Still, it would be as unjustifiable to say that the matriarchate could never have established itself on Aryan ground, as it is to say that the agnatic family must have been developed out of the system of "maternal rights" and "female descent." The list of prohibited degrees varies among early Aryan peoples from the minimum possible for a civilised people (as at Athens) to the maximum possible even for savages (as amongst the Hindoos). There may have been a similar variation in the organisation of the family. Nor can we say with confidence that the pro-ethnic Aryans were more uniform than their descendants. The different languages evolved out of the common Aryan tongue existed as dialects from the beginning, and in the beginning there may have been differences in social organisation. But whereas we can certainly trace the joint undivided family and the principle of agnation as far back as modern science enables us to trace the Aryans at all, the evidence for the existence of the matriarchate at any time amongst any Aryan people is inferior both in amount and in value. XII. CONCLUSION. After writing a hundred pages as though one knew something, it is a relief to confess one's ignorance. So I shall do myself the pleasure of concluding with a list of Romane Questions which are too hard for me. Why _they kept the temple of the goddesse Horta open alwaies_ I own to me is a mystery yet. I cannot even conjecture _what is the reason that Quintus Metellus forbad to observe auspices after the moneth Sextilis_, nor why _they thought Aruspices ought to have their lanterns and lampes alwaies open_, nor why _obsserve they the vultures most of any other fowles in taking of presages_. White, as a mourning colour, which is prescribed in _R. Q._ 26, may be paralleled in the customs of Gambreion, in Asia Minor, and in Argos, but the explanation is beyond me. The origin of the proverb _Sardi venales_, and of the interesting custom associated with it (_R. Q._ 53), can scarcely be said to be explained either by Festus (p. 322) or by Cicero (VII. _Fam._, 24). Nor do I know why boys were named on the ninth, whereas girls were named on the eighth day of birth. And _why_ did the Romans of old time invariably, when they went out to supper, take with them _their young sonnes_, _even when they were but in their very infancie and childhood_? ROMANE QVESTIONS, THAT IS TO SAY, AN ENQUIRIE INTO THE CAUSES OF MANIE FASHIONS AND CUSTOMES OF ROME. _A Treatise fit for them who are conversant in the reading_ of Romane histories and antiquities, giving a light _to many places otherwise obscure and hard_ to be understood. ROMANE QVESTIONS. 1. _What is the reason that new wedded wives are bidden to touch fire and water?_