Chapter V: The Position of Women (5)

Marcus, St., story of, and his mother, ii. 128

Marriage, how regarded by the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Catholics, i. 103,
104.
Statius’ picture of the first night of marriage, 107, _note_.
Reason why the ancient Jews attached a certain stigma to virginity, 109.
Conflict of views of the Catholic priest and the political economist on
the subject of early marriages, 114.
Results in some countries of the difficulties with which legislators
surround marriage, 144.
Early marriages the most conspicuous proofs of Irish improvidence, 144.
Influence of asceticism on, ii. 320.
Notions of its impurity, 324.
Second marriages, 324

Marseilles, law of, respecting suicide, i. 218, _note_.
Epidemic of suicide among the women of, ii. 55

Martial, sycophancy of his epigrams, i. 194

Martin of Tours, St., establishes monachism in Gaul, ii. 106

Martyrdom, glories of, i. 390.
Festivals of the Martyrs, 390, _note_.
Passion for, 391.
Dissipation of the people at the festivals, ii. 150

Mary, St., of Egypt, ii. 110

Mary, the Virgin, veneration of, ii. 367, 368, 390

Massilians, wine forbidden to women by the, i. 96, _note_

Maternal affection, strength of, ii. 25, _note_

Maurice, on the social penalties of conscience, i. 60, _note_

Mauricus, Junius, his refusal to allow gladiatorial shows at Vienna, i.
286

Maxentius, instance of his tyranny, ii. 46

Maximilianus, his martyrdom, ii. 248

Maximinus, Emperor, his persecution of the Christians, i. 446

Maximus of Tyre, account of him and his discourses, i. 312.
His defence of the ancient creeds, 323.
Practical form of his philosophy, 329

Medicine, possible progress of, i. 158, 159

Melania, St., her bereavement, ii. 10.
Her pilgrimage through the Syrian and Egyptian hermitages, 120

Milesians, wine forbidden by the, to women, i. 94, _note_

Military honour pre-eminent among the Romans, i. 172, 173.
History of the decadence of Roman military virtue, 268

Mill, J., on association, 25, _note_, _et seq._

Mill, J. S., quoted, i. 29, 47, 90, 102

Minerva, meaning of, according to the Stoics, i. 163

Miracles, general incredulity on the subject of, at the present time, i.
346, 348.
Miracles not impossible, 347.
Established by much evidence, 347.
The histories of them always decline with education, 348.
Illustration of this in the belief in fairies, 348.
Conceptions of savages, 349.
Legends, formation and decay of, 350-352.
Common errors in reasoning about miracles, 356.
Predisposition to the miraculous in some states of society, 362.
Belief of the Romans in miracles, 363-367.
Incapacity of the Christians of the third century for judging historic
miracles, 375.
Contemporary miracles believed in by the early Christians, 378.
Exorcism, 378.
Neither past nor contemporary Christian miracles had much weight upon
the pagans, 378

Missionary labours, ii. 246

Mithra, worship of, in Rome, i. 386

Mohammedans, their condemnation of suicide, ii. 53.
Their lunatic asylums, 89.
Their religion, 251.
Effects of their military triumphs on Christianity, 252

Molinos, his opinion on the love we should bear to God, condemned, i. 18,
_note_

Monastic system, results of the Catholic monastic system, i. 107.
Suicide of monks, ii. 52.
Exertions of the monks in the cause of charity, 84.
Causes of the monastic movement, 102.
History of the rapid propagation of it in the West, 183.
New value placed by it on obedience and humility, 185, 269.
Relation of it to the intellectual virtues, 188.
The monasteries regarded as the receptacles of learning, 199.
Fallacy of attributing to the monasteries the genius that was displayed
in theology, 208.
Other fallacies concerning the services of the monks, 208-212.
Value attached by monks to pecuniary compensations for crime, 213.
Causes of their corruption, 217.
Benefits conferred by the monasteries, 243

Monica, St., i. 94, _note_

Monogamy, establishment of, ii. 372

Monophysites, the cause, to some extent, of the Mohammedan conquest of
Egypt, ii. 143

Montanists, their tenets, ii. 102

Moral distinctions, rival claims of intuition and utility to be regarded
as the supreme regulators of, i. 1

Moral judgments, alleged diversities of, i. 91.
Are frequently due to intellectual causes, 92.
Instances of this in usury and abortion, 92.
Distinction between natural duties and others resting on positive law,
93.
Ancient customs canonised by time, 93.
Anomalies explained by a confused association of ideas, 94, 95.
Moral perceptions overridden by positive religions, 95.
Instances of this in transubstantiation and the Augustinian and
Calvinistic doctrines of damnation, 96, 97.
General moral principles alone revealed by intuition, 99.
The moral unity of different ages a unity not of standard but of
tendency, 100.
Application of this theory to the history of benevolence, 100.
Reasons why acts regarded in one age as criminal are innocent in
another, 101.
Views of Mill and Buckle on the comparative influence of intellectual
and moral agencies in civilisation, 102, 103, _note_.
Intuitive morals not unprogressive, 102, 103.
Answers to miscellaneous objections against the theory of natural moral
perceptions, 109.
Effect of the condition of society on the standard, but not the essence,
of virtue, 110.
Occasional duty of sacrificing higher duties to lower ones, 110, _et
seq._
Summary of the relations of virtue and public and private interest, 117.
Two senses of the word natural, 119

Moral law, foundation of the, according to Ockham and his adherents, i.
17, _note_.
Various views of the sanctions of morality, 19.
Utilitarian theological sanctions, 53.
The reality of the moral nature the one great question of natural
theology, 56.
Utilitarian secular sanctions, 57.
The Utilitarian theory subversive of morality, 66.
Plausibility and danger of theories of unification in morals, 72.
Our knowledge of the laws of moral progress nothing more than
approximate or general, 136

“Moral sense,” Hutcheson’s doctrine of a, i. 4

Moral system, what it should be, to govern society, i. 194

Morals, each of the two schools of, related to the general condition of
society, i. 122.
Their relations to metaphysical schools, 123, 124.
And to the Baconian philosophy, 125.
Contrast between ancient and modern civilisations, 125-127.
Causes that lead societies to elevate their moral standard, and
determine their preference of some particular kind of
virtues, 130.
The order in which moral feelings are developed, 130.
Danger in proposing too absolutely a single character as a model to
which all men must conform, 155.
Remarks on moral types, 156.
Results to be expected from the study of the relations between our
physical and moral nature, 158.
Little influence of Pagan religions on morals, 161

More, Henry, on the motive of virtue, i. 76

Musonius, his suicide, i. 220

Mutius, history of him and his son, ii. 125

Mysticism of the Romans, causes producing, i. 318

Myths, formation of, i. 351

Naples, mania for suicide at, ii. 55

Napoleon, the Emperor, his order of the day respecting suicide, i. 219,
_note_

Nations, causes of the difficulties of effecting cordial international
friendships, i. 156

