quit the wife, and to seek another, whenever it is as agreeable to him, as is, on the other hand, the companion of his bed. The women, however, are commonly the last to break the connubial chains. Finally, it would appear, that here the conditions are equal. It is well known, that among the Turks, Parthians, and other eastern nations, the balance inclines in favour of the man, who, in his seraglio, represents a cock surrounded by innumerable hens.[1] On the coast of Malabar, the ascendancy is on the side of the females, who are affianced to as many men as they please, and who even take them by surprize in the streets. In that country, observes a sage, love, in a physical point of view, has an irresistible force: the attack is certain, and the resistance null. Man, without religion, is capable of the greatest excesses.
Idolatry being an evil of so ancient a date, that it is conjectured by some writers to have been anterior to the flood; and so pestilent, that having contaminated the whole world, it oppressed ancient Caria to such a degree, as to oblige the inhabitants of Caunus to institute a strict search, in the course of which, darting their javelins furiously in the air, they pursued and banished from their confines the odious and troublesome gods whose worship did not permit them to respire; it is extraordinary that it is not to be found among the greater part of the Indians of the mountains. They believe in one God, on whom they bestow the human figure, and whom they make to be the author of the earth, and of the heavens,
- ↑ We are informed by Plutarch, that Surena, the Parthian general by whom Crassus was vanquished, had ten thousand wives who followed him to the war.
