With the growth of civilisation and the development of personality there
slowly crept into the minds of men a distaste for this irregular
sexuality and a desire for a less chaotic state of things. This longing
and the wish for legitimate heirs gradually overcame promiscuity and, in
Greece, led to the establishment of the monogamous system. It must not
be assumed, however, that the Greek ideal of marriage bore any
resemblance to our modern conception. True, the wife occupied an
honoured position as the guardian of hearth and children and was treated
by her husband with affection and respect, but she was not free. Nor was
her husband expected to be faithful to her. Marriage in no way
restricted his liberty, but left him free to seek intellectual
stimulation in the society of the hetaerae, and gratification of the
senses in the company of his slaves. Love in our sense was unknown to
the ancients, and although there is a modern note in the legends of the
faithful Penelope, and the love which united Orpheus and Eurydice, yet,
so Lucka tells us, these instances should be regarded rather as poetic
divinations of a future stage of feeling than actual facts then within
the scope of probability.
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