Chapter CXI: Section CCXLIX

HISTORY OF POPULATION.--IN PERIODS OF DECLINE.

Nations involved in political and religious decline are wont to lose the moral foundation of the situation last described. Here, therefore, again, both the repressive (which are almost always immoral) tendencies counter to over-population, and the viciously preventive occupy the most prominent place. We may most completely observe this spectacle among the heathen nations of later antiquity. But, unfortunately, even among modern nations, we find some analogies to the ancient, to which the political economist may point with the finger of warning. "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." This universally applicable truth explains the fact that all successive acts of immorality, the more frequently they occur the less severely are they branded by public opinion.

A. We are not warranted, from the relative[249-1] number of illegitimate births, to draw too direct an inference in relation to the morality of a people. Where, for instance, as in the kingdom of Saxony, the annual frequency of marriage was 0.017 of the population, every illegitimate birth bears evidence of a greater absence of self control than in Bavaria, where, on every one thousand living, there were only thirteen marriages a year.[249-2] In many quarters, where the economic relations are very stable, and where peasant estates (_geschlossene Bauergüter_) are subject to a species of entailing, where consequently the son can engage in marriage only after the death of the father, illegitimate children are in great part legitimatized by subsequent marriage at a later time, and meanwhile brought up in the family of the mother like legitimate children.[249-3] Evidently the guilty inconstancy creative of ephemeral _liaisons_, and the neglect of the children born of them, do not here produce the sad effects which they are wont to in the large cities, where illegitimate relations are made and dissolved with shocking rapidity. However, births are seldom heard of in the case of ruined debauchees.

At the same time, the frequency of illegitimate births is always an evidence that the rightful founding of a home is made difficult[249-4] by the economic condition of the police provisions of a country; and that the moral force of the people does not suffice to resist the temptation[249-5] which such condition and provisions suppose. In the latter respect, this phenomenon may be considered, not only as a symptom but also as a cause: since bastards are generally very badly brought up. A large parthenic population is always an element of great danger in a state.[249-6] The frequency of illegitimate children must, however, be designated as a tendency counter to over-population, for the reason that still-born births and early deaths occur much more frequently among them than among legitimate children.[249-7]

B. The trade of the women of the town is indeed an exceedingly old one.[249-8] But this evil assumes large dimensions only where a large class of men and women have no prospect to marry at all, or only late in life; especially when, at the same time, families have become unaccustomed to keeping together for life.[249-9] Prostitution may be considered a counterpoise to over-population, not only because of the polyandry it involves, but also of the infecundity of its victims.[249-10] Even the diseases which it propagates are not without importance in this regard. The love of change and impatience of restraint which it produces keeps many a man who, economically considered, might very well engage in marriage, in a state of criminal celibacy.[249-11] This moral poisoning of the nation's blood is more pernicious in proportion as vice is decked with the charms of intellect,[249-12] and reflected in literature and art.[249-13] When Phryne had wealth enough to project the rebuilding of Thebes, and boldness enough to ask to be allowed to put this inscription on its walls: "Alexander destroyed them, but Phryne, the hetæra, rebuilt them," not only the dignity but the nationality of Greece was gasping for the last time for breath.[249-14] [249-15]

C. I know no sadder picture in all history than the wide diffusion and even sovereignty which unnatural vice possessed among the declining nations of antiquity. Egypt and Syria seem to have been the original seat of this moral plague.[249-16] In Greece, there was a time noted for the brilliancy of its literature and art, when the poetic fancy, in its dreams of love, pictured to itself only the forms of beautiful boys; and that this love was generally an impure one, there is, unfortunately, no room to doubt.[249-17] In more ancient Rome, it was most severely punished;[249-18] but afterwards, again, it seemed reprehensible to a Tibullus only when it was bought with money.[249-19] Even under Cæsar, a censor could threaten an ædile with a charge of sodomy; the latter reciprocate the threat, and think it witty to invite a man like Cicero to assist at the curious argument which such a case might call forth, before a pretor with a reputation of being guilty of the same vice.[249-20] When the horrible deeds of which Tiberius was guilty are known, we cannot consider them capable of exaggeration. But Tiberius, at least, sought secrecy, while Nero, Commodus and Heliogabalus felt a special delight in the publicity of their shame.[249-21] [249-22] [249-23]

