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SECTION IV.
The long and helpless Infancy of Man requires the Combination of Parents for the Subsistance of their Young; and that Combination requires the Virtue of CHASTITY or Fidelity to the Marriage-bed. Without such an Utility, 'twill readily be own'd, such a Virtue would never have been thought of[1].
An Infidelity of this Nature is much more pernicious in Women than in Men. Hence the Laws of Chastity are much stricter over the one Sex than over the other[2].
Those
- ↑ The only Solution, which Plato gives to all the Objections, that might be rais'd against the Community of Women, establish'd in his imaginary Common-wealth, is, Καλλιστα γαρ δη τουτο και λεγεται και λελεξεται, οτι το μεν ωφελιμον καλον. Το δε βλασοερον αισχρον. Scite enim istud & dicitur dicetur, Id quod utile sit bonestum ele, quod autem inutile sit turpe ele. De Rep. Lib. 5. P. 457. Ex edit. Serr. And this Maxim will admit of no Doubt, where public Utility is concern'd; which is Plato's Meaning And indeed to what other Purpose do all the Ideas of Chastity and Modesty serve? Nisi utile est quod facimus, frustra est gloria, says Phædrus. Καλον των βλασοερων ουδεν, says Plutarch de vitioso pudore. Nihil eorum quæ damnosa sunt, pulchrum est. The same was the Opinion of the Stoics. Φασιν ουν οι Στωικοι αγαθον ειναι ωφελειαν η ουκ ετεραν ωφελειας, ωφελειαν μεν λεγοντες την αρετην και την σπουδαιαν πραξιν. Sext. Emp. Lib. 3. Cap. 20.
- ↑ These Rules have all a Reference to Generation; and yet Women past Child-bearing are no more suppos'd to be exempted from them than those twin the Flower of their Youth and Beauty.
General
