3G8

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap, was seduction justified by example and fashion k

,,_j_We may easily discover, that Tacitus indulges

an honest pleasure in the contrast of barbarianvirtue with the dissolute conduct of the Romanladies ; yet there are some striking circum-stances that give an air of truth, or at least ofprobability, to the conjugal faith and chastity ofthe Germans .

its proba- Although the progress of civilization has un-doubtedly contributed to assuage thefiercer pas-sions of human nature, it seems to have beenless favourable to the virtue of chastity, whosemost dangerous enemy is the softness of themind.The refinements of life corrupt while they polishthe intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetiteof love becomes most dangerous when it is ele-vated, or rather, indeed, disguised by sentimentalpassion. The elegance of dress, of motion, andof manners, gives a lustre to beauty, and inflamesthe senses through the imagination. Luxuriousentertainments, midnight dances, and licentiousspectacles, present at once temptation and op-portunity to female frailty. 1 From such dan-gers the unpolished wives of the barbarians weresecured by poverty, solitude, and the painfulcares of a domestic life. The German huts,open, on every side, to the eye of indiscretion or

* The adulteress was whipped through the village* Neither wealthnor beauty could inspire compassion, or procure her a second husband.18 > 19 .

1 Ovid employs two hundred lines in the research of places the mostfavourable to love. Above all, he considers the theatre as the bestadapted to collect the beauties of Rome, and to melt them into tender-ness and sensuality.