at Troy to win his trophies here, - That he may learn whether the aid we give - Avails him aught or not, since he insults - Achilles, a far braver man than he.[157] - -[157] Book ii. - -It is true Ulysses smote Thersites as he upbraided him for this insult -to Agamemnon. It is plain, however, that the chastisement was of a -private nature. It seems not to have been a crime openly to berate -their chief. Indeed the position of “shepherd of the people” was not -one of such dignity that any warrior among the hosts might not with -impunity freely speak his mind concerning him, or to his face confront -him with improper behaviour. When Agamemnon compared unfavourably -the valour of Diomed with that of his father, Tydeus, Sthenelus, the -honoured son of Capaneus, hesitated not to remind the chief of his -folly, and to his face upbraid him. “Atrides, speak not falsely when -thou knowest the truth so well.”[158] - -[158] Book iv. - -Regarding the office of king, Mr. Morgan says: - - Modern writers, almost without exception, translate _basileus_ by - the term _king_, and _basileia_ by the term _kingdom_, without - qualification, and as exact equivalents. I wish to call attention - to this office of _basileus_, as it existed in the Grecian tribes, - and to question the correctness of this interpretation. There is no - similarity whatever between the _basileia_ of the ancient Athenians - and the modern kingdom or monarchy.... Constitutional monarchy is - a modern development, and essentially different from the _basileia_ - of the Greeks. The _basileia_ was neither an absolute nor a - constitutional monarchy; neither was it a tyranny nor a despotism. The - question then is, what was it? - -Mr. Morgan’s answer to the question is as follows: - - The primitive Grecian government was essentially democratical, - reposing on gentes, phratries, and tribes organized as self-governing - bodies, and on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. - -This writer says further: - - Our views upon Grecian and Roman questions have been moulded by - writers accustomed to monarchical government and privileged classes, - who were perhaps glad to appeal to the earliest known governments of - the Grecian tribes for a sanction of this form of government, as at - once natural, essential, and primitive.[159] - -[159] _Ancient Society_, p. 247. - -We have noted the precautions which during the second and latter -periods of barbarism were necessary to keep in check the increasing -thirst for power, and it may not be doubted that through the growth of -the aristocratic tendency during the latter ages of the existence of -the gens, the office of _basileus_ gave to its incumbent a degree of -distinction closely allied to that of king. - -In the eleventh century B.C. upon the death of Codrus, so necessary -had it become to check the continually increasing power of the military -chieftains that the office was abolished and the archonship established -in its place; but as an election or confirmation was necessary before -the duties of either office could be entered upon, it is plain that at -the period referred to a democratic form of government still prevailed. - -Now archon is the term which had been applied to the chief of the -early gentes at a time when fraternity, liberty, and equality were -the cardinal virtues of society; and the abolition of the office of -_basileus_, to which had become attached a considerable degree of -power, was doubtless an attempt on the part of the people to return -to the simpler and purer methods of government which had formerly -prevailed; but the institution known as the Agora, Ecclesia, or -Appella, which had proved the great bulwark of safety to early -democratic institutions, had, through the strengthening of the -aristocratic element, become gradually weakened, hence the nobles -were in a position to draw to themselves not only much of the power -originally exercised by the military commander, but that also which -had formerly belonged to the assembly of the people. We have observed -that not only among the Greeks of the heroic age, but among the -tribes and nations which preceded them, as far back in the history -of the past as the close of the second stage of barbarism, there had -always been an assembly of the people whose duty it was to guard the -rights of the tribe, to protect it against usurpation, and to keep -down the rising tendency toward imperialism. Of this institution, Mr. -Rawlinson says: “Thus at Athens, as elsewhere, in the heroic times, -there was undoubtedly the idea of a public assembly consisting of all -freemen.”[160] - -[160] George Rawlinson, book v., essay ii. - -Theseus, _basileus_, or military chieftain of the Athenian tribes, -a personage who belongs to the legendary period, was the first to -perceive the insufficiency of gentile institutions to meet the needs -of the people. Although the primary idea involved in the establishment -of political society was the transference of the original governmental -functions from the gens to a territorial limit, so deeply had the -instincts, ideas, and associations connected with the personal -government of the gens taken root that several centuries were required -to accomplish the change. To establish the deme or township, in which, -irrespective of kinship or personal ties, all its inhabitants (except -slaves) should be enrolled as citizens, with rights, privileges, and -duties adjusted according to the amount of property owned by each, and -which should be a unit of the larger and more important institution—the -State,—was an undertaking the mastery of which although seemingly -simple, nevertheless involved intricacies and obstacles of such -magnitude as to baffle all attempts of the Greeks from the time of -Theseus to that of Clisthenes, at which time political society was -established, and the gens, shorn of its utility and power, remained -only as the embodiment of certain social ideas, or survived as a -religious centre, over which their eponymous ancestor, as hero or god, -still presided. - -The age of Theseus could not have been later than 1050 B.C., and the -final overthrow of gentile government did not, as we have seen, occur -until the age of Clisthenes, five hundred years later. Throughout the -intervening time between Theseus and Clisthenes little real advancement -is noted among the Greeks; none, perhaps, except that connected with -the growth of the idea of government as indicated by the change -from gentile to political institutions, and even this growth, when -we observe that nearly five centuries and a half were required to -establish it, or to substitute the deme or township in the place of the -gens as the unit in the governmental series, can scarcely be regarded -as evidence of remarkable genius, or as indicating a notable degree -of ingenuity. In the transference of society, however, from gentile -to political institutions may be observed a progressive principle, -inasmuch as by it the limits of the gens and tribe were gradually -broken down or obliterated, and the enlarged conception of the state -established in their stead. After the age of Clisthenes an isolated -community bound together by kinship, and with interests extending no -further than the tribe of which it was a part, no longer constituted -the fundamental basis upon which the superstructure of society was to -rest; but, on the contrary, the deme or township, with all its free -inhabitants, of whatsoever tribe or gens, was to become the recognized -unit in organized society. - -Prior to the age of Theseus, Attica was divided into petty states, -each with a council-house of its own. According to the testimony of -Thucydides, from the time of Cecrops to Theseus - - the population of Athens had always inhabited independent cities, with - their own guild-halls and magistrates; and at such times as they were - not in fear of any danger they did not meet with the king to consult - with him, but themselves severally conducted their own government, and - took their own counsel.[161] - -[161] Thucydides, _The History of Peloponnesian War_. - -The _basileus_ or war-chief exercised no civil functions,[162] and his -services were never called into requisition except in times of danger. - -[162] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 250. - -Theseus upon receiving the office of military chieftain “persuaded” the -people in the adjacent country to remove to the city.[163] According -to Plutarch he “settled all the inhabitants of Attica in Athens and -made them one people in one city.”[164] He persuaded them to abolish -their independent city governments and to establish in their stead, -at Athens, a council-house which would be common to all. Thus, under -his direction, the Attic peoples coalesced, or were united under -one government. Theseus, we are told, divided the people into three -classes, irrespective of gentes, on the basis of property and social -position. The chiefs of the several gentes with their families, and -the citizens who through their great wealth had become influential, -constituted the first class; the second class were the husbandmen, -and the third the mechanics. All the principal offices both of the -government and the priesthood were in the hands of the nobles or the -moneyed and aristocratic classes. Thucydides refers to the fact that -“when Greece was becoming more powerful, and acquiring possessions -of money still more than before, tyrannies were established in the -cities.”[165] - -[163] Thucydides, book ii., 14. - -[164] _Theseus._ - -[165] Book i., 13. - -Upon this subject Mr. Rawlinson says: - - All important political privilege is engrossed by the Eupatrids, who - consist of a certain number of “clans” claiming a special nobility, - but not belonging to any single tribe, or distinguishable from the - ignoble clans, otherwise than by the possession of superior rank and - riches. The rest of the citizens constitute an unprivileged class, - personally free, but with no atom of political power, and are roughly - divided, according to their occupation, into yeoman-farmers and - artisans. The union of the Eupatrids in the same tribes and phratries - with the Geomori and Demiurgi, seems to show that the aristocracy of - Athens was not original, like that of Rome, but grew out of an earlier - and more democratical condition of things—such, in fact, as we find - depicted in the Homeric poems.... Thus at Athens, as elsewhere, in the - heroic times, there was undoubtedly the idea of a public assembly, - consisting of all free-men; but this institution seems entirely to - have disappeared during the centuries which intervened between Codrus - and Solon.[166] - -[166] Rawlinson, book v., essay ii. - -During the three hundred years which followed the death of Codrus, -nothing of great importance is observed concerning the growth of -Grecian institutions. Doubtless their development was characterized -only by the strengthening of the aristocracy and the stimulation of -those egoistic principles which are essential in the establishment of -an oligarchy. That in course of time the power attached to the office -of archon also became a menace to the people’s liberties is shown in -the fact that in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, B.C., 752, the -life archonship was brought to a close and the term of office reduced -to ten years. Although the office was still limited to the family of -Codrus, the incumbent became amenable to the elders or chiefs for his -acts. However, that this movement was not wholly in the interest of the -masses of the people is shown in the fact that during the following -thirty years the Eupatrids, or members of the aristocratic party, had -drawn to themselves all the power belonging to the archonship. It -is observed that during the reign of the fourth decennial archon, a -pretext having been found to depose him, the reigning family or gens -was declared as having forfeited its right to rule and the office was -thrown open to all Eupatrids. Nine archons from among the aristocratic -party, with all the powers formerly belonging to the supreme archon, -conveyed to them, were chosen as a governing board,[167] and were -to continue in office for one year. Selected by and from among the -Eupatrids, their legislation was wholly in the interest of the wealthy -and privileged classes. - -[167] Rawlinson, book v., essay ii. - -From 684 B.C. to 624 B.C., the aristocratic party exercised unlimited -control over the Athenian state, and during the entire sixty years used -their great power to crush out even a semblance of free institutions. -The thirst for power among them was equalled only by their greed for -gain; hence while wielding the former, they gratified their cupidity -by gathering into their own coffers almost the entire wealth of the -nation. With the machinery of legislation turned against them, the -middle and lower classes were soon robbed even of their means of -support. Most of the land was mortgaged, and the persons of the owners -held by the Eupatrids for debt. Men sold their children and their -sisters to satisfy the demands of creditors,[168] and such was the -inequality existing between various classes that dissensions arose on -every hand, and a general state of confusion, disorder, and discontent -prevailed. Thus may be observed some of the processes by which the -early principles of fraternity, liberty, and justice were overthrown. - -[168] _Ibid._ - -At length the sufferings of the people caused by the injustice and -rapacity of their rulers became unbearable, and by means of various -signs of discontent, notably that of a popular demand for written -laws, it became evident that a crisis had been reached. The Eupatrids, -pretending to heed the popular demand, elected Draco, one of their -number, to the office of archon, with the understanding that a code of -written laws defining the rights of the several classes be prepared. - -As the Greeks of the Draconian and Solonic age were but a few -centuries removed from a time when individual liberty and equality had -constituted the cardinal principles upon which society was founded, we -may believe that that spirit of personal independence and self-respect -which had been inherited from gentile institutions, although it had -perhaps slumbered, had never been crushed; therefore, a condition -of subjection or slavery, although for a time endured, could not be -willingly accepted as a settled fact. - -As the laws prepared by Draco tended only to aggravate the abuses -of which the people complained, it is quite evident that no reform -was intended; the Eupatrids, however, had mistaken the temper of the -people, and the fact soon became manifest, even to the members of the -governing classes themselves, that certain concessions must be made -to the popular demand for justice. An idea of the rapacity, greed, -dishonesty, and cupidity which prevailed at this stage of Greek life -may be obtained from the writings of Theognis, a poet of Grecian Mega, -who lived about five hundred and seventy years B.C. Among his Maxims -appear the following: - - Now at length a sense of shame hath perished among mankind, but - shamelessness reigns over the earth. Everyone honours a rich man but - dishonours a poor: And in all men there is the same mind.... No one of - the present race of men doth the sun look down upon, being entirely - good and moderate.... When I am flourishing, friends are many; but - should any calamity have chanced upon me, few retain a faithful - spirit. For the multitude of men there is this virtue only, namely, to - be rich: But of the rest, I wot, there is no use. - -The fact is obvious that already in the history of the Greeks the love -of property and the rise of the aristocratic spirit had gained such a -foothold that a democracy was no longer desired by the more influential -citizens, and that it was the moneyed classes and the aristocratic -party who were growing restless under institutions which acknowledged -the equality of all free-born citizens. - -Doubtless the power which had been hitherto exercised by the gentes -had already been drawn to the moneyed classes; still, this attempt to -organize society into classes on the basis of property and station was -perhaps the first regulated movement openly to curtail the hitherto -recognized power of the individual members of the gens, and doubtless -constituted the first formulated step towards the subsequent removal of -this ancient institution from its original position as the unit in the -governmental series. - -From accessible facts to be gathered relative to early Greek society, -it is plain that individual liberty perished with the gens, and that -monarchy, aristocracy, and slavery were the natural results of the -decline of the altruistic principles upon which early society was -founded. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -WOMEN IN EARLY HISTORIC TIMES - - -As it is claimed that the history of the natural growth of society is -represented by the extant tribes in the varying stages of advancement -from savagery to civilization, and as upon our first acquaintance with -the Greeks we find them just emerging from barbarism and preparing to -enter upon a civilized career, we may naturally expect to find in their -various traditions, customs, forms of marriage, etc., some hint of that -influence which, but little more than one ethnical period before, had -been exercised by women, and some clue to the processes involved in the -change from female to male supremacy. - -From the facts which are gradually coming to light concerning society -in the early historic period, it is observed that the extant mythoses -and traditions of the ancients contain a mixture of history, mythology, -and astrology. Until a comparatively recent time no attempt has been -made to separate the former from the latter two. - -Herodotus opens his account of the Greeks with a story of the capture -of women. The Phœnicians, the great maritime people of that time, -had sent ships loaded with merchandise to Argos. When nearly all was -disposed of there came down to the beach several women among whom was -Io, child of Ianchus the king. As the women were standing by the stern -of the ship attending to their purchases, the foreign sailors rushed -upon them and attempted to carry them off. The most of them made their -escape, but a number were taken away and Io amongst them.[169] - -[169] Rawlinson, book i., 1. - -Doubtless beneath this myth is concealed a religious doctrine which -had an historical basis. The original version of the legend was that -Io who was carried to Egypt by a god became the mother of a race of -hero-kings; but when the true significance of the early physiological, -religious myth was forgotten, this one of Io, too, after having become -mutilated and distorted to suit a more degenerate time, was accepted in -a purely literal sense and made to do duty as actual history. Following -this narrative in the history of Herodotus is the story of Europa who -was carried away by the Greeks. - -In the next generation was enacted the seizure of Helen by Paris, -son of Priam, a deed which, whether committed for revenge or lust, -is supposed to have constituted the sole cause of the Trojan War—a -struggle which continued for nine years. Helen had previously, and -while but a child, according to Plutarch, been carried off by Theseus, -founder of Athens, and borne away to Egypt. Indeed it would seem from -the accounts of this hero that his exploits were instigated for the -most part by a desire to possess himself of women. Even later in the -history of the Greeks we find that Pausanius, King of Sparta, upon -the defeat of the barbarians, received as his share of the booty, ten -specimens of the following articles: “women, horses, talents, and -camels.” The familiar story of the seizure of the Sabine women by the -Romans is regarded as a probable myth or as a doubtful fact; yet, when -we remember that not far distant in the past, capture constituted the -only form of marriage, the acts of violence committed on women are -invested with a fresh interest, for by them we are enabled to trace the -identity of the processes of development between historic nations and -the tribes occupying a lower position in the scale of advancement. - -Although Homer traces genealogies through fathers, the fact will -doubtless be observed that two generations generally suffice to carry -men back to an unknown or divine progenitor. Indeed many of the Greeks -of Homer’s time sprang directly from gods. Tlepolemus was of the stock -of Hercules. Priam and his sons were descendants of Zeus, and many of -the noblest Greeks derived their origin from Mars. Helen also was the -descendant of Zeus. - -A tradition from Varro in reference to the decline of woman’s power in -Athens is as follows: - - In the age of Cecrops two wonders sprang from the earth at the same - time, one of which was the olive tree, the other water. The king in - terror dispatched a messenger to Delphi to ascertain what he was to - do in the matter. The oracle in response answered that the olive tree - signified Minerva (Athene), and the water Neptune (Poseidon); and - that it was optional with the Burgesses after which of the two they - would name their town. Cecrops convened an assembly of the Burgesses, - both men and women, for it was customary then for the women to take - part in the public counsels. The men voted for Poseidon, the women - for Athene, and as there were more women than men by one, Athene - conquered. Thereupon Poseidon became enraged, and immediately the sea - flowed over all the land of Athens. To appease the god the Burgesses - were compelled to impose a three-fold punishment upon their wives: - They were to lose their votes; the children were to receive no more - the mother’s name; and they themselves were no longer to be called - Athenians after the goddess. - -We are assured that prior to the struggle between Athene and Poseidon -for the mastery in Athens, children in Attica and Lycia were named -after their mothers, and that the people as a body were called after -the goddess. Formerly the women were actual Burgesses but after the -decision that the office of father in the processes of reproduction -is superior to that of the mother the women lost their position as -Burgesses and became only the wives of Burghers. It is the vote of -Athene herself which decides that the child is the production of the -father. The ancient Attic traditions are full of references to female -supremacy. Indeed, Herr Bachofen is certain that he has found proof of -female descent and supremacy not only among the early Greek tribes but -in every branch of the Indo-Germanic family. - -The Grecian tribes were named after women, as were also the ancient -cities of Greece. The founders of these cities and the eponymous -leaders of the various peoples were women who had been “carried off by -gods.” Sarpedon and Minos who quarrelled over the government of Lycia -were the sons of Europa[170] who had been carried off from Tyre on the -Phœnician coast. Thebe, the eponymous leader of the Thebans, and Egina, -the founder of Egina, were sisters. Therefore when the oracle commanded -the Thebans to seek succour from their nearest of kin, they applied to -the Eginetans, thereby proving that at that time relationships were -still traced through women. - -[170] Herodotus, book i., 173. - -The Greek tradition of the Scythian nation is as follows: As Hercules -was passing through the country he came to a district called the -Woodland. While he slept, the mares which he had loosed from his -chariot wandered away, and while in quest of them he came to a cave in -which dwelt a being with the head of a woman and the body of a serpent, -probably a goddess representing the two creative principles throughout -nature. Upon being asked by Hercules if she had seen his mares, she -replied, “yes,” but that unless he would remain with her she would not -yield them to him, whereupon he consented to do her bidding. Later, as -she questioned him as to his wishes concerning the three sons which she -had borne him, she said: “Wouldst thou wish that I should settle them -here in this land whereof I am mistress, or shall I send them to thee?” -Hercules placed in her hand a bow with instruction that the son which -when grown to manhood should bend it in a certain way should remain as -king of the land. Scythes, the youngest son of the goddess, was the -successful competitor. From this time gods, not goddesses, are in the -possession of the country.[171] Europe, Asia, and Lybia (Africa) are -named after women, and in nearly all the earliest traditions, a woman, -either divine or human, appears as the eponymous leader of the people. - -[171] Herodotus, book v., 80. - -The tradition respecting the daughters of Danaūs fleeing from their -native land to avoid the hateful caresses of the sons of Egyptus, -doubtless refers to a time when relationships were beginning to be -traced through males, and when under the _ba’al_ form of marriage they -were beginning to claim the right to control the women of their own -group. - -Egyptus and Danaūs were brothers, the former of whom had fifty sons, -the latter fifty daughters. Upon the sons of Egyptus demanding that -their cousins unite with them in marriage, the women immediately fled -by sea to Argos and placed themselves under the protection of Pelasgus. -Although hotly pursued by their tormentors, they reached Argos in -safety; the following is their supplication as set forth by Æschylus: - - On this moist shore, drive them into the deep, - With all their flying streamers and quick oars, - There let them meet the whirlwind’s boisterous rage, - Thund’rings and lightnings, and the furious blasts - That harrow up the wild tempestuous waves, - And perish in the storm, ere they ascend - Our kindred bed, and seize against our will - What nature and the laws of blood deny.