For man’s degeneracy in itself contributes an added woe to woman’s impaired physical life, by depriving her of the very extra-corporeal equipment (supplied by Nature herself in this case) for the urgent needs of her body. Or, if it does not altogether deprive her of this equipment, it gives it to her in a form so atonic, fireless, and un-ideal that the misery of modern women, even when they are married, is very great. Hence, we believe, the huge development of the modern novel, the demand for which has been created almost entirely by the female population. For only people whose lives are unsatisfying endeavour to enjoy life vicariously in the unreal world of fiction. Perhaps it was the recognition of this fact, that the value of life for woman depends to a great extent on her physical efficiency and health, which led the ancients to feel so much concern about the physical condition of their womenfolk, and this probably explains why such careful instructions are to be found in sacred books—like that of Manu, for instance—regarding a father’s duty towards his daughters. Manu goes so far as to say: “Reprehensible is the father who gives not his daughter in marriage at the proper time.” And he adds: “To a distinguished handsome suitor should a father give his daughter.... But the maiden, though marriageable, should rather stop in her father’s house until death than that he should ever give her to a man destitute of good qualities.” In _Ecclesiasticus_ we read the following exhortation to fathers: “Hast thou daughters? Have a care of their body.”[3] Footnote 3: It might be argued against the line taken in the Introduction that here is an instance of the care of the body in the literature from which the body-despising values are alleged to hail. But this is a misunderstanding. Not only is _Ecclesiasticus_ apocryphal, but also, as everybody must know, the Old Testament and the New are quite different in their attitude towards the body. In the New Dispensation, and certainly in traditional Christianity, it is never suggested, as it is in Judaic law, that a man who is bodily defective defiles the sanctuary of the Lord when he approaches it. This healthy attitude to the body, which constantly recurs in the Old Testament, can be found neither in the New Testament nor in historical Christianity. And in Aristophanes we find the following sentiment expressed by a married woman: “Καὶ Θἠμέτερον μὲν ἐᾶτε; περὶ των δὲ χορῶν ἐν τοῖς θαλάμοις γηρασχουσῶν ἀνιῶμαι” (But do not let us complain about ourselves. What breaks my heart is the sight of all these young girls who will grow old sleeping alone.) Aristophanes, _Lysistrata_, ll. 592-3. Evidently these exhortations and sentiments hail from an age preceding that in which the body-despising values were created, for they breathe a different atmosphere, and ring strangely in our ears.