If

development has been the enslavement of woman. so, then women will not, in the long account of Nature, have lost in the payment of the price. They may be (when they come at last to understand the truth) better fitted for their refound freedom.

Neither mother-right alone, nor father-right alone, can satisfy the new ideals of the true relationship of the sexes. The spiritual force, slowly unfolding, that has uplifted, and is still uplifting, womanhood, is the foundation of woman's claim that the further progress of humanity is bound up with her restoration to a position of freedom and human equality. But this position she must not take from man-that, indeed, would be a step backwards. No, she is to share it with him, and this for her own sake and for his, and, more than all, for the sake of their children and all the children of the race.

This replacement of the mother side by side with the father in the home and in the larger home of the State is the true work of the Woman's Movement.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VII

WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS OF

ANTIQUITY

I.-In Egypt

The importance of estimating woman's position in the great civilisations of the ancient world-The Egyptian civilisation-Women more free and more honoured than in any country to-day-The account given by Herodotus-The Egyptian woman never confined to the home-No restraint upon her actions-She entered into commerce in her own right and made contracts for her own benefit-Abundant material in proof of the high status of Egyptian women-Marriage contracts Their importance and interest-Numerous examplesThe proprietary rights of the wife-An early period of mother-ruleProperty originally in the hands of women-The marriage contracts a development of the early system-The Egyptians solved the difficult problem of the fusion of mother-right with fatherright-The statement of Dioderus that among the Egyptians the woman rules over the man-The conditions of marriage dependent on the birth of children-M. Paturet's view the Egyptian woman the equal of man—The high status of woman proved by the fact that her child was never illegitimate-The position of the mother secure in every relationship between the sexes-This made possible by the free conditions of the marriage contracts-Polygamy allowedThis practice in Egypt very different from polygamy in a patriarchal society-The husband a privileged guest in the home of the wife-The high ideal of the domestic relationship-Illustrations from the inscriptions of the monuments-Reasons which explain this civilised and human organisation-The Egyptians an agricultural and a conservative people-They were also a pacific raceThe significance of the Maxims of the Moralists-Honour to the wife and the mother strongly insisted on-The health and character of the Egyptian mother-Some reflections in the Egyptian Galleries of the British Museum.

II.-In Babylon

Traces of mother-right in primitive Babylon-The honour paid to women-The position of women in later Babylonian history, though still at an early period-Their rights more circumscribedThe marriage code of Hammurabi-Polygamy permitted, though restricted, by the code-The exacting conditions of divorce-The position of the wife as subject to her husband-The later NeoBabylonian periods-The position of women continuously improving-They obtain a position equal in law with their husbandsTheir freedom in all social relations-They conduct business transactions in their own right-Illustrations from the contract tabletsRemarks and conclusion.

III.-In Greece

Traces of mother-right traditions in Greek literature and history-The women of the Homeric period-Dangers arising from the patriarchal subjection of women-Illustrations and various reflectionsHistoric Greece-The social organisation of Sparta-Their marriage system-The laws of Lycurgus-The freedom of the Spartan girlsThe wise care for the health of the race-Plato's criticism of the Spartan system-He accuses the women of ruling their husbandsThe Athenian women-Their subjection under the strict patriarchal rule-The insistence on chastity-Reasons for this-The degraded position of the wife-The hetaire-They the only educated women in Athens-Aspasia-She leads the movement to raise the position of the Athenian women-Plato's estimate of women-Remarks on the sexual penalties for women that are always found under a strict patriarchal regime-The ideal relationship between the wife and the husband-Euripedes voices the sorrows of women-He foreshadows their coming triumph.

IV.-In Rome

Little known of the position of women in Rome in prehistoric times— Indications of an early period of mother-rule-The patriarchal system formerly established when Roman history opens-The Roman marriage law-The woman regarded as the property first of her father and afterwards of her husband-The patrician marriage of confarreatio-The form known as coemptio-Marriage by usus-The inequality of divorce-The subjection of the woman— The terrible right of the husband's manus-The way of escapeThe development of the early marriage by usus-The new free marriage by consent-Free divorce-A revolution in the position of women-The patriarchal rule of women dwindled to a mere thread-They gained increasingly greater liberty until at last they gained complete freedom-The public entry of women into the affairs of State-Illustrations to show the fine use made by the Roman matrons of their freedom-An examination into the supposed licentiousness of Roman women-This opinion cannot be accepted-The effect of Christianity-The view of Sir Henry Maine-Some concluding remarks on the position of women in the four great civilisations examined in this chapter.

CHAPTER VII

WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS

OF ANTIQUITY

I.-In Egypt

"If we consider the status of woman in the great empires of antiquity, we find on the whole that in their early stage, the stage of growth, as well as in their final stage, the stage of fruition, women tend to occupy a favourable position, while in their middle stage, usually the stage of predominating military organisation on a patriarchal basis, women usually occupy a less favourable position. This cyclic movement seems to be almost a natural law of development of great social groups." HAVELOCK ELLIS.

THE civilisations through which I am now going to follow the history of woman, in so far as they offer any special features of interest to our inquiry into woman's character and her true place in the social order, belong to the great civilisations of the ancient world, civilisations, moreover, that have deeply influenced human culture. It forms the second part of our historical investigation. There can be no doubt of its interest to us, for if we can prove that women have exercised unquestioned and direct authority in the family and in the State, not only among primitive peoples, but in stable civilisations of vital culture, we shall be in a position to answer those who wish to set limits to women's present activities.

It is necessary to enter into this inquiry with caution: the difficulties before me are very great. Again, it is