[172] - -[172] _The Supplicants._ - -After having reached Argos and after having besought Pelasgus to -espouse their cause, he says: - - If by your country’s laws Egyptus’ sons, - As next of blood, assert a right in you, - Who should oppose them? It behooves thee then - By your own laws to prove such claim unjust. - -To which they make answer: - - Ah! never may I be perforce a thrall - To man. By heaven-directed flight I break - The wayward plan of these detested nuptials. - Arm justice on thy side, and with her aid, - Judge with what sanctity the gods demand. - -The reply of Pelasgus is as follows: - - No easy province: Make not me your judge, - Great though my power, it is not mine to act, - I told thee so, without my people’s voice - Assenting. - -It is plain that these lines refer to a time when woman was not “a -thrall to man.” It relates also to a time when the _basileus_ or chief -could not act without the consent of his people. - -That in the earliest traditions and accounts of the Greeks, women -occupy a much more exalted position than they do four or five centuries -later, is a fact which can be explained only by the truths which have -been set forth in the foregoing pages; namely, the capture of women -for wives, at first singly and finally in groups. We have seen that -during the period designated as the Latter Status of barbarism, wars -were frequently undertaken upon no other pretext than that of securing -women for wives. Cities were attacked and destroyed, the men murdered, -and the women carried away captives. Property both landed and personal -was seized and held by the conquerors, and as these captured women -were strangers, aliens, and dependents in the countries to which they -were taken, they became simply sexual slaves, or wives, and in process -of time sank to the position in which we find them under Solon, the -lawgiver of Athens. - -The difference in the sentiments entertained toward women during -Homer’s time and those which had come to prevail among the Greeks in -the sixth century, B.C., may be observed in the following lines from -Æschylus, and also in a quotation from _The Iliad_, which follows. -At the siege of Thebes, when the women, fearing captivity more than -death, appeared before the sacred images to pray for protection, -Etiocles the chief, trembling with fear, and himself praying loudly to -Jove, to Earth, and “all the guardian gods,” being displeased with the -attitude of the female supplicants, and doubtless eager to exercise his -authority over women thus displays his contempt for them: - - It is not to be borne, ye wayward race; - Is this your best, is this the aid you lend - The State, the fortitude with which you steel - The souls of the besieged, thus falling down - Before these images to wail, and shriek - With lamentations loud? Wisdom abhors you. - Nor in misfortune, nor in dear success, - Be woman my associate. If her power - Bears sway, her insolence exceeds all bounds, - But if she fears, woe to that house and city. - And now, by holding counsel with weak fear, - You magnify the foe, and turn our men - To flight: thus are we ruined by ourselves. - This ever will arise from suffering women - To intermix with men. But mark me well, - Whoe’er henceforth dares disobey my orders, - Be it man or woman, old or young, - Vengeance shall burst upon him, the decree - Stands irreversible, and he shall die. - War is no female province, but the scene - For men: hence home; nor spread your mischiefs here, - Hear you, or not? Or speak I to the deaf?[173] - -[173] _The Seven Chiefs against Thebes._ - -From this scene pictured by Æschylus five centuries and a quarter B.C., -let us return to the siege of Troy, three centuries earlier, and listen -to Homer. During the thickest of the fight Helenus, approaching Eneas -and Hector, his brother, thus addresses the latter: - - But, Hector, thou depart - To Troy and seek the mother of us both - And bid her call the honoured Trojan dames, - -that at the fane of Pallas they may supplicate for mercy in behalf of -the wives and little ones of the defenders of Troy. Whereupon the noble -Hector calls aloud: - - O valiant sons of Troy, and ye allies - Summoned from far! Be men, my friends; call back - Your wonted valour, while I go to Troy - To ask the aged men, our counselors, - And all our wives, to come before the gods - And pray and offer sacrifice.[174] - -[174] _The Iliad_, book vi., Bryant’s translation. - -After referring to the generally conceded fact that in Europe the -spread of civilization has been commensurate with the influence -exercised by women, Mr. Buckle expresses himself as being unable -to account for the seeming inconsistencies which are presented by a -comparison of the position occupied in Greece by the women of Homer’s -time, and that as pictured by the laws, usages, and social customs in -the age of Plato and his contemporaries. - -Although the Greeks during the ages which intervened between Homer -and Plato had made many notable improvements in the arts of life, and -in various branches of speculative and practical knowledge, women had -evidently lost ground, “their influence being less than it was in the -earlier and more barbarous period depicted by Homer.”[175] - -[175] _The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge._ - -The fact will doubtless be borne in mind that at the time Mr. Buckle -penned these words comparatively little concerning the construction or -organization of primitive society was known. That one ethnical period -and a half prior to the earliest age of the historic Greeks, woman’s -influence was supreme in the family and in the gens, that descent was -reckoned in the female line, and that all rights of succession were -traced through mothers, are facts with which this writer was evidently -unacquainted; hence, we are not surprised that in contemplating a -social phenomenon like that presented by the diminution of woman’s -influence during the ages between Homer and Plato, he should have been -at a loss to account for it, and that he should have declared that -the “causes of these inconsistencies would form a curious subject for -investigation.” - -Mr. Lecky, also, in referring to the same subject, says: - - A broad line must, however, be drawn between the legendary or poetical - period, as reflected in Homer and perpetuated in the tragedians, and - the later historical period. It is one of the most remarkable, and to - some writers one of the most perplexing, facts in the moral history of - Greece, that in the former and ruder period women had undoubtedly the - highest place, and their type exhibited the highest perfection.[176] - -[176] _European Morals_, vol. ii., p. 295. - -Of marriage in the legendary period of Greek history, Mr. Grote says: - - We find the wife occupying a station of great dignity and influence, - though it was the practice for the husband to purchase her by valuable - presents to her parents.... She even seems to live less secluded - and to enjoy a wider sphere of action than was allotted to her in - historical Greece.... A large portion of the romantic interest which - Grecian legend inspires is derived from the women.[177] - -[177] _History of Greece_, vol. ii., p. 83. - -From the facts which have been brought to light in relation to the -position occupied by women in the age in which Homer wrote, it may be -observed that much of the seeming inconsistency noticed by Mr. Buckle, -Mr. Lecky, Mr. Grote, and others, between the picture of Greek life -as it appeared at this time, and that noticed six or seven centuries -later in the age of Plato, may be easily explained. The triumph of -the male over the female in human society as exemplified amongst the -earliest Greeks, was of such a recent date that the influence of women -was not wholly extinct, and the deference due them had not entirely -given place to that lofty contempt and biting scorn which characterized -the treatment of women by Greek men at a later stage of their career. - -Although later in the history of this people, mothers were not regarded -as related to their own children, and although in the age of Homer -relationships had begun to be reckoned through fathers, in many places -this writer reveals to us the fact that the bond between mother and -child was stronger than that between father and child, or that the tie -between sisters and brothers of the same mother was closer than that -between the children of the same father. In Apollo’s address before -the assembled gods, in which he advocates the ransoming of the body of -Hector by Priam and his sons, Homer puts the following words into the -mouth of the oracle: - - A man may lose his best-loved friend, a son, - Or his own mother’s son, a brother dear.[178] - -[178] _The Iliad_, book xxiv., Derby’s translation. - -Numerous illustrations might be drawn from _The Iliad_ as proof of the -fact that the tie between mother and child was still regarded as more -binding than that between father and child. Homer doubtless represents -an age in which the manner of reckoning descent was in dispute, certain -tribes acknowledging only the tie between children born of the same -mother, others only the bond between those of the same father, while -still others acknowledge both, though with a preference for either one -or the other. In the _Eumenides_ of Æschylus the idea of male descent -is put forth as a new doctrine. Orestes, who has murdered his mother, -Clytemnestra, asks: “Do you call me related to my mother?” Although -reproaches and imprecations are heaped upon him for his inhumanity, it -is found that the new doctrine in which the father is represented as -the only real parent, has many adherents—that the gods have concurred -in it, Athene herself having succumbed to the new faith. - -No one, I think, who is acquainted with the recently developed facts -relative to human growth, can carefully read _The Iliad_ without -observing the similarity existing between the position occupied by -the women of Greece in Homer’s time, and that of the women among the -tribes and races in a somewhat lower stage of development. On board -the “roomy ships” of the Greeks, the prizes parcelled out to the -chiefs were women. We observe that even the daughters of influential -and wealthy priests, like the oracle of Apollo, might be “carried -off”—an act for which there was absolutely no redress except perhaps -an appeal to the gods. Briseis also was a captured prize assigned to -Achilles by the Greek warriors. Notwithstanding the fact that wives -were still captured, we frequently find women possessed of both wealth -and influence. Helen, although the wife of Meneluas, had vast treasure -which she was able to take away with her when she was carried off by -Paris—treasure over which neither of her husbands seems to have had any -control. Laothoë, the aged wife of Priam, had gold and brass of her own -with which to ransom her sons,[179] and Andromache, the wife of Hector, -who came to Ilium from “among the woody slopes of Placos,” brought with -her not only wealth but sufficient influence to secure for her the -respect of the king’s household.[180] - -[179] _The Iliad_, book xxii. - -[180] _Ibid._, book vi. - -We have seen that in an earlier age, at a time when women were free, -wives had to be captured from foreign tribes; but later, after the -_ba’al_ form of marriage had become established, wives were for the -most part selected from the ranks of native-born women, while foreign -women were usually utilized as concubines. It is true that in the -Homeric age, foreign women sometimes became the wedded wives of their -captors, but unless they possessed great wealth, or unless they were -the daughters of kings, they were unable to command that degree of -consideration due to those who were native-born. The practice, during -the early history of the Greeks, of securing foreign women for -concubines is doubtless the source whence sprang the custom among the -Athenians of later times, of importing all classes of “kept women” from -other countries, Athenian women only being reserved for wives. - -During the latter stage of barbarism a marked change in the government -and in the fundamental principles regulating human conduct had taken -place. A review of the facts connected with the history of Greek -society during the ages between Homer and Solon shows that coeval with -the decline of the cardinal principles of the gens, namely, justice, -equality, and fraternity, there had been also a corresponding change -in the relations of the sexes; that during the time in which egoism -or selfishness had gained the ascendancy over the early altruistic -principles developed in human society, woman’s influence had steadily -declined.[181] - -[181] A similar change had taken place in the god-idea. Jove was no -longer the “terrible virgin” who “breathes out on crime, misery, and -death,” but, on the contrary, had come to represent a male god who had -given birth to Minerva. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ANCIENT SPARTA - - -Although in the writings commonly ascribed to Homer is to be observed -a fairly correct picture of many phases of Greek life, the earliest -authentic historical accounts which we have of this people are -perhaps those of Aristotle and Plutarch. In the accounts given of the -Lacedæmonians by the last named of these writers, the fact is shown -that male influence among the Spartans of the time of Lycurgus had not -reached that state of intense and overshadowing domination in which we -find the Athenians of the Solonic period submerged. - -The early Dorians were ever ready to uphold the ancient customs -as opposed to innovations. In the management of public affairs -they trusted to the ties of relationship rather than to political -organization based on property. The policy of the Athenians, on the -contrary, as enunciated by Pericles, was that “it is not the country -and the people, but movable and personal property, in the proper sense -of the word, which make states great and powerful.” The one policy was -essentially Doric, the other Ionic.[182] - -[182] Müller, _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book i., 9, -13. - -The exact time at which Lycurgus occupied the position of lawgiver to -the Spartans is not known, but it is claimed by Xenophon that he lived -shortly after the age of Homer. If the accounts of the Lacedæmonians -which have come down to us in connection with the name of this -legislator belong to that early age, if scarcely one ethnical period -had elapsed since woman’s influence was supreme in the home and in the -group, we would naturally expect to find in their customs, usages, and -regulations for the management of society, certain traces of a former -state of female independence, and a hint, at least, of those principles -of liberty and equality in the establishment of the commonwealth -which were the result of female influence; especially would this be -true as we are informed that the Spartans were a conservative people, -clinging to the prejudices of more ancient times. A glance at Spartan -institutions at the time indicated, furnishes ample proof of the fact -that the Lacedæmonians were still to a considerable extent living under -conditions which had been established under the archaic rule of the -gens. - -The Spartan senate as reconstructed by Lycurgus was composed of thirty -members including the two kings or military leaders.[183] These chiefs -were the heads of the several gentes. The Ecclesia, or assembly of the -people, “contained originally all the free males who dwelt within the -city were of a legal age.”[184] Hence may be observed the fact that -the constitution of the state was the same as that in the Upper Status -of barbarism; yet the spectacle of a double monarchy (notwithstanding -the fact that it has been designated as a kind of irresponsible -generalship)[185] shows that the power attached to the office of -_basileus_ had become a menace to the liberties of the people; hence -this equal division of responsibility and authority. - -[183] Grote, _History of Greece_, vol. ii., p. 345. - -[184] Rawlinson, book v., essay i. - -[185] Aristotle, _Politics_, book iii., Jowett’s translation. - -The Spartan men were warriors who had subjugated the country, making -serfs of the original inhabitants. In the time of Lycurgus these -gentlemen soldiers constituted an aristocratic class who spent their -lives in the performance of public duties, leaving the cultivation of -the soil to the serfs. Helots, the name given to the serfs, signifies -“captives.” They were the slave population of Laconia.[186] The -manufacturers and tradespeople of the towns and country districts -around Sparta were free, but had been deprived of their political -rights. It is evident from these facts that although the constitution -of the state had not been changed, the division of the people into -classes, a division which since the latter part of the Second Status -of barbarism had been threatened, had through spoliation and conquest -already taken place. Add to this the fact that property had passed -into the hands of private individuals, and we shall observe that the -conditions had already become favourable for the development of that -thirst for wealth and power which characterizes monarchial institutions. - -[186] Rawlinson, book v., essay i. - -If we carefully note the early condition of Spartan society, and -studiously observe the processes involved in the growth of human -institutions, we shall be enabled to perceive the nature of the “load” -under which the Spartans “groaned” in the time of Lycurgus. The fact -has been noted that, throughout an entire ethnical period, human -ingenuity had been taxed to the utmost to subdue or keep in check the -growing tendency toward usurpation and tyranny, and the spectacle of -a double monarchy, or of two military chieftains as they appeared in -ancient Sparta, indicates an attempt on the part of the people to -divide the power which had become attached to this office, and which -was doubtless already menacing the popular rights. - -In addition to the turmoil and strife engendered by the thirst for -power were the turbulence and frequent insurrections of the serfs, who, -it will be remembered, had previously been free, and who were therefore -restless and impatient under the tyranny of their Spartan masters. - -Although wealth had greatly increased in Sparta during the ages -immediately preceding the Lycurgan system, yet that the disorders which -prevailed were in no wise attributable to luxury and enervation is -shown in the fact as given by Aristotle, that the men during their -frequent campaigns had become inured to the rigours and hardships of a -soldier’s life. He says: - - For, during the wars of the Lacedæmons, first against the Argives, - and afterwards against the Arcadians and Messenians, the men were - long away from home, and on the return of peace, they gave themselves - into the legislator’s hands, already prepared by the discipline of - a soldier’s life (in which there were many elements of virtue), to - receive his enactments.[187] - -[187] _Politics_, book ii. - -It is indeed plain that the state of disorder which prevailed at Sparta -in the time of Lycurgus can be accounted for in no other way than -that the people were no longer able to keep in check the constantly -increasing egoism and selfishness developed within the governing -classes. - -The extent to which all wise regulations are attributed to the -governing head is plainly apparent in the view taken of the management -of Sparta which Herodotus and Plutarch ascribe to Lycurgus, but which -in the very nature of the case must have originated from other sources. - -It is in no wise probable that Lycurgus instituted any such radical -changes in the constitution of the state as have been ascribed to him -by the above writers, for, as we have seen, prior to his appearance -as lawgiver the government was administered by a military chieftain -or _basileus_, a senate, and an assembly of the people. In order to -strengthen their authority, the kings had made common cause with the -assembly of the people, and through this means had drawn to themselves -nearly all the powers originally vested in that body; while the senate, -destitute of support, had gradually yielded up its functions to them. - -Before accepting the statements of these writers, attributing to -Lycurgus that almost unparalleled degree of genius by means of which -was originated an entirely new set of institutions, all the accessible -facts relative to these institutions should without prejudice be -closely scrutinized, especially as they involve principles and actions -which could scarcely have been forced upon a people through an -arbitrary stretch of power in the hands of a single individual. - -Doubtless the principal changes in the government inaugurated by -Lycurgus were, first, the importance which he caused to be attached to -the assembly of the people, and second, the restoration of the senate. -By strengthening this body, which was originally composed of the heads -of the gentes, the gentile organization was in a measure restored to -its original dignity. The extreme anxiety felt in the time of Lycurgus -lest the people’s rights be invaded, is shown in the fact that the -three administrative functions of the government were supplemented -by five ephors chosen annually as agents of the people, whose chief -prerogative it was to scrutinize the acts of the chief magistrate and -other guardians of the commonwealth. Although the office of the ephors -is much older than the Lycurgan legislation,[188] it had previously -been abolished, or had sunk into disuse. The ephors of Lycurgus were -“probably appointed for the special purpose of watching over the -Lycurgan discipline, and punishing those who neglected it.”[189] - -[188] Curtius, _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i. - -[189] Rawlinson, book v., essay i. - -Later, however, when through the greed for gain and the inordinate -thirst for power, the ephors in their turn had drawn to themselves -the greater share of the powers belonging to the state, the military -commander, or so-called king, became responsible to them for his -conduct even while directing the army in the field. He received his -orders from them, and although in cases of emergency he was authorized -to exercise the power of life and death, according to Xenophon, they -could accuse the king and compel him to defend his acts or suffer the -penalty of death. By a gradual process of usurpation the ephors had, -“by the time of Thucydides, completely superseded the king as the -directors of affairs at Sparta.” - -The fact has been observed that the authority of the senate, a body -which in earlier times had been composed of the heads of the genets, -who were elected by all the people, and who held their office only -during good behaviour, had, in the time of Lycurgus, through the growth -of the monarchial and aristocratic party become weakened; and that, -as the kings had drawn to themselves the powers formerly belonging to -the popular assembly, the people were no longer represented, but had -been obliged to surrender their independence to the authority of the -military leaders. It is altogether likely, therefore, that the load -under which the Spartans are said to have groaned, and from which -Lycurgus is supposed to have released them, was the undue assumption -of power by the _basileus_ and the aristocratic party; and that the -chief service which he lent to the state was the sanction which he gave -to those principles of equality and liberty which had been recognized -and practised at a time when the gens as the unit of human society was -still in its original vitality and strength, and when woman’s influence -was therefore in the ascendency. - -Most modern writers agree in the opinion that Lycurgus instituted no -fundamental changes in the constitution of the state; indeed all the -accessible facts relative to this subject go to prove that the attempt -at legislative reform in the time of this lawgiver did not begin with -him; but, on the contrary, that all along the line of development, for -an entire ethnical period, there had been a struggle between the people -on the one hand and the constantly increasing power exercised by their -rulers on the other. - -Concerning the measures instituted by Lycurgus, and the way in which -the political power was distributed by him, we are assured that it was -according to a Rhetra of this legislator given under the direction of -the Pythian Apollo: - - _Build a temple to Jupiter Hellanius and Minerva Hellania; divide - the tribes, and institute thirty obas; appoint a council, with its - princes; convene the assembly between Babyca and Cnacion; propose - this, and then depart; and let there be a right of decision and power - to the people._[190] - -[190] Müller, _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iii., -chap. v. - -By this decree the assembly was invested with authority to reject -or accept any proposed measures of the council and princes. Later, -however, when the chiefs and the military leaders would draw to -themselves a portion of the power which had been delegated to the -people, we find subjoined to the original document of the priestess the -following clause: “But if the people should follow a crooked opinion, -the elders and the princes shall dissent.” Or, according to Plutarch: -“If the people attempt to corrupt any law, the senate and chiefs shall -retire,” meaning that “they shall dissolve the assembly and annul the -alterations.”[191] - -[191] _Lycurgus._ - -According to the testimony of Plutarch, when Lycurgus entered upon -the duties of lawgiver he went to Crete, and while there examined the -laws of that people; those of them which he considered wise and suited -to the needs of a commonwealth and which were based on principles -involving the highest interests of the people, he incorporated into -his system. Now the Cretans were a branch of the Doric stock,[192] -and as among them descent and rights of succession were still traced -through women, it would seem that they had preserved much of that -simplicity of manner which characterizes primitive society. Upon his -return from Crete Lycurgus made an equal division of the land, and -as he could not induce the people to surrender their treasures, he -prohibited the use of gold and silver currency and substituted iron in -its place. To a great quantity and weight of this metal he assigned -a slight value, so that to lay up a small amount of wealth a whole -room was required, and for the removal of a moderate sum of money a -yoke of oxen must be employed. When this became current many kinds of -injustice ceased in Lacedæmonia. “Who would steal or take a bribe, -who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty, when -he could neither be dignified by the possession of it, nor if cut in -pieces be served by its use?”