In the history of Rumsey Abbey, one of our best documents for Anglo-Saxon times, we have an anecdote of a bishop who made a Danish nobleman drunk, that he might cheat him out of an estate, which is told with much approbation. Walter de Hemingford records, with excessive delight, the well-known story of the Jews who were persuaded by the captain of their vessel to walk on the sands at low water till the rising tide drowned them.”—Hallam's Middle Ages (12th ed.), iii. p. 306. 504. Canciani, Leges Barbarorum, vol. iii. p. 64. Canciani notices, that among the Poles the teeth of the offending persons were pulled out. The following passage, from Bodin, is, I think, very remarkable: “Les loix et canons veulent qu'on pardonne aux hérétiques repentis (combien que les magistrats en quelques lieux par cy-devant, y ont eu tel esgard, que celui qui avoit mangé de la chair au Vendredy estoit bruslé tout vif, comme il fut faict en la ville d'Angers l'an mil cinq cens trente-neuf, s'il ne s'en repentoit: et jaçoit qu'il se repentist si estoit-il pendu par compassion).”—Démonomanie des Sorciers, p. 216. 505. A long list of examples of extreme maceration, from lives of the saints of the seventh and eighth centuries is given by Pitra, Vie de St. Léger, Introd. pp. cv.-cvii. 506. This was related of St. Equitius.—Greg. Dialog. i. 4. 507. Ibid. i. 5. This saint was named Constantius. 508. A vast number of miracles of this kind are recorded. See, e.g., Greg. Tur. De Miraculis, i. 61-66; Hist. iv. 49. Perhaps the most singular instance of the violation of the sanctity of the church was that by the nuns of a convent founded by St. Radegunda. They, having broken into rebellion, four bishops, with their attendant clergy, went to compose the dispute, and having failed, excommunicated the rebels, whereupon the nuns almost beat them to death in the church.—Greg. Tur. ix. 41. 509. See Canciani, Leges Barbarorum, vol. iii. pp. 19, 151. 510. Much information about these measures is given by Dr. Hessey, in his Bampton Lectures on Sunday. See especially, lect. 3. See, too, Moehler, Le Christianisme et l'Esclavage, pp. 186-187. 511. Gregory of Tours enumerates some instances of this in his extravagant book De Miraculis, ii. 11; iv. 57; v. 7. One of these cases, however, was for having worked on the day of St. John the Baptist. Some other miracles of the same nature, taken, I believe, from English sources, are given in Hessey's Sunday (3rd edition), p. 321. 512. Compare Pitra, Vie de St.-Léger, p. 137. Sismondi, Hist. des Français, tome ii. pp. 62-63. 513. See a remarkable passage from his life, cited by Guizot, Hist. de la Civilisation en France, xviime leçon. The English historians contain several instances of the activity of charity in the darkest period. Alfred and Edward the Confessor were conspicuous for it. Ethelwolf is said to have provided, “for the good of his soul,” that, till the day of judgment, one poor man in ten should be provided with meat, drink, and clothing. (Asser's Life of Alfred.) There was a popular legend that a poor man having in vain asked alms of some sailors, all the bread in their vessel was turned into stone. (Roger of Wendover, a.d. 606.) See, too, another legend of charity in Matthew of Westminster, a.d. 611. 514. Greg. Tur. Hist. v. 8. 515. M. Guizot has given several specimens of this (Hist. de la Civilis. xviime leçon). 516. This portion of mediæval history has lately been well traced by Mr. Maclear, in his History of Christian Missions in the Middle Ages (1863). See, too, Montalembert's Moines d'Occident; Ozanam's Études germaniques. The original materials are to be found in Bede, and in the Lives of the Saints—especially that of St. Columba, by Adamnan. On the French missionaries, see the Benedictine Hist. lit. de la France, tome iv. p. 5; and on the English missionaries, Sharon Turner's Hist. of England, book x. ch. ii. 517. Dion Chrysostom, Or. ii. (De Regno). 518. Gibbon, ch. xvi. 519. Origen, Cels. lib. viii. 520. “Navigamus et nos vobiscum et militamus.”—Tert. Apol. xlii. See, too, Grotius De Jure, i. cap. ii. 521. See an admirable dissertation on the opinions of the early Christians about military service, in Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, tome i. pp. 81-87. The subject is frequently referred to by Barbeyrac, Morale des Pères, and Grotius, De Jure, lib. i. cap. ii. 522. Philostorgius, ii. 5. 523. See some excellent remarks on this change, in Milman's History of Christianity, vol. ii. pp. 287-288. 524. Mably, Observations sur l'Histoire de France, i. 6; Hallam's Middle Ages, ch. ii. part ii. 525. Wakeman's Archæologia Hibernica, p. 21. However, Giraldus Cambrensis observes that the Irish saints were peculiarly vindictive, and St. Columba and St. Comgall are said to have been leaders in a sanguinary conflict about a church near Coleraine. See Reeve's edition of Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, pp. lxxvii. 253. 526. Campion's Historie of Ireland (1571), book i. ch. vi. 527. It seems curious to find in so calm and unfanatical a writer as Justus Lipsius the following passage: “Jam et invasio quædam legitima videtur etiam sine injuria, ut in barbaros et moribus aut religione prorsum a nobis abhorrentes.”—Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinæ libri (Paris, 1594), lib. iv. ch. ii. cap. iv. 528. “Con l'occasione di queste cose Plutarco nel Teseo dice che gli eroi si recavano a grande onore e si reputavano in pregio d'armi con l'esser chiamati ladroni; siccome a' tempi barbari ritornati quello di Corsale era titolo riputato di signoria; d'intorno a' quali tempi venuto Solone, si dice aver permesso nelle sue leggi le società per cagion di prede; tanto Solone ben intese questa nostra compiuta Umanità, nella quale costoro non godono del diritto natural delle genti! Ma quel che fa più maraviglia è che Platone ed Aristotile posero il ladroneccio fralle spezie della caccia e con tali e tanti filosofi d'una gente umanissima convengono con la loro barbarie i Germani antichi; appo i quali al referire di Cesare ì ladronecci non solo non eran infami, ma si tenevano tra gli esercizi della virtù siccome tra quelli che per costume non applicando ad arte alcuna così fuggivano l'ozio.”—Vico, Scienza Nuova, ii. 6. See, too, Whewell's Elements of Morality, book vi. ch. ii. 529. The ancient right of war is fully discussed by Grotius, De Jure, lib. iii. See, especially, the horrible catalogue of tragedies in cap. 4. The military feeling that regards capture as disgraceful, had probably some, though only a very subordinate, influence in producing cruelty to the prisoners. 