[Footnote 249-1: The ratio between the number of
illegitimate births and legitimate, so generally brought
forward, leads to no correct conclusions whatever. The ratio
between the number of illegitimate births, on the other
hand, and marriageable men and women, especially of those
who are yet unmarried, may afford a basis for valuable
inferences. Compare _Hoffmann_, in the Preuss.
Staatszeitung, 1837, No. 18. In Prussia, nearly 75 per cent.
of all women between 17 and 75 are married. (_v. Viehbahn_,
II, 189.)]

[Footnote 249-2: In Bavaria, not only was the frequency of
marriage surprisingly small (one marriage a year in every
151.59 inhabitants, while the average in 14 European
countries was 1 in 123.9), but marriage was there contracted
at a surprisingly advanced age. Of 10,000 of both sexes
engaging in marriage, there were, in Bavaria, only 2,081 25
years of age and less, while in England, there were 5,528.
Compare _Wappäus_, A. Bevölk. Statistik, II, 241, 270.]

[Footnote 249-3: In Oldenburg, it is estimated that 48 per
cent. of its illegitimate children are legitimatized _per
subsequens matrimonium_ (_Rau-Hanssen_ Archiv. N. F., I, 7),
in the agricultural districts of Nassau even 70 per cent.
(_Faucher's_ Vierteljahrsschrift, 1864, II, 19), in the whole
of Bavaria, 15 per cent.; in the Palatinate, 29.7 per cent.
(_Hermann_, Bewegung der Bevolkerung, 20); in the Kingdom of
Saxony, 1865, at least 21 per cent. (Statist. Zeitschr.
1868, 184.) In France 10 per cent. of the marriages
contracted legitimatize children. (_Legoyt_, Stat. Comp.,
501); in Saxony, 1865, 11.7; in Bavaria up to 1852, about
1/8 of the marriages belonged to this category; 1858-61,
1/7; 1861-64, nearly 1/6. Compare Heft XII, of the official
statistics. In the manufacturing towns of France, especially
the border ones, a large number of the children of female
operatives and of males having their domicile in foreign
parts, are legitimatized by marriage: thus in Mühlhausen,
23.7 per cent. Recherches statist. sur M., 1843, 62.]

[Footnote 249-4: In Mecklenburg-Schwerin there was one
marriage
_1841._
On domanial lands, on every 137 of population.
On manor " " 145 "
On monastery " " 163 "
In the cities " " 115 "
_1850._
On domanial lands, on every 149 of population.
On manor " " 269 "
On monastery " " 175 "
In the cities " " 104 "

The number of illegitimate births stood to the aggregate
number of births in 1800, as 1:16; in 1851, as 1:4.5; in
1850-55, as 1:4.8; in 1856-59, as 1:5.04; in 1865, as 1:4.0;
in 1866, as 1:4.8; in 1867, as 1:5.33; in 1868, as 1:6.0; in
1869, as 1:7.2; in 1870, as 1:7.08, In 260 localities, in
1851, 1/3 and more of the aggregate number of births were
illegitimate; in 209, 1/2 and more, and in 79 the entire
number! The small improvement afterwards made was probably
due in great part to emigration, which from 1850 to 1859
must have amounted to 45,000. How relative the idea of
over-population even in this respect is, is shown by the
small number of illegitimate births in very densely
populated parts of England--Lancashire, Middlesex, Warwick,
Stafford, West York--while districts as thinly populated as
North York, Salop, Cumberland, Westmoreland, have very many
illegitimate births. The number increases in the best
educated districts, where their "education" begins to cause
them to make "prudent" and long delays in marrying.
(_Lumley_, Statistics of Illegitimacy: Statist. Journal,
1862.)]

