. : - * ; - - - - . - ; . . - I/ ! ; - .
"r-tt--- (
* Cbe Conservative * 9
hoof of the family. Later he could re
tain as his own his pay received as a
soldier ; later still , also , his salary as a
civil officer , and at the time of Justinian ,
all property acquired by the son was his
own save what he received from the
father.
But as to their relations to the state the
father and son were on an equal plane ;
and it was not unusual for the sou
as praetor or consul to judge and as gen
eral to command the father. Yet when
the sou came within the precincts of the
family he possessed neither life , liberty ,
nor property that he could call his own ;
it was all under the absolute dominion ,
disposition and control of the father.
Such was the empire of religion ; such
was its omnipotent dominion over the
mind of man ; such is the sway of "Dead
but sceptred sovereigns who still rule
our spirits from their urns. "
Ileligioiis.
Another important fact may be no
ticed here is with reference to the pecu
liar religious relations between different
families. When a stranger became a
member of a family by marriage , adop
tion or arrogatiou , he absolutely seceded
in every respect whatsoever from the
family , if subject to paternal power , to
which he formerly belonged. His
former gods were his gods no more. If
families hated each other so did their re
spective gods ; and the commandment
"Thou shalt have no other God before
Me , ' ' was rigorously and fatally enforced.
No person could serve two masters
at the same time under such a religion.
This idea is advanced as one of the rea
sons why polygamy did and could not
exist under the ancient family religion.
It is hardly probable that the highly cer
emonial initiation into the married
state could or would be duplicated while
the first wife was still worshiping at the
hearth of her husband's family.
It follows as of course that inasmuch
as the members of the family had no in
dependent rights and had no legal
status , the "pater" was responsible for
all the delinquencies of the family. He
was liable for their torts and was re
quired to make restitution , but he could
first offer the wrong-doer in satisfaction
for the damages sustained.
A Despot.
Again , it is apparent that the relation
of the father to the members of the
family must have been peculiar. How
did he look upon the members ? What
was he to them and they to him ? Whal
was their respective attitude towards
each other socially , morally and relig
iously ? The "pater" was the trans
mitter of life and immortality. He per
formed all the ceremonies ; the relation
between him and the ghosts of his an
cestors must have been intimate one
constant. As a rule ho did not
exercise his functions until past middle
age , when his children , at least , were
* . - * ' , _ , * . VtJwSl" , igBT ,
' - ' > * .n . . : A t'a&Bfe - ' .
all grown , and life's most impor-
aut worldly duties had been performed.
Was he not the nexus the connecting
ink between the living and the dead ?
And as he approached the sunset of his
ife did he not come nearer the myster-
es of the future ? ' Did he not , while
preparing for the transition become
more venerable , more religious , more
livine ? And from the point of view of
he descendants , would he not appear to
hem as some one different and greater
; hau themselves ? As some one more
jowerful , more exalted , more holy and
more saint-like ? They lived in contin
ual contemplation of their future exis-
; ence. Hero was the one being who
) ound them , to the future ; the guardian
of their religion , their existence ; whose
word was law , whose smile was a bene
diction , whose frown was a curse , and
whose nod fixed their weal or woe for
all time to come. His position was
sanctified ; the source of light and of
darkness. He was the only active living
representative on earth of the gods.
Che terms "vicar of Christ , " "vice-
regent of God" as they pass along the
corridors of time simply proclaim the
prerogatives of the pristine "pater fa-
milias. " The father could not be on an
equality with his descendants. He was
not of common clay. Verily he could
not be one of the "plain people. "
Origin of Governments.
In the progress of time the families
expanded : several combined to consti
tute the phratry or curia , which in turn
expanded and combined to make the
tribe , which formed the beginnings of
cities. All successive organizations
were built and operated upon the priu-
iples of the ancient family. They wor
shipped at the common hearth and
poured libations , and sacrificed their
choicest possessions on the tomb of their
common ancestor. Through these
transmutations the family gods became
the gods of the city. Sometimes they
did not disturb the family gods , but es
tablished a new god for the city , gener
ally some renowned hero. Under these
circumstances the gods gradually be
came more distant , imaginative races
peopled groves with divinities , and later
on the gods became still more distant
until finally they found an abiding place
in the Heavens and they are there yet ,
and will remain there until the ken ol
man shall discover space beyond which
he deems fit as an abiding place for his
"other self. " The degree of civilization
a race has achieved is always to be de
termined by their gods. In them are
always reflected and imaged the highest
and noblest ideals of the race.
The Formative Process.
A city would grow to such dimensions
as to constitute a state ; or perhaps several
oral cities would consolidate to form a
state. The gods of the family evoluted
into gods of the state. The state wn
imply an enlarged family. Thus dis-
inctions wore made between persons ,
itizens and aliens. Aliens wore bar
barians , worshiped other gods and had
no rights a citizen need respect. They
were the strangers of the family. All
modern social phenomena may be traced
; o their beginnings in the religion of the
archaic family. We still make like dis-
inctions as in olden times though the
irocess of assimilation is changed in
name. It is not hard to find the proto-
ypes of modern naturalization and im
migration laws , Chinese exclusion acts
and other "paternal" restraints to pre
vent freedom of thought and action be-
; ween members of different states. "If
yon don't belong to my church you're a
goner" is an expression still operative
n present society.
Christianity.
We all know how ancient Rome by
conquest of universal empire sought to
unify the races. At this time there ap-
) eared the new religion of Christianity
) reclaiming the brotherhood of man and
he Fatherhood of God ; that there is
> ut one family , the human family ; that
there is but one "pater familias , " God.
All the apostles could not reconcile
ihemselves to this conception of God
and struggled against it. The God of
the Jews is likewise the God of the
Gentiles ? Impossible ! It required a
midnight apparition to convert Peter to
; he new idea.
As a civil institution the patria po-
; estas is legally dead ; but it has puzzled
; he historian that in the high civilization
achieved in Rome , such a despotic insti
tution could maintain itself with such
tenacity of life for so many centuries.
But is its spirit dead ? The splendors of
Athen's golden ago lie crumbled in ruin
and decay ; but today , within the em
pire of her philosophy , the sun of civil
ization never sets. The gorgeous gran
deur of the Roman empire has become a
reminiscent dreain , but the spirit of her
laws still sways the mind of man.
I'ntcrimllHin.
The "patria protestas" is not dead.
It forms the ground work of the civiliz
ation of the Latin races. It is the bul
wark and cornerstone of the Roman
Catholic church. It has percolated into
the institutions of the Anglo-Saxon civil
ization and inoculated them with the
pernicious virus of paternalism. It has
its strength and its weakness. It is
strong in its adherence to , and perpetu
ation of , the morality and religion of
the fathers of ancient days ; it is weak
by reason of this very steadfastness of
worship of the old. Ancestor worship
first breeds stagnation , then dissolution ,
then decay.
The Indo-Gernmnio races , the next to
the lost to leave the ancient Aryan home ,
broke away early from ancestor worship.
During the great migration westward ,
the necessities of circumstances , caused