Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/116

64 says, that though the Athenians were allowed to marry a sister by the father's side and not by the mother's, yet the contrary practice prevailed among the Lacedaemonians, who were permitted to marry a sister by the mother's side, and not by the father's. For I find in Strabo that at Sparta, whenever a woman married her brother she had half his portion for her dowry. Plain it is that this second law was made in order to prevent the bad consequences of the first. That the estate belonging to the sister's family might not devolve on the brother's, they gave half the brother's estate to the sister for her dowry.

Seneca, speaking of Silanus, who had married his sister, says, that the permission was limited at Athens, but general at Alexandria. In a monarchical government there was very little concern about any such thing as a division of estates.

Excellent was that law, which, in order to maintain this division of lands in a democracy, ordained that a father who had several children, should pitch upon one of them to inherit his portion, and leave th others to be adopted, to the end that the number of citizens might always be kept upon an equality with that of the divisions.

Phaleas of Chalcedon contrived a very extraordinary method of rendering all fortunes equal, in a republic where there was the greatest inequality. This was, that the rich should give fortunes with their daughters to the poor, but should receive none themselves, and that the poor should Rh