[193] There is little evidence in support -of the statement of Plutarch that Lycurgus attempted to establish a -community of goods among the Spartans. Although he caused the landed -possessions which had been parcelled out to individuals to be returned -to the state, too much interest had already become attached to personal -possessions to have made a division of this kind of wealth possible. - -[192] Aristotle’s _Politics_, book ii. - -[193] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_. - -A legislator may not enact laws with the expectation of seeing them -enforced which are not in accord with the temper of the people, and the -degree of success which attended the legislation ascribed to Lycurgus -proves that the great mass of the people were in sympathy with many of -the measures which he proposed for the government of Sparta. - -It is plain that the object of the person or persons, whom history -has named Lycurgus, was a return to the simpler manners and purer -customs of a more primitive age, which the growth of the aristocratic -spirit and the accumulation of wealth in masses in the hands of the -few threatened entirely to subvert; and, as a community of goods was -at this time impossible, he, or they, sought to level the distinctions -between rich and poor by exalting virtue and moral excellence above the -mere possession of wealth and hereditary titles. - -It is the opinion of some writers that although Lycurgus did not -inaugurate a new set of institutions, nor materially change the -constitution of the state, the great service which he rendered to the -Spartans was the remarkable system of discipline which he is supposed -to have inaugurated. Of this Mr. Rawlinson says: “It must always remain -one of the most astonishing facts in history, that such a system was -successfully imposed upon a state which had grown up without it.”[194] -Of the fact, however, that the state had not grown up without it there -is ample evidence. On this subject Curtius remarks: - - It is certain that the Spartan discipline in many respects corresponds - to the primitive customs of the Dorians, and that by constant - practice, handed down from generation to generation, it grew into the - second nature of the members of the community.[195] - -[194] Book i., essay i. - -[195] _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i. - -From the facts at hand it is quite evident that Lycurgus did not -originate that system of discipline through which it is claimed Spartan -greatness was achieved. The fact has been noted that when he entered -upon the duties of lawgiver he sailed for Crete, and, “having been -struck with admiration of some of their laws,” he resolved to make use -of them in Sparta.[196] As the discipline of Lycurgus constitutes the -principal feature of the government ascribed to him, and as his models -were for the most part drawn from the Cretans, it is only reasonable -to suppose that this remarkable system was itself, in part at least, -copied from them. It appears that among the Cretans, as among all -peoples among whom female influence is in the ascendency, the children -belonged to the mother, and that women owned, or at least controlled, -their own households; they did not, therefore, follow the fathers of -their children to their homes. In Crete, “the young Dorians were left -in the houses of their mothers till they grew up into youths.”[197] As -Cretan mothers had charge of their sons until they were grown up, it is -not unlikely that the discipline which Lycurgus attempted to copy was -a system inaugurated under matriarchal usages, but which in Sparta in -the time of Lycurgus may have become somewhat relaxed. However, that -the primitive discipline of the Dorian people was not extinct among -the Spartans of this time is observed in the warlike character of the -males, and in the express testimony of Aristotle that Spartan men had -become inured to hardships by means of their frequent campaigns. To -restore, or rather to intensify this discipline, seems to have been the -object of Lycurgus; yet that he lacked greatly in judgment is shown by -the measures which he put into execution. We are informed that - -[196] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_. - -[197] Curtius, _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i. - - Spartan boys were as early as their eighth year taken into public - training, and assigned their places in their respective divisions, - where they had to go through all the exercises introductory to - military service, and accustom their bodies to endurance and exercise, - in exact obedience to the forms acquired by the state through its - officers.[198] - -[198] _Ibid._ - -This interference with the natural development of the Spartan youth was -not without its effect upon his character; and especially so as the -policy adopted was such as to narrow his mental horizon, and confine -his ideas within the scope of Spartan possibilities. - -From all the evidence to be gathered about the individual whom -historians call Lycurgus, it would appear that he was a fanatic, who, -doubtless feeling deeply the disorders which had fastened themselves -upon society, attempted to manage not only the affairs of the state, -but to impose his authority also upon individual conduct. - -Of the position occupied by women at the time when Lycurgus is said to -have been lawgiver at Sparta, there seems to be much evidence going -to show that they were in the possession of a remarkable degree of -liberty, and that they were possessed of great power and influence. -We have seen that while the men of Sparta were away from their homes -engaged in warfare, the country had become wealthy and prosperous. Not -only was the land controlled by women, but nearly two-fifths of it was -theirs by actual possession.[199] Therefore, when Aristotle informs -us that when Lycurgus “wanted to bring the women under his laws, -they resisted, and he gave up the attempt,”[200] we are by no means -surprised. Indeed, Aristotle himself says that this license of the -Lacedæmonian women existed from the earliest times, and was only what -might be expected.[201] It is altogether likely that in the time of -Lycurgus, Spartan women had not been brought under subjection to male -authority. - -[199] _Politics_, vol. ii., p. 9. - -[200] _Ibid._ - -[201] _Ibid._ - -According to the accounts given by Aristotle and Plutarch, under -regulations made by Lycurgus, the men dined on the plainest fare at -the public table, or mess, while the women remained within their own -homes. That a considerable degree of success crowned this legislator’s -efforts to control the conduct and private life of men, from the facts -at hand may not be doubted; among the women, however, the case seems to -have been altogether different. Of the Spartans, Aristotle says: “In -the days of their greatness many things were managed by their women. -But what difference does it make whether women rule, or the rulers are -ruled by women.”[202] Because, however, the Spartan women preferred -to remain within their own homes, and refused to allow their private -affairs to be controlled by Lycurgus, Aristotle accuses them “of -intemperance and luxury.” He says: - -[202] _Politics._ - - For a husband and a wife, being each a part of every family, the state - may be considered as about equally divided into men and women; and, - therefore, in those states in which the condition of the women is bad, - half the city may be regarded as having no laws. And this is what has - actually happened at Sparta, the legislator wanted to make the whole - state temperate, and he has carried out his intentions in the case of - the men, but he has neglected the women, who live in every sort of - intemperance and luxury.[203] - -[203] _Ibid._ - -So far, however, from the Spartan women refusing to concur in those -movements which were in operation to make the whole state hardy and -temperate, we have ample evidence going to prove that it was women -themselves who in former times had encouraged the healthful and -moderate exercise of body and limb among the youth of both sexes. -Indeed, from natural inferences to be drawn from the facts at hand, -it is probable that these exercises which had originated among the -primitive Dorians, while under the matriarchal system, had not only -been encouraged, but practised, by women while their husbands and -fathers were absent on their campaigns. - -We have seen that, according to Aristotle, women refused to unite -in those movements in operation in the time of Lycurgus for the -strengthening and general improvement of the youth. Plutarch, on -the contrary, ascribes all the physical strength and vigour of mind -possessed by Spartan women to the wise regulations of Lycurgus; -and, notwithstanding the fact that, according to his own testimony, -they were possessed of great liberty and power, he imputes to this -legislator the inauguration of all those practices for the promotion -of perfect freedom among women which were so salutary in producing or -continuing a healthful state of public morals. - -It is plain that the position occupied by Spartan women presented -difficulties to the minds of Aristotle and Plutarch which they were -wholly unable to explain. With regard to the supposition of Plutarch -that the exercises performed by the young women of Sparta while in a -nude or semi-nude condition were inaugurated by Lycurgus, it is too -unreasonable for serious consideration. It is to be doubted if there -has ever existed, either in ancient or modern times, a legislator, who, -unaided and alone, and simply through a stretch of arbitrary power, -has been able to regulate the dress, amusements, bodily exercise, and -general movements of women in possession of a reasonable degree of -personal freedom and liberty of action. - -Respecting the wise regulations instituted by Lycurgus for the -management of women, Plutarch says: - - In order to take away the excessive tenderness and delicacy of the - sex, the consequence of a recluse life, he accustomed the virgins - occasionally to be seen naked as well as the young men, and to dance - and sing in their presence on certain festivals.[204] - -[204] _Lycurgus._ - -Perhaps throughout the entire narrative of Plutarch concerning Lycurgus -and his laws, there is nothing so absolutely devoid of reason as this. -If, as he assures us, women were possessed of that excessive tenderness -and delicacy which are the result of a recluse life; and if, as he -supposes, they had hitherto been trained according to masculine ideas -of female modesty and decorum, it is greatly to be doubted if the laws -of Lycurgus, or even the lightnings of Zeus could have driven these -virgins into the presence of the opposite sex under the conditions -named. - -Doubtless the Spartan people had not at this stage of their career -departed so far from the customs of a gynecocracy that women were -unable to exercise absolute control over their persons. Being free -from the domination of the opposite sex, all those exercises and -habits of body in use to increase their own vigour and that of the -entire race had doubtless been instigated by women, or at least had -been instituted at a time when female influence was in the ascendency. -Concerning the position occupied by the women of Sparta, Plutarch says -they had assumed to themselves great liberty and power “on account of -the frequent expeditions of their husbands, during which they were left -sole mistresses at home, and so gained an undue deference and improper -titles.”[205] - -[205] _Lycurgus._ - -It is evident that this writer was unacquainted with the fact that -at a time not far distant in the past from the age of Lycurgus, the -influence of women in the family and in the gens had been supreme; -hence, like others who have attempted to deal with the subject of -primitive peoples, he was unable to conceive of a condition of society -in which women’s natural instincts played a conspicuous part in -regulating the social customs and in formulating the laws by which they -were governed. - -The extreme modesty and sensitiveness which are observed as a -characteristic of both sexes in the marriage relation, and the reserve -of the youths at festivals in which young women are reported to have -appeared naked, may not be ascribed to the laws of Lycurgus, but on the -other hand appear as direct results of those checks upon the animal -instincts in the male which the former strength and independence of -women had imposed.[206] - -[206] As to the exercises of the virgins, and their appearing naked, -C. O. Müller, in his _History and Antiquities of the Doric Race_ -observes: - -“The female sex underwent in this respect the same education as the -male, though (as has been above remarked) only the virgins. They had -their own gymnasia, and exercised themselves, either naked or lightly -clad, in running, wrestling, or throwing the quoit or spear. It is -highly improbable that youths or men were allowed to look on, since -in the gymnasia of Lacedæmon no idle bystanders were permitted; every -person was obliged either to join the rest, or withdraw.”—Book iv., ch. -v.-viii. - -At a later age, for instance that of Plutarch, the spectacle of young -maidens appearing on occasions of public festivity in a single garment, -loose, and reaching a little below the knee, would have been associated -with ideas of disgrace and shame; but, under a condition of society in -which the animal instincts had not wholly gained the ascendency over -the higher faculties, or in which the characters peculiar to women had -not been overshadowed or subdued by the grosser elements developed -in human nature, such a proceeding might not, as we have seen, be -inconsistent with the purest motives and the highest aims. - -Something of the extent to which the influence of women was exerted -to stimulate bravery and courage in the opposite sex is shown in the -description by Plutarch of the festivals in which the young people -appeared before each other in a semi-nude state to practise the popular -games of strength and skill. Concerning these festivals this writer -remarks that the young women engaged in little raillery upon those -who lacked skill, or who had not done their best, while “on such as -deserved them they sang encomiums, thus exciting in the young men a -useful emulation and love of glory.” Plutarch observes also that “those -who were praised for their bravery and celebrated among the virgins -went away perfectly happy, while their satirical glances were no less -cutting than serious admonitions.”[207] - -[207] _Lycurgus._ - -These facts indicate something of the extent to which female influence -still survived in ancient Sparta, and reveal plainly the fact that -although in the time of Lycurgus the coarser instincts developed in -human nature had made considerable headway, they had not totally -eclipsed the finer characters peculiar to women, as was the case at a -later period of Grecian history—more particularly among the Athenians. -“As for the virgins appearing naked,” Plutarch himself assures us, - - there was nothing disgraceful in it, because everything was conducted - with modesty, and without one indecent word or action. Nay, it caused - a simplicity of manner and an emulation for the best habit of body; - their ideas too were naturally enlarged while they were not excluded - from their share of bravery and honour. - -Regarding the commingling of the sexes among the Spartans, Mr. Grote -says: - - When we read the restrictions which Spartan custom imposed upon the - intercourse even between married persons, we shall conclude without - hesitation that the public intermixture of the sexes led to no such - liberties between persons not married, as might be likely to arise - from it under other circumstances.[208] - -[208] _History of Greece_, vol. ii., p. 385. - -It was a Dorian who first threw aside his heavy girdle during the -Olympian contests and ran naked to the goal. In an allusion to this -incident, and also to the custom of Spartan virgins appearing in -a semi-nude state in the presence of the opposite sex during the -performance of their gymnastic feats, C. O. Müller says that a display -of the naked form when all covering was unnecessary and inconvenient -was quite in keeping with the character and temper of the Dorians.[209] - -[209] _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iv., ch. ii., -p. 1. - -Concerning the style of dress adopted by the Doric virgins, it is said -to have consisted of a loose woollen garment called a _himation_. It -was without sleeves and was fastened over the shoulders with large -clasps. The _himation_ was completely joined only on one side, the -other side being left loose and fastened with a buckle or clasp. -Doubtless this adjustment of the gown was to enable the wearer to -open it and throw it back, thereby securing greater freedom to the -limbs while running and wrestling. This simple garment reached only to -the calf of the leg, and was worn sometimes with a girdle, sometimes -without. - -The pure state of morals in Sparta furnishes an explanation of that -peculiar style of dress among women which has elicited so much comment -among later writers, and which has stamped the Spartan women as -creatures especially “devoid of modesty.” True modesty was evidently -one of the leading characteristics of this people among both sexes, but -the simulation of it, which, by the way, is usually practised just in -proportion as the lower propensities have gained the ascendency over -the higher faculties, was doubtless absent in Spartan society.[210] - -[210] We have the authority of Tacitus respecting the customs, -character, and style of dress of the ancient Germans. Among this -people, as is well known, the influence of women was in the ascendency -over that of men, and the state of public morals was exactly that which -might be expected. Respecting the dress of women, this writer says they -“do not lengthen their upper garment into sleeves but leave exposed the -whole arm, and part of the breast” (_Germania_, chap. xvii.). It is -observed, however, that chastity was the characteristic virtue of this -people among both sexes. The marriage bond was strict and severe, and -we are informed that among the Saxons the women themselves inflicted -the penalty for adultery. From an epistle of St. Boniface, Archbishop -of Mentz, to Ethelbald, King of England, we have the following: “In -ancient Saxony (now Westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father’s -house, or a married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is -forced to put an end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes -of her burned body her seducer is hanged.” - -An illustration of the state of public morals in ancient Sparta may be -observed in the following dialogue. A stranger once asked a Spartan -what penalty their law attached to adultery. The reply was: “My -friend, there are no adulterers in our country.” Upon being further -interrogated, “But what if there should be one?” the Spartan replied: -“Why then, he must forfeit a bull so large that he might drink of the -Eurotus from the top of Mount Taygetus.” When the stranger asked: “How -can such a bull be found?” the man answered with a smile, “How can an -adulterer be found in Sparta?”[211] - -[211] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_. - -Commenting on the relative position of Doric and Athenian women, C. O. -Müller says: - - The domestic relation of the wife to her husband among the Dorians was - in general the same as that of the ancient western nation, described - by Homer as universal among the Greeks, and which existed at Rome till - a late period; the only difference being that the peculiarities of the - custom were preserved by the Dorians more strictly than elsewhere. - - Amongst the Dorians of Sparta, the wife was honoured by her husband - with the title of mistress (a gallantry belonging to the north of - Greece, and also practised by the Thessalians), which was used neither - ironically nor unmeaningly. Nay, so strange did the importance which - the Lacedæmonian women enjoy, and the influence which they exercised - as the managers of their household, and mothers of families, appear - to the Greeks, at a time when the prevalence of Athenian manners - prevented a due consideration for national customs, that Aristotle - supposed Lycurgus to have attempted, but without success, to regulate - the lives of women as he had regulated that of the men; and the - Spartans were frequently censured for submitting to the yoke of their - wives. - -It has been truly said that nowhere else in Greece do we find traces of -that power exercised by women over their sons when arrived at manhood -observed among Spartan mothers. When a woman of another country said to -Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, “You of Lacedæmon are the only women in -the world that rule the men,” she replied, “We are the only women that -bring forth men.”[212] - -[212] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_. - -With our present knowledge respecting the influence and independence -of the Spartan women, it is folly for certain writers to assert that -married women were confined within the house and that only virgins -appeared in public. There is some evidence going to prove that at -Crete, at Sparta, and at Olympia, women were not only spectators at -the Olympian games, but that they engaged personally in the chariot -contests. According to an inscription in Della Cella, it is shown that -women presided over the public gymnastic exercises in that town. - -One very important fact going to show whence proceeded the reforms of -Lycurgus is that the mandates of the oracle were supreme. The oracles -controlled the rulers, but women always controlled or interpreted -the oracles. The celebrated Rhetra of Lycurgus, in which unlimited -authority is given to the people to reject or adopt the proposals of -the king, was given according to the direction of the Pythian Apollo, -whose mandates were interpreted by women. - -In an earlier age the chiefs of the gentes were elected by all the -people, and they held their office by virtue of their relationship -to the leader of the gens, who was a woman. That the honour due to -women was still recognized in Sparta is shown in the following from -Plutarch in relation to the election of senators. The person who had -received the loudest acclamations was declared duly elected, whereupon -he was crowned with a garland, and a number of young men followed him -about to extol his virtues. The women sang his praises and blessed -his life and conduct. Two portions were set before him, one of which -he carried to the gates of the public hall, where the women were in -waiting to receive him. To the one for whom he had the greatest esteem -he presented the portion, saying: “That which I received as a mark of -honour I give to you.” The woman thus honoured “was conducted home with -great applause by the rest of the women.”[213] - -[213] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_. - -Spartan men were forbidden to marry foreign women, hence, contrary to -the customs of surrounding nations at this early period, wives as well -as husbands were native-born. All were Spartans, which fact probably -accounts in a measure for the exalted position occupied by women. - -Both in Sparta and in Crete the form of marriage was by capture; -thus, although in the time of Lycurgus the Spartan men and women both -belonged to the same stock, it is plain that originally they were of -different tribes. Of capture as practised in Sparta, Müller says that -it was clearly an ancient national custom, founded on the idea that -“the young woman could not surrender her freedom and virgin purity, -unless compelled by the violence of the stronger sex.”[214] According -to Plutarch, after the arrangements for the wedding had been completed, -the bridegroom rushed in, seized the bride from among her assembled -friends, and bore her away. - -[214] _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iv., chap. iv. - -The Dorian stock alone seems to have preserved the ancient customs, -and among these peoples, wherever they are found, woman’s influence is -in the ascendency. According to Herodotus and Aristotle, the Spartans, -the Cretans, and the Lycians were related. The people of Crete still -preserved their ancient usages, hence may be observed the reason -why Lycurgus visited that country in quest of information before -enunciating the laws which were to restore order among the Spartans. -In Lycia, as in Crete, woman’s influence must still have been -considerable. Of the Lycians Herodotus says: - - Their customs are partly Cretan, partly Carian.... They take the - mother’s and not the father’s name. Ask a Lycian who he is, and he - answers by giving his own name, that of his mother, and so on in the - female line. Moreover, if a free woman marry a man who is a slave, - their children are full citizens; but if a free man marry a foreign - woman, or live with a concubine, even though he be the first person in - the state, the children forfeit all the rights of citizenship.[215] - -[215] Book i. - -On the manner of reckoning descent through women which prevailed in -Lycia, Curtius remarks that the usage extends far beyond the territory -commanded by the Lycian nationality. It is still extant in India; it -was practised in ancient Egypt, among the Etruscans, and among the -Cretans, who were closely related to the Lycians. This writer observes -that if - - Herodotus regards the usage in question as thoroughly peculiar to the - Lycians, it must have maintained itself longest among them of all - the nations related to the Greeks, as is also proved by the Lycian - inscriptions.[216] - -[216] _History of Greece_, book i., Ward’s translation. - -As the Sabines who united with the Romans in founding Rome claimed -relationship with the Dorians, we may reasonably expect to find among -them somewhat of that womanly influence which characterized the -Spartans, and some hint among their customs of an earlier age of female -independence. Although the Sabine women did not “voluntarily” assume -the position of wives to the Romans but were captured by them, when the -two nations united, the Sabines were regarded rather in the light of -conferring honour upon Rome than as detracting from its dignity. - -Of the early Romans, Ortolan says: - - The _connubium_, or right of marriage, did not exist between males and - females of different cities unless by special agreement between those - cities. Thus it was that the primitive Romans, according to tradition, - were compelled to resort to ambuscade and force in order to carry off - their first wives.[217] - -[217] _History of Roman Law_, p. 79. - -The Roman family, like the Roman state, began with slavery. Of the -Romans it has been said that they acquired their territory, their -property, and even their wives by the lance. - - With them the lance became the symbol of property, and even had a - place in their judicial procedure. Their slaves were booty, their - wives were booty, and their children, begotten of them, the fruit of - their possessions.