On comparing the position of women under Roman law and under the Germanic nations, as we have observed them thus far, we should note first of all that under the latter women benefited chiefly by the insistence of the Church on the value of chastity in both sexes. That in those days the passions of men were difficult to restrain in practice does not invalidate the real service done the world by the ideal that was insisted upon,[361] an ideal which was certainly not held in pagan antiquity except by a few great minds. Although the social position of woman was thus improved, the character of the age and the sentiments of the Bible which I have already quoted made her status far inferior to her condition under Roman law so far as her legal rights were concerned. In a period[362] when the assertion of one's rights constantly demanded fighting, the woman was forced to rely on the male to champion her; the Church, in accordance with the dicta of the Apostles, encouraged and indeed commanded her to confine herself to the duties of the household, to leave legal matters to men, and to be guided by their advice; and thus she was prevented from asserting herself out of regard for the strong public opinion on the subject, which was quite alien to the sentiments of the old Roman law. Henceforward also we are to have law based on old customs and _theology_,[363] not on practical convenience or scientific reasoning. SOURCES I. Corpus Iuris Germanici Antiqui: edidit Ferd. Walter. Berolini--impensis G. Reimeri, 1824. 3 vols. II. C. Iulii Caesaris Commentarii de Bello Gallico: recognovit Geo. Long. Novi Eboraci apud Harperos Fratres. 1883 III. Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt: quartum recognovit Carolus Halm. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1901. IV. Sancti Georgii Florentii Gregorii, Episcopi Turonensis, Historiae Ecclesiasticae Francorum libri decem: edidit J. Guadet et N.R. Taranne. Parisiis, apud Julium Renouard et Socios, 1838. V. Iordanis de Origine Actibusque Getorum: edidit Alfred Holder. Freiburg und Tubingen; Verlagsbuchhandlung von J. C.B. Mohr. VI. Widukindi Rerum Gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres. Accedit libellus de Origine Gentis Suevorum. Editio quarta: post Georgium Waitz recognovit Karolus A. Kehr. Hannoverae et Lipsiae Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1904. VII. Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia: recognovit Jacobus Haury. Lipsiae. (Teubner). 1905. VIII. Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni. Editio quinta. Post G.H. Perte recensuit G. Waitz. Hannoverae et Lipsiae, 1905. IX. Pauli Historia Langobardorum: edidit Georg Waitz. Hannoverae, impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1878. NOTES: [288] _de Bell. Gall_., vi, 19. [289] Id., i, 50. [290] Id., v, 14.