530. “Le jour où Athènes décréta que tous les Mityléniens, sans distinction de sexe ni d'âge, seraient exterminés, elle ne croyait pas dépasser son droit; quand le lendemain elle revint sur son décret et se contenta de mettre à mort mille citoyens et de confisquer toutes les terres, elle se crut humaine et indulgente. Après la prise de Platée les hommes furent égorgés, les femmes vendues, et personne n'accusa les vainqueurs d'avoir violé le droit.... C'est en vertu de ce droit de la guerre que Rome a étendu la solitude autour d'elle; du territoire où les Volsques avaient vingt-trois cités elle a fait les marais pontins; les cinquante-trois villes du Latium ont disparu; dans le Samnium on put longtemps reconnaître les lieux où les armées romaines avaient passé, moins aux vestiges de leurs camps qu'à la solitude qui règnait aux environs.”—Fustel de Coulanges, La Cité antique, pp. 263-264. 531. Plato, Republic, lib. v.; Bodin, République, liv. i. cap. 5. 532. Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 224. Agesilaus was also very humane to captives.—Ibid. pp. 365-6. 533. This appears continually in Livy, but most of all, I think, in the Gaulish historian, Florus. 534. Scipio and Trajan. 535. See some very remarkable passages in Grotius, De Jure Bell. lib. iii. cap. 4, § 19. 536. These mitigations are fully enumerated by Ayala, De Jure et Officiis Bellicis (Antwerp, 1597), Grotius, De Jure. It is remarkable that both Ayala and Grotius base their attempts to mitigate the severity of war chiefly upon the writings and examples of the Pagans. The limits of the right of conquerors and the just causes of war are discussed by Cicero, De Offic. lib. i. 537. In England the change seems to have immediately followed conversion. “The evangelical precepts of peace and love,” says a very learned historian, “did not put an end to war, they did not put an end to aggressive conquests, but they distinctly humanised the way in which war was carried on. From this time forth the never-ending wars with the Welsh cease to be wars of extermination. The heathen English had been satisfied with nothing short of the destruction and expulsion of their enemies; the Christian English thought it enough to reduce them to political subjection.... The Christian Welsh could now sit down as subjects of the Christian Saxon. The Welshman was acknowledged as a man and a citizen, and was put under the protection of the law.”—Freeman's Hist. of the Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 33-34. Christians who assisted infidels in wars were ipso facto excommunicated, and might therefore be enslaved, but all others were free from slavery. “Et quidem inter Christianos laudabili et antiqua consuetudine introductum est, ut capti hinc inde, utcunque justo bello, non fierent servi, sed liberi servarentur donec solvant precium redemptionis.”—Ayala, lib. i. cap. 5. “This rule, at least,” says Grotius, “(though but a small matter) the reverence for the Christian law has enforced, which Socrates vainly sought to have established among the Greeks.” The Mohammedans also made it a rule not to enslave their co-religionists.—Grotius, De Jure, iii. 7, § 9. Pagan and barbarian prisoners were, however, sold as slaves (especially by the Spaniards) till very recently. 538. The character of Constantine, and the estimate of it in Eusebius, are well treated by Dean Stanley, Lectures on the Eastern Church (Lect. vi.). 539. Theodoret, iii. 28. 540. They are collected by Chateaubriand, Études hist. 2me disc. 2me partie. 541. See St. Gregory's oration on Cesarius. 542. Sozomen, vi. 2. 543. Ep. xiii. 31-39. In the second of these letters (which is addressed to Leontia), he says: “Rogare forsitan debui ut ecclesiam beati Petri apostoli quæ nunc usque gravibus insidiis laboravit, haberet Vestra Tranquillitas specialiter commendatam. Sed qui scio quia omnipotentem Deum diligitis, non debeo petere quod sponte ex benignitate vestræ pietatis exhibetis.” 544. See the graphic description in Gibbon, ch. liii. 545. Baronius. 546. Mably, ii. 1; Gibbon, ch. xlix. 547. There are some good remarks upon the way in which, among the free Franks, the bishops taught the duty of passive obedience, in Mably, Obs. sur l'Histoire de France, livre i. ch. iii. Gregory of Tours, in his address to Chilperic, had said: “If any of us, O king, transgress the boundaries of justice, thou art at hand to correct us; but if thou shouldest exceed them, who is to condemn thee? We address thee, and if it please thee thou listenest to us; but if it please thee not, who is to condemn thee save He who has proclaimed Himself Justice.”—Greg. Tur. v. 19. On the other hand, Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, strongly asserted the obligation of kings to observe the law, and denounced as diabolical the doctrine that they are subject to none but God. (Allen, On the Royal Prerogative (1849), pp. 171-172.) 548. The exact degree of the authority of the barbarian kings, and the different stages by which their power was increased, are matters of great controversy. The reader may consult Thierry's Lettres sur l'Hist. de France (let. 9); Guizot's Hist. de la Civilisation; Mably, Observ. sur l'Hist. de France; Freeman's Hist. of the Norman Conquest, vol. i. 549. Fauriel, Hist. de la Poésie provençale, tome ii. p. 252. 550. Ibid, p. 258. 551. Le Grand D'Aussy, Fabliaux, préf. p. xxiv. These romances were accounts of his expeditions to Spain, to Languedoc, and to Palestine. 552. The ἕδνα of the Greeks. 553. Legouvé, Histoire morale des Femmes, pp. 95-96. 554. Gen. xxix., xxxiv. 12; Deut. xxii. 29; 1 Sam. xviii. 25. 555. The history of dowries is briefly noticed by Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. ii. pp. 112-113; and more fully by Lord Kames, in the admirable chapter “On the Progress of the Female Sex,” in his Sketches of the History of Man, a book less read than it deserves to be. M. Legouvé has also devoted a chapter to it in his Hist. morale des Femmes. See, too, Legendre, Traité de l'Opinion, tome ii. pp. 329-330. We find traces of the dowry, as well as of the ἕδνα, in Homer. Penelope had received a dowry from Icarus, her father. M. Michelet, in one of those fanciful books which he has recently published, maintains a view of the object of the ἕδνα which I do not remember to have seen elsewhere, and which I do not believe. He says: “Ce prix n'est point un achat de la femme, mais une indemnité qui dédommage la famille du père pour les enfants futurs, qui ne profiteront pas à cette famille mais à celle où la femme va entrer.”—La Femme, p. 166. 556. In Rome, when the separation was due to the misconduct of the wife, the dowry belonged to her husband. 557. “Dotem non uxor marito sed uxori maritus offert.”