250 Transactions.—Miscellaneous. 
she naturally became his slave primarily and his wife secondarily. How- 
ever many he chose to save, they became his slaves, his wives. They 
belonged to him and him only, and his brother braves had no right to them. 
The women of the conquering tribe were the tribal sisters of the men, and 
belonged to them all; but the captured women of other tribes were the 
property of their captors. At first and for long ages slave wives captured 
in war and specially appropriated would have occupied a lower position in 
the tribe than the tribal or communal women. The Hetairism of the 
ancient Greeks and Hindoos was a relic or survival from this state of things. 
Nice people are shocked when they read of Socrates visiting Aspasia, or of 
the divine Buddha accepting the hospitality of the mistress of the Courte- 
zans ; but among the Greeks and Hindoos women like Aspasia and the 
hostess of Buddha were higher and more honourable in the social scale than 
the slave-wives. In the course of time the communal system, though traces 
of it long remained as survival, was superseded by the superior system of 
polygamy, brought in by war and slavery. Polygamy being generally 
established, the obtaining of wives by capture would have continued long ; 
and in truth it has continued, either as a fact or as a symbol, over a consider- 
able portion of the world till the present day. In the progress of society the 
uying of women to be slaves and wives makes its appearance. The 
purchase system comes in, and in a considerable degree mitigates and 
supersedes the capture system. From the time when authentic or docu- 
mentary history begins, and long after, purchase was customary among the 
Chinese, Hindoos, and Greeks. It was customary among the Jews, for 
Moses allowed Jewish fathers to sell their daughters for slaves or concu- 
bines. (Ex. xxi. 7.) It was customary among the Romans, who had two 
kinds of marriage—one by ** co-emptio," and the other by “ confarreatio."' 
In co-emption marriage the forms were the same as those which were gone : 
through in the purchase of a slave. Confarreation marriage was a survival 
of the capture system, and in it a show of force was always employed by 
the husband in taking his bride away from the arms of her mother. From 
the beginnings of history we ean trace the capture and the purchase 
systems, either as stern realities or as important ceremonies, all over the 
world and down the ages. 
9. It may be said that the state of things I speak of has passed away; 
that the slavery of former times has ceased; that neither law nor custom 
amongst us tolerates the carrying off of women by violence, or the making 
merchandize of them. True, so far. Among the most civilized peoples, mono- 
gamy has supplanted polygamy, and this has vastly improved the whole 
marriage relationship. Our modern customs, opinions, and laws are un- 
questionably better than those of the past. But the past has its conse- 
