Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/34

 1 8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

that we have acquired our apparently instinctive horror of marry- ing within near degrees.-

Next as to facts. History shows that the horror now felt so strongly did not exist in early times. Abraham married his half-sister Sarah : " she is indeed the sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife." 6 Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron, married his aunt, his father's sister Jochabed. The Egyptians were accus- tomed to marry sisters. It is unnecessary to go earlier back in Egyptian history than to the Ptolemies, who, being a new dynasty, would not have dared to make the marriages they did in a conservative country, unless popular opinion allowed it. Their dynasty includes the founder, Ceraunus, who is not numbered; the numbering begins with his son Soter, and goes on to Ptolemy XIII, the second husband of Cleopatra. Leaving out her first husband, Ptolemy XII, as he was a mere boy, and taking in Ceraunus, there are thirteen Ptolemies to be considered. Between them, they contracted eleven incestuous marriages, eight with whole sisters, one with a half-sister, and two with nieces. Of course, the object was to keep the royal line pure, as was done by the ancient Peruvians. It would be tedious to follow out the laws enforced at various times and in the various states of Greece during the classical ages. Marriage was at one time permitted in Athens between half-brothers and half-sisters, and the mar- riage between uncle and niece was thought commendable in the time of Pericles, when it was prompted by family considera- tions. In Rome the practice varied much, but there were always severe restrictions. Even in its dissolute period, public opinion was shocked by the marriage of Claudius with his niece.

A great deal more evidence could easily be adduced, but the foregoing suffices to prove that there is no instinctive repugnance felt universally by man to marriage within the prohibited degrees, but that its present strength is mainly due to what I called imma- terial considerations. It is quite conceivable that a non-eugenic marriage should hereafter excite no less loathing than that of a brother and sister would do now.


 * Gen. 20 : 12.