—Tac. Germ. xviii. On the Morgengab, see Canciani, Leges Barbarorum (Venetiis, 1781), vol. i. pp. 102-104; ii. pp. 230-231. Muratori, Antich. Ital. diss. xx. Luitprand enacted that no Longobard should give more than one-fourth of his substance as a Morgengab. In Gregory of Tours (ix. 20) we have an example of the gift of some cities as a Morgengab. 558. See, on this point, Aul. Gellius, Noct. Att. xv. 20. Euripides is said to have had two wives. 559. Aristotle said that Homer never gives a concubine to Menelaus, in order to intimate his respect for Helen—though false. (Athenæus, xiii. 3.) 560. Æschylus has put this curious notion into the mouth of Apollo, in a speech in the Eumenides. It has, however, been very widely diffused, and may be found in Indian, Greek, Roman, and even Christian writers. M. Legouvé, who has devoted a very curious chapter to the subject, quotes a passage from St. Thomas Aquinas, accepting it, and arguing from it, that a father should be more loved than a mother. M. Legouvé says that when the male of one animal and the female of another are crossed, the type of the female usually predominates in the offspring. See Legouvé, Hist. morale des Femmes, pp. 216-228; Fustel de Coulanges, La Cité antique, pp. 39-40; and also a curious note by Boswell, in Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson (1847), p. 472. 561. Dr. Vintras, in a remarkable pamphlet (London, 1867) On the Repression of Prostitution, shows from the police statistics that the number of prostitutes known to the police in England and Wales, in 1864, was 49,370; and this is certainly much below the entire number. These, it will be observed, comprise only the habitual, professional prostitutes. 562. Some measures have recently been taken in a few garrison towns. The moral sentiment of the community, it appears, would be shocked if Liverpool were treated on the same principles as Portsmouth. This very painful and revolting, but most important, subject has been treated with great knowledge, impartiality, and ability, by Parent-Duchâtelet, in his famous work, La Prostitution dans la ville de Paris. The third edition contains very copious supplementary accounts, furnished by different doctors in different countries. 563. Parent-Duchâtelet has given many statistics, showing the very large extent to which the French system of supervision deters those who were about to enter into prostitution, and reclaims those who had entered into it. He and Dr. Vintras concur in representing English prostitution as about the most degraded, and at the same time the most irrevocable. 564. Miss Mulock, in her amiable but rather feeble book, called A Woman's Thoughts about Women, has some good remarks on this point (pp. 291-293), which are all the more valuable, as the authoress has not the faintest sympathy with any opinions concerning the character and position of women which are not strictly conventional. She notices the experience of Sunday school mistresses, that, of their pupils who are seduced, an extremely large proportion are “of the very best, refined, intelligent, truthful, and affectionate.” 565. See the very singular and painful chapter in Parent-Duchâtelet, called “Mœurs et Habitudes des Prostituées.” He observes that they are remarkable for their kindness to one another in sickness or in distress; that they are not unfrequently charitable to poor people who do not belong to their class; that when one of them has a child, it becomes the object of very general interest and affection; that most of them have lovers, to whom they are sincerely attached; that they rarely fail to show in the hospitals a very real sense of shame; and that many of them entered into their mode of life for the purpose of supporting aged parents. One anecdote is worth giving in the words of the author: “Un médecin n'entrant jamais dans leurs salles sans ôter légèrement son chapeau, par cette seule politesse il sut tellement conquérir leur confiance qu'il leur faisait faire tout ce qu'il voulait.” This writer, I may observe, is not a romance writer or a theorist of any description. He is simply a physician who describes the results of a very large official experience. 566. “Parent-Duchâtelet atteste que sur trois mille créatures perdues trente cinq seulement avaient un état qui pouvait les nourrir, et que quatorze cents avaient été précipitées dans cette horrible vie par la misère.
Уильям Эдвард Хартпол Леки
«История европейской морали от Августа до Карла Великого (Том 2)»
Une d'elles, quand elle s'y résolut, n'avait pas mangé depuis trois jours.”—Legouvé, Hist. morale des Femmes, pp. 322-323. 567. Concerning the position and character of Greek women, the reader may obtain ample information by consulting Becker's Charicles (translated by Metcalfe, 1845); Rainneville, La Femme dans l'Antiquité (Paris, 1865); and an article “On Female Society in Greece,” in the twenty-second volume of the Quarterly Review. 568. Plutarch, Conj. Præc. 569. Xenophon, Econ. ii. 570. Plut. Conj. Præc. There is also an extremely beautiful picture of the character of a good wife in Aristotle. (Economics, book i. cap. vii.) 571. See Alexander's History of Women (London, 1783), vol. i. p. 201. 572. Plutarch, Phocion. 573. Our information concerning the Greek courtesans is chiefly derived from the thirteenth book of the Deipnosophists of Athenæus, from the Letters of Alciphron, from the Dialogues of Lucian on courtesans, and from the oration of Demosthenes against Neæra. See, too, Xenophon, Memorabilia, iii. 11; and among modern books, Becker's Charicles. Athenæus was an Egyptian, whose exact date is unknown but who appears to have survived Ulpian, who died in a.d. 228. He had access to, and gave extracts from, many works on this subject, which have now perished. Alciphron is believed to have lived near the time of Lucian. 574. According to some writers the word “venerari” comes from “Venerem exercere,” on account of the devotions in the temple of Venus. See Vossius, Etymologicon Linguæ Latinæ, “veneror;” also La Mothe le Vayer, Lettre xc. 575. On the connection of the courtesans with the artistic enthusiasm, see Raoul Rochette, Cours d'Archéologie, pp. 278-279. See, too, Athenæus, xiii. 59; Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxv. 40. 576. See the very curious little work of Ménage, Historia Mulierum Philosopharum (Lugduni, mdxc.); also Rainneville, La Femme dans l'Antiquite, p. 244. At a much later date Lucian described the beauty, accomplishments, generosity, and even modesty, of Panthea of Smyrna, the favourite mistress of Lucius Verus. 