Note 210 — Chapter III · ANCIENT SPARTA

We have the authority of Tacitus respecting the customs, character, and style of dress of the ancient Germans. Among this people, as is well known, the influence of women was in the ascendency over that of men, and the state of public morals was exactly that which might be expected. Respecting the dress of women, this writer says they “do not lengthen their upper garment into sleeves but leave exposed the whole arm, and part of the breast” (Germania, chap. xvii.). It is observed, however, that chastity was the characteristic virtue of this people among both sexes. The marriage bond was strict and severe, and we are informed that among the Saxons the women themselves inflicted the penalty for adultery. From an epistle of St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, to Ethelbald, King of England, we have the following: “In ancient Saxony (now Westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father’s house, or a married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is forced to put an end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes of her burned body her seducer is hanged.”