[218] - -[218] Ortolan’s _History of Roman Law_, p. 42. - -The right of fathers, under Romulus, to sell their sons, upon the -accession of Numa the Sabine ruler, to the office of lawgiver, was -withdrawn, and the reason given for it was consideration for women. -According to Plutarch, Numa “reckoned it a great hardship, that a woman -should marry a man as free, and then live with him as a slave.”[219] - -[219] Numa and Lycurgus compared. - -In the life of Numa by Plutarch we have a hint of a former age of -universal freedom. It was one of this ruler’s institutions, that once -a year the slaves should be entertained along with their masters at -a public feast, there to enjoy the fruits “which they had helped to -produce.” The same writer assures us that some are of the opinion that -this is a remnant of that equality which was in existence in the times -of Saturn, when there was neither master nor slave, but all were upon -the same footing. Plutarch quotes from Macrobius, who says that this -feast was celebrated in Italy long before the building of Rome. - -From all the facts to be gathered relative to the relations of the -sexes in the age of Numa, it is plain that that freedom of action -exercised by women in a former age among the Dorians, was rapidly -declining, and that the early independence which has characterized -the Sabine women was beginning to bring upon them the condemnation -of their Roman lords. This is shown in the fact that it soon became -Numa’s arduous task to institute certain restrictions on their former -liberties. In a comparison between Lycurgus and Numa, Plutarch, in -referring to this subject, observes: - - Numa’s strictures as to virgins tended to form them to that modesty - which is the ornament of their sex; but the great liberty which - Lycurgus gave them, brought upon them the censure of the poets, - particularly Ibycus. - -The grossness which had been developed during the four or five hundred -years following the age of Lycurgus, and the jealousy with which the -movements of women had come to be regarded, are illustrated by the -following stanza from Euripides: - - These quit their homes, ambitious to display, - Amidst the youths, their vigour in the race, - Or feats of wrestling, whilst their airy robe - Flies back and leaves their limbs uncovered.[220] - -[220] Quoted by Plutarch. - -It is evident that not only in private life, but in their desire for -public activity also, the independence of the Sabine women failed to -comport with the ideas already in vogue among their Roman husbands -regarding the “proper sphere” of women. Consequently their behaviour -was thought to be - - too bold and too masculine, in particular to their husbands; for - they considered themselves as absolute mistresses in their houses; - nay, they wanted a share in affairs of state, and delivered their - sentiments with great freedom concerning the most weighty matters.[221] - -[221] Numa and Lycurgus compared. - -A woman even appeared in the Forum to plead her own cause, whereupon -the grave senators ordered that the oracles be consulted that the true -import of the singular phenomenon might be revealed.[222] - -[222] _Ibid._ - -Plutarch, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, after -having recounted these misdemeanours, assures us that “what is recorded -of a few infamous women is a proof of the obedience and meekness of -Roman matrons in general.”[223] - -[223] _Ibid._ - -Doubtless, in Plutarch’s time, Roman women had lost much of that -influence which characterized the female sex in an earlier age; it -is not, therefore remarkable that by this writer the Sabine women -should have been regarded as too forward and as altogether infamous. -That their conduct was not all that could be desired by the outlaws -and bandits who founded Rome, and who had stolen them for wives, is -evident; and the regulations of their rulers respecting them show -plainly that much judicious training and a vast amount of repression -were required before they were fitted for the peculiar duties devolving -upon them as sexual slaves. - -We are told by Plutarch that the regulations established by Lycurgus, -instead of encouraging that licentiousness of the women which prevailed -at a later period, operated to render adultery unknown amongst them; -yet this writer forgets to mention the fact that in Sparta, in the time -of this ruler, there was no demand for prostitution by a class who -held all the wealth and power, and who were therefore in a position -to regulate this matter to suit their own tastes and inclinations. -On the contrary, the female sex was free, not only in the matter of -sexual relations, but in the exercise of all their natural tendencies, -and in the direction of all their movements. The idea of sex, which -among later and more thoroughly sensualized nations became first and -foremost, among the Dorians, so far as equal rights, obligations, and -duties were concerned, was ignored or left to nature to regulate. - -Plutarch, like most writers who have dealt with the relations of the -sexes, fails to observe the fact that just to the extent in the past -history of mankind to which women have been free and independent, -licentiousness has disappeared, and that just in proportion as the -influence of women has declined, in just such proportion have shame, -profligacy, disease, and infamy prevailed. To produce a state of -society in which the animal instincts ruled supreme, and in which -passion was the recognized god, women had first to become physically -dependent and mentally enslaved. - -For so long a time have women been judged by masculine standards, it -is not perhaps remarkable that male writers of these later times can -discern in the simplicity and chastity existing among the Dorians, -in the age of Lycurgus, no evidence of a former era of female -independence. Neither is it singular, as for so many ages women have -been subject to the pleasure and control of the opposite sex, that we -should be repeatedly told by writers who have dealt with the usages -of the Spartans, that their women were “permitted” to do this, and -“allowed” to do that, although the facts in the case prove that in all -their movements they were guided by their own wills, exercised either -directly, or through the oracles of the gods. - -When the customs of the ancient Dorians are viewed without prejudice, -the fact will doubtless be observed that they originated not in a -depraved and licentious state of society, but, on the contrary, -that they were the direct result of that freedom of action which -characterizes purity of life and a high standard of thought and action. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -ATHENIAN WOMEN - - -According to Wilford, the Greeks were the descendants of the Yavanas -of India. This writer observes that the Pandits insist that the words -_Yavana_ and _Yoni_ are derived from the same root, _Yu_, and that when -the Ionians emigrated they adopted this name to distinguish themselves -as adorers of the female, in opposition to a strong sect of male -worshippers which had been driven from the mother country.[224] Under -the constantly increasing importance of the male, however, both in -human affairs and in the god-idea, they subsequently became ashamed of -their religious title and sought to abandon it. Of the aversion felt in -Greece for this name Herodotus says: - -[224] See Hargrave Jennings, _Phallicism_. - - The Athenians and most of the Ionic states over the world went so far - in their dislike of the name as actually to lay it aside; and even at - the present day the greater number of them seems to me to be ashamed - of it.[225] - -[225] Book i. - -Whenever in early historic times a country was subjugated, the -conquerors either murdered or enslaved the men, and utilized the women -for wives, or sexual slaves. The Ionians who, according to Herodotus, -sailed from Attica, without women, took for wives native Carians whose -fathers they had slain; hence these captives made a law, which they -bound themselves by an oath to observe, and which they handed down to -their daughters after them, that “none should ever sit at meat with -her husband, or call him by his name; because the invaders slew their -fathers, their husbands, and their sons, and then forced them to become -their wives.”[226] The terms of the oaths sworn by them at the time -of the capture seem, subsequently, to have been enforced by their -imperious masters. - -[226] Book i. - -As these women were foreigners they were entitled to little or no -respect from their captors. However, as they were to become the mothers -of Greek citizens, they must necessarily be “protected,” or, in other -words, they must be kept in seclusion. In the time of Solon, rape -committed on a free-born woman was punishable by fine.[227] - -[227] Plutarch, _Solon_. - -From that stage in the history of Greek tribes, at which through -capture and appropriation of the soil by individuals women began to -lose that influence which they had exercised under matriarchal usages, -to the time of Solon, the lawgiver of Athens, when they had finally -descended to the lowest level of misery and sexual degradation, may be -observed a corresponding tendency gradually developing itself among the -people towards selfishness, usurpation of power, and the slavery of the -masses. In the age of Solon the limit of human wretchedness seems to -have been reached, and as the human race is never at a standstill, it -must at this time have either become extinct, or have begun gradually -to lift itself from the condition of disgrace and ruin into which it -had fallen. - -The character of Solon, as gathered from the facts at hand regarding -him, reflects in a measure the true condition of society at that -time. Although vain and morally weak, he was in a certain sense -humane; his humanity, however, extended only to those of his own sex. -A large proportion of the women of Athens were imported foreigners, -and were therefore so degraded that they had no rights which any one, -even a lawgiver, was bound to protect. After his appointment to the -archonship, Solon’s first act was to cancel the debts against the lands -and persons of the Athenians, and to establish a law that in future no -man should accept the body of his debtor for security.[228] Many who -had been previously banished or driven out of the country for debt, -and had remained so long from their native land as to forget their -Attic dialect, were recalled as freemen, while others, who at home had -suffered slavery, were released and given their freedom. - -[228] Plutarch, _Solon_. - -Perhaps, however, in no position in life will a vain, morally weak -man display to better advantage the defects in his character than in -his attempts to legislate for women; and under no circumstances will -his true inwardness of purpose stand more truly revealed than in his -efforts to “regulate” the relations of the sexes. A brief notice of -Solon’s laws concerning women proves him to have been no exception to -the generally observed rule. It is recorded of him that in his extreme -solicitude lest their movements should not comport with his ideas of -female propriety and decorum, he regulated their journeyings, and laid -down rules respecting their mournings, sacrifices, and the number of -gowns which they were to take with them when they went out of town. -The provision for their journey and even the size of the basket in -which it was to be conveyed were subjects not unworthy the attention of -the great Athenian lawgiver. Women’s mode of travel by night was also -prescribed as was also their conduct at funerals and various places of -amusement. In fact all their actions were subjected to that meddlesome -espionage and control which characterize a weak and sensuous age. -Indeed, we have something more than a hint of the degraded position -occupied by women, in the fact that a man might not be allowed to sell -a daughter or a sister “unless she were taken in an act of dishonour -before marriage,” in which case her accuser might sell her person for -individual gain; and this, too, notwithstanding the fact that he, as -well as nearly every other man in Athens, was steeped in infamy. - -The measure adopted by Solon for the regulation of prostitution, -and his division of women into classes for the convenience of all -conditions of men, indicate clearly the disgrace and shamelessness -which characterized the Athenians at this stage of their career, and -depict with unerring fidelity the depth of horror into which womanhood -had been dragged. - -The condition of public morals during the three hundred years following -the age of Solon is plainly indicated not only in the laws but in the -mythologies of Greece and Rome. Prostitution was enjoined by religion -and when Draco, suddenly shocked by the degeneracy of his time, affixed -the penalty of death to rape, seduction, and adultery, it has been said -that by the performance of the prescribed religious rites within the -temple, the “rigour of his edicts was considerably softened.” - -The restraint imposed upon the Athenians by the Draconian regulations -was, however, of short duration; for when Solon, the successor of -Draco, assumed the position of archon, he at once legally established -a sufficient number of houses of prostitution at Athens to supply the -demand, filling them with female slaves who had been taken captives -in war, or who had been otherwise provided by the munificence of the -government. - - But you did well for every man, O Solon; - For they do say you were the first to see - The justice of a public-spirited measure, - The Saviour of the State.[229] - -[229] Philemon. Quoted by _Athenæus_, book xiii. - -By this time, so degraded had womanhood become, that the traffic in -female captives for sexual purposes was regarded as a legitimate -business, and the revenue accruing from their services was considered -a lawful source of gain to the state, its use being devoted to the -rearing of temples and to the carrying out of the various projects -connected with religious worship. - -That the Athenians of this period were wholly given over to luxury and -licentiousness is shown by the fact that at their bacchanalian feasts, -the troops of women who were in attendance and who had been provided -for the occasion by the generosity of the state, performed all their -duties under direct and explicit instruction of the government “to -disobey no order of a guest”; for which wise regulations Solon received -the praise and commendation of Athenian men. - -In a former portion of this work the fact has been noted that until -well into the Latter Status of barbarism all women were protected; -that among the Kaffirs, the Fiji Islanders, and various other peoples -occupying a lower stage in the order of growth, women, although -divested of their former influence, are still jealously guarded by the -gens to which they belong; and that when maidens are bereft of home and -near relatives, they are adopted into some other gens within the tribe -where they are invested with the same rights as are its own members. -Therefore when contemplating the social condition of the Athenians five -or six hundred years B.C., we are naturally led to inquire: What were -the causes which during one ethnical period had produced so marked a -change in the position of the female sex? For an answer to our question -we must recall the facts set forth in this volume relative to the -capture of wives, together with the feeling of hatred entertained by -early society for alien women. - -In the time of Pericles, an age when Athens was at the height of its -prosperity, the women of the city were divided into five classes as -regarded their duties and uses. The first of these consisted of wives, -who, for the most part, were kept in seclusion and allowed to exist -solely for the purpose of propagating Greek citizens. These women were -without influence, possessing no rights or privileges beyond the will -of their “lords”; while to such an extent were they considered merely -in the light of household furniture that they were not permitted to -appear in public, nor to sit at table with their masters. - -The following dialogue between Socrates and Ischomachus, a man who had -managed his household in such a manner as to be “pointed out as a model -for all Athens,” perhaps serves as a correct picture of the relations -existing between husband and wife in the Periclean age. “I should like -to know this particular from you,” said Socrates, “whether you yourself -educated your wife so as to make her what she ought to be, or whether -you received her from her parents with a knowledge of her duties?”—“And -how could I have received her so educated, Socrates, when she came -to me not fifteen years old, and had lived up to that time under the -strictest surveillance that she might see as little as possible, and -hear as little as possible, and inquire as little as possible?” - -Of the five classes to which reference has been made, wives only were -native-born, and as this particular class had specific duties to -perform, severe penalties were attached to the crimes of seduction and -rape when committed upon Athenian women. The remaining four classes -were arranged according to the dignity of their associates, the highest -in rank and repute being the hetairai, the members of which comprised -the only free women in Athens. Themselves philosophers and stateswomen, -their associates among males were of the same rank or station. They -constituted a highly intellectual class, and as such were able to -control not only their own movements, but to exercise a remarkable -influence upon literature, art, and the affairs of state. Because of -the important position occupied by these women, they will be referred -to later in this work. - -The next in rank were the _auletrides_, or flute-players. Many of the -most fashionable of these were slaves who had been brought to Greece -by speculators. We are informed that female musicians were a usual -accompaniment to an Athenian banquet, and that flute-playing became an -essential feature in the worship of several of their deities; hence, -the services of this particular class were in demand, not only to -heighten the enjoyment of social intercourse, but to stimulate and -encourage religious enthusiasm. At public gatherings, after the dinner -was over, and while the wine was flowing freely, these women made their -appearance in a semi-nude condition, dancing and keeping time to the -music by the graceful motion of their beautifully moulded figures. -While the enthusiasm was at its height they were sold to the highest -bidder. Fist fights, or hand-to-hand encounters for the possession of -these female flute-players, were not uncommon occurrences in the best -society in Athens.[230] - -[230] _Athenæus_, book xiii., - -These scenes were performed under the sanction of religion and law; -they therefore serve to reveal the true inwardness of the Greek -character at this stage of development. It is reported that the finest -houses in Alexandria were inscribed with the names of famous Greek -_auletrides_. Of all the flute-players of Greece, Lamia is said to -have been the most successful. For fifteen or twenty years she was -the delight of the entire city of Alexandria and of King Ptolemy. -Finally, when the city was taken by Demetrius of Macedon, Lamia was -taken also. When she demanded that an immense tax be levied on the city -of Athens for her benefit, it is recorded that although the people -murmured at the amount, they nevertheless found it to their interest to -deify her and erect a temple in her honour. According to the testimony -of Plutarch, Lamia raised money on her own authority to provide an -entertainment for the king.[231] - -[231] Demetrius. - -The fourth class consisted of concubines, or purchased slaves who were -in the service of Athenian gentlemen (?). This appendage to the Greek -family was a member of the household of her master where she was kept -with the full knowledge of the wife, the latter occupying a position -little if any superior to that of her rival. Indeed, as the purchased -slave could be disposed of whenever the fancy or caprice of her master -so dictated, and another installed in her place, it is reasonable to -suppose that so long as she did remain, she was the object of quite as -much attention as was the wife. - -The lowest class, or those who were allowed the least freedom of -action, were those known as the _dicteriades_. They were compelled to -reside at a designated place, and were forbidden to be seen upon the -streets by day. Nothing of a personal nature was allowed to interfere -with the duties which were imposed upon them by their imperious -masters. Their only duty was to obey. - -By this time we are prepared to appreciate, to a certain extent, the -moral aspect of Greek society during the years intervening between the -age of Solon and that of Pericles, a period of about a century and a -half. That all women, wives and concubines, native-born and foreign, -had been dragged to the lowest depths of disgrace and shame and that -they were classified and arranged to meet the demands of those who -through the unchecked tendencies inherent in the male nature had -reached the lowest level of infamy to which it is possible for living -creatures to descend, are facts which are only too plainly shown by -those whose duty it has been to record the events connected with the -history of the Greeks. - -Although under Draco, the predecessor of Solon, the political -degradation of the citizens of Greece may be said to have reached its -height, and although the uprising of the masses against the usurpation -of power by the few marks an era in the history of the Greeks, it -was not until the dawn of the Periclean age that women had gained -sufficient freedom to enable them to exercise any direct influence on -thought, or on the principles underlying human conduct. - -We must bear in mind the fact that for five or six centuries the -inferiority of women had been systematically and religiously taught. -Ever since the rule of Cecrops, at which time doubtless the manner -of reckoning descent began to be changed from the female to the -male line, woman’s influence in Athens had gradually declined. The -religio-physiological doctrine that in the office of reproduction the -mother plays only an insignificant part had not only been proclaimed -by Apollo but had been sanctioned also by Athene. It is recorded of -Cecrops that “he instituted marriage and established a new religion.” - -Just here may be observed the key to the gradually declining position -of the female element in the deity, and to the finally accepted dogma -that the female is inferior to the male. Through the private ownership -of land and the consequent dependency of women upon men, the way had -been paved for this assumption—an assumption which had the effect to -create in Ionian men the supreme and lofty contempt for women which is -observed throughout their literature and laws. From the age of Solon -to that of Pericles, the overwhelming degree of superiority assumed by -Athenian men over women had uprooted in the former every vestige of -restraint, at the same time that it had deprived them of the last trace -of that respect for womanhood which under earlier and more natural -conditions had been entertained. - -It has been frequently remarked that women took little or no part in -the intellectual development of Greece; that during the most rapid -progress of Greek men, there was no corresponding improvement in the -position occupied by Greek women. - -From what is recorded relative to Athenian women from the time of -Cecrops to that of Solon, one would scarcely expect to find them -competing with men for the prizes of life. Later, however, that a -considerable number of them did assert their independence, and that, -defying the customs and traditions by which they were bound, did prove -themselves the equals of men, may not be doubted. - -There probably has never been a time since the dominion of man -began when the more sensitive and better endowed among women have -not secretly rebelled against the tyranny exercised over them, and, -throughout the ages, whenever an opportunity has been offered, -large numbers of these women, have never failed to make known their -discontent. Greek women were no exception to this rule. Their first -step toward liberty was to free themselves from the galling chain -imposed upon them by marriage, a position in which, as has been shown, -wives were simply household slaves, tools of their imperious and -degenerate masters. Greek women, in the Periclean age, simply assumed -the control of their persons and by so doing provoked the maledictions -of future ages, ages in which sensualism still reigned supreme. - -For reasons which have already been explained, the foremost women -in Greece, and in fact all women who during the Periclean age were -engaged in art, literature, philosophy, and statesmanship, belonged to -the class known as the hetairai, a term which, through the excessive -growth or sensuality and superstition, subsequently became a term -of reproach. Whatever may have been the importance of the services -rendered by these women to society, such services would have been -ignored, or, if not altogether ignored, would have been reflected upon, -or appropriated by, the opposite sex. - -To say that the hetairai were free is equal to saying that they -have been misunderstood, hence the calumnies which for more than -two thousand years have been heaped upon them. That the hetairai of -Greece in the Periclean age included a class of women who were the -intellectual compeers of the ablest statesmen and philosophers is a -fact which may not by those who have paid close attention to this -subject be denied. That they taught rhetoric and elocution, that they -lectured publicly and established schools of philosophy at the same -time that they wielded a powerful influence on the state and on the -drift of current thought are facts which mediæval scholasticism has not -been able to conceal. - -I think one may not investigate the various schools of philosophy -which arose during the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., without noting -the peculiarly altruistic principles involved in them, and this, too, -notwithstanding the fact that, hitherto, extreme selfishness or egoism -had constituted the prevailing character observed in Athenian society. - -According to the principles of the Cyrenaics, the virtuous man is not -necessarily he who is in the possession of pleasure but he who is able -to proceed rightly in quest of pleasure. “Virtue is the only possible -and sane way to happiness.” The most eminent members of the Cyrenaics -were Arete the daughter of Aristippus and her son Aristippus the -younger, surnamed the mother-taught.