577. The ζῶμα, which was at first in use, was discarded by the Lacedæmonians, and afterwards by the other Greeks. There are three curious memoirs tracing the history of the change, by M. Burette, in the Hist. de l'Académie royale des Inscriptions, tome i. 578. On the causes of paiderastia in Greece, see the remarks of Mr. Grote in the review of the Symposium, in his great work on Plato. The whole subject is very ably treated by M. Maury, Hist. des Religions de la Gréce antique, tome iii. pp. 35-39. Many facts connected with it are collected by Döllinger, in his Jew and Gentile, and by Chateaubriand, in his Études historiques. The chief original authority is the thirteenth book of Athenæus, a book of very painful interest in the history of morals. 579. Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaus, dwells on the intense self-control manifested by that great man, in refraining from gratifying a passion he had conceived for a boy named Megabetes, and Maximus Tyrius says it deserved greater praise than the heroism of Leonidas. (Diss. xxv.) Diogenes Laërtius, in his Life of Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, the most austere of all ancient sects, praises that philosopher for being but little addicted to this vice. Sophocles is said to have been much addicted to it. 580. Some examples of the ascription of this vice to the divinities are given by Clem. Alex. Admonitio ad Gentes. Socrates is said to have maintained that Jupiter loved Ganymede for his wisdom, as his name is derived from γάνυμαι and μῆδος, to be delighted with prudence. (Xenophon, Banquet.) The disaster of Cannæ was ascribed to the jealousy of Juno because a beautiful boy was introduced into the temple of Jupiter. (Lactantius, Inst. Div. ii. 17.) 581. Athenæus, xiii. 78. See, too, the very revolting book on different kinds of love, ascribed (it is said falsely) to Lucian. 582. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 9. 583. There is ample evidence of this in Athenæus, and in the Dialogues of Lucian on the courtesans. See, too, Terence, The Eunuch, act v. scene 4, which is copied from the Greek. The majority of the class were not called hetæræ, but πόρναι. 584. Plutarch, De Garrulitate; Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 19. The feat of biting out their tongues rather than reveal secrets, or yield to passion, is ascribed to a suspiciously large number of persons. Ménage cites five besides Leæna. (Hist. Mulier. Philos. pp. 104-108.) 585. See, upon Bacchis, several of the letters of Alciphron, especially the very touching letter (x.) on her death, describing her kindness and disinterestedness. Athenæus (xiii. 66) relates a curious anecdote illustrating these aspects of her character. 586. Xenophon, Memorab. iii. 11. 587. On the Flamens, see Aulus Gell. Noct. x. 15. 588. Capitolinus, Maximinus Junior. 589. Pliny, Hist. Nat. vii. 36. There is (as is well known) a similar legend of a daughter thus feeding her father. Val. Max. Lib. v. cap. 4. 590. This appears from the first act of the Stichus of Plautus. The power appears to have become quite obsolete during the Empire but the first legal act (which was rather of the nature of an exhortation than of a command) against it was issued by Antoninus Pius, and it was only definitely abolished under Diocletian. (Laboulaye, Recherches sur la condition civile et politique des femmes, pp. 16-17.) 591. Aul. Gell. Noct. x. 23. 592. Val. Maximus, ii. 1, § 4; Aul. Gellius, Noct. iv. 3. 593. Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 4. 594. Tacitus, De Oratoribus, xxviii. 595. See Aulus Gellius, Noct. ii. 24. 596. “More inter veteres recepto, qui satis pœnarum adversum impudicas in ipsa professione flagitii credebant.”—Tacitus, Annal. ii. 85. 597. Aul. Gell. iv. 3. Juno was the goddess of marriage. 598. Ibid. iv. 14. 599. The well-known superstition about the lion, &c., becoming docile before a virgin is, I believe, as old as Roman times. St. Isidore mentions that rhinoceroses were said to be captured by young girls being put in their way to fascinate them. (Legendre, Traité de l'Opinion, tome ii. p. 35.) 600. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxviii. 23. 601. Ibid. vii. 18. 602. “Quem enim Romanorum pudet uxorem ducere in convivium? aut cujus materfamilias non primum locum tenet ædium, atque in celebritate versatur? quod multo fit aliter in Græcia. Nam neque in convivium adhibetur, nisi propinquorum, neque sedet nisi in interiore parte ædium quæ gynæcontis appellatur, quo nemo accedit, nisi propinqua cognatione conjunctus.”—Corn. Nepos. præfat. 603. Val. Max. ii. 1, § 6. 604. Liv. viii. 18. 605. See Val. Max. ii. 1. 606. “Nuptiæ sunt conjunctio maris et feminæ, et consortium omnis vitæ, divini et humani juris communicatio.”—Modestinus. 607. Livy, xxxiv. 5. There is a fine collection of legends or histories of heroic women (but chiefly Greek) in Clem. Alexand. Strom. iv. 19. 608. Tacitus, Annal. ii. 85. This decree was on account of a patrician lady named Vistilia having so enrolled herself. 609. Dion Cassius, liv. 16, lvi. 10. 610. “Si sine uxore possemus, Quirites, esse, omnes ea molestia careremus; sed quoniam ita natura tradidit, ut nec cum illis satis commode nec sine illis ullo modo vivi possit, saluti perpetuæ potius quam brevi voluptati consulendum.”—Aulus Gellius, Noct. i. 6. Some of the audience, we are told, thought that, in exhorting to matrimony, the speaker should have concealed its undoubted evils. It was decided, however, that it was more honourable to tell the whole truth. Stobæus (Sententiæ) has preserved a number of harsh and often heartless sayings about wives, that were popular among the Greeks. It was a saying of a Greek poet, that “marriage brings only two happy days—the day when the husband first clasps his wife to his breast, and the day when he lays her in the tomb;” and in Rome it became a proverbial saying, that a wife was only good “in thalamo vel in tumulo.” 611. Friedländer, Hist. des Mœurs romaines, tome i. pp. 360-364. On the great influence exercised by Roman ladies on political affairs some remarkable passages are collected in Denis, Hist. des Idées Morales, tome ii. pp. 98-99. This author is particularly valuable in all that relates to the history of domestic morals. The Asinaria of Plautus, and some of the epigrams of Martial, throw much light upon this subject. 612. See the very remarkable discussion about this repeal in Livy, lib. xxxiv. cap. 1-8. 613. Legouvé, Hist. Morale des Femmes, pp. 23-26. St. Augustine denounced this law as the most unjust that could be mentioned or even conceived. “Qua lege quid iniquius dici aut cogitari possit, ignoro.”—St. Aug. De Civ. Dei, iii. 21—a curious illustration of the difference between the habits of thought of his time and those of the middle ages, when daughters were habitually sacrificed, without a protest, by the feudal laws. 614. Plutarch, Cicero. 615. Tacit. Ann. i. 10. 616. Plutarch, Cato; Lucan, Pharsal. ii. 617. Senec. Ep. cxiv. 618. Val. Max. vi. 3. 619. Plutarch, Paul. Æmil. It is not quite clear whether this remark was made by Paulus himself. 