THE EVOLUTION OF MORAL CODES 83 



This may perhaps be the beginning of duty. But it 

 appears only when family life begins, and it is not 

 found in the life of animals in general. But it does 

 suggest to us the line along which we must look for 

 the beginning of duties, and points to family life as 

 the beginning of ethical obligations. 



Family life among animals is rare ; but with man 

 such a relation is universally organized and with it 

 new conditions arise. When family life begins the 

 individuals are placed in new relations to each other. 

 Each must live his life without too seriously inter- 

 fering with others, otherwise the family will break to 

 pieces. This necessitates restraint, and with it obli- 

 gations. The head of the family feels that the family 

 is his property. Among primitive races he has per- 

 haps either bought and paid for his wife, or has won 

 her by fighting, and hence he can demand of her what 

 he will. His children too are his own property and 

 he can dispose of them as he pleases. For long years 

 they are dependent upon him and must obey his 

 word. The wife knows that she is owned by her hus- 

 band and that her happiness, and even her life, is 

 dependent upon his pleasure. She knows that un- 

 faithfulness to the obligations that custom places 

 upon her will mean her death. To be sure, these 

 obligations may be of the loosest kind, sometimes 

 binding her to her husband only on certain days of 

 the week, and perhaps allowing her to confer her 

 favors anywhere with the consent or frequently with 

 the command of the husband. But whatever these 

 obligations are, their infraction means trouble or 

 death. The children too learn that they must not 

 follow their own caprice, but must yield to the com- 

 mands of their parents. The husband on his part 



