ARCADIA. 331 



was not natural, they put his wife to the torture : 

 If, through the violence of her torments, (he 

 pleads guilty, (he is condemned to the flames (14). 



This unfortunate fex triumphs over it's tyrants 

 by their own opinions. As vanity is their domi- 

 neering paffion, the women turn them into ridi- 

 cule. A fong limply is, in their hands, fufficient 

 to deftroy the refult of their graved aflemblies. 

 The lower clafTes, and efpecially the young people, 

 always devoted to their fervice, fet this fong into 

 circulation, through the villages and hamlets. It 

 is fung day and night : he who is the fubje(5l of 

 it, be he who he may, dares to fliew his face no 

 more. Hence it comes to pafs, that the women, 

 fo weak as individuals, enjoy, colledively, the 

 moft unlimited power. Whether it be the fear of 

 ridicule, or, that they have experienced the fu- 

 perior difcernment of their women, but certain it 

 is, the Chieftains undertake nothing of import- 

 ance, without confuking them. Their voice de- 

 cides, whether it is to be peace or war. As they 

 are obliged, by the mifcries of Society, to re- 

 nounce their own opinions, and to take refuge in 

 the arms of Nature, they are neither blinded, nor 

 hardened, by the prejudices of the men. Hence it 

 happens, that they judge more clearly than the 

 other fex, of public affairs, and forefee future events 

 with fuch fuperior difcernment. The common 



z z people. 