[Footnote 249-5: Strikingly more favorable influence of the
_ecclesia pressa_. In Prussia, in 1855, the Evangelicals had
12.3 legitimate births for one illegitimate; the Catholics
19.4, the Jews 36.7, the Mennonites 211.5. (_v. Viebahn_,
II, 226.)]

[Footnote 249-6: The relative number of illegitimate births
in many nations of to-day is unfortunately an increasing
one. In France, in 1801, only 4.6 per cent. of all live
births were illegitimate; in 1811, 6.09; in 1821, 7.07; in
1830, 7.2; in 1857, 7.5; 1861-65, 7.56 per cent. The German
especially must confess with deep shame that the southern
half of the fatherland presents a very unfavorable picture
in this respect. Can a nation be free when its capital,
Vienna (1853-56), counts on an average 10,330 illegitimate
and 11,099 legitimate births? Compare _Stein-Wappäus_,
Handbuch der Geogr., IV, 1, 193. According to observations
made between 1850 and 1860, in England between 1845 and
1860, there were in Holland for every 1,000 legitimate
births 44 illegitimate, in Spain 59, in England and Wales
71, in France 80, in Belgium 86, in Prussia 91, in Norway
96, in Sweden 96, in Austria 98, in Hanover 114, in Saxony
182, in Bavaria 279. (Statist. Journ., 1868, 153.) Compare
_Wappäus_, A. Bevölk. Stat., II, 387. In Russia, according
to _v. Lengefeld_, 36.9; in the electorate of Mark, 1724-31,
1 in 18. (_Süssmilch_, I, § 239.) During the 17th century it
is estimated that the ratio of illegitimate to legitimate
births in Merseburg was as 1:22-30, in Quedlinburg as
1:23-24, in Erfurt as 1:13-1/2. (From the Kirchenbücher in
_Tholuck's_ Kircliches Leben, etc., I, 315 seq.) In Berlin
in 1640, only 1-2 per cent. of illegitimate births.
(_König_, Berlin, I, 235.) In Leipzig, 1696-1700, 3 per
cent.; 1861-65, 20 per cent. _Knapp_, Mitth. des. Leipz.
Statist. Bureaus, VI, p. X.]

[Footnote 249-7: Thus, in 1811-20, the still-born births in
Berlin, Breslau and Königsberg amounted to five per cent. of
the legitimate, and to eight per cent. of the illegitimate;
in the country places in Prussia, to 2-3/4 and 4-3/4 per
cent. Of 384 illegitimate children born in Stettin in 1864,
45 were still-born and 279 died in their first year. (_v.
Oettingen_, Moralstatistik, 879.) In the whole monarchy,
1857-58, three to 4 per cent. of legitimate children died at
birth, and 5 to 6 per cent. of the illegitimate; while
during the first year of their age 18-19 per cent. of the
former, and 34-36 per cent. of the latter, died (_v.
Viebahn_, II, 235). In France, in 1841-54, of the legitimate
births, an average of 4 per cent., and of illegitimate 7 per
cent., was still-born; and the probability of death during
the first year of life was 2.12 times as great for an
illegitimate child as for one born in lawful wedlock.
(_Legoyt._) After the first year the proportion changes.]

[Footnote 249-8: Genesis, 38; Joshua, 1, ff.; Judges, 16, 1,
ff. It must not here be overlooked that the Canaanites
possessed a much higher degree of economic culture than the
contemporary Jews. In Athens, Solon seems to have
established brothels to protect virtuous women. (_Athen._,
XIII, 59.) In France, as early a ruler as Charlemagne took
severe measures against prostitution. (_Delamarre_, Traité
de Police, I, 489.) Compare L. Visigoth., III, 4, 17, 5.]

