Chapter V: The Position of Women (8)

470 See Delepierre, Wright, and Alger.

471 This appears from the vision of Thurcill. (Wright’s _Purgatory of
St. Patrick_, p. 42.) Brompton (_Chronicon_) tells of an English
landlord who had refused to pay tithes. St. Augustine, having vainly
reasoned with him, at last convinced him by a miracle. Before
celebrating mass he ordered all excommunicated persons to leave the
church, whereupon a corpse got out of a grave and walked away. The
corpse, on being questioned, said it was the body of an ancient
Briton who refused to pay tithes, and had in consequence been
excommunicated and damned.

472 Greg. _Dial._ iv. 40.

473 As Sismondi says: “Pendant quatre-vingts ans, tout au moins, il n’y
eut pas un Franc qui songeât à transmettre à la postérité la mémoire
des événements contemporains, et pendant le même espace de temps il
n’y eut pas un personnage puissant qui ne bâtit des temples pour la
postérité la plus reculée.”—_Hist. des Français_, tome ii. p. 46.

474 Gibbon says of the period during which the Merovingian dynasty
reigned, that “it would be difficult to find anywhere more vice or
less virtue.” Hallam reproduces this observation, and adds: “The
facts of these times are of little other importance than as they
impress on the mind a thorough notion of the extreme wickedness of
almost every person concerned in them, and consequently of the state
to which society was reduced.”—_Hist. of the Middle Ages_, ch. i.
Dean Milman is equally unfavourable and emphatic in his judgment.
“It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious state of society
than that of France under her Merovingian kings, the descendants of
Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours. In the conflict of
barbarism with Roman Christianity, barbarism has introduced into
Christianity all its ferocity with none of its generosity and
magnanimity; its energy shows itself in atrocity of cruelty, and
even of sensuality. Christianity has given to barbarism hardly more
than its superstition and its hatred of heretics and unbelievers.
Throughout, assassinations, parricides, and fratricides intermingle
with adulteries and rapes.”—_History of Latin Christianity_, vol. i.
p. 365.

475 Greg. Tur. iv. 12. Gregory mentions (v. 41) another bishop who used
to become so intoxicated as to be unable to stand; and St. Boniface,
after describing the extreme sensuality of the clergy of his time,
adds that there are some bishops “qui licet dicant se fornicarios
vel adulteros non esse, sed sunt ebriosi et injuriosi,” &c.—_Ep._
xlix.

476 Greg. Tur. iv. 12.

477 Ibid. viii. 29. She gave them knives with hollow grooves, filled
with poison, in the blades.

478 Ibid. vii. 20.

479 Ibid. viii. 31-41.

480 Ibid. v. 19.

481 See his very curious correspondence with her.—_Ep._ vi. 5, 50, 59;
ix. 11, 117; xi. 62-63.

482 Avitus, _Ep._ v. He adds: “Minuebat regni felicitas numerum regalium
personarum.”

483 See the emphatic testimony of St. Boniface in the eighth century.
“Modo autem maxima ex parte per civitates episcopales sedes traditæ
sunt laicis cupidis ad possidendum, vel adulteratis clericis,
scortatoribus et publicanis sæculariter ad perfruendum.”—_Epist._
xlix. “ad Zachariam.” The whole epistle contains an appalling
picture of the clerical vices of the times.

484 More than one Council made decrees about this. See the _Vie de St.
Léger_, by Dom Pitra, pp. 172-177.

485 Greg. Tur. iv. 43. St. Boniface, at a much later period (A.D. 742),
talks of bishops “Qui pugnant in exercitu armati et effundunt
propria manu sanguinem hominum.”—_Ep._ xlix.

486 Greg. Tur. iv. 26.

487 Ibid. iv. 20.

488 Ibid. iii. 26.

489 Ibid. ix. 34.

490 Ibid. viii. 19. Gregory says this story should warn clergymen not to
meddle with the wives of other people, but “content themselves with
those that they may possess without crime.” The abbot had previously
tried to seduce the husband within the precincts of the monastery,
that he might murder him.