[232] The fundamental doctrine of -the Cyrenes seems to have been that right-living or virtue constitutes -the only good. “The essence of virtue lies in self-control. Enjoyment -sought as an end is evil.” - -[232] Ueberweg, _History of Philosophy_, vol. i., p. 95. We are -informed by Ueberweg that there exists an early monograph on Arete by -J. C. Eck (Leipzig, 1776). - -“Virtue is capable of being taught, and when once acquired cannot be -lost. What is good is honourable, and what is bad is disgraceful.” On -examination it is found that one of the most eminent members of this -school is Hipparchia. That she is not a mere listener, imbibing the -ideas of others, is shown in the fact that she lectured publicly and -argued strongly before the philosophers of Athens. The founder of the -Cynic school of philosophy is said to have been Antisthenes, the son -of a Thracian mother. One of the sayings of this philosopher is, that -“virtue is the same in a man as in a woman.”[233] - -[233] Diogenes Laërtius, _Life of Hipparchia_. - -That the question of the position of women was a theme for discussion -in the age under consideration is shown in a “sophism” proposed by -Hipparchia to Theodorus. Once when she went to sup with Lysimachus, she -said to Theodorus: “What Theodorus could not be called wrong for doing, -that same thing Hipparchia ought not to be called wrong for doing.”[234] - -[234] Diogenes Laërtius, _Life of Hipparchia_, iii. - -When we take into consideration the fact that Hipparchia was intimately -associated with Crates, a man for whom she entertained the tenderest -affection, and when we remember that they were both engaged in teaching -a philosophy which “recognized virtue as the supreme end of life,” -the conversation at the house of Lysimachus between Hipparchia and -Theodorus, as set forth by Diogenes Laërtius will be seen to admit of a -different interpretation than that which commonly prevails. - -Of the Epicureans it has been observed that they were a sort of -Pythagorean brotherhood, consisting of both men and women. - - The scandalous tongue of antiquity was never more virulent than it was - in the case of Epicurus, but, as far as we can judge, the life of the - Garden joined to urbanity and refinement a simplicity which would have - done no discredit to a Stoic; indeed, the Stoic Seneca continually - refers to Epicurus not less as a model for conduct, than as a master - of sententious wisdom. - -Among the most distinguished members of this school were Themistia, -to whom Cicero refers in his speech against Pisa as a “sort of female -Solon,” and Leontium, who ventured to attack Theophrastus in an essay -characterized, as we are assured, by much elegance of style.[235] - -[235] Mayor, _Ancient Philosophy_, pp. 181, 182. - -No school of philosophy arose in Athens with which there was not -closely connected the name of one or another of the illustrious women -of the time. Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, was the pupil -of Crates, the companion of Hipparchia. - -Aspasia was the “clever preceptress of Socrates,”[236] the sage who -sat for the portrait of the Stoic philosophy. According to the Stoic -philosophy, the supreme end of life is virtue, _i. e._, “a life -conformed to nature.” The degree of self-restraint taught by Socrates -is shown in the following lines: - -[236] _Athenæus._ - - Is it not the duty of every man to consider that temperance is the - foundation of every virtue, and to establish the observance of it in - his mind before all things? For who, without it, can either learn - anything good, or sufficiently practice it? Who, that is a slave to - pleasure, is not in an ill condition both as to his body and his - mind? It appears to me, by Juno, that a free man ought to pray that - he may never meet with a slave of such a character, and that he who - is a slave to pleasure should pray to the gods that he may find - well-disposed masters; for by such means only can a man of that sort - be saved.[237] - -[237] Xenophon, _Memorabilia of Socrates_. - -When the ablest statesmen and the first philosophers of Greece -united in sounding the praises of Alcibiades, the genius of Aspasia -commanded equal recognition. Not only did Socrates and Pericles receive -instruction and inspiration from this gifted woman, but we are assured -that she lectured publicly and that her “acquaintances took their wives -with them to hear her discourse.”[238] Indeed “Pericles threw all -Greece into confusion on account of Aspasia, not the young one, but -that one who associated with the wise Socrates.”[239] - -[238] Plutarch, _Pericles_. - -[239] _Athenæus_, book xiii. - - It is not to be imagined that Aspasia excelled in light and amorous - discourses. Her discourses, on the contrary, were not more brilliant - than solid. It was believed by the most intelligent Athenians, and - amongst them Socrates himself, that she composed the celebrated - funeral oration pronounced by Pericles in honour of those that were - slain in the Samian War.[240] - -[240] Plutarch, _Pericles_. - -It is recorded of her that many Athenians resorted to her lecture-room -on account of her skill in the art of speaking. Not only did she teach -rhetoric, philosophy, and the proper relations of the sexes, but so -renowned was she for statesmanship that Pericles is said to have -surrendered to her the government of Athens then at the height of its -glory and renown. On this subject Plutarch remarks: “Some, indeed, say -that Pericles made his court to Aspasia only on account of her wisdom -and political abilities.” - -It has been said that the expedition against the Samians was merely to -gratify Aspasia. The Milesians and Samians who had been at war were -ordered to lay down their arms. When they refused to obey, Pericles, in -company with Aspasia, sailed with a fleet to Samos and abolished the -oligarchical form of government. Although he was offered large sums of -money, he “treated the Samians in the manner he had resolved on; and -having established a popular government in the island, he returned to -Athens.”[241] - -[241] Plutarch, _Pericles_. - -Plutarch, quoting from Æschines, says that Lysicles, who was “of a -mean, ungenerous disposition, by his intercourse with Aspasia after the -death of Pericles, became the most considerable man in Athens.”[242] -Notwithstanding the scandalous reports which have come down to us -of this woman’s character, in view of the facts which it has been -impossible for sex-prejudice to conceal, we are constrained to ask: -“What manner of woman was this who was able to control statesmen, -impart instruction to world-renowned philosophers, and leave a name -which even bigotry, envy, and malice may not efface from the history of -human events?” - -[242] _Ibid._ - -In seeking for an explanation of the exalted character of Aspasia, -we have something more than a hint in the fact that she is reported -to have “trod in the steps of Thargelia,” a woman who by her -exceeding brilliancy had gained the sovereignty of Thessaly. Indeed, -we have found a key to the entire situation when we learn that -this Thargelia, in whose steps Aspasia trod, “was descended from -the ancient Ionians,”[243] a people who, originally worshipped the -female principle, and who still preserved the customs peculiar to the -matriarchal system, under which it will be remembered women, as aliens, -did not follow the fathers of their children to their homes. So soon -as these facts are understood, we are not in the least surprised to -learn that Aspasia discountenanced the institution of marriage as it -existed in Athens. Neither is it remarkable, when we remember that -the underlying principles involved in the philosophy which she taught -were justice and equity, that she should be found using her great -influence, as in the case of the Milesians and Samians, in substituting -democracies in the place of oligarchies; nor that, in an age when women -had come to be regarded simply as the tools and slaves of men, she -should be found teaching the dignity of womanhood to her own sex, and -the principles of equality to males. - -[243] Plutarch, _Pericles_. - -According to Xenophon, Aspasia’s efforts were to a great extent -directed to the duties of husbands and wives; indeed, her foremost -object seems to have been to educate Athenian women. During the -Periclean age the position of women was one of the leading topics -discussed in Athens. Socrates says to his companions that he has been -of the opinion “of a long time that the female sex are nothing inferior -to ours, excepting only in strength of body or perhaps steadiness -of judgment.”[244] The coarse picture painted by Aristophanes, of -women with beards going in male attire to the agora, “to seize the -administration of the state so as to do the state some good,”[245] -although a vulgar attempt to ridicule the female philosophers of -Athens, furnishes something more than a hint of the fact that the ideas -subsequently set forth in Plato’s _Republic_ had been openly discussed -by the philosophers of the Periclean age. - -[244] Xenophon, _Banquet_. - -[245] _Ecclesiazusæ._ - -That the word hetairai was originally employed in no mean or -compromising sense is plain, since Sappho uses it in the sense of -“female companion (ἑταίρα) of the same rank and the same interests.” -We are assured that these women were able to preserve a friendship -“free from trickery.” Of them even “Cynulcus does not venture to speak -ill.”[246] They “of all women are the only ones who have derived their -name from friendship or from that goddess who is named by the Athenians -Venus Hetæra.”[247] - -[246] _Athenæus_, xiii. - -[247] _Ibid._ - -“Accordingly, even to this day,” observes Athenæus, “free-born women -and maidens call their associates and friends their ἑταίρα; as Sappho -does where she says: - - And now with tuneful voice I’ll sing - These pleasing songs to my companions. - -And in another place she says: - - Niobe and Latona were of old - Affectionate companions ἑταίρα to each other.”[248] - -[248] _Athenæus_, xiii. - -That mediæval scholasticism has not been able wholly to obscure the -greatness of the Greek hetairai is shown by the declaration of a -renowned writer of modern times who says: “Of all the poets who have -appeared on the earth Sappho was undoubtedly the greatest.” - -Notwithstanding the aspersions which have been cast upon the name and -fame of the hetairai of Greece, it is doubtful if the intelligent -women of the present age who carefully examine the shreds and remnants -concerning them which have withstood the envy of mediocrity, and the -bigotry of scholasticism, will be brought to believe that the excesses -which are foreign to the female nature, and which belong to ruder -and less highly developed structures, were practised by these gifted -women. We must bear in mind that the hetairai were free, and therefore -that they were able to direct their movements according to the natural -characters developed within the female,—characters which it will be -remembered are correlated with the maternal instinct. - -The licentiousness, not only of Greek and Roman women, but of those in -certain portions of Asia as well, has been the favourite theme of many -writers of past ages; more especially has the lewdness of Lydian and -Babylonian women been noted and commented upon. After referring to the -annual sale of women in Babylonia, Herodotus says that the people - - have lately hit upon a very different plan to save their maidens - from violence, and prevent their being torn from them and carried to - distant cities, which is to bring up their daughters to be courtesans. - This is now done by all the poorer of the common people, who since - the conquest have been maltreated by their lords, and have had ruin - brought upon their families.[249] - -[249] Book i. - -It is recorded that the various classes of “kept women” in Greece were -foreigners, that they were either bought or captured from surrounding -countries. As in the case of the Lydians and Babylonians, they were -doubtless carried from their homes at a tender age after having been -reared to their profession. Many of the maidens thus taken to Greece -subsequently became philosophers, statesmen, and scholars, whereupon -they abandoned their former calling. Lysias mentions the fact that -Philyra gave up her former course when she was still quite young, -“and so did Scione, and Hippaphesis, and Theoclea, and Psamathe, and -Lagisca, and Anthea.”[250] - -[250] _Athenæus_, book xiii. - -As special mention is made of a woman who “did not cease to live a -prostitute when she began to learn philosophy,”[251] we may reasonably -infer that it was usual for these women to abandon the calling to which -they had been born and bred, so soon as from such teachers as Aspasia -and Hipparchia they began to imbibe principles of self-respect and -womanly independence. - -[251] _Ibid._, book xiii. - -From the position occupied by the hetairai it is evident that by the -philosophers of Greece, they were regarded with that respect which is -ever due to cultured womanhood; indeed, from the evidence at hand we -may believe that they were the most highly honoured citizens in Athens. - -All women in Greece who prostituted themselves were forbidden to take -sacred names; yet of Nemeas, Athenæus says: “And we may wonder how it -was that the Athenians permitted a courtesan to have such a name, which -was that of a most honourable and solemn festival.”[252] - -[252] _Ibid._, book xiii. - -Of Glycera it is related that Harpalus issued an edict that no one -should present him with a crown, unless the donor at the same time -presented one to her. He erected a statue to her and permitted her -to dwell in the palace of Tarsus where he allowed her “to receive -adoration from the people”; he permitted her also to bear the title of -Queen, and “to be complimented with other presents which are only fit -for your own mother and your own wife.”[253] - -[253] _Athenæus_, book xiii. - -Timotheus, who was a general of very high repute in the Athenian army, -was the son of a courtesan; we are informed, however, that she was “a -courtesan of very excellent character.”[254] The great Themistocles is -said to have been the son of Abrotonum, a “courtesan.” - -[254] _Ibid._, book xiii. - -It is recorded that in response to an order issued by the people, -Praxiteles made a solid gold statue of one of the hetairai, which was -consecrated in the temple of Delphi. Certainly the deathless models of -Greek art formed by Praxiteles and Phidias are not representations of -coarse and sensualized womanhood. - -That these women were a power in Athens during the Periclean age may -not, in view of the facts recorded in relation to them, be disputed. Of -them it has been said: - - None but they could gather round them of an evening the choicest - spirits of the day, and elicit, in the freedom of unrestrained - intercourse, wit and wisdom, flashing fancy and burning eloquence. - What wonder that the hetairai should have filled so prominent a part - in Greek society! And how small a compensation to virtuous women to - know their rivals could not stand at the altar when sacrifice was - offered, could not give birth to a citizen. - -In this acknowledgment of the exalted position occupied by the Greek -hetairai the author, like most writers upon the subject of the sexual -relations, measures virtue not by its antithesis to vice, but by the -established masculine standards which have been set up for women to -conform to. A Greek wife’s life may have been one continuous scene of -subjection to the lowest appetites of a master for whom she may have -had not the least degree of respect or affection, and who regarded her -only in the light of an instrument for his convenience and pleasure; -still such an one would doubtless be accounted as a “virtuous” woman in -contradistinction to one of the hetairai whose position enabled her to -control her own person and who was able to exercise her own will-power -in protecting it against the excesses of Greek men. It is evident that -this class of women more than any other in Greece was able to direct -its movements and manage its activities, and, therefore, if we bear -in mind the characters correlated in the female constitution with the -maternal instinct, we may be assured that among the entire population -of Athens, the lives of these women were the most pure and the least -addicted to excesses. - -Aspasia, the philosopher and statesman; Hipparchia, practical professor -of Cynic philosophy and one of the most voluminous and esteemed writers -of her time; Thargelia, the Milesian, whom Xerxes employed at the -court of Thessaly, and many others scarcely less renowned, prove that -through the exercise of that personal freedom enjoyed by the hetairai, -women had at length risen to that position in which they were able to -exert a powerful influence, not only on the affairs of state, but upon -the intellectual development of the Athenians and the entire world. To -say that these women have been written about in an age in which male -power and male influence have been in the ascendency, is to say that -they have been misunderstood and their movements misinterpreted. - -Because of the efforts put forth by scholastics for two thousand years -to belittle or annul the importance of the services rendered by the -hetairai, they will doubtless for some time continue to be judged not -by their intellectual vigour nor by what they accomplished, but by -the social position into which, through the exigencies of masculine -domination, they had been jostled. The fact has been observed that less -than two centuries prior to the age of Aspasia and Socrates, Solon -had given to the calling of prostitution the sanction of religion and -law; that he had purchased a sufficient number of young slaves from -surrounding countries to satisfy the demands of the men of Greece; -and that he had made the calling of these girls a source of public -revenue for which services he had received the title of “Saviour of -the State.” We would scarcely expect, therefore, to find chastity -among the prominent virtues of the Periclean age. I wish to emphasize -the fact that by the conditions of society at that time, the class -designated as hetairai, although they were in a certain sense free, -were practically prevented, no matter what may have been their natural -inclinations or aspirations, from rising to a higher plane of moral -action, and furthermore that the existing conditions were wholly -the result of the supremacy gained by the lower propensities over -the higher forces developed in human nature. Had these gifted women -accepted the position of wife, ignorance and seclusion would have been -their portion, while their sexual degradation would have been none -the less complete or perfect; indeed it would have been all the more -intolerable, for the reason that the degradation of their persons, -which in the position of hetairai was sued for as a privilege, in the -position of wife would have been claimed as a right. - -By most writers upon this subject the fact seems to have been -overlooked, or, if observed, has not been acknowledged, that -licentiousness among women during a certain period of Greek life, about -which so much has been written, was governed wholly by the demands -of their masters; in fact, throughout the history of mankind since -the ascendency of the male over the female has been gained, the class -which has controlled the means of support, and within which has resided -all the power to direct the activities of women, has ever regulated -the supply of victims to be offered upon the altar of lust; and in -all these regulations may be observed such an adjustment of women’s -“duties” to the “necessities” of the male nature, that no alternative -has been left them but submission. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -ROMAN LAW, ROMAN WOMEN, AND CHRISTIANITY - - -The far-reaching results of the various schools of philosophy which -rose in Greece during the Periclean age will be noted in this chapter. -That the principles involved in this philosophy may not have been -formulated by the hetairai of Athens is doubtless true, yet that the -inception and development of these principles were largely due to -the freedom of these gifted women seems probable, especially when we -remember the conditions under which this philosophy arose. - -A glance at the principles involved in the Stoic philosophy will show -its thoroughly altruistic character. The sum of its tenets was to “live -according to nature’s laws,” to subordinate one’s self to the welfare -of one’s family, one’s country, and the entire race, and to “rise -above the gross indulgences and pleasures of the vulgar” to higher -laws of thought and action; it taught that to be just, and to live -according to the dictates of reason rather than to be governed by the -promptings of blind passion and the desire of the appetites, should -be not only the duty but the highest pleasure of mankind. Possibly -some of the minor precepts of the Stoic philosophy were absurd; no -doubt in their desire for reform, its founders set up a canon of -conduct which was severe and impracticable; but its fundamental -principles, the subjection of the animal in man to the reasoning -faculties, as applied to future Roman law, Roman civilization, and -Roman character, served to produce specimens of manhood which the women -of all subsequent ages should delight to honour. So long as virtue is -applauded and moral greatness is exalted, the enactments of the Roman -jurisconsults in the interest of women, prior to, and during the time -of the Antonine Cæsars, will stand forth throughout the ages as the -one single movement, during thousands of years, toward the removal -of the legal disabilities of women. When we remember that the Stoic -philosophy took root and flourished during an age of unparalleled -profligacy which was stimulated and encouraged by the example of the -most opulent and luxurious personages among the Greeks, and at a time -when licentiousness had for centuries been sanctioned by religion and -upheld by laws made by the men of Greece, it is quite evident that some -potent influence, which had hitherto been unfelt, had been in operation -to produce it. - -In order to understand the influence which the Stoic philosophy exerted -on civilization, and especially on the legal position of women, we -must first understand its effect upon Roman law. An inquiry into the -changes which had been wrought in Roman jurisprudence at the time of -the Antonine Cæsars, by engrafting upon it the underlying principles -contained in the Stoic philosophy, discloses the fact that the -emancipation of women had been practically accomplished in Rome. - -Perhaps there is no subject which at the present time possesses greater -interest for inquiring women than that concerning the status of their -sex under the older Roman law; for, by an understanding of woman’s -legal status, as fixed under this institution at a time when man had -gained the summit of his power over her, is furnished a key whereby may -be unlocked many of the mysteries surrounding the still extant social -and legal disabilities of women. - -The thoroughly egoistic character of the principles underlying the -older Roman law has been noticed in a former portion of this work. We -have seen that in Rome the father, who was the sole representative of -the family, had drawn to himself not only all the authority over the -child which under the earlier gentile organization of society had been -acknowledged as belonging exclusively to the mother, but, ignoring -individual liberty, and all the principles of personal freedom which -had been established under the matriarchal system, had proclaimed -himself absolute sovereign over all within the agnatic bond. The divine -oracle of Apollo, which had enunciated the doctrine that the soul of -the child is derived from the father, had at the same time declared -that the mother has to do only with furnishing the body. Thus the -father, as Creator, became the household god; his authority, as we have -seen, being supreme even to the exercise of the power of life and death -over its members. - -Under ancient law, the father, as head of the household, really -constituted the family, the remaining members being merely ciphers -which, from the peculiar position in which they were placed, were -without significance except as vassals under the strictest tutelage of -their master. Under this august system of father-worship, males as well -as females had become enslaved. The bondage of men, however, differed -somewhat from the “perpetual tutelage of women,” in the fact that they -themselves in time might become heads of families, and in that imperial -position to assume the same authority and dominion over others as had -been exercised over them. Women, however, could never become heads of -families, and therefore could never hope to be free. So long as they -remained single they were under the tutelage of their blood-relations, -or were subject to the authority of some individual whom the father, -before his death, might choose to appoint over them as guardian. Thus -arose the law known as the Perpetual Tutelage of Women. Upon this -subject Sir Henry Maine says: - - Ancient law subordinates the woman to her blood-relations, while a - prime phenomenon of modern jurisprudence has been her subordination - to her husband. The history of the change is remarkable. It begins far - back in the annals of Rome. Anciently, there were three modes in which - marriage might be contracted according to Roman usage, one involving a - religious solemnity, the other two the observance of certain secular - formalities. By the religious marriage of _Confarreation_; by the - higher form of civil marriage, which was called _Coemption_; and by - the lower form, which was termed _Usus_, the husband acquired a number - of rights over the person and property of his wife, which were on - the whole in excess of such as are conferred on him in any system of - modern jurisprudence. But in what capacity did he acquire them? Not - as _Husband_, but as _Father_. By the _Confarreation_, _Coemption_, - and _Usus_, the woman passed in _manum viri_—that is, in law she - became the _Daughter_ of her husband. She was included in his _Patria - Potestas_. She incurred all the liabilities springing out of it while - it subsisted, and surviving it when it had expired. All her property - became absolutely his and she was retained in tutelage after his death - to the guardian whom he had appointed by will.