THE RISE IN THE VALUE OF BABIES 11 



themselves up to ease, and comfort, and indolence, 

 and would neither marry, nor rear children born out 

 of marriage, or at most only one or two, in order to 

 leave these rich, and to bring them up in luxury, the 

 evil soon spread, imperceptibly, but with rapid growth; 

 for when there was only a child or two in a family for 

 war or disease to carry off, the inevitable consequence 

 was that houses were left desolate, and cities by de- 

 grees became like deserted hives, and there is no need 

 to consult the gods about the mode of deliverance for 

 this evil : any man would tell us, that the first thing 

 we have to do is to change our habits, or at all events 

 to enact laws compelling parents to rear their chil- 

 dren." " 



The decay of Rome has been attributed to the same 

 cause by more than one historian. Seeley impressively 

 describes the great Empire as suffering from a disease, 

 a slow disease which tamed her hitherto invincible 

 power. The disease was sterility. "Men were want- 

 ing; the Empire perished for want of men." " Momm- 

 sen describes the same evil in a famous passage: 

 "Celibacy and childlessness became more and more 

 common, especially among the upper classes. . . . We 

 encounter even in Cato's sentiments the maxim to 

 which Polybius a century before traced the decay of 

 Hellas, that it is the duty of a citizen to keep great 

 wealth together, and therefore not to beget too many 

 children. Where were the times when the designa- 



