Note 280 — VARIOUS QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE FOREGOING SUBJECTS, ELUCIDATED BY PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCHES.

Pubertatem autem veteres quidem non solum ex annis sed etiam ex habitu corporis in masculis æstimari volebant. Nostra autem Majestas dignum esse castitate nostrorum temporum existimans, bene putavit: quod in feminis etiam antiquis impudicum esse visum est, id est, inspectionem habitudinis corporis hoc etiam in masculos extendere. Et ideo nostra sancta Constitutione promulgata, pubertatem in masculis post decimum quartum annum completum illico initium accipere disposuimus antiquitatis normam in feminis bene positam, in suo ordine relinquentes ut post duodecim annos completos viri potentes esse credantur. Inst. lib. 1. Tit. 22. It is singular that the modern Greeks should have retained the delicacy which this law implies; they are perhaps the only nation of Europe in which male chastity is practically ranked among the essential virtues; the surgeons of the Greek Light Infantry might testify to the reluctance with which even the common soldiers submitted to the established inspections.