Woman in Antiquity.
In the preceding chapter it is mentioned that the intention is to
present to the reader, in as condensed a form as possible, some of the
indignities put upon women, both in the past and the present, so that
the reader may be able to form a candid judgment on the subject of
woman's rights and woman's wrongs. We will, therefore, first consider
the condition of the women of antiquity, and of those in heathen and
Mohammedan lands; and, afterward, her position in professedly civilized
and Christian countries.
After the dispersion of mankind at Babel, we behold, through the mists
of the surrounding gloom, the various tribes into which the race had by
that event become divided, subsisting at first by the spontaneous fruits
of the earth, and by the chase. Then they became herdsmen, tillers of
the soil, and traffickers, varying these occupations by predatory
warfare. They are all astir, passing to and fro through the wide extent
of the regions as yet inhabited. History, so far as it deals with the
earlier portion of this period, necessarily derives its material from
traditionary legends, more or less credible, as the case may be. These
recount the marvelous exploits--not unfrequently manifestly fabulous--of
their rude heroes; their deeds of might, their noble enterprises, their
indomitable courage, their persistent activity, and often their deeds of
most revolting cruelty.
Of the women of this period we obtain but slight glimpses, but
sufficient to show that, in their domestic arrangements, the ancients
early acted upon the principle, that "might makes right." Muscle
appears to have been at a premium during these eras.
Later, the nations are found still engaged in war, as if each esteemed
the slaughtering of its neighbors the grandest and noblest of human
achievements; but their equipments indicate that, meanwhile,
manufactures have been making some advancement. Warriors present a more
formidable appearance than did those of former ages. They are clad in
armor, and guard themselves with breastplates and with shields. Their
glittering swords and spears, their battle-axes and their bows, are
grasped in hands only too eager to use them; and the combatants press
proudly on toward the scene of conflict; while others, equally intrepid,
but less military in their tastes, still employ themselves in the chase;
and the more indolent pursue pleasures of a less exciting character.
But where, meanwhile, are the counterparts of these--the wives, sisters,
and daughters of these grim warriors and sturdy huntsmen, or of these
dreaming idlers? In existence they certainly are; but they exist only to
drudge and suffer. While their masters are employing or non-employing
themselves, according to the bent of their inclination, they are
cultivating the fields or watering and herding the flocks, bearing heavy
burdens, carrying the luggage of their husbands to facilitate progress
on the war-path; or at home rearing up children, who rarely rise up to
call them blessed; or they are waiting, in submissive obedience, at the
feet of their reclining lords, to be petted and caressed or cursed and
kicked, as passion or caprice may dictate--subjected alike to neglect,
contempt, and abuse. Exceptions to this general rule doubtless occurred
occasionally; for irresponsible power does not of necessity convert
every man into an unfeeling tyrant, just as under other systems of
slavery, some were fortunate enough to fall into the hands of kind,
considerate owners, whose hearts they inspired with love and
tenderness; but neither bound wife nor bond slave was treated with
kindness, respect, or common justice, because their inherent right to be
so treated was recognized. It mattered little to the women of this
period whether they were held as wives or concubines; their actual
condition was that of slavery.
In none of the countries of antiquity had women more liberty than in
Egypt; and yet what was her real condition there? Alexander remarked, it
is true, that though "the women promised obedience, men often yielded
it;" and, in many instances, it is equally true that the laws respecting
women were immeasurably in advance of those of neighboring nations; as,
for instance: Each wife had entire control of her own house. Among the
princes nearest the throne, women might take their places, and even
reign as sovereigns (a regency was frequently committed to their care);
or they might rule as joint sovereigns with another party; and as Isis
took rank above Osiris, so in such a case the woman might take rank
above the man.[A]
But notwithstanding this advance beyond other nations, they were still
spoken of, and in many instances not only treated as inferiors, but held
in hopeless bondage.
