TRANSITION FROM TRIBAL SOCIETY 285 



must make sure of legitimate male offspring. The conse- 

 quence was that the position of woman was regarded as 

 inferior. In place of a personal choice in marriage she 

 was compelled to take whatever husband chance or for- 

 tune dictated. Her initiative in household management 

 became compulsory devotion to routine within a somewhat 

 narrow sphere. Marriage depended upon the whim of 

 her husband, so that she had no longer any voice in its 

 duration. When her duties were regularly so exacting 

 that she became prematurely old, she might be supplanted 

 in the household by a younger wife more attractive to her 

 husband. In this way the natural love marriage of 

 earlier civilization yielded to one of sensuality and un- 

 certainty. But this polygamous marriage system ex- 

 isted only among the wealthy and powerful. Among the 

 masses of men monogamy was the rule, since the marri- 

 age basis had become largely economic and the main- 

 tenance of more than one wife became too expensive for 

 the ordinary man. 17 Another and darker aspect of the 

 fierce transition from metronymic conditions to the new 

 organization, was the enslaving of marriageable women 

 of the conquered to become the concubines of the con- 

 querors. 



With the establishment of male descent and ancestor- 

 worship, clan headships and tribal chieftainships tended 

 to become hereditary in certain families. A continuity 

 of tradition and custom was formed which bound together 

 in a compact union not only the members of the clan and 

 of the family, but also the living with the dead. Thus 

 there was social integration and the structure of society 

 became more coherent and substantial. Yet the patro- 

 nymic tribe in which the chieftainship had become heredi- 



op. cit., pp. 29-30. 