491 Ibid. v. 3.

492 Ibid. viii. 39. She was guilty of many other crimes, which the
historian says “it is better to pass in silence.” The bishop himself
had been guilty of outrageous and violent tyranny. The marriage of
ecclesiastics appears at this time to have been common in Gaul,
though the best men commonly deserted their wives when they were
ordained. Another bishop’s wife (iv. 36) was notorious for her
tyranny.

493 Fredigarius, xlii. The historian describes Clotaire as a perfect
paragon of Christian graces.

494 “Au sixième siècle on compte 214 établissements religieux des
Pyrénées à la Loire et des bouches du Rhône aux Vosges.”—Ozanam,
_Études germaniques_, tome ii. p. 93. In the two following centuries
the ecclesiastical wealth was enormously increased.

495 Matthew of Westminster (A.D. 757) speaks of no less than eight Saxon
kings having done this.

496 “Le septième siècle est celui peut-être qui a donné le plus de
saints au calendrier.”—Sismondi, _Hist. de France_, tome ii. p. 50.
“Le plus beau titre du septième siècle à une réhabilitation c’est le
nombre considérable de saints qu’il a produits.... Aucun siècle n’a
été ainsi glorifié sauf l’âge des martyrs dont Dieu s’est réservé de
compter le nombre. Chaque année fournit sa moisson, chaque jour a sa
gerbe.... Si donc il plaît à Dieu et au Christ de répandre à pleines
mains sur un siècle les splendeurs des saints, qu’importe que
l’histoire et la gloire humaine en tiennent peu compte?”—Pitra, _Vie
de St. Léger_, Introd. p. x.-xi. This learned and very credulous
writer (who is now a cardinal) afterwards says that we have the
record of more than eight hundred saints of the seventh century.
(Introd. p. lxxx.)

497 See, e.g., the very touching passage about the death of his
children, v. 35.

498 Lib. ii. Prologue.

499 Greg. Tur. ii. 27-43.

500 He observes how impossible it was that he could be guilty of
shedding the blood of a relation: “Sed in his ego nequaquam conscius
sum. Nec enim possum sanguinem parentum meorum effundere.”—Greg.
Tur. ii. 40.

501 “Prosternebat enim quotidie Deus hostes ejus sub manu ipsius, et
augebat regnum ejus eo quod ambularet recto corde coram eo, et
faceret quæ placita erant in oculis ejus.”—Greg. Tur. ii. 40.

502 Lib. iii. Prologue. St. Avitus enumerates in glowing terms the
Christian virtues of Clovis (_Ep._ xli.), but, as this was in a
letter addressed to the king himself, the eulogy may easily be
explained.

503 Thus Hallam says: “There are continual proofs of immorality in the
monkish historians. 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. 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_. These acts, are, I believe, generally
regarded as authentic. There is nothing more instructive in history
than to trace the same moral feelings through different ages and
religions; and I am able in this case to present the reader with an
illustration of their permanence, which I think somewhat remarkable.
The younger Pliny gives in one of his letters a pathetic account of
the execution of Cornelia, a vestal virgin, by the order of
Domitian. She was buried alive for incest; but her innocence appears
to have been generally believed; and she had been condemned unheard,
and in her absence. As she was being lowered into the subterranean
cell her dress was caught and deranged in the descent. She turned
round and drew it to her, and when the executioner stretched out his
hand to assist her, she started back lest he should touch her, for
this, according to the received opinion, was a pollution; and even
in the supreme moment of her agony her vestal purity shrank from the
unholy contact. (Plin. _Ep._ iv. 11.) If we now pass back several
centuries, we find Euripides attributing to Polyxena a trait
precisely similar to that which was attributed to Perpetua. As she
fell beneath the sword of the executioner, it was observed that her
last care was that she might fall with decency.

ἡ δὲ και θνήσκουσ᾽ ὅμως πολλὴν πρόνοιαν εἶχεν εὐσχήμως πεσεῖν,
κρύπτουσ᾽ ἂ κρύπτειν ὄμματ᾽ ἀρσένων χρεών.

Euripides, _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.”

Statius. _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.