620. Sen. De Benef. iii. 16. See, too, Ep. xcv. Ad Helv. xvi. 621. Apol. 6. 622. Epig. vi. 7. 623. Juv. Sat. vi. 230. 624. Ep. 2. 625. Sueton. Aug. Charlemagne, in like manner, made his daughters work in wool. (Eginhardus, Vit. Car. Mag. xix.) 626. Friedländer, Mœurs romaines du règne d'Auguste à la fin des Antonins (trad. franç.), tome i. p. 414. 627. Much evidence of this is collected by Friedländer, tome i. pp. 387-395. 628. Plutarch, Pompeius. 629. Martial, xi. 16. Pliny, Ep. i. 14. 630. Suet. Tiberius, xlv. 631. Plutarch, Brutus. 632. Tacit. Annal. xv. 63, 64. 633. “Pæte, non dolet.”—Plin. Ep. iii. 16; Martial, Ep. i. 14. 634. Tacit. Annal. xvi. 10-11; Hist. i. 3. See, too, Friedländer, tome i. p. 406. 635. Tacit. Ann. xvi. 34. 636. Pliny mentions her return after the death of the tyrant (Ep. iii. 11). 637. “Quod paucis datum est, non minus amabilis quam veneranda.”—Plin. Ep. vii. 19. 638. See Plin. Ep. vii. 19. Dion Cassius and Tacitus relate the exiles of Helvidius, who appears to have been rather intemperate and unreasonable. 639. Friedländer gives many and most touching examples, tome i. pp. 410-414. 640. Suet. Dom. viii. 641. Capitolinus, Macrinus. 642. Lampridius, A. Severus. 643. In the oration against Neæra, which is ascribed to Demosthenes, but is of doubtful genuineness, the licence accorded to husbands is spoken of as a matter of course: “We keep mistresses for our pleasures, concubines for constant attendance, and wives to bear us legitimate children, and to be our faithful housekeepers.” 644. There is a remarkable passage on the feelings of wives, in different nations, upon this point, in Athenæus, xiii. 3. See, too, Plutarch, Conj. Præc. 645. Euripid. Andromache. 646. Valer. Max. vi. 7, § 1. Some very scandalous instances of cynicism on the part of Roman husbands are recorded. Thus, Augustus had many mistresses, “Quæ [virgines] sibi undique etiam ab uxore conquirerentur.”—Sueton. Aug. lxxi. When the wife of Verus, the colleague of Marcus Aurelius, complained of the tastes of her husband, he answered, “Uxor enim dignitatis nomen est, non voluptatis.”—Spartian. Verus. 647. Aristotle, Econom. i. 4-8-9. 648. Plutarch enforces the duty at length, in his very beautiful work on marriage. In case husbands are guilty of infidelity, he recommends their wives to preserve a prudent blindness, reflecting that it is out of respect for them that they choose another woman as the companion of their intemperance. Seneca touches briefly, but unequivocally, on the subject: “Scis improbum esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum. Scis ut illi nil cum adultero, sic nihil tibi esse debere cum pellice.”—Ep. xciv. “Sciet in uxorem gravissimum esse genus injuriæ, habere pellicem.”—Ep. xcv. 649. “Periniquum enim videtur esse, ut pudicitiam vir ab uxore exigat, quam ipse non exhibeat.”—Cod. Just. Dig. xlviii. 5-13. 650. Quoted by St. Augustine, De Conj. Adult. ii. 19. Plautus, long before, had made one of his characters complain of the injustice of the laws which punished unchaste wives but not unchaste husbands, and ask why, since every honest woman is contented with one husband, every honest man should not be contented with one wife? (Mercator, Act iv. scene 5.) 651. Horace, Sat. i. 2. 652. “Verum si quis est qui etiam meretriciis amoribus interdictum juventuti putet, est ille quidem valde severus; negare non possum; sed abhorret non modo ab hujus sæculi licentia, verum etiam a majorum consuetudine atque concessis. Quando enim hoc factum non est? Quando reprehensum? Quando non permissum? Quando denique fuit ut quod licet non liceret?”—Cicero, Pro Cælio, cap. xx. The whole speech is well worthy of the attention of those who would understand Roman feelings on these matters; but it should be remembered that it is the speech of a lawyer defending a dissolute client. 653. Περί ἀφροδίσια, εἰς δύναμιν πρὸ γάμου καθαρευτέον. ἁπτομένῳ δέ, ὢν νομιμόν ἐστι, μεταληπτέον, μὴ μέν τοι ἐπαχθὴς γίνου τοῖς χρωμένοις, μηδὲ ἐλεγκτικός, μηδὲ πολλαχοῦ τό, Ὅτι αὐτὸς οὐ χρῇ, παράφερε.—Enchir. xxxiii. 654. “Et si uxores non haberent, singulas concubinas, quod sine his esse non possent.”—Lampridius, A. Severus. We have an amusing picture of the common tone of people of the world on this matter, in the speech Apuleius puts into the mouth of the gods, remonstrating with Venus for being angry because her son formed a connection with Psyche. (Metam. lib. v.) 655. Preserved by Stobæus. See Denis, Hist. des Idées morales dans l'Antiquité, tome ii. pp. 134-136, 149-150. 656. Philos. Apol. i. 13. When a saying of Pythagoras, “that a man should only have commerce with his own wife,” was quoted, he said that this concerned others. 657. Trebellius Pollio, Zenobia. 658. This is asserted by an anonymous writer quoted by Suidas. See Ménage, Hist. Mulierum Philosopharum, p. 58. 659. See, e.g., Plotinus, 1st Eun. vi. 6. 660. Capitolinus, M. Aurelius. 661. Amm. Marcell. xxv. 4. 662. Cod. Theod. lib. ix. tit. 24. 663. Cod. Theod. lib. xv. tit. 7. 664. “Fidicinam nulli liceat vel emere vel docere vel vendere, vel conviviis aut spectaculis adhibere. Nec cuiquam aut delectationis desiderio erudita feminea aut musicæ artis studio liceat habere mancipia.”—Cod. Theod. xv. 7, 10. This curious law was issued in a.d. 385. St. Jerome said these musicians were the chorus of the devil, and quite as dangerous as the sirens. See the comments on the law. 665.
Ruinart, Act. S. Perpetuæ. Эти акты, я полагаю, в целом считаются подлинными. Нет ничего более поучительного в истории, чем прослеживать одни и те же моральные чувства в разные эпохи и религии; и я могу в данном случае представить читателю иллюстрацию их постоянства, которая, я думаю, довольно примечательна. Плиний Младший в одном из своих писем дает патетический отчет о казни Корнелии, весталки, по приказу Домициана. Она была заживо погребена за инцест; но ее невиновность, по-видимому, была общепризнанной; и она была осуждена без выслушивания и в свое отсутствие. Когда ее опускали в подземную камеру, ее платье зацепилось и сбилось при спуске. Она обернулась и поправила его, а когда палач протянул руку, чтобы помочь ей, она отпрянула, чтобы он не коснулся ее, ибо это, согласно принятому мнению, было осквернением; и даже в момент высшего агонии ее вестальская чистота содрогалась от нечестивого прикосновения. (Plin. Ep. iv. 11.) Если мы теперь вернемся на несколько столетий назад, мы обнаружим, что Еврипид приписывает Поликсене черту, в точности схожую с той, что приписывалась Перпетуе. Когда она упала под мечом палача, было замечено, что ее последней заботой было то, чтобы упасть пристойно.
ἡ δὲ καὶ θνήσκουσ᾽ ὅμως πολλὴν πρόνοιαν εἶχεν εὐσχήμως πεσεῖν, κρύπτουσ᾽ ἂ κρύπτειν ὄμματ᾽ ἀρσένων χρεών.
Еврипид, Hec. 566-68.