Among the Greeks, the wife was at times permitted to take part in public
assemblies, but never as the equal of her husband. She neither went with
him to dinner, when he dined out, nor sat at table with those whom he
invited to his house. Aristotle held that "the relation of men to women
is that of governor to a subject." Plato says: "A woman's virtue may be
summed up in a few words: for she has only to manage the house well,
keeping what there is in it, and obeying her husband." Again, in further
proof of the low estimation in which he held women, he says: "Of the men
that were born, such as are timid and have passed through life unjustly
are, we suppose, changed into women in their second generation."
Plutarch tells us that women "were compelled to go barefoot, in order to
induce them to keep at home."
The Spartan women were better off than their neighbors; and, in
consequence, we get glimpses of a higher type of womanhood. The Spartan
mother has furnished a theme for the pen of every ancient Greek
historian. Under the Lycurgean system, women were considered "as a part
of the State," and not simply household articles belonging to their
husbands--chattels to be disposed of according to the supreme pleasure
of their masters. Free women were trained for the service of the State
with scarcely less severity than men. Lycurgus remarks: "Female slaves
are good enough to sit at home, weaving and spinning; but who can expect
a splendid offspring--the appropriate mission and duty of free Spartan
women toward their country--from mothers brought up in such
occupations?" But though, like the Egyptian women, and indeed in advance
of them, the Spartan women were treated with, for the times, a marked
degree of attention and respect, still, even in Sparta, there were laws
in force by which women suffered grievous injustice. With all the
apparent freedom accorded to them, fathers claimed and exercised the
right of disposing of their daughters in marriage to suit their own
views or interests. Though free-born, a girl had no choice, if her
father willed it so, in the selection of her husband; and husbands
might, if they wished, dispose of their wives by will, at death, as they
would of any other piece of property. Though in a measure free, because
she was a woman, she was still a slave.
Among the other infringements of the rights of women, and one of the
most barbarous, common to the heathen, both ancient and modern, and to
the Mohammedans, is early betrothal. In fact, the system of betrothal
prevailed to a very great extent among the very earliest nations of
which history furnishes any account, the laws affecting it being only
slightly modified to suit the circumstances of the various tribes by
which it was adopted. The main feature was still the same--the girl had
no choice; there was nothing for her but submission.
The lot of woman in China has, from time immemorial, been a hard one.
Says a writer in the _Westminster Review_ for October, 1855: "Of all
nations, the Chinese carry out the system of early betrothal most
completely; parents in China not only bargain for the marriage of their
children during their infancy, but while they are yet unborn. If, when a
daughter is betrothed during infancy, the contract should not assume the
form of actual sale, it is nevertheless usual for the bridegroom, at the
time he acquires possession of the bride, to pay into the hands of her
father a sum considered equivalent to the current value of a wife."
Immortality is denied to woman by them. A Christian, intent on the
evangelization of the Chinese, spoke to one regarding the salvation of
their women. "Women," replied the Chinaman; "women have no souls. You
can't make Christians of them." Few persons born in civilized lands,
unless brought into immediate contact with the heathen, can have any
idea of the wretched condition of their women, even at this day. Kept in
a state of abject bondage, they are compelled to serve with rigor.
Controlled as though they were possessed of less intelligence than male
children of tender years, it might yet be supposed, from the burdens
laid upon them, that they were possessed of far superior strength,
physically, than men. In some countries--not all of them heathen or
Mohammedan either--the amount of labor imposed upon women of the lower
orders in society would task the strength of beasts of burden. The only
exercise of reason allowed among such, is a sort of instinct which will
enable them to perform all kinds of drudgery, and to act with
scrupulous fidelity to their unkind, very often brutal and _faithless_,
husbands--task-masters would be the better name. Of women under such
rule, it may truly be said, the grave is their best, their only friend.
Among the Arabs, prior to Mohammed, the women were in a wretchedly
debased condition, which has been but slightly improved by the rules of
the Koran. By its sanction, wives were bought by their husbands, though
it was asserted that it was not lawful for men to exchange their wives.
