Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/257

 «nAP. XI. THE LAW. 25l established the hearth — inoresque viris et moenia ponit. He instituted them at the same time that he instituted the religion. Still it could not be said that he had prepared them liimself. Who, then, was the true author of them V When we spoke above of the organization of the family, and of the Greek and Ro- man laws which regulated property, succession, wills, <and adoption, we observed how exactly these laws cor responded to the beliefs of ancient generations. If we compare these laws with natural equity, we often find them opposed to it, and we can easily see that it was not in the notion of absolute right and in the sentiment of justice, that they were sought for. But place these laws by the side of the worship of the dead and of the sacred fire, compare them with the rules of this primi- tive relig'on, and they appear in perfect accord with all this. Man did not need to study his conscience and say, "This is just; this is unjust." Ancient law was not produced in this way. But man believed that the sacred hearth, in virtue of the religious law, passed from father to son ; from this it followed that the liouse was hereditary property. The man who had buried his fa- ther in his field believed that the spirit of the dead one took possession of this field forever, and required a perpetual worship of his posterity. As a result of this, the field, the domain of the dead, and place of sacrifice, became the inalienable property of a family. Religion said, "The son continues the worship — not the daugh- ter;" and the law said, with the religion, "The son inherits — the daughter does not inherit ; the nephew by the males inherits, but not the nephew on the female side." This was the manner in which the laws were made ; they presented themselves without being sought.