Note 121 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The Hindu race, in early times, made an approximation to monogamy. The country was then almost civilized, and the population must have been dense. The Semitic family shows the same phenomenon. But when quoting the words of the Eastern poet—
‘His wives may never be four,
He will best consult his reason,
Best secure his home from treason,
Who takes one, and wants no more’—
they should be read rather as a grumble against the ‘legalities and proprieties of society,’ than as a theory which could be generally carried out. The Asiatic races that are inferior to the Arab and the Hindu, have never, I believe, adopted monogamy, although polyandry has been practised for centuries.