Natural moral perceptions, objections to the theory of, i. 116.
Two senses of the word natural, 118.
Reid, Sedgwick, and Leibnitz on the natural or innate powers of man,
121, _note_.
Locke’s refutation of the doctrine of a natural moral sense, 124

Neoplatonism, account of, i. 325.
Its destruction of the active duties and critical spirit, 329

Neptune, views of the Stoics of the meaning of the legends of, i. 163.
His statue solemnly degraded by Augustus, 169

Nero, his singing and acting, i. 259.
His law about slaves, 307.
His persecution of the Christians, 429

Newman, Dr., on venial sin, i. 111, and _note_ on pride, ii. 188

Nicodemus, apocryphal gospel of, ii. 221

Nilus, St., deserts his family, ii. 322

Nitria, number of anchorites in the desert of, ii. 105

Nolasco, Peter, his works of mercy, ii. 73.
His participation in the Albigensian massacres, 95

Novatians, their tenets, ii. 102

Numa, legend of his prohibition of idols, i. 166, _note_

Oath, sanctity of an, among the Romans, i. 168

Obedience, new value placed on it by monachism, ii. 185, 186, 269

Obligation, nature of, i. 64, 65

Ockham, his opinion of the foundation of the moral law, i. 17, and _note_

Odin, his suicide, ii. 53

O’Neale, Shane, his charity, ii. 96

Opinion, influence of character on, i. 171, 172

Oracles, refuted and ridiculed by Cicero, i. 165.
Plutarch’s defence of their bad poetry, 165, _note_.
Refusal of Cato and the Stoics to consult them, 165.
Ridiculed by the Roman wits, 166.
Answer of the oracle of Delphi as to the best religion, 167.
Theory of the oracles in the ’De Divinatione’ of Cicero, 368, and
_note_.
Van Dale’s denial of their supernatural character, 374.
Books of oracles burnt under the republic and empire, 447, and _note_

Origen, his desire for martyrdom, i. 391

Orphanotrophia, in the early Church, ii. 32

Otho, the Emperor, his suicide, i. 219.
Opinion of his contemporaries of his act, 219, _note_

Ovid, object of his “Metamorphoses,” i. 166.
His condemnation of suicide, 213, and _note_.
His humanity to animals, ii. 165

Oxen, laws for the protection of, ii. 162

Oxyrinchus, ascetic life in the city of, ii. 105

Pachomius, St., number of his monks, ii. 105

Pætus and Arria, history of, ii. 310

Pagan religions, their feeble influence on morals, i. 161

Pagan virtues, the, compared with Christian, i. 190

Paiderastia, the, of the Greeks, ii. 294

Pain, equivalent to evil, according to the Utilitarians, i. 8, _note_

Palestine, foundation of monachism in, ii. 106.
Becomes a hot-bed of debauchery, 152

Paley, on the obligation of virtue, i. 14, _note_.
On the difference between an act of prudence and an act of duty, 16,
_note_.
On the love we ought to bear to God, 18, _note_.
On the religious sanctions of morality, 19.
On the doctrine of association, 25, _note_.
On flesh diet, 49, _note_.
On the influence of health on happiness, 88, _note_.
On the difference in pleasures, 90, _note_

Pambos, St., story of, ii. 116, _note_

Pammachus, St., his hospital, ii. 80

Panætius, the founder of the Roman Stoics, his disbelief in the
immortality of the soul, i. 183

Pandars, punishment of, ii. 316

Parents, reason why some savages did not regard their murder as criminal,
i. 101

Parthenon, the, at Athens, i. 105

Pascal, his advocacy of piety as a matter of prudence, i. 17, _note_.
His adherence to the opinion of Ockham as to the foundation of the moral
law, 17, _note_.
His thought on the humiliation created by deriving pleasure from certain
amusements, i. 86, _note_

Patriotism, period when it flourished, i. 136.
Peculiar characteristic of the virtue, 177, 178.
Causes of the predominance occasionally accorded to civic virtues, 200.
Neglect or discredit into which they have fallen among modern teachers,
201.
Cicero’s remarks on the duty of every good man, 201.
Unfortunate relations of Christianity to patriotism, ii. 140.
Repugnance of the theological to the patriotic spirit, 145

Paul, St., his definition of conscience, i. 83

Paul, the hermit, his flight to the desert, ii. 102.
Legend of the visit of St. Antony to him, 158

Paul, St. Vincent de, his foundling hospitals, ii. 34

Paula, story of her asceticism and inhumanity, ii. 133, 134

Paulina, her devotion to her husband, ii. 310

Pelagia, St., her suicide, ii. 46.
Her flight to the desert, 121, and _note_

Pelagius, ii. 223

Pelican, legend of the, ii. 161

Penances of the saints of the desert, ii. 107, _et seq._

Penitential system, the, of the early church, ii. 6, 7

Pepin, his compact with Pope Leo, ii. 267

Peregrinus the Cynic, his suicide, i. 220

Pericles, his humanity, i. 228

Perpetua, St., her martyrdom, i. 391, 444; ii. 317

Persecutions, Catholic doctrines justifying, i. 98.
Why Christianity was not crushed by them, 395.
Many causes of persecution, 395-397.
Reasons why the Christians were more persecuted than the Jews, 403, 406,
407.
Causes of the persecutions, 406, _et seq._
History of the persecutions, 429.
Nero, 429.
Domitian, 431.
Trajan, 437.
Marcus Aurelius, 439, 440.
From M. Aurelius to Decius, 442, _et seq._
Gallus, 454.
Valerian, 454.
Diocletian and Galerius, 458-463.
End of the persecutions, 463.
General considerations on their history, 463-468

Petronian law, in favour of slaves, i. 307

Petronius, his scepticism, i. 162.
His suicide, 215.
His condemnation of the show of the arena, 286

Philip the Arab, his favour to Christianity, i. 445

Philosophers, efforts of some, to restore the moral influence of religion
among the Romans, i. 169.
The true moral teachers, 171

Philosophical truth, characteristics of, i. 139, 140.
Its growth retarded by the opposition of theologians, 140

Philosophy, causes of the practical character of most ancient, i. 202.
Its fusion with religion, 352.
Opinions of the early Church concerning the pagan writings, 332.
Difference between the moral teaching of a philosophy and that of a
religion, ii. 1.
Its impotency to restrain vice, 4

Phocas, attitude of the Church towards him, ii. 263

Phocion, his gentleness, i. 228

Physical science affects the belief in miracles, i. 354, 355

Piety, utilitarian view of the causes of the pleasures and pains of, i. 9,
and _note_.
A matter of prudence, according to theological Utilitarianism, 16

Pilate, Pontius, story of his desire to enrol Christ among the Roman gods,
i. 429

Pilgrimages, evils of, ii. 152

Pior, St., story of, ii. 129

Pirates, destruction of, by Pompey, i. 234

Pity, a form of self-love, according to some Utilitarians, i. 9, 10,
_note_.
Adam Smith’s theory, 10, _note_.
Seneca’s distinction between it and clemency, 189.
Altar to Pity at Athens, 228.
History of Marcus Aurelius’ altar to Beneficentia at Rome, 228, _note_