The price paid by Mohammed for his wives, of which he had nine, varied,
according to their rank and beauty, from one to one hundred dollars
each. The common people procured theirs at a cheaper rate. Specific
directions are given, too, for the proper government of women. "Those
wives," says Mohammed, "whose perverseness ye may be apprehensive of,
rebuke, and remove them into separate apartments, and chastise
them."[B] When such precepts as these were laid down in the Koran,
which was considered a direct revelation from God, it is not surprising
that the severest punishment was inflicted on women who attempted to
exercise any control over themselves or their households. The will of
the proud, insolent Arab was supreme, whether his demands were
reasonable or otherwise; having bought his wives cheap, he might
maltreat or divorce them at pleasure. Like the Chinese, the Mohammedan
women are denied the hope of immortality. "Earthly women, when they die,
cease to have any existence; but men, if faithful to Mohammed, are to
enter paradise, and be associated with a _new_ race of transcendently
beautiful female beings." "The glories of eternity," says the Koran,
"will be eclipsed by the resplendent 'women of paradise,' created 'not
of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk, and free from all
natural impurities, defects, and inconveniencies incident to the sex;
... secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearl.'"[C]
A distinguished European writer observes: "The Hindoos seem to have
legislated with the greatest care and detail concerning women. Yet by no
people, legally speaking, is her individuality more entirely ignored;
and in no country is the slavery in which she lives, at once so
systematic, refined, and complete as it is in India, where the lawgiver
and the priest are one. The oppressive custom of life-long guardianship
is expressly ordained. By a girl, or by a woman advanced in years,
nothing must be done, even in her own dwelling-place, according to her
mere pleasure. In childhood must a female be dependent on her father, in
youth on her husband; her lord being dead, on her sons; if she have no
sons, on the near kinsman of her husband; if he left no kinsman, on
those of her father; if she have no parental kinsman, on the sovereign.
A woman must never seek independence."[D] Not permitted to have any
discretionary power over her own actions at any period of her life, but
held in every respect subject to the will of her husband, or some other
male guardian, she is nevertheless to be unswervingly faithful to her
lord while he lives; and no matter how cruelly he may have treated her,
she is loaded with contumely, reproach, and scorn, if she refuses to lay
herself upon the funeral pile, and in the flames pass into another state
of being, to do honor to him who through life had been an unrelenting
tyrant. Knowing the obloquy which attaches itself to the widow who
recoils from such a fearful death-bed, and ignorant, too, of the "better
way," the unfortunate creature generally yields to the pressure brought
to bear upon her, and terminates a miserable life by an awful death; her
horrid shrieks, while burning, mingling with the clamor of sounds
raised to drown them by the heartless throng of spectators, and yet
sometimes rising with distressing distinctness above them. When the wife
of a Hindoo dies, does he sacrifice himself upon a funeral pile, in
order to honor her in another state of existence? By no means. His
precious body can not be committed to the flames; they are too hot for
his manly courage. He burns her corpse with what are termed appropriate
offerings; and, if so disposed, adds a new wife to his household, thus
soothing his sorrow.
In Australia, the practice of early betrothal is nearly universal among
the natives; men of distinction having several wives at the same time,
and these varying in age from the little child to the woman of mature
years. But while polygamy prevails to a fearful extent among the men of
the wealthier class, many of the men of the humbler ranks remain
unmarried, because they are unable to raise the purchase-money which
secures them their domestic drudge. In the western part of Australia,
especially before the benefits of civilization began to be felt in the
island, it was the practice to betroth the daughters to some individual,
immediately upon their birth; and should the man, or male child to whom
the infant girl was betrothed, die before she arrived at maturity, she
became the property of the heirs of her betrothed husband, though she
might never have seen either this reputed husband, or the person who, as
his representative, claimed her as his wife by virtue of the betrothal.