666. Vita Pauli. 667. St. Ambrose relates an instance of this, which he says occurred at Antioch (De Virginibus, lib. ii. cap. iv.). When the Christian youth was being led to execution, the girl whom he had saved reappeared and died with him. Eusebius tells a very similar story, but places the scene at Alexandria. 668. See Ceillier, Hist. des Auteurs ecclés. tome iii. p. 523. 669. Ibid. tome viii. pp. 204-207. 670. Among the Irish saints St. Colman is said to have had a girdle which would only meet around the chaste, and which was long preserved in Ireland as a relic (Colgan, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ, Louvain, 1645, vol. i. p. 246); and St. Fursæus a girdle that extinguished lust. (Ibid. p. 292.) The girdle of St. Thomas Aquinas seems to have had some miraculous properties of this kind. (See his Life in the Bollandists, Sept. 29.) Among both the Greeks and Romans it was customary for the bride to be girt with a girdle which the bridegroom unloosed in the nuptial bed, and hence “zonam solvere” became a proverbial expression for “pudicitiam mulieris imminuere.” (Nieupoort, De Ritibus Romanorum, p. 479; Alexander's History of Women, vol. ii. p. 300.) 671. Vit. St. Pachom. (Rosweyde). 672. See his Life, by Gregory of Nyssa. 673. A little book has been written on these legends by M. Charles de Bussy, called Les Courtisanes saintes. There is said to be some doubt about St. Afra, for, while her acts represent her as a reformed courtesan, St. Fortunatus, in two lines he has devoted to her, calls her a virgin. (Ozanam, Études german. tome ii. p. 8.) 674. See the Vit. Sancti Joannis Eleemosynarii (Rosweyde). 675. Tillemont, tome x. pp. 61-62. There is also a very picturesque legend of the manner in which St. Paphnutius converted the courtesan Thais. 676. See especially, Tertullian, Ad Uxorem. It was beautifully said, at a later period, that woman was not taken from the head of man, for she was not intended to be his ruler, nor from his feet, for she was not intended to be his slave, but from his side, for she was to be his companion and his comfort. (Peter Lombard, Senten. lib. ii. dis. 18.) 677. The reader may find many passages on this subject in Barbeyrac, Morale des Pères, ii. § 7; iii. § 8; iv. § 31-35; vi. § 31; xiii. § 2-8. 678. “It is remarkable how rarely, if ever (I cannot call to mind an instance), in the discussions of the comparative merits of marriage and celibacy, the social advantages appear to have occurred to the mind.... It is always argued with relation to the interests and the perfection of the individual soul; and, even with regard to that, the writers seem almost unconscious of the softening and humanising effect of the natural affections, the beauty of parental tenderness and filial love.”—Milman's Hist. of Christianity, vol. iii. p. 196. 679. “Tempus breve est, et jam securis ad radices arborum posita est, quæ silvam legis et nuptiarum evangelica castitate succidat.”—Ep. cxxiii. 680. “Laudo nuptias, laudo conjugium, sed quia mihi virgines generant.”—Ep. xxii. 681. See Ceillier, Auteurs ecclés. xiii. p. 147. 682. Socrates, iv. 23. 683. Palladius, Hist. Laus. cxix. 684. Vit. S. Abr. (Rosweyde), cap. i. 685. I do not know when this legend first appeared. M. Littré mentions having found it in a French MS. of the eleventh century (Littré, Les Barbares, pp. 123-124); and it also forms the subject of a very curious fresco, I imagine of a somewhat earlier date, which was discovered, within the last few years, in the subterranean church of St. Clement at Rome. An account of it is given by Father Mullooly, in his interesting little book about that Church. 686. De Virgin. cap. iii. 687. Greg. Tur. i. 42. 688. The regulations on this point are given at length in Bingham. 689. Muratori, Antich. Ital. diss. xx. 690. St. Greg. Dial. i. 10. 691. Delepierre, L'Enfer décrit par ceux qui l'ont vu, pp. 44-56. 692. Val. Max. ii. 1. § 3. 693.
«Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores Abstulit; ille habeat secum, servetque sepulchro.»
Æn. iv. 28.
694. E.g., the wives of Lucan, Drusus, and Pompey. 695. Tacit. German. xix. 696. Friedländer, tome i. p. 411. 697. Hieron. Ep. liv. 698.
«Uxorem vivam amare voluptas; Defunctam religio.»
Стаций. Sylv. v. in proœmio.
699. By one of the laws of Charondas it was ordained that those who cared so little for the happiness of their children as to place a stepmother over them, should be excluded from the councils of the State. (Diod. Sic. xii. 12.) 700. Tertullian expounded the Montanist view in his treatise, De Monogamia. 701. A full collection of the statements of the Fathers on this subject is given by Perrone, De Matrimonio, lib. iii. Sect. I.; and by Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccles. Sæc. II. dissert. 18. 702. Thus, to give but a single instance, St. Jerome, who was one of their strongest opponents, says: “Quid igitur? damnamus secunda matrimonia? Minime, sed prima laudamus. Abjicimus de ecclesia digamos? absit; sed monogamos ad continentiam provocamus. In arca Noe non solum munda sed et immunda fuerunt animalia.”—Ep. cxxiii. 703. In Legat. 704. Strom. lib. iii. 705. Contra Jovin. i. 706. Ibid. See, too, Ep. cxxiii. 707. Hom. xvii. in Luc. 708. Orat. xxxi. 709. Perrone, De Matr. iii. § 1, art. 1; Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccles. II. dissert. 18. The penances are said not to imply that the second marriage was a sin, but that the moral condition that made it necessary was a bad one. 710. See Stephen's Hist. of English Criminal Law, i. p. 461. 711. Conc. Illib. can. xxxviii. Bingham thinks the feeling of the Council to have been, that if baptism was not administered by a priest, it should at all events be administered by one who might have been a priest. 712. Perrone, De Matrimonio, tome iii. p. 102. 713. This subject has recently been treated with very great learning and with admirable impartiality by an American author, Mr. Henry C. Lea, in his History of Sacerdotal Celibacy (Philadelphia, 1867), which is certainly one of the most valuable works that America has produced. Since the great history of Dean Milman, I know no work in English which has thrown more light on the moral condition of the middle ages, and none which is more fitted to dispel the gross illusions concerning that period which High Church writers, and writers of the positive school, have conspired to sustain. 714. See Lea, p. 36. The command of St. Paul, that a bishop or deacon should be the husband of one wife (1 Tim. iii. 2-12) was believed by all ancient and by many modern commentators to be prohibitory of second marriages; and this view is somewhat confirmed by the widows who were to be honoured and supported by the Church, being only those who had been but once married (1 Tim. v. 9). See Pressensé, Hist. des trois premiers Siècles (1re série), tome ii. p. 233. Among the Jews it was ordained that the high priest should not marry a widow. (Levit. xxi. 13-14.) 