Plato, his admission of the practice of abortion, i. 92.
Basis of his moral system, 105.
Cause of the banishment of the poets from his republic, 161, 162.
His theory that vice is to virtue what disease is to health, 179, and
_note_.
Reason for his advocacy of community of wives, 200.
His condemnation of suicide, 212, and _note_.
His remarks on universal brotherhood, 241.
His inculcation of the practice of self-examination, 248

Platonic school, its ideal, i. 322

Platonists, their more or less pantheistic conception of the Deity, i.
163.
Practical nature of their philosophy, 329.
The Platonic ethics ascendant in Rome, 331

Pleasure the only good, according to the Utilitarians, i. 7.
Illustrations of the distinction between the higher and lower parts of
our nature in our pleasures, 83-85.
Pleasures of a civilised compared with those of a semi-civilised
society, 86.
Comparison of mental and physical pleasures, 87, 88.
Distinction in kind of pleasure, and its importance in morals, 89-91.
Neglected or denied by Utilitarian writers, 89, _note_

Pliny, the elder, on the probable happiness of the lower animals, i. 87,
_note_.
On the Deity, 164.
On astrology, 171, and _note_, 164, _note_.
His disbelief in the immortality of the soul, 182.
His advocacy of suicide, 215.
Never mentions Christianity, 336.
His opinion of earthquakes, 369.
And of comets, 369.
His facility of belief, 370.
His denunciation of finger rings, ii. 148

Pliny, the younger, his desire for posthumous reputation, i. 185, _note_.
His picture of the ideal of Stoicism, 186.
His letter to Trajan respecting the Christians, 437.
His benevolence, 242; ii. 77

Plotinus, his condemnation of suicide, i. 214.
His philosophy, 330

Plutarch, his defence of the bad poetry of the oracles, 165, _note_.
His mode of moral teaching, 175.
Basis of his belief in the immortality of the soul, 204.
On superstitious fear of death, 206.
His letter on the death of his little daughter, 242.
May justly be regarded as the leader of the eclectic school, 243.
His philosophy and works compared with those of Seneca, 243.
His treatise on “The Signs of Moral Progress,” 249.
Compared and contrasted with Marcus Aurelius, 253.
How he regarded the games of the arena, 286.
His defence of the ancient creeds, 322.
Practical nature of his philosophy, 329.
Never mentions Christianity, 336.
His remarks on the domestic system of the ancients, 419.
On kindness to animals, ii. 165, 166.
His picture of Greek married life, 289

Pluto, meaning of, according to the Stoics, i. 163

Po, miracle of the subsidence of the waters of the, i. 382, _note_

Pœmen, St., story of, and of his mother, ii. 129.
Legend of him and the lion, 169

Political economy, what it has accomplished respecting almsgiving, ii. 90

Political judgments, moral standard of most men in, lower than in private
judgments, i. 151

Political truth, or habit of “fair play,” the characteristic of free
communities, i. 139.
Highly civilised form of society to which it belongs, 139.
Its growth retarded by the opposition of theologians, 140

Polybius, his praise of the devotion and purity of creed of the Romans, i.
167

Polycarp, St., martyrdom of, i. 441

Polygamy, long continuance of, among the kings of Gaul, ii. 343

Pompeii, gladiatorial shows at, i. 276, _note_

Pompey, his destruction of the pirates, i. 234.
His multiplication of gladiatorial shows, 273

Poor-law system, elaboration of the, ii. 96.
Its pernicious results, 97, 99, 105

Poppæa, Empress, a Jewish proselyte, i. 386

Porcia, heroism of, ii. 309

Porphyry, his condemnation of suicides, i. 214.
His description of philosophy, i. 326.
His adoption of Neoplatonism, i. 330

Possevin, his exposure of the Sibylline books, i. 377

Pothinus, martyrdom of, i. 442

Power, origin of the desire of, i. 23, 26

Praise, association of ideas leading to the desire for even posthumous, i.
26

Prayer, reflex influence upon the minds of the worshippers, i. 36

Preachers, Stoic, among the Romans, i. 308, 309

Pride, contrasted with vanity, i. 195.
The leading moral agent of Stoicism, i. 195

Prometheus, cause of the admiration bestowed upon, i. 35

Prophecies, incapacity of the Christians of the third century for judging
prophecies, i. 376

Prophecy, gift of, attributed to the vestal virgins of Rome, i. 107.
And in India to virgins, 107, _note_

Prosperity, some crimes conducive to national, i. 58

Prostitution, ii. 282-286.
How regarded by the Romans, 314

Protagoras, his scepticism, i. 162

Protasius, St., miraculous discovery of his remains, i. 379

Prudentius, on the vestal virgins at the gladiatorial shows, i. 291

Purgatory, doctrine of, ii. 232-235

Pythagoras, sayings of, i. 53.
Chastity the leading virtue of his school, 106.
On the fables of Hesiod and Homer, 161.
His belief in an all-pervading soul of nature, 162.
His condemnation of suicide, 212.
Tradition of his journey to India, 229, _note_.
His inculcation of the practice of self-examination, 248.
His opinion of earthquakes, 369.
His doctrine of kindness to animals, ii. 165

Quakers, compared with the early Christians, ii. 12, and _note_

Quintilian, his conception of the Deity, i. 164

Rank, secular, consecration of, ii. 260, _et seq_

Rape, punishment for, ii. 316

Redbreast, legend of the, ii. 224, _note_

Regulus, the story of, i. 212

Reid, basis of his ethics, i. 76.
His distinction between innate faculties evolved by experience and
innate ideas independent of experience, 121, _note_

Religion, theological utilitarianism subverts natural, i. 54-56.
Answer of the oracle of Delphi as to the best, 167.
Difference between the moral teaching of a philosophy and that of a
religion, ii. 1.
Relations between positive religion and moral enthusiasm, 141

Religions, pagan, their small influence on morals, i. 161.
Oriental, passion for, among the Romans, 318

Religious liberty totally destroyed by the Catholics, ii. 194-199

Repentance for past sin, no place for, in the writings of the ancients, i.
195

Reputation, how valued among the Romans, i. 185, 186

Resurrection of souls, belief of the Stoics in the, i. 164

Revenge, Utilitarian notions as to the feeling of, i. 41, and _note_.
Circumstances under which private vengeance is not regarded as criminal,
i. 101

Reverence, Utilitarian views of, i. 9, and _note_.
Causes of the diminution of the spirit of, among mankind, 141, 142

Rhetoricians, Stoical, account of the, of Rome, i. 310

Ricci, his work on Mendicancy, ii. 98

Rochefoucauld La, on pity, quoted, i. 10, _note_.
And on friendship, 10, 11, _note_

