24 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



upon the basis of the dowry, the man seldom seeing 

 his bride until the day of the ceremony. Judging by 

 the comedies, which then, as now, we may suppose, 

 reflected the feelings of society with tolerable fidelity, 

 the wife was often a scold and a shrew, apt to presume 

 upon the accession she had brought to the family 

 wealth. In any case, she was condemned to a narrow 

 round of domestic interests, which she shared with 

 her husband's concubines. The courtesan, on the 

 other hand, lived an unrestricted life, and acquired a 

 knowledge of the world that made her an interesting 

 companion. Her house was a literary and fashionable 

 resort. Socrates and Pericles frequented the society 

 of Aspasia. Theodota, another famous courtesan, 

 exercised great political influence, and was instructed 

 by Socrates in the art of enslaving her clients. 



The decay of the Greek civilisation has long been 

 a standing wonder to the historian and the moralist. 

 We believe that the mystery may to some extent be 

 explained by the rigour of the Athenian marriage 

 law, which produced, in a comparatively small com- 

 munity, a system of in-and-in breeding. With this 

 subject we deal in a subsequent chapter upon " Blue 

 Blood," where the evils of caste are exemplified, par- 

 ticularly in the case of royal families and aristocracies. 



