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 212 CONCUBINAGE CONDAMINE the regular paramour of a married man was originally called pellex (harlot). The laws of Nuina Pompilius excluded her from legal wed- lock, and she was only admitted to the temples after having cut off her hair and sacrificed a lamb. Afterward the designation of concu- bine superseded that of pellex, and the illicit character of the relation was removed, so far as concerned the permanent cohabitation of a Roman spinster with a bachelor or widower, who was not a blood or collateral relation. No written contract was required by the law, but the social status of the wife was denied to the concubine ; and the children, though regarded as of more honorable origin than those of unknown or disgraceful parentage, were yet looked upon as quasi-fatherless. The concu- bine seems to have been so far considered as a wife as to be liable to punishment for adultery. Concubines usually belonged to the lower classes ; and at one time free-born Eoman girls were precluded from becoming concubines un- less they had sunk to the lowest depth of deg- radation, or had been employed on the stage or in other pursuits which were then considered disreputable. Subsequently it became requi- site for a concubine to be a free-born Roman, and some authorities doubt whether common prostitutes were eligible for the position at any period of Roman history. Caesar allowed to each Roman as many concubines as he desired. Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, and other widow- ers who had children by their deceased wives, preferred concubinage to new marriages. Con- stantine made legal marriage with a concubine indispensable for legitimizing the children ; but this regulation had little effect, and he eventual- ly allowed a concubine in addition to a wife. The relation continued to prevail to some ex- tent under Justinian, with the legal designation of licita consuetudo; and though suppressed by the emperor Leo I., it was retained for a considerable period. The church of Rome for- bade temporary concubinage; but a lifelong relation of the kind, though not expressly sanctioned, was long tolerated. The council of Toledo, A. D. 400. punished it with excom- munication for married men, but bachelors who kept concubines were not excluded from the communion. St. Isidore, archbishop of Seville (died in 636), expressed the opinion that no Christian ought to have more than one wife or one concubine. The term priestess often occurs in medieval writings to designate the concubine of a priest. Leo X. (1513-'21) and other popes opposed concubinage, and the coun- cil of Trent declared it to be criminal. The Protestant churches do not seem to have ever sanctioned the relation in any form. Among the Germans the relation with a Nebenweib or ffaUnerib (half-wife) was prohibited by im- perial regulations in 1530, and made liable to penalties in 1577, which however were seldom inflicted, and the case was habitually disposed of by enforcing a separation. For a long time the children of concubines were looked upon as bastards, and were not entitled to inhei the property of the deceased father, which was confiscated by the state. In more recent times this rigor has been greatly relaxed, and the claims on the father granted to the children by the ancient Roman laws are generally conceded to them in Germany, though the practice varies in different states. In France, as in other countries, the term concubinage was often ap- plied to illicit relations which do not strictly belong to that category ; and the children re- sulting from such alliances, though not re- garded as legitimate, were not deprived of rights. There, as in many other parts of the world, whenever they rose to eminence they gloried in the appellation of bastards, and were frequently legitimated by the king. Until the revolution marriages were celebrated only in churches, and parties whose union was not consecrated at the altar were legally regarded as living in concubinage, and the children as bastards. The revocation of the edict of Nantes especially doomed Protestant children to these disabilities. In regard to China, S. Wells "Williams states that it is not infrequent for a man to secure a maid servant in the fam- ily, with the consent of his wife, by purchasing her for a concubine ; especially if his occupa- tion frequently calls him away from home, in which case he takes her as his travelling com- panion, and leaves his wife in charge of the household. The sons of a concubine being con- sidered as legally belonging to the wife, pa- rents betroth their daughters early, so as to prevent them from becoming concubines. Among the masses of the people it is rare to find more than one woman to one man ; but in about two fifths of the wealthier families there are one or more concubines. The degradation of the wife, the elevation of the concubine, and the taking of a second wife are regarded as il- legal and void ; and the status of the purchased concubine is as carefully defined by the law as that of the wedded wife. The widow is occa- sionally sold as a concubine by her father-in- law; but this being regarded as degrading, and depriving her of the custody of her chil- dren, widows generally strive to escape from this fate. A widower is not restrained by law from marrying any of his concubines. In Japan concubinage is sanctioned by law, and is not regarded as particularly improper. As re- gards Mohammedan and other countries where polygamy prevails, see POLYGAMY. CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de la, a French geographer, born in Paris, Jan. 28, 1701, died there, Feb. 4, 1774. He was educated at the university of his native city, and in 1719 entered the army, and accompanied his uncle the chevelier de Cources to the siege of Rosas, where he showed that contempt of danger and spirit of enterprise which in after life was ex- hibited in another field. He soon abandoned the military profession, and joined an expedi- tion which was proceeding to the Mediterra- nean to explore the coasts of Asia and Africa.