The Truth About Woman Part 16

I have now reached the end of the inquiry set before us at the opening of this chapter. I am fully aware of the many omissions, probable misjudgments, and the inadequacy of this brief summary. We have covered a wide field. This was inevitable. I know that to understand really the position of woman in any country it is necessary to inquire into all the customs that have built up its civilisation, and to gain knowledge upon many points outside the special question of the s.e.xual relations.h.i.+ps. This I have not been able even to attempt to do. I have thrown out a few hints in pa.s.sing--that is all. But the practical value of what we have found seems to me not inconsiderable. I have tried to avoid any forcing of the facts to fit in with a narrow and artificial view of my own opinions. To me the truth is plain. As we have examined the often-confused ma.s.s of evidence, as it throws light on the position of woman in these four great civilisations of antiquity, we find that, in spite of the apparent differences which separate their customs and habits in the s.e.xual relations.h.i.+ps, the evidence, when disentangled, all points in one and the same direction.

In the face of the facts before us one truth cries out its message: "Woman must be free face to face with man." Has it not, indeed, become clear that a great part of the wisdom of the Egyptians and the wisdom of the Babylonians, as also of the Romans, and, in a different degree, of the Greeks, rested in this, _they thought much of the mothers of the race_. Do not the records of these old-world civilisations show us the dominant position of the mother in relation to the life of the race? In all great ages of humanity this has been accepted as a central and sacred fact. We learn thus, as we look backwards to those countries and those times when woman was free, by what laws, habits and customs the sons of mothers may live long and gladly in all regions of the earth. The use of history is not alone to sum up the varied experiences of the past, but to enlarge our vision of the present, and by reflections on that past to point a way to the future.

FOOTNOTES:

[199] This is the position taken up, for instance, by Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, p. 176.

[200] _Herodotus_, Bk. II. p. 35.

[201] Hobhouse, _Morals in Evolution_, Vol. I. p. 189.

[202] Maspero, Preface to _Queens of Egypt_, by J.R. b.u.t.tles, q. v.

[203] For an account of the reign of Hatschepsut, as well as of the other queens who ruled in Egypt, I must refer the reader to the excellent and careful work of Miss b.u.t.tles. It is worth noting that the temple built by Queen Hatschepsut is one of the most famous and beautiful monuments of ancient Egypt. On the walls are recorded the history of her prosperous reign, also the private events of her life: "Ra hath selected her for protecting Egypt and for rousing bravery among men."

[204] We owe our knowledge of the Egyptian marriage contracts chiefly to M. Revillout, whose works should be consulted. See also Paturet (the pupil of Revillout), _La Condition juridique de la femme dans l'ancienne egypte_; Nietzold, _Die Ehe in Aegypten_; Greenfel, _Greek Papyri_; Amelineau, _La Morale egyptienne_; Muller, _Liebespoesie der alten Aegypten_, and the numerous works of M. Maspero and Flinders Petrie. Simc.o.x, writing on "Owners.h.i.+p in Egypt," gives a good summary of the subject, _Primitive Civilisations_, Vol. I. pp. 204-211; also Hobhouse, _Morals in Evolution_, Vol. I. p. 182, _et seq._

[205] Hobhouse regards this dowry as being the original property of the wife in the forms of the bride-price. Revillout and Muller accept the much more probable view, that the dowry was fict.i.tious, and was really a charge on the property of the husband to be paid to the wife if he sent her away.

[206] Paturet, _La Condition juridique de la femme dans l'ancienne egypte_; p. 69.

[207] Nietzold, _Die Ehe in Aegypten_, p. 79.

[208] _etudes egyptologiques_, livre XIII. pp. 230, 294; quoted by Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, Vol. I. p. 210.

[209] Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 204.

[210] Simc.o.x, _op. cit._; Vol. I. pp. 210-211, citing Revillout; _Cours de droit_, p. 285.

[211] This is the view of Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, pp. 210-211.

[212] Hobhouse, Vol. I. p. 185 (_Note_).

