74 SEX-LORE 



women have always been considered legitimate spoils 

 of war. Generally, where the vanquished men are 

 all slaughtered, the women are spared and carried 

 off by the victors. Thus it comes about that a brave 

 warrior will obtain many wives; in fact, the posses- 

 sion of many wives is a source of pride, being proof 

 of a man's valour, or, as in the cases previously men- 

 tioned, a sign of his wealth. 



The Bible repeatedly speaks of the process of ob- 

 taining wives by capture. Instances of this custom 

 are also known of ancient Rome as, for example, 

 in the story of the rape of the Sabine women. Mar- 

 riage by capture was also customary among the 

 ancient Greeks, and the custom was retained by the 

 Spartans as an important symbol in the marriage 

 ceremony. There is a well-known story of Andro- 

 mache, wife of Hector of Troy, who was taken cap- 

 tive by the Greeks and assigned to Pyrrhus, Achilles' 

 son. Abundant evidence of wife-capture is to be 

 found in the European races. It existed among the 

 ancient Germans and Scandinavians, while among the 

 South Slavonians it was in force even as late as the 

 beginning of the last century. 



It is not only in times of war that capture of women 

 takes place; men make marauding expeditions for 

 wives also at other times. Among the Maoris, the 

 old way of obtaining a wife was for the man to gather 

 together a party of his friends, and to abduct the 

 woman by force or stratagem. In Serbia it was the 

 custom to lie in wait for a girl of a neighbouring 

 village, and to carry her off as she went out to tend 

 her flock; or sometimes an armed assault was made 

 on her home. 



