The fearful deed of the centurion is appalling; but remember his ideas of right and wrong were veiled in pagan darkness. He took the life of his child to save her from a fate incomparably worse than that of death; and made his name historic by doing so. Thousands of fathers have found their efforts to protect the innocence of their daughters as unavailing as did the unhappy Virginius, unless, like him, they shortened life. The victims, too, are as little free-will agents in the matter as Virginia would have been; and many thousands of daughters have fallen, not by their father's hand to save their honor, but by cruel deception, and died to all that was beautiful or pure on earth, and to every hope of heaven. And while the woman who has sinned, and fallen through that sin, is pitied by few, despised by nearly all, and but little effort made to win her back to the path of purity, how is the companion of her sin treated? He, the seducer--often the grossest of deceivers, the instigator of the crime--because he is a man, is countenanced by the many, his conduct palliated, and himself received as an honored guest, even in the highest circles of society. The law of God makes no distinction between the male violator of His holy law and the female violator of the same; but man, arrogating to himself superior wisdom, makes a very marked one. No wonder, then, that women groan because of their bondage. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote A: Sharpe's "History of Egypt."] [Footnote B: Koran, chap. iv.] [Footnote C: Sale's "Preliminary Discourses on the Koran," sec. 4.] [Footnote D: "Laws of Menu."] [Footnote E: Bloss, page 334.] CHAPTER III. Later Estimate of Woman. In the discussion of the position occupied by women as wives, those only have been spoken of who were betrothed in infancy, or were captured, stolen, or bought. These latter were, without further ceremony, merely _taken_ home to the abode of their future husband and lord. In the later periods of antiquity, betrothal terminated in a marriage ceremony, the rite varying according to the prevailing customs of each nation. Opinions with regard to the qualifications which ought to be possessed by a woman to fit her for marriage--which were, in fact, considered indispensable--were as various as the nations or the rites; and, truth to tell, are about as conflicting now as they were centuries ago. In all the ages, and in every country, one thing seemed to be agreed upon, however, and sedulously kept in view; namely, _woman's inferiority_. Let her be free-born or a slave, to be married or bought, she must still be a bondwoman--a creature subject to guardianship.