[255] - -[255] _Ancient Law_, p. 149. - -On this subject of male supremacy in the family Mr. Maine remarks: - - The foundation of Agnation is not the marriage of Father and Mother, - but the authority of the Father. All persons are Agnatically bound - together who are under the same Paternal Power, or who have been under - it, or who might have been under it if their lineal ancestor had - lived long enough to exercise his empire.[256] - -[256] _Ancient Law_, p. 144. - -Under this bond would be united all the children belonging to the -head of the household and all the descendants of the sons, but not of -the daughters; the daughters’ children under this manner of reckoning -descent belonged to the families of their respective fathers. Although -under this system a man might adopt a stranger into his family, and -invest him with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto, -no descendant of a daughter could claim any of the rights of agnation. -Under Hindu law, which is saturated with the primitive notions of -family dependency, in the genealogies, the names of women are omitted -altogether. We are assured by Mr. Maine that the exclusion of women -from governmental functions certainly had its origin in agnation. Thus -it is seen that paternity had come to involve the idea of a supreme -ruler or potentate, and that the overshadowing predominance of the -male over the female had paved the way to the future worship of one -all-powerful male deity. - -We have seen that the principles involved in the Stoic philosophy -were justice, equality, and the subjection of the appetites to the -dictates of reason and conscience. So soon as Greece was subjugated -by Rome, the ablest of the Romans espoused the principles embodied in -this philosophy, and notably among those who became interested in its -tenets were the Roman lawyers, who began immediately to reconstruct the -civil law upon the principles underlying this system. - -That it is only through a return to the archaic and natural principles -of justice and right living, the acknowledgment of which at once -establishes the proper relations of the sexes, that women may ever hope -to be free, is plain to all those who have given attention to this -subject. This fact was evidently observed by the Roman lawyers who, -through the persistency with which only those labour who are engaged -in establishing a principle, had so far succeeded in overcoming the -prejudice against sex as to have established a legal code wherein was -practically recognized the equality of women with men. - -Doubtless the Romans were as tenacious of their ancient customs, -prejudices, and long-established privileges as have been the people -of any other country; hence we may perhaps form a faint idea of the -obstacles which presented themselves, and of the devices which must -have been resorted to by Roman jurists in an endeavour to remove the -existing legal restrictions upon the liberties of women. - -Mr. Maine informs us that Gaius, a celebrated jurist who lived in the -age of the Antonine Cæsars, devoted an entire volume to descriptions of -the ingenious expedients devised by Roman lawyers to evade the letter -of the ancient law, and that it was through this source that the fact -finally became known that in the age of the Antonine Cæsars the legal -disabilities of women had been practically annulled. - -From the facts at hand it is observed that the object of the Roman -lawyers was to frame an edictal jurisprudence which should supersede -the older law, or which in effect should annul its power. We are -informed that the prætor was not only the chief equity judge, but that -he was also the common-law magistrate. So soon, therefore, as the edict -had passed through the necessary formalities enabling it to become a -law, the prætor’s court began to apply it in place, or by the side of -the civil law, “which was directly or indirectly repealed without any -express enactment of legislation.” In reference to the legal status of -women in the age of the Antonine Cæsars, Henry Maine observes: “Led by -their theory of natural law, the jurisconsults had at this time assumed -the equality of the sexes as a principle of their code of equity.”[257] - -[257] _Ancient Law_, p. 149. - -Although the seed, sown in Greece during the Periclean age when -conveyed to Rome, produced a golden harvest, the fact will doubtless -be remembered that the Roman lawyers had but just completed their work -of establishing the legal equality of the sexes when the agencies -which for years had been at work to destroy the Empire culminated; and -finally, when Christianity, in the person of Constantine ascended the -throne, the results of four centuries of civilization were destroyed, -or for more than sixteen hundred years were practically annulled. - -Regarding the changes which had been wrought in the legal status of -women in the age of the Antonine Cæsars, we are informed that whereas -under the older Roman law a woman at marriage came under the Patria -Potestas of her husband, under the later law, as influenced by the -principles involved in the Stoic philosophy, she remained as a member -of her own family, or was placed under the protection of a guardian -appointed by her parents, whose jurisdiction over her, although -superior to that of her husband, was not such as to interfere with -her personal liberty; thus, the same as under matriarchal usages, the -situation of the Roman woman, whether married or single, was one of -great influence. Of this freedom exercised by women in the time of the -Antonine Cæsars, Mr. Maine remarks: - - But Christianity tended somewhat from the very first to narrow this - remarkable liberty.... The latest Roman Law, so far as it is touched - by the Constitutions of the Christian Emperors, bears some marks - of a reaction against the liberal doctrines of the great Antonine - jurisconsults. And the prevalent state of religious sentiment may - explain why it is that modern jurisprudence, forged in the furnace of - barbarian conquest, and formed by the fusion of Roman jurisprudence - with patriarchal usage, has absorbed, among its rudiments, much more - than usual of those rules concerning the position of women which - belong peculiarly to an imperfect civilization.[258] - -[258] _Ancient Law_, p. 150. - -Concerning the influence of ecclesiasticism on that portion of Roman -jurisprudence relating particularly to women, Mr. Lecky observes: - - Wherever the canon law has been the basis of legislation, we find laws - of succession sacrificing the interests of daughters and of wives, and - a state of public opinion which has been formulated and regulated by - these laws. - -By means of a formulated ecclesiastical jurisprudence the complete -inferiority of the sex was maintained, - - and that generous public opinion, which in Rome had frequently - rebelled against the injustice done to girls in depriving them of - the greater portion of the inheritance of their fathers, totally - disappeared. - -In comparing the Roman law with the canon or ecclesiastical code, the -same writer says that the pagan laws during the Empire were constantly -repealing the old disabilities of women; but that it was the aim of -the canon law to substitute enactments which should entail on the -female sex the greatest personal restrictions and the most stringent -subordination.[259] - -[259] _European Morals_, vol. ii., p. 358. - -Those who have paid attention to the history of the English Common -Law, which forms the basis of our present system of jurisprudence, and -who have noted the part played by ecclesiasticism in fixing the status -of women therein, will not be surprised at the attitude which the -so-called Christian Church has assumed toward women. Referring to the -Common Law, an able writer has said: - - This imperishable specimen of human sagacity is, strange to say, so - grossly unjust toward women that a great writer upon that code has - well observed that in it women are regarded not as persons but as - things; so completely were they stripped of all their rights, and held - in subjection to their proud and imperious masters.[260] - -[260] Buckle’s _Essays_. - -It has been remarked that in no one particular does the canon law -depart so widely from the spirit of secular jurisprudence as in the -view it takes of the relations created by marriage. Although the leaven -of civilization preserved from Roman institutions was the codified -jurisprudence of Justinian, as the chapter of law relating to women -was read by the light of canon law, the altruistic principles which -had characterized the later Roman code soon became extinct. Upon this -subject Mr. Maine remarks: - - This was in part inevitable since no society which preserves any - tincture of Christian institutions is likely to restore to married - women the personal liberty conferred on them by the middle Roman law. - -And this is doubtless true for the reason that the entire Christian -superstructure rests on the dogma of female weakness and female -depravity. The doctrine of Original Sin, which depends entirely on the -story of the fruit-tree of Genesis being taken in a literal sense, had -by canonists been accepted. On her first appearance upon the scene of -action, woman is labouring under a curse pronounced upon her by an -all-powerful male God for the mischief she had wrought on innocent man; -it is only reasonable, therefore, that human law should unite with -the divine decree in establishing her complete and final degradation; -hence, the return to the ancient Hindu law and the older Roman code for -models of legislation concerning her. - -On this subject Mr. Maine remarks: - - I do not know how the operation and nature of the ancient Patria - Potestas can be brought so vividly before the mind as by reflecting on - the prerogatives attached to the husband by the pure English Common - Law, and by recalling the rigorous consistency with which the view of - a complete legal subjection on the part of the wife is carried by it, - where it is untouched by equity or statutes, through every department - of rights, duties, and remedies.[261] - - [261] _Ancient Law_, p. 154. - - - NOTE.—As the position of women among the early German hordes was one - of great dignity and respect, it may scarcely be argued that the - sentiments embodied in the English Common Law relative to wives were - in any degree the result of innate Teutonic prejudice against the - female sex. #/ - -Notwithstanding the efforts which for several centuries were put forth -in Rome to secure to women that independence which under the earlier -Roman law had been denied them, in the code of Justinian, which was -compiled in the early part of the sixth century, no word respecting -the remarkable degree of liberty which under the later Roman law was -accorded to women appears; and but for the discovery of the manuscript -of Gaius, to which reference has already been made, we would never -have become acquainted with the changes which had been wrought in -this particular branch of Roman jurisprudence. In the Justinian code, -instead of the humane edicts of the later, or middle Roman law, -appeared the Canon or ecclesiastical law, by means of which women were -condemned to a state of servitude even more degrading than that which -had been imposed on them by the older law. - -Had mediæval scholasticism succeeded in concealing from the world the -information contained in the manuscript of Gaius, still there would -have remained sufficient evidence left to prove that in the second -century of the present era woman’s freedom had been practically won. -That women themselves were claiming absolute legal equality with men -may not be doubted. Honoria, a Roman matron, first enunciated the -principle: Taxation without representation is tyranny.[262] Cato’s -celebrated oration in which he passionately exclaims: If you allow -your women to be your equals how long will it be before they become -your superiors?[263] shows that a certain type of men were becoming -alarmed over the growing independence of women. - -[262] Roman History. Appian, London, 1913. - -[263] The History of Rome. Titus Livius, p. 172. - -The freeing of women from the bondage entailed on them by the older -Roman law, an achievement which had required more than three centuries -to accomplish, was a triumph for civilization unparalleled during the -historic period. That this triumph over tyranny was of short duration -is shown in the sequel to this movement. - -That the coming of Jesus at a time when the principles of justice and -equality were becoming the recognized rule of life among the better -class of Romans is not surprising. No one may study Greek philosophy -without noting the similarity between it and the teachings of Christ. -Justice, self-restraint, and regard for the rights and feelings of -others, principles which when applied to Roman law had liberated women -from the tyranny of the past, were also the principles taught by Jesus. -It seems to have been the mission of the latter to convey these lofty -doctrines to the multitude. Do unto others as you would have others do -unto you was not however understood by the masses who knew no other -rule of life than that of selfishness and ungoverned lust. Hence in -process of time the new movement came to have no other effect than to -add to the already established evils another quite as contemptible, -namely—hypocrisy. - -Among the earliest Christians theological disputes were unknown. -Original sin and the doctrine of a vicarious atonement whereby a man -is “saved” not from sin but from the penalty for sin were unheard of. -To spread the simple principles enunciated by Jesus and by so doing to -kindle into life the divine spark in man, seem to have constituted the -object and aim of the earliest Christians. The activities necessary for -the propagation of these principles were shared alike by both sexes. -Women exhorted, prophesied, and prayed in the churches. They baptized -their own sex. One of them wrote a gospel which, so long as woman’s -influence continued, was in use among the Christians. - -Such were the conditions when Paul, a Jew who had espoused the new -religion, first appeared on the scene. An extant legend describes this -man as small in stature and of ignoble bearing. According to this -legend Paul was bald-headed and bow-legged. As to his intellectual -ability we have the following Corinthians x., 10: “For his letters -they were weighty and strong but his speech is of no account.” It is -elsewhere recorded of him that “his speech was contemptible.” From -what is known of this man Paul it is evident that he was domineering, -self-sufficient, and aggressive. He quarrelled with Peter and was -intolerant of the ideas of his associates. His forceful character, his -untiring energy, his zeal for the cause which he had espoused and above -all his capacity for organization soon gained for him the leadership of -the new movement. - -Nowhere is it recorded that during the earlier years of Paul’s -Christian career he attempted to discourage, or curtail, the activities -of women. On the contrary he refers to them as co-workers, acknowledges -them as prophets, and praises their ministrations. In his writings, the -name of Priscilla occurs many times. Phœbe, Claudia, Julia and others -are regarded as worthy of mention by him. As his influence and power -increased, however, his egoism began to assert itself. It is evident -that Paul’s strong masculine nature could no longer tolerate a religion -which might with some degree of consistency be regarded as a feminine -movement. The old doctrine enunciated by Apollo during the reign of -Cecrops namely that man is a divine emanation while woman is only human -must be revived. - -The following from Paul’s writings shows that his aim was to crush the -influence and power exercised by women, and the means employed was to -subject them to the dominion of their husbands. - - The head of every man is Christ; and the head of every woman is the - man and the head of Christ is God. - - For the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man. Neither was - the man created for the woman but the woman for the man. - - Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted - unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience. - - And if they would learn anything let them ask their husbands at home. - -That women were no longer to be the equals and companions of their -husbands but that they were to become sexual slaves is indicated by the -command, “Wives subject yourselves unto your husbands.” - -It must be remembered that these commands of Paul were not, as has -been frequently asserted, delivered to and about weak, ignorant women -devoid of influence, but were directed against those whose position of -equality in the new religion had not before been questioned, and whose -legal disabilities had at that time been well-nigh removed. - -Before the close of the second century, the simple, ethical teachings -of Jesus were forgotten. Christianity had disappeared and Paulism had -taken its place. A century later, after the Empire had come under the -control of so-called Christian rule, woman’s influence, as we have -already seen, entirely disappeared. All that had been gained by means -of the middle Roman law had been annulled by the decrees of the Canon -law. - -Pauline Christianity in the fourth century A.D. was an attempt to -re-establish that form of Paganism which had prevailed prior to the -rise of Greek philosophy. This older religion, which had its origin -in Sun worship, or in the worship of the two fecundating principles -throughout nature, had as early as the Periclean age ceased to claim -the attention of the educated classes among the Greeks. Æschylus -barely escaped being stoned to death for heresy, and as is well known, -Socrates the founder of the Stoic philosophy was forced to drink of -the fatal cup because of his unbelief in the prevailing superstitions. -Not to destroy Paganism itself but to exterminate the last vestige of -Greek philosophy was the task which the Pauline Christians had set -themselves to perform. Jesus now became the new Solar Deity and all -the forms observed under the older Paganism were now attached to his -worship. He was born at the winter solstice, or at the time when the -sun had reached its zenith and was about to return. He died and was -buried, but at the vernal equinox, Easter, the time at which all nature -is revived—he arose from the dead and became the Saviour of mankind. -The entire Christian calendar is copied from the ancient Pagan worship. -A medal was struck on which appeared the figure of a man on a cross, -on the obverse side of which was the representation of a blazing sun. -Christ was the new Sun of Righteousness, the giver and preserver of -life. - -Every page in the history of the Pauline religion reveals its masculine -origin. The Deities worshipped are a Father and a Son. All the angels -and archangels are men. All extant Gospels and Epistles have been -written and expounded by men. It is true that in response to a popular -demand in the fifth century for a recognition of the female principle, -the Virgin Mary, an ancient Deity, reappeared. The lateness of her -coming, however, shows that she was an afterthought. Moreover, it must -be borne in mind that, true to the ancient doctrine which was revived -by Paul relative to the divinity of man and the material nature of -woman, the Mother of Jesus was human while the Father and the Son were -divine. She was matter. They were spirit. - -Among the discussions of the early Pauline “Fathers” none was more -important than these. Ought women to be allowed to learn the alphabet? -And has woman a soul? It is recorded that a few of these pious leaders -entertained the opinion that because of the great power and goodness -of the Almighty “women may possibly be permitted to rise as men at the -resurrection.” - -As we have seen, to destroy Greek philosophy was the slogan of the new -movement. The destruction of the Alexandrian library by a fanatical -mob led by Archbishop Theophilus is an example of the fury with which -all institutions not directly connected with the new religion were -attacked. As is well known, this library contained the accumulated -knowledge of a highly civilized people, extending over a period of -several thousands of years. Among the priceless treasures stored -in this library were the records of astronomical observations -scientifically registered during a period of not less than three -thousand years. - -The lectures delivered by Hypatia in Alexandria during the latter part -of the fourth century were the last attempt made to stem the tide of -fanaticism which was destined to sweep over a large portion of the -habitable globe. The fate of Hypatia who was foully murdered by a mob -led by St. Cyril was a forecast of the fate which awaited any and all -who should henceforth dare to think or act independently of the new -religion. - -When Greek philosophy was no longer taught, the principles of equality -and liberty which had been incorporated into the middle Roman law were -annulled or practically forgotten; and when the doctrine of woman’s -inferiority and total depravity became crystallized not only in -religion but in law and in all the customs of the time, women sank to a -degree of degradation never before witnessed in the history of mankind. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE RENAISSANCE - - -If the theory that the higher faculties and the moral sense originated -in the female and that these qualities are by her transmitted to -offspring, then the conditions existing in the first half of the -sixteenth century are easily explained; or if, as is clearly proved by -the facts brought out by scientists, woman represents the constructive -and combining element in human society without which organized society -would have been impossible, the degeneracy observed after thirteen -hundred years during which time women were wholly without influence -and power is exactly what might be expected. Indeed it is not singular -that with the disintegrating or destructive forces in command over the -conserving or constructive elements that war and religion should have -become the business of the world and that a state of society should -have prevailed which was in strict accord with these conditions. - -However, that the constructive element was not dead is shown by the -mental and moral unrest which began to manifest itself in the latter -half of the sixteenth century. Women began to learn the alphabet and -in a weak way to demand concessions hitherto denied them. Many men of -genius who like the jurisconsults of Rome had not been submerged by -the degeneracy of their time defied their persecutors and secretly -promulgated the scientific theories which were to revolutionize human -thought. - -The demand for freedom of conscience and for the release of the -intellect and reason from the domination of bigotry and superstition -constituted one of the first steps toward reform. Galileo, Bruno, -Copernicus, and Harvey are notable examples of the revolt against the -intellectual tyranny which prevailed. - -It is not a little singular that at this time the throne of England -was occupied by a woman and that her reign should have been the most -brilliant that that country has ever enjoyed. It has frequently been -said that the success of Elizabeth’s reign was due not to her greatness -but to that of the statesmen whom she called about her. But even were -this true, which it is not, it would not detract from her greatness. -The innate qualities developed within Queen Elizabeth, namely genius -and intuition, can alone explain the brilliancy of her reign. - -It is to be doubted if the progressive principle has ever been wholly -dead. That even during the darkest period of the Middle Ages the -constructive element was still alive in Europe is shown in the fact -that as early as the year 1215 the idea of individual human liberty had -already been formulated. In the Magna Charta wrested from King John at -Runnymede appears the following: - - No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or - banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him or upon him - send except by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the - land. To no one will we sell; to no one will we deny or delay right or - justice. - -Although a few attempts were made during the sixteenth century -to better the conditions of the masses of the people, as all the -institutions for the perpetuation of the slavery of the masses were -firmly established, little was accomplished in this direction. That -reforms move slowly is shown in the fact that as late as the beginning -of the nineteenth century of the Christian era, the greater portion -of the human race was in a state of bondage. Slavery existed in every -quarter of the globe. In Russia, in 1855, there were forty-eight -millions of serfs, and in Austria and Prussia the peasantry were nearly -all slaves. In Hungary nine millions of human beings belonged to a -subject class. - -Although no slaves were owned in England, slavery still existed in her -colonies. In the West Indies the whip was freely used, and prior to the -year 1820 no voice had been raised against the flogging of women on -the plantations. In Scotland, down to the last year of the eighteenth -century, colliers and salters were slaves and bound to their service -for life, being bought and sold with the works at which they laboured. -Although America had put down the slave-trade, she still owned slaves, -and continued to traffic in them until the year 1863. - -The history of legislation during the historic period shows that -it has ever been in the interest of the rich against the poor, the -strong against the weak. In France, at the beginning of the nineteenth -century, liberty was extinct. “The rich man could purchase for money -the power to destroy those whom he hated.”