judges most probably had but one soul between them, which by natural inference, was a narrow one, and incapable of relishing a dinner of herbs, or leading an honest life. Hesiod may not have made the discovery; but lawyers and lovers, in their psychological phenomena, are not very unlike: for the cohesive power of plunder, as well as that of love, exerts a remarkable influence towards unifying character and making
"Two souls with but a single thought,
Two hearts to beat as one."
NOTE (2).
When, thus prepared, you reach the marrying age, etc. (Page 25.)
The age fixed by Hesiod for marrying is about thirty for a man, and about nineteen or twenty for a woman. His language is: "And at mature age bring home a wife to thy house, when thou art neither very far short of thirty years, nor hast added much thereto; for such a marriage, mind you, is seasonable. And let the woman be in her bloom four years, and be married in her fifth," which, among Grecian maidens, was nineteen years, or possibly twenty, as above stated. Plato and Aristotle, who together quote approvingly from Hesiod's writings not much less than half a hundred times, have both written at some length upon this subject; the former placing the man's age at from twenty-five to thirty-five, but fining him if he delays beyond his thirtieth year, while the latter places it at thirty-six. This age is designated probably on the ground that most men, if possessed of good habits, will, by that time, have become established in business, and better able to support a family. Benjamin Franklin, who was also wise in his day and generation, wrote a letter advocating early marriages—whatever age that may be—on the ground that young people assimilate better, form better habits, live more in accordance with the law of nature, but, chiefly, because America at that time needed population; while Malthus and