[Footnote 249-9: Travelers are wont to be the first to make
use of prostitution. I need only mention the extremely
licentious worship of Aphrodite (Aschera) which the
Phoenicians spread on every side: in Cypria, Cytherae, Eryx,
etc. Connected with this was the mercenary character of the
Babylonian women (_Herodot._, I, 199); similarly in Byblos
(_Lucian_, De dea Syria, 6); Eryx (_Strabo_, VI, 272:
_Diod._, IV, 83), in Cypria; (_Herodot._, I, 105, 199);
Cytheria (_Pausan._, I, 14); Athenian prostitutes in Piräeus
and very early Ionian in Naucratis. (_Herodot._, II, 135.)
In all the oases on the grand highways of the caravans, the
women have a very bad reputation. Temporary marriages of
merchants in Yarkand, Augila, etc. (_Ritter_, Erdkunde, I,
999, 1011, 1013, II, 360; VII, 472; XIII, 414.) It is
remarkable how the legislation of German cities at the very
beginning of their rise was directed against male bawds and
prostitutes; at times with great severity, the death penalty
being provided for against the former and exile against the
latter, while the earlier legislation of the people was
directed only against rape. (_Spittler_, Gesch. Hannovers,
I, 57 ff.)]

[Footnote 249-10: Conception in the case of women of the
town is indeed not a thing unheard of, but abortion
generally takes place or is produced; their confinement is
extremely dangerous, and nearly all the children born of
them die in the first year of their life. (_Parent Du
Châtelet_, Prostitution de Paris, 1836, I, ch. 3.)]

[Footnote 249-11: In the time of Demosthenes, even the more
rigid were wont to say that people kept hetæras for
pleasure, concubines to take better care of them, wives for
the procreation of children and as housekeepers. (adv.
Neæram., 1386.)]

[Footnote 249-12: In Greece as well as in Rome, only slaves,
freedmen and strangers sold their bodies for hire; but under
the Emperors, prostitution ascended even into the higher
classes. (_Tacit._, Ann. II, 85; _Sueton._, Tiber, 35;
_Calig._,41; _Martial_, IV, 81.) Concerning the Empress
Messalina, see _Juvenal_, VI, 117 ff. Address of
Heliogabalus to the assembled courtesans of the capital,
whom the Emperor harrangued as _commilitones_. (_Lamprid_,
V.; Heliogabali, 26.) In Cicero's time, even a man of such
exalted position as M. Coelius was paid for cohabitation
with Clodia, and even moved into her house. (_Drumann_,
Gesch. Roms., II, 377.) Even in Socrates' time, the hetæras
at Athens were probably better educated than wives: Compare
_Xenophon_, Memorabilia, III, 11.]

[Footnote 249-13: On the Pornographs of antiquity, see
_Athen._, XIII, 21. Even _Aristophanes_ was acquainted with
some of the species. (Ranæ, 13, 10 ff.) Compare _Aristot._,
Polit., III, 17. _Martial_, XII, 43, 96. Of modern nations,
Italy seems to have been the first to produce such poison
flowers: _Antonius Panormita_ (ob. 1471); _Petrus Aretinus_
(ob. 1556). Of the disastrous influence on morals, during
his time, of obscene pictures, _Propert_, II, 5, complains.
It is dreadfully characteristic that even a Parrhasios
painted wanton deeds of shame. (_Sueton._, Tiber, 44), and
that Praxiteles did not disdain to glorify the triumph of a
_meretrix gaudens_ over a _flens matrona_. (_Plin._, H. N.,
XXXIV, 19.) But indeed also Giulio Romano!]

[Footnote 249-14: Compare _Jacobs'_ Vermischte Schriften,
IV, 311 ff.: _Murr_, Die Mediceische Venus und Phryne,
1804.]

[Footnote 249-15: The number of registered prostitutes in
Paris, in 1832, amounted to 3,558; in 1854, to 4,620
(_Parent Du Châtelet_, ch. 1, 2); in 1870, to 3,656. These
figures are evidently much below the real ones. Compare the
extracts from the abundant, but, in particulars, very
unreliable literature on the great sin of great cities, in
_v. Oettingen_, Moralstatistik, 452 ff. According to the
Journal des Econ., Juin, 1870, 378 ff., there was an
aggregate of 120,000 _femmes, qui ne vivent que de
galanterie_.]

