Thus these
practices have come down to us unchanged in spirit even if somewhat
modified in form, to fit the changed environment of our times.
The standardization of the family with its foundations embedded in a
series of institutional taboos, added its weight to the formulation of
the Model Woman type referred to at the close of the preceding chapter.
The model wife appears in the earliest literature. In _The Trojan
Women_, Hecuba tells how she behaved in wedlock. She stayed at home and
did not gossip. She was modest and silent before her husband. The
patient Penelope was another ideal wife. To her, her son Telemachus
says:
"Your widowed hours apart, with female toil, And various labours of the
loom, beguile, There rule, from palace cares remote and free, That care
to man belongs, and most to me."
The wifely type of the Hebrews is set forth in Proverbs xxxi, 10-31. Her
virtues consisted in rising while it was yet night, and not eating the
bread of idleness. In her relation to her husband, she must never
surprise him by unusual conduct, and must see that he was well fed.
The Romans, Hindus, and Mohammedans demanded similar virtues in their
wives and mothers. The wives of the medieval period were to remain
little girls, most admired for their passive obedience. Gautier puts
into the mouth of a dutiful wife of the Age of Chivalry the following
soliloquy:
"I will love no one but my husband.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193