Political regulations respecting heiresses. indiscriminately and as severely as their rivals. Such passages may be found amidst the fragments of Alexis, Antiphanes, and others; but in general, they have little to recommend them, either in novelty of invective or sprightliness of fancy. It will, probably, have appeared from this brief sketch of female society, subsequently to the age of Pericles, that it contained within widows and itself the causes of its own moral degradation,―seclusion without domestic affection,-leisure without adequate occupation,'—activity o. mind, without scope or object, the authority of a master, without the fidelity of a husband,—and rivals, whom they could neither escape nor meet on equal terms. These ingredients of domestic life naturally provoked retaliation, and guilt justified the suspicion which innocence could not hope to avoid. For these disadvantages of their social condition, they were not indemnified by the respect which was shown them publicly their political importance was bought at too high a price; for that freedom which they transmitted as the birthright of their sons, they might not enjoy themselves. In fact, their life was a state of perpetual vassalage: as girls, they might not marry without the consent of their natural or legal guardian; as wives, they might be separated from their husbands, as widows they might be claimed by the nearest of kin, unless, indeed, they had been bequeathed to some one else by the prospective care of the deceased. The form of such a bequest is actually preserved ;-"This is the last will of Pasio, the Acharnian; I give my wife, Archippe, to Phormio, with a fortune of one talent." Demosthenes, also speaking of his father's will, says, "To Demophon he gave my sister, with a portion of two talents, and to the defendant he gave my mother." This arrangement, however, was not compulsory on the widow; but it supersedes the necessity of such espousals as were necessary to give validity to a first marriage these espousals were a contract between the man, and the woman's guardian (kúptos). A woman becoming an heiress after her marriage might be claimed as a wife by the next of kin. The female representative of a family was an heiress whether she had property or not, and the next of kin was bound to marry her, or to give her a portion suitable to his rank. Wives and daughters bequeathed by will. Married life in 2 Of such a system, criminality was the natural consequence. If the as portrayed imputations laid on the sex by the Aristophanic comedy had not had Aristophanic some foundation in truth (allowance being made for comic exaggera tion), they would neither have been invented by the dramatist nor tolerated by the audience: unless they had borne such a resemblance to real life as comedy was privileged to draw, they could have had comedy. 1 The disputed question whether women might attend the tragic theatre (comedy was out of the question) has been determined in the affirmative by Bekker Excursus to Scene 10, p. 299), on the authority of a fragment quoted from Satyrus by Athenæus (lib. xii. p. 534, Casaubon). 2 See Kennedy's notes on his translation of some of Demosthenes' speeches. Conf. Ruth, ii. 12. 3 Thesm. Eccles. no merit whatsoever. In one of these plays, the ladies complain that with Laconian locksmiths; the passion for dress, of course, kept pace the love of conquest, and, as Athenian ladies were not remarkably handsome, they endeavoured to borrow from art the charms which nature had denied. Cosmetics, in which soot was an ingredient,* were not unknown; padded corsets rectified an irregular shape; cork soles exalted a diminutive one. A lady's tradesmen in Plautus (who Female copied Epicharmus) are alarmingly numerous: her toilette in Aris- extravagance. tophanes is elegantly and expensively furnished. The former introduces Megadorus, urging, as a reason for marrying a girl without fortune, that "he shall not be asked, as he must if the wife brought a 1 Thesm. 395, et seq. 2 Ibid. 790. 8 Ibid. 559. 4 Alexis. 5 The reader may like to see a scene on this subject from a comedy of Shirley, called The Lady of Pleasure: LADY B. What charge more than is necessary for a lady of my birth and education? B. Your charge of gaudy furniture and pictures; Of this Italian master, and that Dutchman; Your mighty looking-glasses, like artillery, Four-score pound suppers for my lord your kinsman; And perfumes that exceed all: train of servants, More motley than the French or the Venetian. LADY B. Have you done, sir? B. I could accuse the gaiety of your wardrobe, Athenian trades.nen. Grecian toilette. dowry, to find purple, gold ornaments, slaves, mules, mule-drivers, 1 Julius Pollux. lib. v. 16. 2 Bekker's Excursus on female dress is full, and illustrated with engravings. See also Athenæus, folio, p. 568. O Athenian system of education THE degree of curiosity and sympathy with which we examine the The social customs of past ages is chiefly regulated by two circumstances: first, by their dissimilarity to the times in which we live ourselves; female secondly, by the conviction of our own superior advantages impressed by an impartial comparison. The latter condition interests our selflove in the inquiry; and without the former, there is not a sufficient enlargement of our knowledge. There can be little doubt that the preceding investigation embraces both. There is a manifest inferiority worked ill for in the institutions of a selfish Athenian democracy, as they influence domestic happiness. the condition of female society. This point is so important, and constitutes so nearly a test of the progress of civilization, that a corresponding defect in other branches of social life might, with confidence, have been anticipated from antecedent probability, even if there had been less of direct evidence on the subject. The repetition of any such mischievous injustice is now rendered impossible by the advancement of intellect, by the amended state of law, and by refinement of manners. Beyond, and above all these, is the influence of a pure religion, which has prescribed to each sex its respective duties, and, where its direct tendencies are not checked by folly, vice, or ignorance, draws out from the arrangement of their opposite qualifications the harmony of social and domestic life. If, however, any one should so far cling to ancient prejudices as to doubt whether both parties are gainers by participating in the blessings of knowledge and the freedom of familiar intercourse, let him fully study in the Greek comedy the effects on the female character' of solitude, ignorance, and confinement. 1 Compare the verses of Simonides on women with the matrimonial precepts or Naumachius. Com. Græc, Fragm. 94 and 122. Such details may be found, if they are sought impartially, where they are wisely left, in the obscurities of a learned language. In passing forward to a further examination of private life and manners among the Athenians, it is no easy task to discuss the subject with brevity, or arrange it with method. In modern times it is proverbially said, that one class of mankind knows not how another subsists; and though formerly there might not have been the same minute subdivisions in the graduated scale of society, nor were its extremes separated by so wide an interval, yet much of inequality and contrast' existed. Two heads of arrangement may be assumed with reference to the manners of the Athenians. First, their system of jurisprudence, as it illustrates the insecurity both of their property and their civil privileges; secondly, their convivial habits, which were combined with their social recreations. The system of jurisprudence The number of Athenians who had votes in the general assembly has been computed at 20,000; the citizens, with their families, in all Attica, may be taken at 90,000; and the resident aliens at 45,000. worked ill for Various circumstances will account for the singular fact, that the latter the security of property. amount to one-half of the free population. Those who had ability without money flocked to Athens, because every kind of active talent found there its level and its reward: those who had fortune without ability congregated at the same spot, because money bore a high rate of interest, circulated widely, and returned soon; twelve per cent. was the common premium, and three times that sum if the loan was risked by investment at sea. Capitalists, therefore, reaped a plentiful harvest; merchants conducted an extensive system of commerce; men 1 Conon had 40 talents; Nicias, 100. Hipponicus, who was called the richest of the Greeks, had not more than 200,= 38,000. Demosthenes may be taken to represent the moderately rich: his father left him fourteen talents. Lysias says two boys, a girl, a nurse, and female servant, can live for eighteen oboli a-day. 2 Conf. Athen, vi. 20, and Herod. v. 97; also Boeckh, vol. i. 52. |