[264] - -[264] Robert Mackenzie, _The Nineteenth Century_, p. 9. - -The lawmakers of the age which we are considering were gentlemen -landowners, and as such were able to exercise their cupidity in a -degree which precluded all idea of justice to the poorer classes. The -abuses of government, the corn-laws, the enormous tax on salt and on -the various necessities of life, show somewhat of the extent to which -the poor were systematically robbed by the rich. - -The law passed in 1350, at Bannockburn, regulating the movements of the -British workingmen, and which prohibited combinations among them, was -in force until 1824. The evident object of this law was to repress the -labourer and deprive him of his just earnings. Although this enactment -was known to be oppressive, the working-classes were not possessed of -sufficient influence to cause its repeal. - -In England, women with their children worked in coal pits, and in the -darkness, on hands and feet, dragged about wagons fastened to their -waists by chains. Of this Mr. Mackenzie says: - - Children of six were habitually employed. Their hours of labour were - fourteen to sixteen daily. The horrors among which they lived induced - disease and early death. Law did not seem to reach to the depths - of a coal-pit, and the hapless children were often mutilated and - occasionally killed with perfect impunity by the brutalized miners - among whom they laboured. There was no machinery to drag the coals to - the surface, and women climbed long wooden stairs with baskets of coal - upon their backs. - -In the factories, also, as late as 1832 children of six years of age -worked from thirteen to fifteen hours daily. If they fell asleep they -were flogged. Sometimes through exhaustion they fell upon the machinery -and were injured—possibly crushed,—an occurrence which caused little -concern to any except the mothers, who had learned to bear their pangs -in silence. These children, who were stunted in size and disposed to -various acute diseases, were also scrofulous and consumptive. In 1832 -the recruiting surgeon could find no men to suit his purpose in the -manufacturing districts. - -Throughout Europe, the prevailing idea concerning the management of -criminals seems to have been vengeance. One would scarcely believe, -except on trustworthy authority, that at the beginning of the -nineteenth century the English criminal law recognized 223 capital -offences. Indeed, so strong was the feeling in favour of severity that -Edmund Burke said he could obtain the assent of the House of Commons -to any law imposing the penalty of death. If one shot a rabbit he was -hanged; if he injured Westminster Bridge he was hanged; if he appeared -disguised on a public road he was hanged, and so on. The hanging of -small groups was a common occurrence—children of ten years being -sometimes among the condemned.[265] - -[265] Robert Mackenzie, _The Nineteenth Century_, p. 77. - -A visit to the Five-Sided Tower in Nuremberg, in which are still -preserved various instruments of human torture, will give an idea of -the extreme cruelty practised upon political offenders and heretics a -century ago. - -The “Holy Alliance” of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, which was formed -ostensibly to insure peace and establish justice, but which in reality -was entered into to suppress free speech, check the growing liberties -of the people, and strengthen the belief in the “divine right of -kings,” shows the obstacles which had to be overcome before any -principle of justice and humanity could take root. - -The history of industrial and economic conditions since the beginning -of the eighteenth century is largely the history of the common people. -The change from the Feudal system to that of the wage-earning régime -may not, as far as the working class is concerned, be regarded as -an unmixed blessing. Under Feudalism the “lord of the soil” was -responsible for the maintenance and well-being of his vassals, while -under the wage system the “captains of industry” assume no such -responsibility. If the labourer chooses to accept the terms offered -well and good, if he refuses he may starve; it is a matter of no -concern to the employer, for, are there not plenty of labourers who -stand ready to take his place? - -That the labourer was no less a slave under the wage-earning system -than he had been under Feudalism is shown in the fact that under the -first named as well as under the latter he had not the right of free -contract. He must take what was offered him or starve. - -As is well known the repression of the mental activities and the -low physical condition which for more than thirteen centuries had -prevailed, prevented the seed sown in the sixteenth century from -taking root among the masses of the people. Their instincts were -those of the slave and two centuries were required to waken them from -their lethargy. Finally, however, even among the class mentioned the -constructive forces began to assert themselves. Free thought and to -a certain extent free speech were established. With the further -development of liberal ideas a belief in the Divine Right of Kings and -in the principles underlying monarchial institutions became somewhat -weakened. A few attempts were even made to establish republics. Because -of the glimmering light of scientific truth put forth in the sixteenth -century, ecclesiastical authority was no longer supreme. - -Although many important steps had been taken to free men from the -thraldom of the past, so firmly had the idea of woman’s inferiority -been established that no thought of including her in the new régime was -ever entertained. - -Justice, equality, and liberty are subjects upon which man descants -loudly and long. He talks glibly of his free institutions and even -designates a number of his one-sided governments as republics, and this -too notwithstanding the fact that women are still denied representation -in the governments to which they owe allegiance, and that a large -proportion of men are still within the grasp of economic slavery; all -of which shows the extent to which the moral sense and the judgment -have been dwarfed by prejudice and selfishness. Democracy is still a -meaningless term—an ideal yet to be realized. - -At the beginning of the nineteenth century such were the conditions -surrounding women that an attempt on their part to extricate themselves -from their legal and social bondage would have proved utterly futile. -At that time women had practically no legal rights; even the right -to control their own bodies was denied them. As woman was dependent -upon man for support her sex-functions were controlled by him and the -children which she bore belonged exclusively to him. He constituted the -family—wife and children did not count. To a considerable extent these -conditions still prevail. - -Masculine law, masculine religion, and masculine ideas concerning the -duties and uses of the female sex had made of woman a nondescript—a -creature neither male nor female. Her mental constitution had become -atrophied, the diluted reflections of men’s opinions having been -substituted for the natural feminine instincts and ideas. Among the -great mass of women the original feminine type had disappeared. - -In process of time, however, women began slowly to awaken from the -hideous nightmare which threatened to destroy the last remaining -vestige of the instincts and ideas peculiar to the female constitution. -In the beginning of the nineteenth century some of the educational -advantages enjoyed by men began to be appropriated by women. Thus began -the unrest which now extends over the entire earth. - -About seventy years ago a movement was started by women to secure for -themselves the right to self-government. Immediately all the prejudice -which characterizes a sex-aristocracy was aroused. Ridicule, calumny, -and even personal abuse were directed against all those who were -intelligent enough or fearless enough to stem the tide of popular -indignation. - -For forty years, little or no progress was made toward securing the -right of self-government for women. As late as 1870 a woman who -openly avowed herself a suffragist was regarded not only as “bold and -unwomanly” but as a dangerous person. The most strenuous opposition -to the movement came from the clergy and the flocks over which they -presided. Whenever church women were asked to consider the question of -the equality of the sexes their unvarying reply was: “My bible forbids -it.” Now that the history of Pauline Christianity is better understood -its attitude toward the freedom of women needs no further explanation. - -When the then existing mental conditions are recalled and especially -when the religious prejudices of the time are considered the attitude -manifested toward the proposed enfranchisement of women is not perhaps -remarkable. - -Although forty years ago biological science was in its infancy enough -facts had at that time been discovered clearly to indicate the position -which Nature intended woman to occupy. By the scientists of that time, -however, the logical and unavoidable inferences to be drawn from -these facts were wholly ignored. During the ages of man’s undisputed -supremacy so deeply rooted had the idea of woman’s inferiority become -that these newly discovered facts concerning her development could not -be accepted—the old prejudices could not at once be uprooted. - -We have already observed that whenever and wherever Mr. Darwin and -other scientists of his time felt called upon to compare the relative -importance of men and women such comparison has invariably been to the -disadvantage of the latter and this too notwithstanding the fact that -the evidence which they themselves have elaborated warrants no such -conclusions. - -Forty years ago the doctrine that woman has no independent existence, -but that she is simply an appendage to man, was everywhere accepted and -taught not only by ecclesiastics but by scientists as well. Woman was -only a “rib” taken from the side of man. - -None of the doctrines elaborated for the guidance of women was so -explicit as those relating to the duties of wives. The cause for this -is obvious. Earlier in this work the fact has been noted that our -present form of marriage originated in force—that no other principle -was involved in it than coercion on the one side and unwilling -submission on the other. - -So long as the original idea underlying marriage is retained, or so -long as woman is recognized as the property of her husband and subject -to his control, no matter what may be achieved by individual women, the -belief in the inferiority of women as a class will continue. In other -words so long as women remain economic slaves dependent upon their -husband for support so long will their status remain unchanged. - -“She is my goods, my chattels, my household stuff.” - -There are in this country at the present time more than nine millions -of women engaged in earning their own livelihood. Many of these women -have families dependent upon them for support. The disadvantages under -which they labour are realized when we remember that their competitors -are their political and economic superiors and are therefore able to a -considerable extent to dictate the conditions under which these women -work; yet notwithstanding these unfavourable conditions this change in -woman’s environment represents an important step in the evolutionary -processes. By it women are learning that only through independence is -self-respect possible. - -We have already seen that whenever during the historic period, women -have had an opportunity to rise they have never failed to rebel -against the conditions imposed upon them. The women of Athens during -the Periclean age, the Spartan women under Lycurgus, and the women of -Rome during the time of the Antonine Cæsars are notable examples of -this fact. Even the Chinese women are claiming the right to govern -themselves. In these later years they are unbinding their feet and in -other ways are defying the forces which in the past have prevented -them from asserting their independence. The various examples of revolt -among women have hitherto been carried on by single nations or by -countries widely separated from one another. At the present time, -however, the women of the entire world have risen to demand the freedom -of their sex. However much those who favour the subjection of women may -deplore this movement even the most stupid among them will surely not -fail to recognize its importance. - -The history of human society during the last four hundred years has -for the most part been a struggle between the constructive elements -developed in human society and the destructive or disintegrating forces -which are the result of the unchecked egoism or selfishness developed -in man during the ages in which woman has been subject to his will. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -CONCLUSION - - -Scientific investigation has proved the great age of the earth and the -enormous length of time which has elapsed since the first appearance of -human beings upon its surface. Concerning the career of man during the -countless millions of years which followed his advent upon the earth, -little is known down to a comparatively recent time—a time commonly -designated as the historic period. - -When considering the past one is inclined to ask the question: “Does -the history of mankind represent an unbroken line of progress, or, -on the contrary, does it reflect a series of alternating periods of -development and decay?” - -We have observed that in recent times through the study of tribes -and races in the various stages of development much has been learned -concerning the origin of organized society and the development of human -institutions. We have also seen that through the legends, traditions, -and myths of the earliest historic peoples much reliable information -has been gained regarding the conditions which prevailed at a still -earlier period of human existence. - -Notwithstanding the proofs which in recent times have been obtained -relative to the law of periodicity which has thus far regulated human -progress the idea prevails that in our own time mental activity has -reached a stage never before witnessed. It is assumed that throughout -the entire history of mankind material and intellectual development has -never attained to such colossal proportions. It is evident that our -egoism has obscured our normal vision. We lack perspective. - -There is no evidence to prove that the present brain capacity of human -beings exceeds that of the earliest ages of human history, neither is -there any proof that the moral sense has been in the least reinforced. -The lofty moral and spiritual precepts which abound in the Upanishads -have never been surpassed—possibly never equalled. We are heirs of all -the ages. The accumulated knowledge of the past is responsible for -present achievements. - -Those who have made a study of tribes and races in the various stages -of development find much evidence going to prove that extant savage -tribes do not represent man as he first emerged from the animal type, -but, on the contrary, that they are the degenerate descendants of an -extinct civilized race differing little from our own. If this be true, -if human development which thus far seems to have been wholly material -contain within itself the seeds of its own destruction, would it not -be wise for the present generation to examine existing conditions in -order to ascertain if we too have not already entered upon the path of -degeneracy or decay? - -Possibly this will be regarded as a pessimistic suggestion, but as has -already been observed, a comparison between the conditions existing in -prehistoric times and those which prevail under the present so-called -civilized régime fully justifies this suggestion. - -Those persons who have acquainted themselves with the available facts -underlying the growth of organized society and the development of -existing institutions, and who have co-ordinated these facts with -the present situation are able to trace not only the growth of the -destructive principle in human affairs but are able to forecast with -a considerable degree of accuracy the results which must inevitably -follow. Without a knowledge of the past it is impossible to understand -or interpret the present. - -We are living in a remarkable age. It is to be doubted if throughout -the entire historic period there has been a time when passing events -moved so swiftly or when they assumed the magnitude of those now taking -place. Causes which were set up during prehistoric times have reached a -climax. The inevitable results from those causes are upon us. - -In order to compare the past and the present it becomes necessary -briefly to recall some of the already recorded facts relative to -existing conditions under early organized society. - -When human beings lived closer to nature and before the natural checks -to the lower or disintegrating forces had been withdrawn, the basic -principles underlying human action were equality and liberty. No member -of a communal group could claim any right or privilege not enjoyed -by all. There was no poverty and no crime. Disease as we know it was -unknown. As the lands were held in common, women were absolutely free -and independent. They chose their mates and were responsible for the -well-being of their offspring. As women controlled the sexual relation -and themselves regulated prenatal conditions, the children inherited -strong bodies and healthy minds. Dissensions over property did not -occur, and jealousy and a desire for personal aggrandizement had not -been developed. - -The religious worship of primitive people consisted for the most -part in invocations to the Great Mother, the fructifying principle -throughout nature, from whom were derived all earthly benefits. Later -the Great Mother came to be worshipped under various appellations, -namely, Cybele, or Astarte, in Asia Minor, Athene in Greece, Minerva -in Rome, and Isis or Neith in Egypt. Finally, as is well known, -these goddesses were dethroned by an all-powerful male God, an -anthropomorphic deity whose chief attribute was virile might. This -change in the god-idea was coincident with, and dependent upon, a -corresponding change in the relations of the sexes which took place at -a certain period in human history. The god-idea is now and ever has -been in strict accord with the existing conceptions concerning the -relative importance of the sex-functions in human beings. - -During thousands of years of life on “earth” the mother was the -only recognized parent. As the giver of life and the protector of -offspring she was regarded as the Creator and Preserver of the race. -She represented the constructive element in human society. Later, -however, when man began to contest the supremacy of woman, her hitherto -unquestioned prerogatives began to be claimed by him. It was at this -juncture in human affairs that the contention arose over the relative -importance of the sexes in the processes of reproduction. Not only -in the traditions and legends of early historic peoples but in their -histories as well there is much evidence given to prove that this -contention was as fierce as that which at the present time is going -on between the sexes. As a result of this contention both female and -male gods were worshipped. Those who recognized the mother as the giver -of life continued to worship the female principle, while those who -accepted the new doctrine enunciated by Apollo, namely, that the soul -of the child is derived from the father and the mother is only a nurse -to his heaven-born offspring, accepted the new religion. When the -dominion of man over woman was complete the female principle throughout -nature and in the god-idea was practically unrecognized or wholly -ignored. Throughout the historic period male power has been supreme not -only on the earth but also in heaven. Classical history is not wanting -in references to this change in the relations of the sexes and in the -god-idea which took place at a certain stage of human development. - -We are informed that in Greece, probably about 1100 years B.C., Cecrops -“instituted marriage and established a new religion.” The new religion -instituted by Cecrops was the doctrine that the father is the only -parent, that the soul of the child is derived from him, and that the -mother performs simply the office of nurse to his offspring. Woman -was no longer the creator or giver of life. She was matter while man, -who was henceforth to be her lord and master, was spirit. Marriage as -instituted by Cecrops was the natural and inevitable outcome of the -new religion. It was the first attempt of the Greek tribes to legalize -and control the sex-functions of women. The deeper one delves into the -mysteries of the past the more apparent does it become that the sexual -degradation of women is deeply rooted in religion. - -For untold ages early organized society proceeded along the line of -uninterrupted evolutionary progress. Although humanity was traversing -an unknown path the arts of life steadily increased. The production of -farinaceous food by means of which an exclusive meat diet was avoided -was an achievement of the utmost importance to the race. The idea of -government which at first included only the members of related groups -was extended to the tribe and even to the nation. - -Equality, freedom, and justice constituted the fundamental principles -of early organized society. Finally, however, through causes which have -already been set forth in these pages, this system gradually gave place -to a regime founded on selfishness, or egoism. At this time in human -affairs related groups could no longer defend themselves against the -aggressions of powerful hostile foes; jealousies arose and alien tribes -began to make war upon one another, the stronger appropriating the -lands of the weaker and making slaves of the people. The women of the -subjugated groups became the sexual slaves of the conquerors. As native -women were free, foreign women who could be controlled were greatly in -demand. Therefore frequent attacks were made on foreign groups for the -sole purpose of “carrying off” the women. - -The lands which had been held in common by all the members of the tribe -were now parcelled out among individual chieftains. The prestige given -to these “lords of the soil,” and the advantage gained by them through -the control of the natural resources and the means of subsistence, -soon gave rise to a privileged class—a class which in process of time -became masters of the masses of the people. When wars for conquest -and spoliation became general and when the communal system under -which the principles of liberty and equality had been established -gave place to a system founded on force the entire habitable globe -became a battle-ground upon which each and every individual struggled -fiercely with every other individual not only for place and power, -but for the means of subsistence as well. When the principles of -democracy established under gentile institutions gave place to a system -of governmental control under which only the rights of the few were -recognized, and when the unchecked disruptive forces had gained the -ascendency over the constructive elements developed in human nature, -the degeneracy of the race began. It is not difficult to trace the -steps by which this degeneracy has been accomplished. - -Although we of the present boast of our material achievements, -and although we arrogate to ourselves a most remarkable degree of -intelligence, enlightenment, and even culture, it is evident that we -have not risen above a plane of the grossest materialism, and that -in the truly human qualities, those which distinguish man from the -animal, we are sadly deficient. That in these later days the moral -sense has become atrophied is shown in the fact that our present tooth -and claw system, under which each individual must array himself against -every other individual in his struggle for existence, is regarded as -a practical exemplification of the principle of the “Survival of -the Fittest.” According to this interpretation, not those who are -best endowed, physically, mentally, and morally are the fittest to -survive, but on the contrary those who are best able to appropriate to -themselves the opportunities and advantages which belong to others. In -other words it is claimed that by the Survival of the Fittest is meant -the survival of those who because of their material advantages are able -to exploit their fellowmen. A few of the processes involved in the -control of the many by the few have already been mentioned. To maintain -the authority of the privileged class and to strengthen their hold on -the liberties of the people, Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Ecclesiasticism -were established and the Divine Right of Kings proclaimed. Intrenched -behind these mighty bulwarks the position of the usurpers has been -impregnable. Through enforced ignorance and superstition the “common -people” came to regard their situation not only as natural and -unavoidable but as representing the will of the Almighty. If they were -faithful to their masters in this world, in the world to come they -would be furnished with free transport to Fields Elysian. Strange to -relate this belief still prevails. - -At the present time the principle of human freedom is still struggling -for recognition, but the great mass of human beings, although boasting -of their civilization and enlightenment, continue to uphold the -principle that the few should rule the many. They regard their rulers -as superior beings whose authority may not be questioned. At the -present time we have before us the dismal spectacle of half a dozen -hereditary monarchs who with their satellites claim the right to -rule over nearly the whole of Europe and a large portion of Asia. -Twenty-five millions of men are now engaged in a deadly conflict to -further the commercial and territorial interests of their masters. - -When we compare present conditions with those which existed under early -organized society at a time when every individual member of a group was -equal in responsibility and power with every other member of the same -group we are enabled to perceive the path which mankind has taken on -its onward course. - -When one reflects on the peculiar trend of human development one may -feel no surprise over the fact that at this juncture in human affairs -there should arise a ruler in whom the desire for world-dominion is -clearly apparent. That such a potentate has already appeared is shown -in the following from Emperor William II. of Germany. - -“On me as Germany’s Emperor the spirit of God has descended. I am His -weapon, His sword, his vicegerent. Woe unto the disobedient. Death to -the unbeliever.” Here it is observed that this ruler aspires not only -to earthly dominion but also to divine recognition. - -To strangle the growing principles of liberty and to establish a system -founded on force under which the individual was to become only an -instrument to do the bidding of his lord and master