[60] The _rita_-conception is well expressed by DR. BOTSFORD: "This mankind learned from the revolution of sun and stars, from the succession of the seasons, from the unchanging movements of nature. The conception thus gained was transferred to human modes of activity. The sexes in marriage were subject to the _naturalis ratio_, as well as the continuance of the race through successive generations. The relation of parents to children with their reciprocal obligations and privileges--the protection and support which the father, as the stronger, offered, the kind care of the mother for her infants, the reverence and affection with which the children requited their services, the love of youth and maiden, leading to marriage--all these rested, in the _rita_ period, on the one foundation of natural law."--_Athenian Constitution_, 29, 30. _Dhama_ thus forms a means of transition to the second juridical phase, that of _dharma_, or divine law, corresponding to the Greek _themis_ and the Latin _fas_.[61] In the _dharma_ period, law is regarded as inspired by the gods, whose earthly agent, the priest or hero-king, is intrusted with its application; and in it the rules governing civil and public conduct, according to modern conceptions, are not distinguished from those relating to manners, morality, or religion. When history dawns, our early Aryan ancestors had already entered the _dharma_ phase of evolution; and even now the Hindus have scarcely gained the third phase, prevailing in the civilized West, in which the element of "civil law" is separate from all other ingredients.[62] [61] The discussion of the two general phases of _rita_ and _dharma_, with their transitional stages, constitutes one of the most valuable parts of LEIST'S contribution to comparative jurisprudence: _Alt-arisches Jus Gentium_, 3, 111 ff., 132, 133, 174 ff., 606; _Graeco-italische Rechtsgeschichte_, 175-285. _Cf._ BOTSFORD, _op. cit._, 24, 25, 26 ff., for an excellent account; on the Roman stages see MUIRHEAD, _Private Law of Rome_, 14-23; and for the Greek _themis_ and the _themistes_ of the hero-kings consult MAINE, _Ancient Law_, chap. i. [62] For a definition of _dharma_ see BERNHÖFT, "Ueber die Grundlagen der Rechtsentwicklung bei den indogermanischen Völkern," _ZVR._, II, 266 ff., 261 ff.