Note 1008 — Chapter XI · THE POOR.

Περὶ δὲ ἀποθέσεως καὶ τροφῆς τῶν γιγνομένων ἔστω νομος μηδὲν πεπηρωμένον τρέφειν, διὰ δὲ πλῆθος τέκνων, ἐὰν ἡ τάξις τῶν ἐθῶν κωλύῃ, μηδὲν ἀποτίθεσθαι τῶν γιγνομένων· ὥρισται γὰρ δὴ τῆς τεκνοποιΐας τὸ πλῆθος. Arist. Polit. vii. c. 14. See also Plato, Leg. bk. 5. Ed. Bekk. p. 739, 740, etc. Ed. Stalbaum, vol. vi. p. 131, etc. The tendency of Aristotle’s ideas on the subject may be gathered from his notion that the Cretans encouraged παιδεραστια, in order to check population. I am informed upon good authority, that in the Breisgau, and especially the See-Kreis of Baden, the younger children, or any supposed surplus, are permitted to die, of want of food, in order that the property (Bauerngut), amounting sometimes to 100 morgen or 66 acres of land, may remain undivided. It is also certain that in other parts of Europe, a woman who bears more than a certain settled number of children is looked upon with contempt.