Rogantianus, his passive life, i. 330

Roman law, its golden age not Christian, but pagan, ii. 42

Romans, abortion how regarded by the, i. 92.
Their law forbidding women to taste wine, 93, 94, _note_.
Reasons why they did not regard the gladiatorial shows as criminal, 101.
Their law of marriage and ideal of female morality, 104.
Their religious reverence for domesticity, 106.
Sanctity of, and gifts attributed to, their vestal virgins, 106.
Character of their cruelty, 134.
Compared with the modern Italian character in this respect, 134.
Scepticism of their philosophers, 162-167.
The religion of the Romans never a source of moral enthusiasm, 167.
Its characteristics, 168.
Causes of the disappearance of the religious reverence of the people,
169.
Efforts of some philosophers and emperors to restore the moral influence
of religion, 169.
Consummation of Roman degradation, 170.
Belief in astrological fatalism, 170, 171.
The stoical type of military and patriotic enthusiasm pre-eminently
Roman, 172-174, 178.
Importance of biography in their moral teaching, 178.
Epicureanism never became a school of virtue among them, 175.
Unselfish love of country of the Romans, 178.
Character of Stoicism in the worst period of the Roman Empire, 181.
Main features of their philosophy, 185, _et seq._
Difference between the Roman moralists and the Greek poets, 195.
The doctrine of suicide the culminating point of Roman Stoicism, 222.
The type of excellence of the Roman people, 224, 225.
Contrast between the activity of Stoicism and the luxury of Roman
society, 225, 226.
Growth of a gentler and more cosmopolitan spirit in Rome, 227.
Causes of this change, 228, _et seq._
Extent of Greek influence at Rome, 228.
The cosmopolitan spirit strengthened by the destruction of the power of
the aristocracy, 231, 232.
History of the influence of freedmen in the state, 233.
Effect of the aggrandisement of the colonies, the attraction of many
foreigners to Rome, and the increased facilities for
travelling, on the cosmopolitan spirit, 233, _et seq._
Foreigners among the most prominent of Latin writers, 235.
Results of the multitudes of emancipated slaves, 235, 236.
Endeavours of Roman statesmen to consolidate the empire by admitting the
conquered to the privileges of the conquerors, 238.
The Stoical philosophy quite capable of representing the cosmopolitan
spirit, 239.
Influence of eclectic philosophy on the Roman Stoics, 244.
Life and character of Marcus Aurelius, 249-255.
Corruption of the Roman people, 255.
Causes of their depravity, 256.
Decadence of all the conditions of republican virtue, 256.
Effects of the Imperial system on morals, 257-261.
Apotheosis of the emperors, 257.
Moral consequences of slavery, 262.
Increase of idleness and demoralising employments, 262.
Increase also of sensuality, 263.
Destruction of all public spirit, 264.
The interaction of many states which in new nations sustains national
life prevented by universal empire, 264.
The decline of agricultural pursuits, 265.
And of the military virtues, 268.
History and effects of the gladiatorial shows, 271.
Other Roman amusements, 276.
Effects of the arena upon the theatre, 277.
Nobles in the arena, 283.
Effects of Stoicism on the corruption of society, 291.
Roman law greatly extended by it, 294.
Change in the relation of Romans to provincials, 297.
Changes in domestic legislation, 297.
Roman slavery, 300-308.
The Stoics as consolers, advisers, and preachers, 308.
The Cynics and rhetoricians, 309, 310.
Decadence of Stoicism in the empire, 317.
Causes of the passion for Oriental religions, 318-320.
Neoplatonism, 325.
Review of the history of Roman philosophy, 332-335.
History of the conversion of Rome to Christianity, 336.
State of Roman opinion on the subject of miracles, 365.
Progress of the Jewish and Oriental religions in Rome, 386, 387.
The conversion of the Roman empire easily explicable, 393.
Review of the religious policy of Rome, 397.
Its division of religion into three parts, according to Eusebius, 403.
Persecutions of the Christians, 406, _et seq._
Antipathy of the Romans to every religious system which employed
religious terrorism, 420.
History of the persecutions, 429.
General sketch of the moral condition of the Western Empire, ii. 14.
Rise and progress of the government of the Church of Rome, 14, 15.
Roman practice of infanticide, 27.
Relief of the indigent, 73.
Distribution of corn, 74.
Exertions of the Christians on the subversion of the empire, 82.
Inadequate place given to this movement, 85.
Horrors caused by the barbarian invasions prevented to some extent by
Christian charity, 81-84.
Influence of Christianity in hastening the fall of the empire, 140, 141.
Roman treatment of prisoners of war, 256-258.
Despotism of the pagan empire, 260.
Condition of women under the Romans, 297.
Their concubines, 350

Rome, an illustration of crimes conducive to national prosperity, i. 58,
_note_.
Conversion of, 336.
Three popular errors concerning its conversion, 339.
Capture of the city by the barbarians, ii. 82

Romuald, St., his treatment of his father, ii. 135

Rope-dancing of the Romans, i. 291

Sabinus, Saint, his penances, ii. 108

Sacrament, administration of the, in the early Church, ii. 6

Salamis, Brutus’ treatment of the citizens of, i. 194

Sallust, his stoicism and rapacity, i. 194

Sanctuary, right of, accorded to Christian churches, ii. 40

Savage, errors into which the deceptive appearances of nature doom him, i.
54.
First conceptions formed of the universe, 349.
The ethics of savages, 120, 121

Scepticism of the Greek and Roman philosophers, i. 162-166.
Influence of, on intellectual progress, ii. 193

Scholastica, St., the legend of, ii. 136, _note_

Scifi, Clara, the first Franciscan nun, ii. 135

Sectarian animosity, chief cause of, i. 134

Sedgwick, Professor, on the expansion of the natural or innate powers of
men, i. 121, _note_

Sejanus, treatment of his daughter by the senate, i. 107, _note_

Self-denial, the Utilitarian theory unfavourable to, i. 66

Self-examination, history of the practice of, i. 247-249

Self-sacrifice, asceticism the great school of, ii. 155

Seneca, his conception of the Deity, i. 163, _note_, 164.
His distinction between the affections and diseases, 189, _note_.
And between clemency and pity, 189.
His virtues and vices, i. 194.
On the natural virtue of man and power of his will, 197.
On the Sacred Spirit dwelling in man, 198.
On death, 205.
His tranquil end, 207.
Advocates suicide, 213, 220.
His description of the self-destruction of a friend, 222.
His remarks on universal brotherhood, 241.
His stoical hardness tempered by new doctrines, 244.
His practice of self-examination, 248.
His philosophy and works compared with those of Plutarch, 243, 244.
How he regarded the games of the arena, 286.
His exhortations on the treatment of slaves, 306.
Never mentions Christianity, 336.
Regarded in the middle ages as a Christian, 340.
On religious beliefs, 405

Sensuality, why the Mohammedans people Paradise with images of, i. 108.
Why some pagans deified it, 108.
Fallacy of judging the sensuality of a nation by the statistics of its
illegitimate births, 144.
Influence of climate upon public morals, 144.
Of large towns, 145.
And of early marriages, 146.
Absence of moral scandals among the Irish priesthood, 146, 147.
Speech of Archytas of Tarentum on the evils of, 200, _note_.
Increase of sensuality in Rome, 263.
Abated by Christianity, ii. 153.
The doctrine of the Fathers respecting concupiscence, 281.