715. Socrates, H. E. i. 11. The Council of Illiberis (can. xxxiii.) had ordained this, but both the precepts and the practice of divines varied greatly. A brilliant summary of the chief facts is given in Milman's History of Early Christianity, vol. iii. pp. 277-282. 716. See, on the state of things in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Lea, pp. 162-192. 717. Ratherius, quoted by Lea, p. 151. 718. See some curious evidence of the extent to which the practice of the hereditary transmission of ecclesiastical offices was carried, in Lea, pp. 149, 150, 266, 299, 339. 719. Lea, pp. 271, 292, 422. 720. Ibid. pp. 186-187. 721. Lea, p. 358. 722. Ibid. p. 296. 723. Ibid. p. 322. 724. Ibid. p. 349. 725. The reader may find the most ample evidence of these positions in Lea. See especially pp. 138, 141, 153, 155, 260, 344. 726. Synesius, Ep. cv. 727. Lea, p. 122. St. Augustine had named his illegitimate son Adeodatus, or the Gift of God, and had made him a principal interlocutor in one of his religious dialogues. 728. Dialog. iv. 11. 729. This is mentioned by Henry of Huntingdon, who was a contemporary. (Lea, p. 293.) 730. The first notice of this very remarkable precaution is in a canon of the Council of Palencia (in Spain) held in 1322, which anathematises laymen who compel their pastors to take concubines. (Lea, p. 324.) Sleidan mentions that it was customary in some of the Swiss cantons for the parishioners to oblige the priest to select a concubine as a necessary precaution for the protection of his female parishioners. (Ibid. p. 355.) Sarpi, in his Hist. of the Council of Trent, mentions (on the authority of Zuinglius) this Swiss custom. Nicolas of Clemangis, a leading member of the Council of Constance, declared that this custom had become very common, that the laity were firmly persuaded that priests never lived a life of real celibacy, and that, where no proofs of concubinage were found, they always assumed the existence of more serious vice. The passage (which is quoted by Bayle) is too remarkable to be omitted. “Taceo de fornicationibus et adulteriis a quibus qui alieni sunt probro cæteris ac ludibrio esse solent, spadonesque aut sodomitæ appellantur; denique laici usque adeo persuasum habent nullos cælibes esse, ut in plerisque parochiis non aliter velint presbyterum tolerare nisi concubinam habeat, quo vel sic suis sit consultum uxoribus, quæ nec sic quidem usquequaque sunt extra periculum.” Nic. de Clem. De Præsul. Simoniac. (Lea, p. 386.) 731. This was energetically noticed by Luther, in his famous sermon “De Matrimonio,” and some of the Catholic preachers of an earlier period had made the same complaint. See a curious passage from a contemporary of Boccaccio, quoted by Meray, Les Libres prêcheurs, p. 155. “Vast numbers of laymen separated from their wives under the influence of the ascetic enthusiasm which Hildebrand created.”—Lea, p. 254. 732. “Quando enim servata fide thori causa prolis conjuges conveniunt sic excusatur coitus ut culpam non habeat. Quando vero deficiente bono prolis fide tamen servata conveniunt causa incontinentiæ non sic excusatur ut non habeat culpam, sed venialem.... Item hoc quod conjugati victi concupiscentia utuntur invicem, ultra necessitatem liberos procreandi, ponam in his pro quibus quotidie dicimus Dimitte nobis debita nostra.... Unde in sententiolis Sexti Pythagorici legitur ‘omnis ardentior amator propriæ uxoris adulter est.’ ”—Peter Lombard, Sentent. lib. iv. dist. 31. 733. Many wives, however, were forbidden. (Deut. xvii. 17.) Polygamy is said to have ceased among the Jews after the return from the Babylonish captivity.—Whewell's Elements of Morality, book iv. ch. v. 734. Levit. xii. 1-5. 735. Ecclesiasticus, xiii. 14. I believe, however, the passage has been translated “Better the badness of a man than the blandishments of a woman.” 736. This curious fact is noticed by Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, pp. xcvii.-xcviii. 737. See the decree of a Council of Auxerre (a.d. 578), can. 36. 738. See the last two chapters of Troplong, Influences du Christianisme sur le Droit (a work, however, which is written much more in the spirit of an apologist than in that of an historian), and Legouvé, pp. 27-29. 739. Even in matters not relating to property, the position of women in feudalism was a low one. “Tout mari,” says Beaumanoir, “peut battre sa femme quand elle ne veut pas obéir à son commandement, ou quand elle le maudit, ou quand elle le dément, pourvu que ce soit modérément et sans que mort s'ensuive,” quoted by Legouvé, p. 148. Contrast with this the saying of the elder Cato: “A man who beats his wife or his children lays impious hands on that which is most holy and most sacred in the world.”—Plutarch, Marcus Cato. 740. See Legouvé, pp. 29-38; Maine's Ancient Law, pp. 154-159. 741. “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: but the proprietary disabilities of married females stand on quite a different basis from their personal incapacities, and it is by keeping alive and consolidating the former that the expositors of the canon law have deeply injured civilisation. There are many vestiges of a struggle between the secular and ecclesiastical principles; but the canon law nearly everywhere prevailed.”—Maine's Ancient Law, p. 158. I may observe that the Russian law was early very favourable to the proprietary rights of married women. See a remarkable letter in the Memoirs of the Princess Daschkaw (edited by Mrs. Bradford: London, 1840), vol. ii. p. 404. 742. Germania, cap. ix. xviii.-xx. 743. De Gubernatione Dei. 744. See, for these legends, Mallet's Northern Antiquities. 745. Tacitus, Germ. 9; Hist. iv. 18; Xiphilin. lxxi. 3; Amm. Marcellinus, xv. 12; Vopiscus, Aurelianus; Floras, iii. 3. 746. Valer. Max. vi. 1; Hieron. Ep. cxxiii. 747. Plutarch, De Mulier. Virt. 748. Plutarch, Amatorius; Xiphilin. lxvi. 16; Tacit. Hist. iv. 67. The name of this heroic wife is given in three different forms. 749. On the polygamy of the first, see Greg. Tur. iv. 26; on the polygamy of Chilperic, Greg. Tur. iv. 28; v. 14. 750. Greg. Tur. iv. 3. 751. Ibid. iii. 25-27, 36. 752. Fredegarius, xxxvi. 753. Ibid. lx. 754. Eginhardus, Vit. Kar. Mag. xviii. Charlemagne had, according to Eginhard, four wives, but, as far as I can understand, only two at the same time. 755. Smyth's Lectures on Modern History, vol. i. pp. 61-62. 756. Milman's Hist. of Latin Christianity, vol. i. p. 363; Legouvé, Hist. Morale des Femmes, p. 57. 757. See, on these laws, Lord Kames On Women; Legouvé, p. 57. 758. Favorinus had strongly urged it. (Aul. Gell. Noct. xii. 1.) 759. These are the reasons given by Malthus, On Population, book iii. ch. ii. 760. St. Augustine (De Conj. Adult. ii. 19) maintains that adultery is even more criminal in the man than in the woman. St. Jerome has an impressive passage on the subject: “Aliæ sunt leges Cæsarum, aliæ Christi; aliud Papianus, aliud Paulus nostri præcepit. Apud illos viris impudicitiæ fræna laxantur et solo stupro atque adulterio condemnato passim per lupanaria et ancillulas libido permittitur, quasi culpam dignitas faciat non voluntas. Apud nos quod non licet feminis æque non licet viris; et eadem servitus pari conditione censetur.”