[Footnote 249-16: _Nequitias tellus scit dare nulla magis_,
says _Martial_, of Egypt. Worship of Isis, in Rome:
_Juvenal_, VI, 488 ff. See, further, _Herodot._, II, 46, 89;
_Strabo_, XVII, 802. On Syria, see Genesis, 19, 4 ff., 9
seq.; Leviticus, 18, 22 seq., 20, 13, 15. The _cunnilingere_
of Phoenician origin. (_Heysch_, _v._ skylax.) Frightful
frequency of the _fellare_ and _irrumare_ in Tarsis: _Dio
Chrysost._, Orat, 33. The Scythians also seem to have
learned the nousos thêleia (pederasty?) in Syria:
_Herodot._, I, 105. Similarly during the crusades.]

[Footnote 249-17: Compare _Becker_, Charicles, I, 347 ff.
_Æschines_ condemns this vice only when one prostitutes
himself for money (in Timarch., 137). _Lysias_, adv. Simon,
unhesitatingly speaks to a court about a contract for hire
for purposes of pederasty. Compare _Æschin._, l. c., 159,
119, where such a contract is formally sued on. Industrial
tax on pederastic brothels. (_Æschin._. I, c. R.)
_Aristophanes_ alludes to obscenity still more shameful:
Equitt., 280 ff.; Vespp., 1274 ff., 1347; Pax., 885; Ranæ,
1349.]

[Footnote 249-18: _Valer. Max._, VI, 1, 7, 9 ff. The Lex
Julia treats it only as _stuprum_: L. 34, § 1. Digest, 48,
5; Paulli Sentt. receptt., II, 26, 13. Permitted later until
Philip's time, in consideration of a license-fee. _Aurel.
Vict._, Caes., 28. Earliest traces of this vice in the year
321 before Christ. (_Suidas_, v. Gaios Laitôrios.) Later, it
caused much scandal when the great Marcellus accused the
ædile Scatinus of making shameful advances to his son.
(_Plutarch_, Marcell., 2.)]

[Footnote 249-19: _Tibull_, I, 4. Even the "severe"
_Juvenal_ was not entirely disinclined to pederasty, and
_Martial_ does not hesitate to boast of his own pederasty
and onanism. (II, 43, XI, 43, 58, 73, XII, 97.)]

[Footnote 249-20: _Cicero_, ad. Div., VIII, 12, 14.]

[Footnote 249-21: _Sueton._, Tiber, 43 ff.; Nero, 27 ff.
_Tacit._, Ann., VI, 1; Lamprid. Commod., 5, 10 seq.; Heliog.
passim. On the _greges exoletorum_, see also _Dio Cass._,
LXII, 28; LXIII, 13; _Tacit._, Ann., XV, 37. _Tatian_, ad
Graecos, p. 100. Even Trajan, the best of the Roman
emperors, held similar ones. (Ael. Spartian, V, Hadr., 2.)
Trade in the prostitution of children at the breast.
(_Martial_, IX, 9.) The collection of nearly all the obscene
passages in the ancient classics elucidated with a shameful
knowledge of the subject in the additions to _F. C.
Forberg's_ edition of the Hermaphroditus of _Antonius
Panormita_, 1824.]

[Footnote 249-22: How long this moral corruption lasted may
be inferred from the glaring contrast between the purity of
the Vandals at the time of the migration of nations. Compare
_Salvian_, De Gubern. Dei, VII, passim.]

[Footnote 249-23: In keeping with the vicious counter
tendencies described in this section, is the increasing
frequency of the rape of children in France. The average
number of cases between 1826 and 1830 was 136; between 1841
and 1845, 346; between 1856 and 1859, 692. Infanticide also
increased between 1826 and 1860, 119 per cent. (_Legoyt_,
Stat. comparée, 394.)]