Serapion, the anthropomorphite, i. 52.
Number of his monks, ii. 105.
His interview with the courtesan, 320

Sertorius, his forgery of auspicious omens, i. 166.

Severus, Alexander, refuses the language of adulation, i. 259.
His efforts to restore agricultural pursuits, 267.
Murder of, 444.
His leniency towards Christianity, 444.
His benevolence, ii. 77

Severus, Cassius, exile of, i. 448, _note_

Severus, Septimus, his treatment of the Christians, i. 443

Sextius, his practice of self-examination, i. 248

Shaftesbury, maintains the reality of the existence of benevolence in our
nature, i. 20.
On virtue, 76, 77

Sibylline books, forged by the early Christians, i. 376, 377

Silius Italicus, his lines commemorating the passion of the Spanish Celts
for suicide, i. 207, _note_.
His self-destruction, 221

Silvia, her filthiness, ii. 110

Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, his martyrdom, i. 438

Simeon Stylites, St., his penance, ii. 111.
His inhumanity to his parents, ii. 130

Sin, the theological doctrine on the subject, i. 111, 112.
Conception of sin by the ancients, 195.
Original, taught by the Catholic Church, 209, 210.
Examination of the Utilitarian doctrine of the remote consequences of
secret sins, 43, 44

Sisoes, the abbot, stories of, ii. 126, 127

Sixtus, Bishop of Rome, his martyrdom, i. 455

Sixtus V., Pope, his efforts to suppress mendicancy, ii. 97

Slavery, circumstances under which it has been justified, i. 101.
Origin of the word servus, 102, _note_.
Crusade of England against, 153.
Character of that of the Romans, 235.
Moral consequence of slavery, 262.
Three stages of slavery at Rome, 300.
Review of the condition of slaves, 300-306.
Opinion of philosophers as to slavery, 306.
Laws enacted in favour of slaves, 306.
Effects of Christianity upon the institution of slavery, ii. 61.
Consecration of the servile virtue, 68.
Impulse given to manumission, 70.
Serfdom in Europe, 70, 71, _note_.
Extinction of slavery in Europe, 71.
Ransom of captives, 72

Smith, Adam, his theory of pity, quoted, i. 10, _note_.
His recognition of the reality of benevolence in our nature, 20.
His analysis of moral judgment, 76

Smyrna, persecution of the Christians at, i. 441

Socrates, his view of death, i. 205.
His closing hours, 207.
His advice to a courtesan, ii. 296

Soul, the immortality of the, resolutely excluded from the teaching of the
Stoics, i. 181.
Character of their first notions on the subject, 182.
The belief in the reabsorption of the soul in the parent Spirit, 183.
Belief of Cicero and Plutarch in the immortality of the, 204.
But never adopted as a motive by the Stoics, 204.
Increasing belief in the, 331.
Vague belief of the Romans in the, 168

Sospitra, story of, i. 373

Spain, persecution of the Christians in, i. 461.
Almost complete absence of infanticide in, ii. 25, _note_.
The first lunatic asylums in Europe established in, 89, 90

Spaniards, among the most prominent of Latin writers, i. 235.
Their suicides, ii. 54

Spartans, their intense patriotism, i. 178.
Their legislature continually extolled as a model, 201.
Condition of their women, ii. 290

Spinoza, his remark on death, i. 203
Anecdote of him, 289

Staël, Madame de, on suicide, ii. 59

Statius, on the first night of marriage, i. 107, _note_

Stewart, Dugald, on the pleasures of virtue, i. 32, _note_

Stilpo, his scepticism and banishment, i. 162.
His remark on his ruin, 191.

Stoics, their definition of conscience, i. 83.
Their view of the animation of the human fœtus, 92.
Their system of ethics favourable to the heroic qualities, 128.
Historical fact in favour of the system, 128.
Their belief in an all-pervading soul of nature, 162.
Their pantheistic conception of the Deity, 163.
Their conception and explanation of the prevailing legends of the gods,
163.
Their opinion as to the final destruction of the universe by fire, and
the resuscitation of souls, 164.
Their refusal to consult the oracles, 165.
Stoicism the expression of a type of character different from
Epicureanism, 172.
Rome pre-eminently the home of Stoicism, 172.
Account of the philosophy of the Stoics, 177.
Its two essentials—the unselfish ideal and the subjugation of the
affections to the reason, 177.
The best example of the perfect severance of virtue and interest, 181.
Their views concerning the immortality of the soul, 182-184.
Taught men to sacrifice reputation, and do good in secret, 186.
And distinguished the obligation from the attraction of virtue, 186.
Taught also that the affections must be subordinate to the reason,
187-191.
Their false estimate of human nature, 192.
Their love of paradox, 192.
Imperfect lives of many eminent Stoics, 193.
Their retrospective tendencies, 193.
Their system unfitted for the majority of mankind, 194.
Compared with the religious principle, 195.
The central composition of this philosophy, the dignity of man, 195.
High sense of the Stoics of the natural virtue of man, and of the power
of his will, 195, 196.
Their recognition of Providence, 196.
The two aspects under which they worshipped God, 198.
The Stoics secured from quietism by their habits of public life,
199-201.
Their view of humanity, 202.
Their preparations for, and view of, death, 202.
Their teaching as to suicide, 212, 213, _et seq._
Contrast between Stoicism and Roman luxury, 225, 226.
The Stoical philosophy quite capable of representing the cosmopolitan
spirit, 239, 240.
Stoicism not capable of representing the softening movement of
civilisation, 241.
Influence of the eclectic spirit on it, 244.
Stoicism becomes more essentially religious, 245.
Increasingly introspective character of later Stoicism, 247.
Marcus Aurelius the best example of later Stoicism, 249-255.
Effects of Stoicism on the corruption of Roman Society, 291, 292.
It raised up many good Emperors, 292.
It produced a noble opposition under the worst Emperors, 293.
It greatly extended Roman law, 294.
The Stoics considered as the consolers of the suffering, advisers of the
young, and as popular preachers, 308.
Rapid decadence of Stoicism, 317, 318.
Difference between the Stoical and Egyptian pantheism, 324.
Stoical naturalism superseded by the theory of dæmons, 331.
Theory that the writings of the Stoics were influenced by Christianity
examined, 332.
Domitian’s persecution of them, 432

Strozzi, Philip, his suicide, ii. 56

Suffering, a courageous endurance of, probably the first form of virtue in
savage life, i. 130

