Adultery, debasement of character; the moral and intellectual enfeebling of both sexes; The enervation and degeneracy of the race; Falsehood, deceit, cruelty, injustice of every kind, the use of woman by man for her beauty, that of man by woman for his money or position; The dissolution and ruin of the family; Several thousand illegitimate children annually, without counting abortions; Such is the value of these theories put in practice. Is this in conformity with our ideal of human love? Is it in conformity with our ideal of human destiny, which requires that we shall progress and cause others to progress in good; that we shall practice Justice and Goodness? A word more, and we have done. When Rome had ceased to believe in chastity, in the sacredness of oaths; when she wallowed in polygamic and polyandric customs; when she took pleasure for her end, tyranny appeared. Nothing was more natural: man binds captive those only who have first suffered themselves to be bound under the yoke of bestial instinct: he who knows how to govern himself does not yield obedience to man; he bows only before the law when it is the expression of Reason. Remember, my son, that we are powerful only through chastity; only thus can we produce great works in science, art and industry; only thus can we practice Justice, be worthy of liberty. Outside of chastity, there is nothing but degradation, injustice, impotence, slavery; and every nation that forsakes it falls from the arms of despotism into the grave. Do not suffer yourself therefore to be moved by modern sophisms, have always before your thoughts your obligations as a moral and a free being, your duties as a member of humanity; subject all that is within you to Reason, to Justice, to the sentiment of your dignity, and live like a man, not like a brute. MARRIAGE, A DIALOGUE. READER. We are about to speak of Marriage from the stand point of the modern ideal--how do you define it? AUTHOR. Love, sanctioned by Society. READER. Do you consider Marriage as indissoluble? AUTHOR. Before the law, I do not; but at the moment of their union, the spouses should have full confidence that the bond will never be dissolved. I believe that Marriage becomes indissoluble by the will alone of the spouses; that it can be so only in this manner. READER. What part do you assign to Society in Marriage? AUTHOR. You shall fix it yourself after recalling our principles. If man and woman are free beings at any period of their life, they cannot _legally and validly_ lose their liberty. If man and woman are beings socially equal in any of their relations, the one cannot _legally, validly_ be subordinated to the other. If the continual end of the human being is to become perfected through liberty, and to seek happiness, no law can legitimately, _validly_ turn him aside from its pursuit.