III.—In Greece
Traces of mother-right traditions in Greek literature and history—The women of the Homeric period—Dangers arising from the patriarchal subjection of women—Illustrations and various reflections—Historic Greece—The social organisation of Sparta—Their marriage system—The laws of Lycurgus—The freedom of the Spartan girls—The wise care for the health of the race—Plato's criticism of the Spartan system—He accuses the women of ruling their husbands—The Athenian women—Their subjection under the strict patriarchal rule—The insistence on chastity—Reasons for this—The degraded position of the wife—The hetairæ—They the only educated women in Athens—Aspasia—She leads the movement to raise the position of the Athenian women—Plato's estimate of women—Remarks on the sexual penalties for women that are always found under a strict patriarchal regime—The ideal relationship between the wife and the husband—Euripides voices the sorrows of women—He foreshadows their coming triumph.
IV.—In Rome
Little known of the position of women in Rome in prehistoric times—Indications of an early period of mother-rule—The patriarchal system formerly established when Roman history opens—The Roman marriage law—The woman regarded as the property first of her father and afterwards of her husband—The patrician marriage of confarreatio—The form known as coemptio—Marriage by usus—The inequality of divorce—The subjection of the woman—The terrible right of the husband's manus—The way of escape—The development of the early marriage by usus—The new free marriage by consent—Free divorce—A revolution in the position of women—The patriarchal rule of women dwindled to a mere thread—They gained increasingly greater liberty until at last they gained complete freedom—The public entry of women into the affairs of State—Illustrations to show the fine use made by the Roman matrons of their freedom—An examination into the supposed licentiousness of Roman women—This opinion cannot be accepted—The effect of Christianity—The view of Sir Henry Maine—Some concluding remarks on the position of women in the four great civilisations examined in this chapter.