Suicide, attitude adopted by Pagan philosophy and Catholicism towards, i.
211, _et seq._
Eminent suicides, 215.
Epidemic of suicides at Alexandria, 216.
And of girls at Miletus, 216, _note_.
Grandeur of the Stoical ideal of suicide, 216.
Influences conspiring towards suicide, 217.
Seneca on self-destruction, 217, 218, 220.
Laws respecting it, 218, _note_.
Eminent instances of self-destruction, 219, 221.
The conception of, as an euthanasia, 221.
Neoplatonist doctrine concerning, 331.
Effect of the Christian condemnation of the practice of, ii. 43-61.
Theological doctrine on, 45, _note_.
The only form of, permitted in the early Church, 47.
Slow suicides, 48.
The Circumcelliones, 49.
The Albigenses, 49.
Suicides of the Jews, 50.
Treatment of corpses of suicides, 50.
Authorities for the history of suicides, 50, _note_.
Reaction against the mediæval laws on the subject, 51.
Later phases of its history, 54.
Self-destruction of witches, 54.
Epidemics of insane suicide, 55.
Cases of legitimate suicide, 55.
Suicide in England and France, 58

Sunday, importance of the sanctity of the, ii. 244.
Laws respecting it, 245

Superstition, possibility of adding to the happiness of man by the
diffusion of, i. 50-53.
Natural causes which impel savages to superstition, i. 55.
Signification of the Greek word for, 205

Swan, the, consecrated to Apollo, i. 206

Sweden, cause of the great number of illegitimate births in, i. 144

Swinburne, Mr., on annihilation, i. 182, _note_

Symmachus, his Saxon prisoners, i. 287

Synesius, legend of him and Evagrius, ii. 214.
Refuses to give up his wife, 332

Syracuse, gladiatorial shows at, i. 275

Tacitus, his doubts about the existence of Providence, i. 171, _note_

Telemachus, the monk, his death in the arena, ii. 37

Telesphorus, martyrdom of, i. 446, _note_

Tertia Æmilia, story of, ii. 313

Tertullian, his belief in dæmons, i. 382.
And challenge to the Pagans, 383

Testament, Old, supposed to have been the source of pagan writings, i. 344

Thalasius, his hospital for blind beggars, ii. 81

Theatre, scepticism of the Romans extended by the, i. 170.
Effects of the gladiatorial shows upon the, 277

Theft, reasons why some savages do not regard it as criminal, i. 102.
Spartan law legalising it, 102

Theodebert, his polygamy, ii. 343

Theodoric, his court at Ravenna, ii. 201, 202, _note_

Theodorus, his denial of the existence of the gods, i. 162

Theodorus, St., his inhumanity to his mother, ii. 128

Theodosius the Emperor, his edict forbidding gladiatorial shows, ii. 36.
Denounced by the Ascetics, 139.
His law respecting Sunday, 245

Theological utilitarianism, theories of, i. 14-17

Theology, sphere of inductive reasoning in, 357

Theon, St., legend of, and the wild beasts, ii. 168

Theurgy rejected by Plotinus, i. 330.
All moral discipline resolved into, by Iamblichus, 330

Thrace, celibacy of societies of men in, i. 106

Thrasea, mildness of his Stoicism, i. 245

Thrasea and Aria, history of, ii. 311

Thriftiness created by the industrial spirit, i. 140

Tiberius the Emperor, his images invested with a sacred character, i. 260.
His superstitions, 367, and _note_

Timagenes, exiled from the palace by Tiberius, i. 448, _note_

Titus, the Emperor, his tranquil end, i. 207.
Instance of his amiability, 287

Tooth-powder, Apuleius’ defence of, ii. 148

Torments, future, the doctrine of, made by the monks a means of extorting
money, ii. 216.
Monastic legends of, 220

Tragedy, effects of the gladiatorial shows upon, among the Romans, i. 277

Trajan, the Emperor, his gladiatorial shows, i. 287.
Letter of Pliny to, respecting the Christians, 437.
Trajan’s answer, 437.
His benevolence to children, ii. 77.
Legend of St. Gregory and the Emperor, 223

Transmigration of souls, doctrine of, of the ancients, ii. 166

Travelling, increased facilities for, of the Romans, i. 234

Trinitarian monks, their works of mercy, ii. 73

Troubadours, one of their services to mankind, ii. 232

’Truce of God,’ importance of the, ii. 254

Truth, possibility of adding to the happiness of men by diffusing abroad,
or sustaining, pleasing falsehoods, i. 52.
Saying of Pythagoras, 53.
Growth of, with civilisation, 137.
Industrial, political, and philosophical, 137-140.
Relation of monachism to the abstract love of truth, ii. 189.
Causes of the mediæval decline of the love of truth, 212

Tucker, his adoption of the doctrine of the association of ideas, i. 25,
_note_

Turks, their kindness to animals, i. 289

Types, moral, i. 156.
All characters cannot be moulded in one type, 158

Ulpian on suicide, i. 218, _note_
Unselfishness of the Stoics, i. 177

Usury, diversities of moral judgment respecting, i. 92

Utilitarian school. _See_ Morals; Virtue; Vice

Utility, rival claims of, and intuition to be regarded as the supreme
regulators of moral distinctions, i. 1, 2.
Various names by which the theory of utility is known, 3.
Views of the moralists of the school of, 3, _et seq._

Valerian, his persecutions of the Christians, i. 454

Valerius Maximus, his mode of moral teaching, i. 174

Vandals, their conquest of Africa, ii. 150

Varro, his conception of the Deity, i. 163.
On popular religious beliefs, 167

Venus, effect of the Greek worship of, on the condition of women, ii. 291,
_note_

Vespasian, his dying jest, i. 259.
Effect of his frugality on the habits of the Romans, 292.
Miracle attributed to him, 347.
His treatment of philosophers, 448, _note_

Vice, Mandeville’s theory of the origin of, i. 7.
And that “private vices were public benefits,” 7.
Views of the Utilitarians as to, 12.
The degrees of virtue and vice do not correspond to the degrees of
utility, or the reverse, 40-42.
The suffering caused by vice not proportioned to its criminality, 57-59.
Plato’s ethical theory of virtue and vice, 179.
Grote’s summary of this theory, 179, _note_.
Conception of the ancients of sin, 195.
Moral efficacy of the Christian sense of sin, ii. 3, 4

Virgil, his conception of the Deity, i. 163.
His epicurean sentiment, 193, _note_.
On suicide, 213.
His interest in animal life, ii. 165

Virginity, how regarded by the Greeks, i. 105.
Æschylus’ prayer to Athene, 105.
Bees and fire emblems of virginity, 108, _note_.
Reason why the ancient Jews attached a certain stigma to virginity, 109.
Views of Essenes, 109

Virgins, Vestal, sanctity and gifts attributed to the, i. 106, 107, and
_note_.
Executions of, 407, and _note_.
Reasons for burying them alive, ii. 41.
How regarded by the Romans, 297

