206 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



to complete the former. The characters conceived 

 by the poet or the dramatist are to some extent ideal 

 of course, but unless they stand in intimate relation 

 to the heart and the imagination of the author's con- 

 temporaries they fail to produce the requisite impres- 

 sion of sincerity and truth. Judged by the literary 

 standard, the family instincts of different ages and 

 peoples, from the dawn of civilisation in Greece to the 

 present day, are precisely what, having regard to the 

 evolution of society, we should expect them to be. 

 From having unlimited confidence in his own authority, 

 which in his eyes was based alike upon nature, law, 

 and custom, the father has become timid, vacillating, 

 and weak. He no longer commands ; he entreats. For 

 his loss of dignity and authority he endeavours to 

 compensate by a display of tenderness. That the 

 part thus played by the father in society has de- 

 generated, we do not say ; but it has changed, and is 

 changing, and the fact is one with which the sociolo- 

 gist is bound to reckon. 



As an example of the different ideas entertained 

 of the authority of parents at different periods, let 

 the reader compare for a moment the OEdipus of 

 Sophocles with the King Lear of Shakespeare. Both 

 poets treat of the ingratitude of children, but they do 