In New Zealand, if the spouse of a female child dies before she is taken
to his home, she is never allowed to marry any one else. By this custom
young children become the widows of little boys or old men, according to
the whims of their fathers. Another horrible practice of the Australians
is, the exchange of daughters by their fathers. This is very common
among the chiefs, the exchange being made with as little concern as
jockeys exchange their horses. It is stated that the poorer men
sometimes supplied themselves with wives after the manner of the Romans
in the case of the Sabine Rape; and that when victorious in war, the
women and girls captured were taken as wives, while the male prisoners
were put to death. But where they were able to afford it, they preferred
the betrothal system, as giving them more consequence. Not only in
Australia, but in the other countries where early betrothal was
practiced, if, when a boy grew up, he formed a dislike to his betrothed,
or for some other whim desired to cast her off, he was at liberty to do
so, but no such privilege was granted the girl. Then, as now in
civilized nations, those making the laws were careful to make them all
to their own advantage.
In the foundation of some of the nations of antiquity, men were
frequently gathered, from almost every quarter of the then known globe,
to the particular spot that seemed best suited for the purposes of
self-aggrandizement; and, in the rude horde thus congregated together,
there was necessarily an undue preponderance of the male element. In
some instances, not one woman was to be found in such a community. The
tribes more immediately contiguous to these settlements, if such they
might be called, were not inclined to enter into friendly relations with
them, and therefore they were unable to supply themselves with wives in
the usual manner; consequently, they had recourse to other means.
Sometimes women were procured by stratagem; sometimes bands of marauders
sallied forth, and stole, or in some other equally exceptionable way
took possession of, the women of the neighboring or of hostile tribes.
Ordinarily, the poor victims submitted to their fate with the best grace
they might; but if one thus taken by force attempted to make her escape
from him who claimed her as his wife, and was unfortunate enough to be
retaken, a spear, or some similar weapon, was thrust through the fleshy
portion of one of her limbs, effectually disabling her from making
another attempt of the kind; and not unfrequently the combined bodily
pain and mental anguish terminated in death--a happy release.
In process of time, however, the various tribes began to regard each
other with less aversion than formerly; and it became safer and more
profitable to purchase women, on the same principle that any other kind
of merchandise was bought. Prices were regulated according to the supply
in the market and the beauty or the muscular strength of the hapless
creatures exposed for sale. Fathers sold or exchanged their daughters,
brothers their sisters, without the slightest shame or remorse. Among
the Tambanks, in exchanging the women for stock, a woman, full-grown and
of ordinary strength, was considered equal in value to two cows or one
ox.
As the settlements became more permanent, assuming by degrees the
character of established nations, and the centers of enterprise grew
into populous cities, the barter and exchange traffic naturally
declined; but in its place were established regular markets for the sale
of female slaves. Civilization was beginning to make some slight
progress; and fathers began to entertain doubts regarding the propriety
of _selling_ their own flesh and blood, though they did not hesitate to
_buy_ their wives.
The slaves who were exposed in the marketplaces, therefore, were
generally the overplus not desired in the harems of those who had
captured them in war; and as the most beautiful brought the highest
market-price, the public exhibitions of the poor unfortunates drew
thither crowds of gaping people--some merely curious, some intent on
business. Even in more modern days, the slave-markets of the East, and
in the Southern States of the American Republic, have attracted crowds
of spectators--some to condemn the horrible practice, some to
compassionate the unhappy victims, but most to engage in the monstrous
traffic.
It is not necessary to review further, in detail, the condition of women
in the various nations as they sprang into existence, or through the
successive periods of their history to the commencement of the Christian
era. Various causes brought about a partial liberty for women, in both
the Jewish and Roman nations, prior to the birth of Christ; but for
those of other lands the blackness of darkness still remained. It was
but a partial liberty, it is true, even for the Hebrew or Roman women,
but their condition was much improved. Concessions had been made slowly.