Virtue, Hume’s theory of the criterion, essential element, and object of,
i. 4.
Motive to virtue according to the doctrine which bases morals upon
experience, 6.
Mandeville’s the lowest and most repulsive form of this theory, 6, 7.
Views of the essence and origin of virtue adopted by the school of
Utilitarians, 7-9.
Views of the Utilitarians of, 12.
Association of ideas in which virtue becomes the supreme object of our
affections, 27.
Impossibility of virtue bringing pleasure if practised only with that
end, 35, 36.
The utility of virtue not denied by intuitive moralists, 39.
The degrees of virtue and vice do not correspond to the degrees of
utility, or the reverse, 53.
The rewards and punishments of conscience, 59, 60.
The self-complacency of virtuous men, 64, 65, and _note_.
The motive to virtue, according to Shaftesbury and Henry More, 76.
Analogies of beauty and virtue, 77.
Their difference, 78.
Diversities existing in our judgments of virtue and beauty, 79, 80.
Virtues to which we can and cannot apply the term beautiful, 82.
The standard, though not the essence, of virtue, determined by the
condition of society, 109.
Summary of the relations of virtue to public and private interest, 117.
Emphasis with which the utility of virtue was dwelt upon by Aristotle,
124.
Growth of the gentler virtues, 132.
Forms of the virtue of truth, industrial, political, and philosophical,
137.
Each stage of civilisation is specially appropriate to some virtue, 147.
National virtues, 151.
Virtues, naturally grouped together according to principles of affinity
or congruity, 153.
Distinctive beauty of a moral type, 154.
Rudimentary virtues differing in different ages, nations, and classes,
154, 155.
Four distinct motives leading men to virtue, 178-180.
Plato’s fundamental proposition that vice is to virtue what disease is
to health, 179.
Stoicism the best example of the perfect severance of virtue and
self-interest, 181.
Teachings of the Stoics that virtue should conceal itself from the
world, 186.
And that the obligation should be distinguished from the attraction of
virtue, 186.
The eminent characteristics of pagan goodness, 190.
All virtues are the same, according to the Stoics, 192.
Horace’s description of a just man, 197.
Interested and disinterested motives of Christianity to virtue, ii. 3.
Decline of the civic virtues caused by asceticism, 139.
Influence of this change on moral philosophy, 146.
The importance of the civic virtues exaggerated by historians, 147.
Intellectual virtues, 188.
Relation of monachism to these virtues, 189, _et seq._

Vitalius, St., legend of, and the courtesan, ii. 320

Vivisection, ii. 176.
Approved by Bacon, 176, _note_

Volcanoes, how regarded by the early monks, ii. 221

Vultures, why made an emblem of nature by the Egyptians, i. 108, _note_

War, its moral grandeur, i. 95.
The school of the heroic virtues, 173.
Difference between foreign and civil wars, 232.
Antipathy of the early Christians to a military life, ii. 248.
Belief in battle being the special sphere of Providential interposition,
249.
Effects of the military triumphs of the Mohammedans, 251.
Influences of Christianity upon war considered, 254.
Improved condition of captives taken in war, 256

Warburton, on morals, i. 15, _note_, 17, _note_

Waterland, on the motives to virtue and cause of our love of God, quoted,
i. 9, _note_, 15, _note_

Wealth, origin of the desire to possess, i. 23.
Associations leading to the desire for, for its own sake, 25

Western Empire, general sketch of the moral condition of the, ii. 14

Widows, care of the early Church for, ii. 366

Will, freedom of the human, sustained and deepened by the ascetic life,
ii. 123

Wine, forbidden to women, i. 93, 94, _note_

Witchcraft, belief in the reality of, i. 363.
Suicide common among witches, ii. 54

Wollaston, his analysis of moral judgments, i. 76

Women, law of the Romans forbidding women to taste wine, i. 93, 94,
_note_.
Standards of female morality of the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, 103, 104.
Virtues and vices growing out of the relations of the sexes, 143.
Female virtue, 143.
Effects of climate on this virtue, 144.
Of large towns, 146.
And of early marriages, 145.
Reason for Plato’s advocacy of community of wives, 200.
Plutarch’s high sense of female excellence, 244.
Female gladiators at Rome, 281, and _note_.
Relations of female devotees with the anchorites, ii. 120, 128, 150.
Their condition in savage life, 276.
Cessation of the sale of wives, 276.
Rise of the dowry, 277.
Establishment of monogamy, 278.
Doctrine of the Fathers as to concupiscence, 281.
Nature of the problem of the relations of the sexes, 282.
Prostitution, 282-284.
Recognition in Greece of two distinct orders of womanhood—the wife and
the hetæra, 287.
Condition of Roman women, 297, _et seq._
Legal emancipation of women in Rome, 304.
Unbounded liberty of divorce, 306.
Amount of female virtue in Imperial Rome, 308-312.
Legislative measures to repress sensuality, 312.
To enforce the reciprocity of obligation in marriage, 312.
And to censure prostitution, 315.
Influence of Christianity on the position of women, 316, _et seq._
Marriages, 320.
Second marriages, 324.
Low opinion of women, produced by asceticism, 338.
The canon law unfavourable to their proprietary rights, 338, 339.
Barbarian heroines and laws, 341-344.
Doctrine of equality of obligation in marriage, 346.
The duty of man towards woman, 347.
Condemnation of transitory connections, 350.
Roman concubines, 351.
The sinfulness of divorce maintained by the Church, 350-353.
Abolition of compulsory marriages, 353.
Condemnation of mixed marriages, 353, 354.
Education of women, 355.
Relation of Christianity to the female virtues, 358.
Comparison of male and female characteristics, 358.
The Pagan and Christian ideal of woman contrasted, 361-363.
Conspicuous part of woman in the early Church, 363-365.
Care of widows, 367.
Worship of the Virgin, 368, 369.
Effect of the suppression of the conventual system on women, 369.
Revolution going on in the employments of women, 373

Xenocrates, his tenderness, ii. 163

Xenophanes, his scepticism, i. 162

Xenophon, his picture of Greek married life, ii. 288

Zadok, the founder of the Sadducees, i. 183, _note_

Zeno, vast place occupied by his system in the moral history of man, i.
171.
His suicide, 212.
His inculcation of the practice of self-examination, 248

Zeus, universal providence attributed by the Greeks to, i. 161

FOOTNOTES

1 There is a remarkable passage of Celsus, on the impossibility of
restoring a nature once thoroughly depraved, quoted by Origen in his
answer to him.

2 This is well shown by Pressensé in his _Hist. des Trois premiers
Siècles_.

3 See a great deal of information on this subject in Bingham’s
_Antiquities of the Christian Church_ (Oxford, 1853), vol. v. pp.
370-378. It is curious that those very noisy contemporary divines
who profess to resuscitate the manners of the primitive Church, and
who lay so much stress on the minutest ceremonial observances, have
left unpractised what was undoubtedly one of the most universal, and
was believed to be one of the most important, of the institutions of
early Christianity. Bingham shows that the administration of the
Eucharist to infants continued in France till the twelfth century.

4 See Cave’s _Primitive Christianity_, part i. ch. xi. At first the
Sacrament was usually received every day; but this custom soon
declined in the Eastern Church, and at last passed away in the West.

