GROWTH OF TYPES OF ORGANIZATION 169 



with a certain amount of reverence, and his word 

 was the bond, the only bond that united the mem- 

 bers of the family into a unit. All of this, of course, 

 is quite similar to the conditions of things under 

 patriarchal government. But we find among the 

 Aryans a new feature. The patriarch of the family 

 was to be obeyed only so long as he showed himself 

 capable of wielding his power and exercising it with 

 judgment. In the Aryan family the elder son not 

 infrequently assumed the headship upon marriage, 

 and the father lost his prestige and power as the 

 head of the family. He was frequently, indeed, espe- 

 cially if troublesome, put to death or cast out from 

 the family circle, which amounted to the same thing. 

 Under these conditions a patriarchal reverence, such 

 as has been the basis of the development of the patri- 

 archal nations, was not and could not have been 

 developed. 



When such tribes did unite they elected a chieftain. 

 The man who held the position of ruler held it by his 

 might, and his power depended upon the voluntary 

 allegiance of his followers. Allegiance to such a 

 chieftain was more or less compulsory, according as 

 the chieftain showed himself capable of exercising 

 power; but at the basis it was voluntary, and could 

 be given or withheld according to the general wish of 

 the people. Among the Aryans the chieftain was not 

 looked upon as an intermediary between man and 

 God, and there was therefore no religious feeling 

 which impelled the early Aryans to give their obe- 

 dience to their chieftain. Obeying a chieftain was 

 with them never a religious rite but a matter of expe- 

 diency. 



The effect of the communal system upon the char- 



