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 CHAPTER XII.

HEBREW AND ARYAN MONOGAMY.

I. Monogamy of the Races called Superior.—The monogamic ideal and the monogamic reality. II. Hebrew Marriage.—Monogamy and concubinage—Position of the wife—The virtuous woman of the Book of Proverbs—Obligatory virginity—The levirate. III. Marriage in Persia and Ancient India.—Marriage in the Avesta—Marriage in India—General monogamy—Extreme subjection of the wife—Purchase of the wife—Matrimonial prohibitions—The ideal spouse—Marriage in modern India. IV. Marriage in Ancient Greece.—Wives and concubines—Low position of the wife—Marriage in Sparta—Celibacy chastised—The young Greek girl assimilated to a thing—Dowry—The wife emancipated by money. V. Marriage in Ancient Rome.—Marriages of children—Relative liberty of the Roman woman—The Patria potestas—The Manus—Three kinds of marriage—The rights of the husband—The case of Cato the Elder—The jus connubii—The dowry and its effects. VI. Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage.—Marriage among the Germans in the Middle Ages, among the Saxons of England—Marriage according to Christianity. I. Monogamy of the Races called Superior.

After a long journey of exploration through the inferior forms of the sexual union amongst mankind, we have in the preceding chapter begun the study of monogamy, which all the superior races have more or less adopted in their legislation.

It is impossible to deny that monogamy is theoretically