[213] _Les obligations en droit egyptien_, p. 82; quoted by Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, Vol. I. pp. 209-210.

[214] Diodorus, bk. i. p. 27. The whole pa.s.sage is: "Contrary to the received usage of other nations the laws permit the Egyptians to marry their sisters, after the example of Osiris and Isis. The latter, in fact, having cohabited with her brother Osiris, swore, after his death, never to suffer the approach of any man, pursued the murderer, governed according to the laws, and loaded men with benefits. All this explains why the queen receives more power and respect than the king, and why, among private individuals, the woman rules over the man, and that it is stipulated between married couples by the terms of the dowry-contract that the man shall obey the woman." The brother-sister marriages, referred to by Diodorus, which were common, especially in early Egyptian history, are further witness to the persistence among them of the customs of the mother-age.

[215] Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, Vol. I. p. 205.

[216] _Revue egyptologique_, I. p. 110.

[217] Revillout, _Cours de droit_, Vol. I. p. 222.

[218] _Psychology of s.e.x_, Vol. VI. p. 393.

[219] Amelineau, _La morale egyptienne_, p. 194.

[220] Ellis, citing Donaldson, _Woman_, p. 196. This is also the opinion of Muller.

[221] Revillout, _Revue egyptologique_, Vol. I. p. 113.

[222] Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, Vol. I. p. 207.

[223] Donaldson, _Woman_, pp. 244-245, citing Nietzold, p. 79.

[224] Letourneau (_Evolution of Marriage_, p. 176) takes this view.

[225] This is, of course, a survival of the old matriarchal custom.

[226] Hobhouse, _op. cit._, Vol. L. pp. 5-186. Herodotus (Bk. II. p.

42) states that many Egyptians, like the Greeks, had adopted monogamy.

[227] Burgsch, _Hist._, Vol. I. p. 262, quoted by Simc.o.x.

[228] Simc.o.x, Vol. I. p. 198-199. I take this opportunity of acknowledging the help I have received from this writer's careful and interesting chapter on "Domestic Relations.h.i.+ps and Family Law" among the Egyptians.

[229] Maspero, _Hist._ (German tr.), p. 41; see Simc.o.x, _op. cit._, p.

199.

[230] This tablet is in the British Museum, London. S. Egyptian Gallery, Bay 29, No. 1027.

[231] Simc.o.x, Vol. I. pp. 218, 219.

[232] Petah Hotep was a high official in the reign of a.s.sa, a king of the IVth Dynasty, about 3360 B.C. His precepts consist of aphorisms of high moral worth; there is a late copy in the British Museum. I have followed the translation given in the _Guide to the Egyptian Collection_ p. 77.

[233] This pa.s.sage in other translations reads: "she is a field profitable to its owner."

[234] The Maxims of Ani are preserved in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo.

The work inculcates the highest standard of practical morality and gives a lofty ideal of the duty of the Egyptians in all the relations of life.

[235] From the Boulak Papyrus (1500 B.C.). I have followed in part the translation given by Griffiths, _The World's Literature_, p. 5340, and in part that of Maspero given in _Life in Ancient Egypt and a.s.syria_ (trans. by Alice Morton, p. 16).

[236] Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 28, No. 964. This statue belongs to later Egyptian history. It was dedicated by Shashanq, a high official of the Ptolemaic period.

[237] Wall case 102, Nos. 187, 38, and 430.

[238] Vestibule of North Egyptian Gallery, East doorway, No. 14.

[239] South Gallery, No. 565.

[240] No. 375. This group belongs to the XVIIIth Dynasty: the husband was a warden of the palace and overseer of the Treasury; the wife a priestess of the G.o.d Amen.

[241] Simc.o.x, _Primitive Civilisation_, Vol. I. pp. 9, 271.

[242] Hommel, _Geschichte Babyloniens und a.s.syriens_, p. 271.

[243] Simc.o.x, who quotes Hommel, _op. cit._, p. 320.

[244] Simc.o.x, Vol. I. p 361.