Page:The evolution of marriage and of the family ... (IA evolutionofmarri00letorich).pdf/223

 provided that he does it moderately, and that death does not follow in consequence." Among the Saxons, the Burgundians, and the Germans in general, the widow was subjected to the rule of her eldest son as soon as he had attained the age of fifteen.

In the Middle Ages the woman surprised in committing adultery might be executed by her husband, who even had the right to call in the aid of her son. In the ninth and tenth centuries, however, among the Saxons in England, an advance that was quite exceptional took place. The young girl could marry herself, was not repudiable at will, had her own property and her keys, and the penal law of her husband ceased to weigh upon her. This progress was quite local, and operated spontaneously, quite independently of Christian influence. In fact, Christianity has only emancipated women spiritually, and its real influence on marriage has been injurious. Doubtless the Christian wife might hope to become a seraph in the next world, but in this she was only a servant or a slave. In Greco-Roman antiquity marriage had been considered, as it ought to be, a civil institution. Legislation, more or less sensible and intelligent, regarded it simply from the point of view of population.

Christianity, which taught that the earthly country was of no account, and taxed with impurity all that related to sexual union, made marriage a sacrament, and consequently an institution quite apart from humble considerations of social utility. All sexual union outside marriage was reputed criminal; the ideal preached to women was the mystic marriage with God. The pious Constantine increased all the penalties against sexual crimes. Adultery became again a capital offence; the woman guilty of marrying a slave was condemned to death; marriage was declared indissoluble; second marriages were blameworthy. At the same time the fathers of the Church and the preachers did not cease to utter their thunders against woman, disparaging her, and abusing her as an impure creature, almost devilish. This encouraged the severe legislation of the barbarians in