“What you suggest is undoubtedly relevant, Candora,” I returned. “But you forget that we were living under old institutions, and that the maintenance of the home was the object of the church and the state.” “Why?” “Because the more children the greater the strength of the church and the state.” “Always the same error,” said Manfreda, turning to the council. “You see how man’s mistaken obsession for population enslaved the individual and forced him to archaic tyrannies that were not above the level of the early tribal state. And now, Bogardus, in those marriages which did not terminate in divorce, would you say that in practice a larger percent were happy?” “Let me preface my answer,” I replied, “it is easy to pick out the shortcomings and failures of marriage as you have done. Most writers and philosophers of my time did so. There was no other institution that was so widely and continuously discussed with a sincere desire to find a solution. I perceive now, since my arrival here, that we lived in a sentimental age. Undoubtedly you have eliminated the greater part of the suffering and hardships to which we were subjected. But in our time, the union of man and woman was not a eugenic episode, but an emotional urge. If it ended too often in disillusionment, it had its compensations and to experience the height of a passion, we were willing to take the consequences. We called it youth, and youth I perceive has been abolished, along with middle age.” Stella and Dulcina’s eyes shone on me with such brilliance that, encouraged, I continued: