addito percrebuisse: morem accommodari prout conducat, et fore hoc quoque in his quæ mox usurpentur." I may paraphrase the argument thus: "Well, our people don't much like these marriages, our ancestors had prejudices on the subject, but look at Germany and America, they are very common there. Our manners must be adjusted to the spirit of the age. People will soon get used to it." Claudius married his niece, and she poisoned him!
But as to the relaxation of morals, let me point out an analogy pregnant with warning. Divorces had been almost unknown during the Roman republic, but had under the Emperors become rife. What do our own Divorce Courts show of the moral state of our people on the subject of marriage? I was a member of the Divorce Commission. I do not regret our recommendation, that what has been conceded to the rich should be allowed to the poor. It is not the remedy I regret, I conceive divorce for adultery to be justified by God's law, but I am appalled at the extent of the disease. We are told to look at Germany and America on the wife's sister question. Now in Germany, and I believe in most of the states of America where these marriages are allowed, divorce is allowed almost at will. Our Commission resolved that nothing but adultery ought to afford a ground for divorce. Will any one cognizant of either American or German society tell you that morals are not there fearfully relaxed on the question of marriage? I