—Ep. lxxvii. St. Chrysostom writes in a similar strain. 761. See Troplong, Influence du Christianisme sur le Droit, pp. 239-251. 762. We find, however, traces of a toleration of the Roman type of concubine in Christianity for some time. Thus, a Council of Toledo decreed: “Si quis habens uxorem fidelis concubinam habeat non communicet. Cæterum is qui non habet uxorem et pro uxore concubinam habet a communione non repellatur, tantum ut unius mulieris, aut uxoris aut concubinæ ut ei placuerit, sit conjunctione contentus.”—1 Can. 17. St. Isidore said: “Christiano non dicam plurimas sed nec duas simul habere licitum est, nisi unam tantum aut uxorem, aut certo loco uxoris, si conjux deest, concubinam.”—Apud Gratianum, diss. 4. Quoted by Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccles. Sæc. I. diss. 29. Mr. Lea (Hist. of Sacerdotal Celibacy, pp. 203-205) has devoted an extremely interesting note to tracing the history of the word concubine through the middle ages. He shows that even up to the thirteenth century a concubine was not necessarily an abandoned woman. The term was applied to marriages that were real, but not officially recognised. Coleridge notices a remarkable instance of the revival of this custom in German history.—Notes on English Divines (ed. 1853), vol. i. p. 221. 763. Legouvé, p. 199. 764. See some curious passages in Troplong, pp. 222-223. The Fathers seem to have thought dissolution of marriage was not lawful on account of the adultery of the husband, but that it was not absolutely unlawful, though not commendable, for a husband whose wife had committed adultery to re-marry. 765. Some of the great charities of Fabiola were performed as penances, on account of her crime in availing herself of the legislative permission of divorce. 766. Laboulaye, Recherches sur la Condition civile et politique des Femmes, pp. 152-158. 767. “A discourse concerning the obligation to marry within the true communion, following from their style (sic) of being called a holy seed.” This rare discourse is appended to a sermon against mixed marriages by Leslie. (London, 1702.) The reader may find something about Dodwell in Macaulay's Hist. of England, ch. xiv.; but Macaulay, who does not appear to have known Dodwell's masterpiece—his dissertation De Paucitate Marturum, which is one of the finest specimens of criticism of his time—and who only knew the discourse on marriages by extracts, has, I think, done him considerable injustice. 768. Dodwell relies mainly upon this fact, and especially upon Ezra's having treated these marriages as essentially null. 769. “Jungere cum infidelibus vinculum matrimonii, prostituere gentilibus membra Christi.”—Cyprian, De Lapsis. 770. “Hæc cum ita sint, fideles Gentilium matrimonia subeuntes stupri reos esse constat, et arcendos ab omni communicatione fraternitatis.”—Tert. Ad Uxor. ii. 3. 771. See on this law, and on the many councils which condemned the marriage of orthodox with heretics, Bingham, Antiq. xxii. 2, §§ 1-2. 772. Many curious statistics illustrating this fact are given by M. Bonneville de Marsangy—a Portuguese writer who was counsellor of the Imperial Court at Paris—in his Étude sur la Moralité comparée de la Femme et de l'Homme. (Paris, 1862.) The writer would have done better if he had not maintained, in lawyer fashion, that the statistics of crime are absolutely decisive on the question of the comparative morality of the sexes, and also, if he had not thought it due to his official position to talk in a rather grotesque strain about the regeneration and glorification of the sex in the person of the Empress Eugénie. 773. See Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 19. 774. “Tantum inter Stoicos, Serene, et ceteros sapientiam professos interesse, quantum inter fœminas et mares non immerito dixerim.”—De Const. Sapientis, cap. i. 775. This is well illustrated, on the one side, by the most repulsive representations of Christ, by Michael Angelo, in the great fresco in the Sistine Chapel (so inferior to the Christ of Orgagna, at Pisa, from which it was partly imitated), and in marble in the Minerva Church at Rome; and, on the other side, by the frescoes of Perugino, at Perugia, representing the great sages of Paganism. The figure of Cato, in the latter, almost approaches, as well as I remember, the type of St. John. 776. In that fine description of a virtuous woman which is ascribed to the mother of King Lemuel, we read: “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” (Proverbs xxxi. 20.) I have already quoted from Xenophon the beautiful description of the Greek wife tending her sick slaves. So, too, Euripides represents the slaves of Alcestis gathering with tears around the bed of their dying mistress, who, even then, found some kind word for each, and, when she died, lamenting her as their second mother. (Eurip. Alcest.) In the servile war which desolated Sicily at the time of the Punic wars, we find a touching trait of the same kind. The revolt was provoked by the cruelties of a rich man, named Damophilus, and his wife, who were massacred with circumstances of great atrocity; but the slaves preserved their daughter entirely unharmed, for she had always made it her business to console them in their sorrow, and she had won the love of all. (Diodor. Sic. Frag. xxxiv.) So, too, Marcia, the wife of Cato, used to suckle her young slaves from her breast. (Plut. Marc. Cato.) I may add the well-known sentiment which Virgil puts in the mouth of Dido: “Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.” There are, doubtless, many other touches of the same kind in ancient literature, some of which may occur to my readers. 777. Theodoret, v. 19. 778. See the beautiful description of the functions of a Christian woman in the second book of Tertullian, Ad Uxorem. 779. See, upon the deaconesses, Bingham's Christian Antiquities, book ii. ch. 22, and Ludlow's Woman's Work in the Church. The latter author argues elaborately that the “widows” were not the same as the deaconesses. 780. Phœbe (Rom. xvi. 1) is described as a διάκονος. 781. A very able writer, who takes on the whole an unfavourable view of the influence of Christianity on legislation, says: “The provision for the widow was attributable to the exertions of the Church, which never relaxed its solicitude for the interests of wives surviving their husbands, winning, perhaps, one of the most arduous of its triumphs when, after exacting for two or three centuries an express promise from the husband at marriage to endow his wife, it at last succeeded in engrafting the principle of dower on the customary law of all Western Europe.”—Maine's Ancient Law, p. 224. 782. See Troplong, Influence du Christianisme sur le Droit, pp. 308-310. 783. The results of this change have been treated by Miss Parkes in her truly admirable little book called Essays on Woman's Work, better than by any other writer with whom I am acquainted.
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