5 Plin. _Ep._ x. 97.

6 The whole subject of the penitential discipline is treated minutely
in Marshall’s _Penitential Discipline of the Primitive Church_
(first published in 1714, and reprinted in the library of
Anglo-Catholic Theology), and also in Bingham, vol. vii. Tertullian
gives a graphic description of the public penances, _De Pudicit._ v.
13.

7 Eusebius, _H. E._ viii, 7.

8 St. Chrysostom tells this of St. Babylas. See Tillemont, _Mém. pour
servir à l’Hist. eccl._ tome iii. p. 403.

9 In the preface to a very ancient Milanese missal it is said of St.
Agatha that as she lay in the prison cell, torn by the instruments
of torture, St. Peter came to her in the form of a Christian
physician, and offered to dress her wounds; but she refused, saying
that she wished for no physician but Christ. St. Peter, in the name
of that Celestial Physician, commanded her wounds to close, and her
body became whole as before. (Tillemont, tome iii. p. 412.)

10 See her acts in Ruinart.

11 St. Jerome, _Ep._ xxxix.

12 “Definitio brevis et vera virtutis: ordo est amoris.”—_De Civ. Dei_,
xv. 22.

13 Besides the obvious points of resemblance in the common, though not
universal, belief that Christians should abstain from all weapons
and from all oaths, the whole teaching of the early Christians about
the duty of simplicity, and the wickedness of ornaments in dress
(see especially the writings of Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus,
and Chrysostom, on this subject), is exceedingly like that of the
Quakers. The scruple of Tertullian (_De Coronâ_) about Christians
wearing laurel wreaths in the festivals, because laurel was called
after Daphne, the lover of Apollo, was much of the same kind as that
which led the Quakers to refuse to speak of Tuesday or Wednesday,
lest they should recognise the gods Tuesco or Woden. On the other
hand, the ecclesiastical aspects and the sacramental doctrines of
the Church were the extreme opposites of Quakerism.

14 See the masterly description of the relations of the English to the
Irish in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in Froude’s _History of
England_, ch. xxiv.; and also Lord Macaulay’s description of the
feelings of the Master of Stair towards the Highlanders. (_History
of England_, ch. xviii.)

15 See on the views of Aristotle, Labourt, _Recherches historiques sur
les Enfanstrouvés_ (Paris, 1848), p. 9.

16 See Gravina, _De Ortu et Progressu Juris Civilis_, lib. i. 44.

17 “Nunc uterum vitiat quæ vult formosa videci,
Raraque in hoc ævo est, quæ velit esse parens.”

Ovid, _De Nuce_, 22-23.

The same writer has devoted one of his elegies (ii. 14) to
reproaching his mistress Corinna with having been guilty of this
act. It was not without danger, and Ovid says,

“Sæpe suos utero quæ necit ipsa perit.”

A niece of Domitian is said to have died in consequence of having,
at the command of the emperor, practised it (Sueton. _Domit._
xxii.). Plutarch notices the custom (_De Sanitate tuenda_), and
Seneca eulogises Helvia (_Ad Helv._ xvi.) for being exempt from
vanity and having never destroyed her unborn offspring. Favorinus,
in a remarkable passage (Aulus Gellius, _Noct. Att._ xii. 1), speaks
of the act as “publica detestatione communique odio dignum,” and
proceeds to argue that it is only a degree less criminal for mothers
to put out their children to nurse. Juvenal has some well-known and
emphatic lines on the subject:—

“Sed jacet aurato vix ulla puerpera lecto;
Tantum artes hujus, tantum medicamina possunt,
Quæ steriles facit, atque homines in ventre necandos
Conducit.”

_Sat._ vi. 592-595.

There are also many allusions to it in the Christian writers. Thus
Minucius Felix (_Octavius_, xxx.): “Vos enim video procreatos filios
nunc feris et avibus exponere, nunc adstrangulatos misero mortis
genere elidere. Sunt quæ in ipsis visceribus, medicaminibus epotis,
originem futuri hominis extinguant, et parricidium faciant antequam
pariant.”

18 See Labourt, _Recherches sur les Enfans trouvés_, p. 25.

19 Among the barbarian laws there is a very curious one about a daily
compensation for children who had been killed in the womb on account
of the daily suffering of those children in hell. “Propterea
diuturnam judicaverunt antecessores nostri compositionem et judices
postquam religio Christianitatis inolevit in mundo. Quia diuturnam
postquam incarnationem suscepit anima, quamvis ad nativitatis lucem
minima pervenisset, patitur pœnam, quia sine sacramento
regenerationis abortivo modo tradita est ad inferos.”—_Leges
Bajuvariorum_, tit. vii. cap. xx. in Canciani, _Leges Barbar._ vol.
ii. p. 374. The first foundling hospital of which we have undoubted
record is that founded at Milan, by a man named Datheus, in A.D.
789. Muratori has preserved (_Antich. Ital._ Diss. xxxvii.) the
charter embodying the motives of the founder, in which the following
sentences occur: “Quia frequenter per luxuriam hominum genus
decipitur, et exinde malum homicidii generatur, dum concipientes ex
adulterio, ne prodantur in publico, fetos teneros necant, _et absque
baptismatis lavacro parvulos ad Tartara mittunt_, quia nullum
reperiunt locum, quo servare vivos valeant,” &c. Henry II. of
France, 1556, made a long law against women who, “advenant le temps
de leur part et délivrance de leur enfant, occultement s’en
délivrent, puis le suffoquent et autrement suppriment _sans leur
avoir fait empartir le Saint Sacrement du Baptême_.”—Labourt,
_Recherches sur les Enfans trouvés_, p. 47. There is a story told of
a Queen of Portugal (sister to Henry V. of England, and mother of
St. Ferdinand) that, being in childbirth, her life was despaired of
unless she took a medicine which would accelerate the birth but
probably sacrifice the life of the child. She answered that “she
would not purchase her temporal life by sacrificing the eternal
salvation of her son.”—Bollandists, _Act. Sanctor._, June 5th.

20 Tillemont, _Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire ecclésiastique_
(Paris, 1701), tome x. p. 41. St. Clem. Alexand. says that infants
in the womb and exposed infants have guardian angels to watch over
them. (_Strom._ v.)

21 There is an extremely large literature devoted to the subject of
infanticide, exposition, foundlings, &c. The books I have chiefly
followed are Terme et Monfalcon, _Histoire des Enfans trouvés_
(Paris, 1840); Remacle, _Des Hospices d’Enfans trouvés_ (1838);
Labourt, _Recherches historiques sur les Enfans trouvés_ (Paris,
1848); Kœnigswarter, _Essai sur la Législation des Peuples anciens
et modernes relative aux Enfans nés hors Mariage_ (Paris, 1842).
There are also many details on the subject in Godefroy’s Commentary
to the laws about children in the Theodosian Code, in Malthus, _On
Population_, in Edward’s tract _On the State of Slavery in the Early
and Middle Ages of Christianity_, and in most ecclesiastical
histories.