They had come in shreds, and had not amounted to much in ameliorating
their situation when they came; but slight as were the privileges
yielded, they were yet indications of the dawning of a brighter day for
Eve's poor daughters.
The reformations effected were like wresting prey from the mighty. And
how could it be otherwise, with selfishness and love of power, sustained
by unjust and one-sided laws, arrayed against merely natural rights--not
demanded, scarcely even asserted--and those to whom these rights
belonged excluded from every position where they might hope to do either
the one or the other successfully? The law of divorce was still common;
and, like every thing else where the sexes were concerned, all the
advantages were on the side of the oppressor, man.
The laws of the Romans, though according a greater degree of freedom to
woman than had hitherto been granted, were still not only imperfect, but
were not properly carried out, in many instances, where it suited venal
judges to side with wealthy libertines who might have it in their power
to bestow a favor. Professedly, each Roman had but one wife; but
divorces, on most frivolous pretexts, were of frequent occurrence,
granted in favor of one who wished to gratify his licentious passions
without rebuke. Slavery was yet in force; and it gave ample opportunity
for the practice of this injustice, even upon the free-born Roman woman.
Every true Roman held his wife's or his daughter's honor sacred, and
would resent to the death any attempt to violate it; but, by the
connivance of corrupt officials, the protection of an upright father was
rendered of no avail, by a perjurer being found who would appear before
the proper tribunal and swear the maid or woman in question to be his
slave. The decision once given in the libertine's favor, there was no
longer hope for her--she was lost forever.
Not always, however, would Roman freemen tamely brook open injustice,
much less shame, without revenging it, though they died in doing so. The
case of Appius--who was himself both the libertine and judge--is in
point. Having set his licentious eyes upon the beautiful
Virginia--daughter of Virginius, a centurion of the army--and having in
vain sought to obtain possession of her person by tampering with the
matron who conveyed her to and from her school, he induced an equally
licentious individual, one Claudius, to claim her as his slave, and
bring the matter before himself for decision. In vain the anguished
father asserted that Virginia was his child. With an air of apparent
impartiality, Appius decreed that she belonged to Claudius, who
thereupon proceeded to remove her. The father begged that they might at
least be allowed to take leave of each other, which request was granted,
on condition of their doing so in the presence of the oppressor. Drawing
the girl, now nearly dead from fright, toward himself, and also toward
the shambles, adjoining which they were, he snatched thence a knife,
and, before any suspected his intention, stabbed her to the heart,
crying, "This alone can preserve your honor and your freedom."[E]
The fearful deed of the centurion is appalling; but remember his ideas
of right and wrong were veiled in pagan darkness. He took the life of
his child to save her from a fate incomparably worse than that of death;
and made his name historic by doing so. Thousands of fathers have found
their efforts to protect the innocence of their daughters as unavailing
as did the unhappy Virginius, unless, like him, they shortened life. The
victims, too, are as little free-will agents in the matter as Virginia
would have been; and many thousands of daughters have fallen, not by
their father's hand to save their honor, but by cruel deception, and
died to all that was beautiful or pure on earth, and to every hope of
heaven.
And while the woman who has sinned, and fallen through that sin, is
pitied by few, despised by nearly all, and but little effort made to win
her back to the path of purity, how is the companion of her sin treated?
He, the seducer--often the grossest of deceivers, the instigator of the
crime--because he is a man, is countenanced by the many, his conduct
palliated, and himself received as an honored guest, even in the highest
circles of society. The law of God makes no distinction between the male
violator of His holy law and the female violator of the same; but man,
arrogating to himself superior wisdom, makes a very marked one.
No wonder, then, that women groan because of their bondage.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: Sharpe's "History of Egypt."]
[Footnote B: Koran, chap. iv.]
[Footnote C: Sale's "Preliminary Discourses on the Koran," sec. 4.]
[Footnote D: "Laws of Menu."]
[Footnote E: Bloss, page 334.]