was doubtless the -original object of those who instigated the present war. - -During the ages since the establishment of the authority of the few -over the many, the latter until a comparatively recent time have -offered little resistance to the tyranny exercised over them. Mentally -dwarfed the proletariat have not yet reached the degree of intelligence -necessary for a combination of interests. They have therefore remained -like dumb driven cattle subject only to the will of their masters. - -About sixty years ago through the efforts of a few leaders who had -begun to realize the situation, a certain degree of unrest began to -manifest itself among them, and forty years later the proletariat -succeeded in establishing an international organization ostensibly for -their own benefit as opposed to the interests of the ruling class. -They, however, lacked solidarity. The natural tendency of their sex -toward separateness or disintegration was not easily overcome. This -is shown in the case of the present European conflict. When the war -broke out instead of standing together they at once hastened to obey -the mandates of their respective rulers, and with no higher idea than -patriotism or nationality they at once began their brutal assault -upon one another. It was evident from the beginning that the German -socialists, they who had been the most conspicuous in the international -movement, were first, last, and all the time Germans and that after all -they were actuated only by one desire, namely, national aggrandizement. -So lacking are men in the principle of solidarity, and so deeply rooted -within them is the idea of separateness, that it is to be doubted if, -without the aid of woman, they will ever be able to free themselves -from the tyranny of the past. - -In very recent times a foe has arisen which threatens to be a greater -menace to the liberties of the masses of the people than were the foes -by which they were originally enslaved. I refer to the money power, or -plutocracy. - -During the last few years, through the application of scientific -methods to industry, and through mechanical inventions by means of -which the power and efficiency of labour have been greatly increased, -the accumulation of wealth has reached a point never before witnessed -in the history of the world, yet strange to relate, along with this -enormous increase in wealth there has been a corresponding increase in -poverty and crime. This immense wealth has not been shared by those who -produced it but has gone into the pockets of those who exploit labour -for profits. Along with this enormous increase in wealth is observed a -general lowering of standards both in private and public life. There -are in this country alone ten millions of people who are deprived -of the necessary food, clothing, and shelter to insure a healthful -existence. In the public schools of New York City it is reported that -six hundred thousand children are victims of malnutrition. In winter -thousands of hungry men and women go up and down the streets of our -large cities begging for an opportunity to earn a living. Our jails and -prisons are filled to overflowing. Our almshouses and insane asylums -are insufficient to meet the demands. Imbecility and other forms of -mental degeneracy are increasing at an alarming rate. Epilepsy and -other congenital diseases prevail among all classes and conditions of -the people. Five-sixths of the children born are diseased at birth. - -The basic principle underlying our present economic system is profits. -To secure large profits labour must be cheap and plentiful, and that -labour may be cheap and plentiful an enormous population must be -produced. In order to produce this enormous population women must -be enslaved. Although existing conditions are such as to make life -a curse instead of a blessing, the cry for “babies, more babies” is -heard on every hand, and this notwithstanding the fact that a large -proportion of the children born die before the age of five because this -environment is unfavourable to life. - -The clamour for an ever increasing birth-rate never ceases. It is -believed that Providence alone is responsible for human ills. Poverty -and disease are accepted as natural and unavoidable evils. - -The fears expressed lest the human race fail to perpetuate itself -would be pathetic were the reason for these fears less obvious. When -we reflect that the labour market must be constantly supplied with -cheap labour, and that millions of soldiers must be produced to protect -the commercial and territorial interests of the ruling class the true -inwardness of this insatiate cry for constantly increasing numbers is -revealed. - -Ecclesiasticism, the faithful ally of Plutocracy, mindful of the fact -that its strength lies in an excess of numbers, has ever jealously -guarded the injunction to increase and multiply. No doctrine of -the so-called Christian church has been so fondly cherished and so -faithfully preserved as has that of the subjection of women. Woman’s -glorification under the Christian system has been exactly commensurate -with her obedience to man. No offering from her to the Almighty is so -acceptable as unrestrained reproductive energy. - -The report of a declining birth-rate in any country of the globe is a -signal for instant alarm, but although publicists and politicians have -attempted to control the birth-rate not only by threats and promises -but by legal enactments regulating marriage, still it is observed that -in all countries of Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Bulgaria, -and Roumania, the birth-rate during the last twenty-five years has -steadily declined. Although numberless causes have been suggested -to account for this phenomenon, and although various remedies have -been proposed to lessen this “evil,” the actual cause underlying the -declining birth-rate of our time remains unrecognized. Politicians, -publicists, and ecclesiastics all refuse to acknowledge the obvious -fact that the increasing economic independence of women is alone -responsible for this phenomenon. - -Notwithstanding the fact that during the last twenty-five years marked -progress is observed in the social and economic conditions of women, -still the sexual position of the great mass of women has steadily -declined. The fact that so far as her sex relations are concerned -civilized woman occupies a lower position than that occupied by the -female animal has already been noted in these pages. The traffic in -women is carried on in every country on the earth. - -The existing sexual conditions are the direct result of the -overstimulation of the disruptive characters inherited by man from his -male progenitors among the lower orders of life, characters which among -animals have been checked by the constructive forces developed in the -female. Our sexual conditions and our present economic and industrial -situation loudly proclaim the degeneracy of our time. - -When the principles of equality and liberty, which were established by -early organized society, gave place to a system founded on force and -the control of the many by the few, and when through the subjection of -women the natural checks to the disruptive tendencies developed in the -male were withdrawn, the conditions now existing in so-called civilized -society were foreshadowed. - -A crisis has been reached in human affairs. The old regime has run its -course and is about to disappear. A new era is about to dawn on the -human race. The war which is now devastating Europe, and which will -doubtless spread over the entire earth, is the beginning of the end. -The effects of the causes which were set up in prehistoric times have -reached their full measure of development and can no more be postponed -or averted than can the thunderbolt which follows an electrical -explosion. A thoroughly material civilization founded on selfishness -and sensuality must be destroyed root and branch before the higher -planes of activity for which humanity is destined may be reached. The -present conflict therefore should not be regarded simply as a horrible -calamity but as a necessary preliminary to these higher conditions. If -the birth of the new regime can come only through blood and tears, if -only through the throes of war is deliverance possible, then it is not -only unwise but useless to bewail the present crisis. - -Through the cleansing process involved in the present revolution, -humanity will doubtless return to the legitimate path of evolutionary -development. Either liberty and justice, the cardinal principles -underlying early organized society will be re-established or the -processes of disruption will complete the work of degeneration now -so well under way. In the transformation which is to take place it -is not likely that a vestige of the institutions which have produced -the present regime will remain. The conflict now going on between the -higher and lower forces developed in human life represents the struggle -of Omnipotent Life for higher expression in matter. - -It has been shown in this work that during the development of life on -the earth two forces have been steadily at work, the one a conserving, -cohesive element, the other a disruptive, disintegrating energy. -The one tends toward combination or solidarity, the other toward -separateness or individual sufficiency. The one is constructive, the -other destructive. Had the constructive processes in human society been -allowed their legitimate expression the scenes now being enacted in -Europe would have been impossible. - -The principal force which has been employed in the development of our -present civilization has been male energy. In the past this enormous -force has been necessary to subdue the earth and make of it a suitable -habitation for civilized humanity. In later times, however, the -discovery of hitherto unknown forces in nature, the application of -scientific methods to industry, and the invention of mechanical devices -for the lessening of human toil have done away with the necessity for -an excess of human brawn. In other words the excessive male energy -which has in the past been required for the development of our present -civilization has become not only useless but an actual hindrance to -further progress. As this enormous power is no longer needed for -useful purposes it has been turned into channels of wantonness and -destruction. It has become disruptive and dangerous to a degree which -may be appreciated when we reflect on the present conditions not only -in Europe, but over the entire earth. Among the cleansing processes -involved in the present crisis is the elimination of a considerable -number of the useless elements described above—elements which being no -longer necessary for the maintenance of the common good have become a -menace to society. - -According to our narrow human conceptions by which passing events are -regarded only in relation to their present effects, the eliminating -processes now going on are cruel and inhuman. Nature, however, pays -little heed to human suffering, but although she ignores human misery -she will nevertheless demand an exact accounting for the deeds of -selfishness and ignorance which are responsible for the present -disorder. She will inaugurate no scheme of salvation; no “Vicarious -Atonement” will be provided to save mankind from the consequences of -their own folly. - -The struggle now going on in nearly every quarter of the globe marks -the beginning of the eliminating process. The useless elements in human -society are wearing themselves out, destroying themselves by their own -rashness and folly. Impelled by a desire which they do not understand -and which they are unable to resist, these victims of a decaying -civilization rush madly on to destruction. Those men who voluntarily -seek war represent a dissatisfied or discontented class. True to the -primitive instincts of the race they crave the peculiar excitement -which war brings. It is not unlikely that many of them understand -instinctively that something is wrong with the present regime, but they -seem not to be able to analyse the situation. - -Doubtless very many of those engaged in the present European struggle -are actuated by patriotism. They want to maintain the existing -territorial boundaries presided over by their respective rulers. They -desire also to retain the institutions, social, political, economic, -and religious which have grown up under a system where the few control -the many. Evidently the idea of human liberty has not yet dawned upon -them. If universal freedom awaits the birth of the new regime, which -is being heralded by the present upheaval, then it is plain that the -men in the trenches are quite unmindful of the significance of the -conflict in which they are engaged. The belligerent countries of Europe -may consent to a truce and there may be a lull in the universal unrest, -but there will be no genuine peace until the principle of human -liberty has been established on a firm and lasting basis. - -That the removal of these superfluous men from their usual vocations -will not materially interfere with the useful industries of Europe is -shown in the fact that although 25,000,000 of them have been called -to the war their withdrawal from the industrial field has not greatly -disturbed the industrial situation, and this too notwithstanding the -fact that many new occupations have been created by the war. The work -formerly done by these men has been largely taken up by women. - -It should be borne in mind that under the new conditions which are -approaching, the constructive element developed in human society is -again to assume command over the destructive forces which have been in -control since the beginning of the historic period. As this element has -been confided to women and as it is by them transmitted to offspring, -it is not difficult to forecast the position which the women of the -future will occupy. - -The institution of marriage as it now exists will disappear. Only the -most robust among women will propagate the race. These women, as did -the women under early organized society, will choose their mates. They -will exercise absolute control over the sex-functions. Thus will be -avoided the terrible consequences which have resulted from the present -form of marriage. - -The numerical preponderance of women over men under the new regime -is probable. Nor will the devastating processes of war be wholly -responsible for this condition. Science informs us that not only among -the lower orders of life but among human beings as well, certain -conditions of nutrition produce more females than males. The more -nutritious and wholesome the food the greater the excess of females -over males. Under higher conditions, when the laws of health and -life are better understood and especially when the subject of proper -nutrition has received the attention which its importance deserves, it -is not unreasonable to suppose that the excess of female births over -those of males will be considerable. - -Although there have doubtless been long lapses of time during which the -human race has seemed to go backward, it is believed that the trend of -humanity is now and ever has been upward. If, as is believed, human -events move in cycles, if the civilizations which have risen in the -past represent a spiral, each of these civilizations reaching a higher -stage of development than its predecessor, then it may be inferred that -the era which is now dawning will surpass in grandeur anything which -the world has ever witnessed. If, as many persons believe, a stage of -development has been reached in which human beings are to be endowed -with a sixth sense, if the intuitive faculties which are closely -allied to the constructive element and which mark a still greater -distinction between man and the animal are to come into play it may -be assumed that the mental and spiritual faculties will reach a stage -of development scarcely dreamed of in our own time. Humanity will have -come into its own, the animal in man will have been left behind. - -The co-ordination of science and history not only illumines the past -and explains the present, but the inevitable results of the natural -sequence of events point unerringly to the conditions which must -prevail in the future. - -The philosophy of history proves to the earnest seeker after truth that -the door of the future is not wholly closed. - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - Abipones, their customs, 148; - independence of women among, 186 - - Abrotonum, 342 - - Adoption, among early races, 144, 145, 324; - symbol of, 146, 147 - - Affection in primitive groups, 126 - - Agamemnon, 256 - - Agnation, 351 - - Ainos, 49 - - Altruism, its development in the female, 17, 67, 86; - its development in society, 124, 140 - - Amazonianism, 208 - - Andromache, 283 - - Arabia, organization of society in, 129, 177; - marriage in, 179, 181, 182 - - Arawaks, their customs, 147, 174 - - Archonship, 259; - its close, 264 - - Areta, 332 - - Aristocracy, its growth among the Greeks, 251, 265-267 - - Aristophanes, his picture of female philosophers, 338 - - Aspasia, preceptress of Socrates, 334; - her genius, her teachings, 337-338 - - Assembly of the people, 156; - development of the, 251; - its duties, 259; - its disappearance in Greece, 264; - its powers among the Spartans, 293 - - Atavism, 52 - - Athene, her decision concerning paternity, 272 - - Athenian men, their policy, 285; - ashamed of their name, 318; - their wives Carians, 319; - their moral degradation, 323-326 - - Athenian women, imported foreigners, 319; - their degradation, 323; - their division into classes 324; - decline of influence among, 329; - their reputed licentiousness, 339 - - Auletrides, 325 - - Australians, 230 - - - B - - Babylonian women, 234, 340 - - _Basileus_, germ of present king, 156; - does not correspond to modern monarch, 156, 255, 257; - elected by a constituency, 253; - abolition of the office of, 259 - - Birds, their courtships, 20-21; - aversion of females for certain males among, 20; - the female among, chooses her mate, 20, 23, 25, 108; - efforts of the male to please the female among, 21; - eagerness of the male among, 21, 26, 30; - powers of the female among, 27; - inheritance of the female among, 29; - inheritance of the male among, 29; - constancy of the female among, 108 - - Burgesses, 272 - - - C - - Captives, not enslaved in early groups, 145; - as sexual slaves, 163, 276 - - Cecrops, 262, 272, 329, 362 - - Chastity of early races, 110, 113, 114, 306 - - Clisthenes, 249, 261 - - Codrus, 249, 259, 264 - - Colour-blindness, 55 - - Common law, the, woman’s position under, 357 - - Communal marriage, 225 - - Concubines, 327 - - _Couvade, la_, its extent, 148 - - Crates, 334 - - Cuckoos, character of, 69 - - Cynic philosophy, the, its principles, 332 - - - D - - Danaūs, daughters of, 274 - - Deme, establishment of, 249, 260 - - Democracy, of early races, 127; - of the early Greeks, 250-251; - decay of, 264-265, 267; - in ancient Italy, 313 - - Descent, traced through men, 128, 135, 281; - in Arabia, 131; - in Greece, 133 - - Descent, traced through women, 141, 142, 157, 222; - its universality, 228, 311; - among the Iroquois Indians, 249; - law of, 253; - in Lycia, 310 - - Desires, primary, of the male, 20 - - _Dicteriades_, 327 - - Differentiation, 8, 10, 16, 65 - - Diseases of women, 61; - not constitutional, 54 - - Dorians, their conservatism, 285 - - Draco, 266; - his laws, 322 - - - E - - Early Christianity, 361 - - Ecclesia, 251 - - Ecclesiasticism, its effect on the position of women, 356-357 - - Egoism, its development in males, 17, 86; - not pronounced among earliest races, 125, 140; - its development in later ages, 155 - - England in the nineteenth century, 370 - - Epicureans, 333 - - Eupatrids, their cupidity, 264 - - Evolution, individual and historic, 15 - - - F - - Family, the, not the basis of the gens, 246 - - Female, conditions which produce the, 39 - - Fijians, their customs, 116-117; - parental affection among, 118 - - Foreign women, as wives, 188, 192, 219; - as concubines, 283, 327, 348 - - France, marriage customs in, 172; - in the nineteenth century, 370 - - - G - - Gaius, 353 - - Genealogies traced through fathers, 271 - - Gentile organization, the, universality of, 124; - principles established by, 124; - democratic character of, 127, 138, 139, 152; - unity of, 128; - government under, 137, 152, 156, 247; - property belonging to, 140; - altruistic character of, 140, 157; - in Greece, 245; - its decay, 260; - its final overthrow, 261; - in Athens, 262 - - Glycera, 341 - - Government, development of, 248 - - Greek society, its construction, 243, 245 - - - H - - Hairy covering for the body, 49-51 - - Hand, the female, 59 - - Hercules, tradition of, 273 - - Hetairai, a term of reproach, 329; - their renown, 330; - origin of the word, 338; - honoured citizens, 341; - judged by masculine standards, 344 - - Hindu law, 352 - - - I - - Infanticide, McLennan’s theory of, 217; - not practised by early races, 220; - Sir J. Lubbock’s theory of, 226-227 - - Insects, nutrition determines sex, 40; - males appear first, 42 - - Iroquois Indians, 137 - - - J - - Justinian Code, 357, 359 - - - L - - Lamia, 326 - - Lance, symbol of property, 181, 312 - - Leontium, 334 - - Life, origin of, 4; - earliest forms hermaphrodite, 11, 15 - - Lydian women, 340 - - Lysicles, 336 - - - M - - Magna Charta, 369 - - Man, shorter-lived than woman, 45, 53; - imperfections in the organization of, 55-59; - superior to woman, Darwin’s theory, 75; - assumes the duties of maternity, 147; - superior to woman according to edict of Apollo, 199 - - Marriage, origin of, 161; - in India, 163; - _Racshasa_, 163; - in Arabia, 164, 179, 181, 182; - by _Confarreatio_ and _Usus_, 164, 351; - among the Israelites, 165; - in Afghanistan, 165; - in Greenland, 170; - in Nubia, 171; - in Sparta, 173; - _sadica_, 179; - _beena_, 180; - _motă_, 181; - _ba’al_, 181, 188, 193; - laws of Mohammed, 183, 188; - in Japan, 185; - in Rome, 189; - of the future, 399; - rise of the present system of, 197; - ceremonies among the Spartans, 310 - - Matter, conservation of, 6 - - Mother-in-law, the, her aversion to sons-in-law, 174, 236 - - - N - - Names, adoption of, 144 - - Nemeas, 341 - - - O - - Ontogeny, 7 - - Oracles of the Greeks controlled by women, 309 - - Organization of society, 123 - - - P - - Pangenesis, 29 - - Parthenogenesis, 38, 40 - - Paternal affection, absence of, among lower orders, 69, 71; - not a primary character, 71; - absence of, among lower races, 149; - absence of, among the Romans, 189, 191 - - Pericles, 335 - - Perpetual tutelage of women, 350 - - Political society, establishment of, 249, 260-261 - - Polyandry, not practised among lower orders, 107 - - Polygamy, rise of, 106, 189 - - Poverty of the masses in Greece, 266 - - Primitive races, promiscuity among, 107, 115, 211; - chastity of, 108, 110, 112, 116, 306, 307; - morality of, 112, 115, 118; - humanity of, 145 - - Property, control of, 140, 221; - inheritance of, 141; - in early Greece, 250 - - Protection of women in early groups, 112, 117, 146, 178, 186 - - - Q - - Quadrupeds, constancy of the female among, 24-25, 106-107; - unions of, not left to chance, 25 - - - R - - Religion of Mohammed, 183 - - Religious idea, 150, 211 - - Reversion, 48, 52 - - Rights of Roman fathers, 191, 313 - - Roman family, the, 312, 349, 352 - - Roman lawyers, 352-353 - - Roman society, its constitution, 243 - - Roman women, 178, 189, 314 - - Rotifera, 38 - - - S - - Sabine women, capture of, 312 - - St. Paul, 361 - - Selection, natural, 7 - - Selection, sexual, Darwin’s theory of, 18; - compared with artificial selection, 36; - processes of, reversed, 82; - lower characters eliminated through, 90 - - Sexes, origin of, 11, 14-15; - numerical proportion of, 39, 43, 52 - - Slavery, 145; - its extent in the nineteenth century, 369 - - Socialism, 390 - - Socrates, 334-335 - - Solon, his legislation, 320-321; - his character, 320, 322 - - Spartan women, their power, 298, 308; - they controlled the land, 298; - they resisted the laws of Lycurgus, 299; - they originated the exercises of the youth, 300, 302; - their dress, 303, 305; - their influence, 303, 304, 310, 361 - - Spartans, their government, 156; - democratic character of their institutions, 252-253; - their senate, 286; - their morality, 302, 304; - adultery unknown among them, 307, 316; - election of senators among the, 309, 310 - - Stoic philosophy, the, its principles, 334, 347-348; - its effect on Roman law, 348 - - Struggles for mates, 22-23, 64 - - Survival of the fittest, 388 - - Symbols in marriage ceremonies, among the Circassians, 171; - in Abyssinia, 172; - in Arabia, 172; - in Scandinavia, Wales, and Ireland, 173; - in Central Africa, 175; - in Italy, 176; - as explained by McLennan, 216 - - Sympathy, development of, 67 - - - T - - Thargelia, 337 - - Themistia, 334 - - Themistocles, 342 - - Theseus, 260, 271; - united the Attic tribes, 262 - - Timotheus, 342 - - Tribe, the, its formation, 126, 153; - growth of the governmental idea within, 247 - - Tribes named after women, 273 - - Tyrannies established among the Greeks, 263 - - - U - - Union of tribes in Athens, 262 - - Unisexual forms, development of, 15 - - - V - - Variability denotes low organization, 36 - - Variations in the human body, 47-48 - - Vital force, expenditure of, 32 - - - W - - Wife-capture, among the Israelites, 164; - among the Arabians, 177; - its extent, 177; - McLennan’s theory to account for, 215; - Lubbock’s theory of, 224-227; - among the Spartans, 310 - - Women, in excess of men, 52; - of Greenland, 54; - their intuitions, 78; - their apparel, 80; - of Australia, 111; - among the Kaffirs, 111, 146, 187; - of early German tribes, 112; - of Nubia, 111; - of Sumatra, 112; - of Tahiti, 116; - among the Fijians, 117, 186; - among the North American Indians, 139; - head of the family, 139, 144, 154; - of Arabia, 178-179, 188; - of Rome, 178, 190; - in Japan, 185; - among the Abipones, 186; - among the Greeks, 272, 276, 277, 279, 283; - under the ancient Roman law, 350; - under the middle Roman law, 352-354 - - - Y - - Yavanas, 318 - - - Z - - Zeno, 334 - - Zulus, marriage customs among, 173 - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexes in Science and History, by -Eliza Burt Gamble - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEXES IN SCIENCE AND HISTORY *** - -***** This file should be named 60219-0.txt or 60219-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/2/1/60219/ - -Produced by MWS, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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