THE GROWTH OF THE TIE 27 



solemn forms of marriage were practised, Confarreatio 

 and Coemptio, both partaking of the nature of the 

 modern manage de convenance, inasmuch as the in- 

 clinations of the parties were subordinated to consider- 

 ations of duty or expediency. There was no pretence 

 of affection in these unions, which were established 

 upon the basis of the dowry and the maintenance of 

 caste. The Eoman matron, it is true, was treated 

 with more consideration than the Greek. Although to 

 some extent secluded, she was allowed to preside at her 

 husband's table, and was taken to the public festivals. 

 But the results of the system of political marriage were 

 pretty much the same in both communities. In Eome, 

 as in Athens, the husbands of dowered wives — wives 

 qualified as to citizenship, but deficient, it might be, in 

 personal attractions — sought consolation in the society 

 of concubines and courtesans, and with the growth of 

 luxury and of the practice of importing female slaves, 

 the corruption of public morals went on apace. 



All experience shows the evil influence of the 

 manage de convenance, whether in its ancient or in its 

 modern forms, the case of the Latin races of to-day 

 conveying the same lesson as that of ancient Home. 

 Whenever men are debarred from freely choosing 

 their wives, morality is lax. Seeing how lightly the 



