But when some
one took me to the dancing-school, I saw there more than 500 boys and
girls and, among the number a twelve-year-old child, a candidate's
son, who danced to the sound of castanets." Sallust, speaking of a
Roman woman of little reputation, says, "She played on the lyre and
danced better than is proper for an honest woman."
=The New Status of Women.=--The Roman women gave themselves with
energy to the religions and the luxury of the East. They flocked in
crowds to the Bacchanals and the mysteries of Isis. Sumptuary laws
were made against their fine garments, their litters, and their
jewels, but these laws had to be abrogated and the women allowed to
follow the example of the men. Noble women ceased to walk or to remain
in their homes; they set out with great equipages, frequented the
theatre, the circus, the baths, and the places of assembly. Idle and
exceedingly ignorant, they quickly became corrupt. In the nobility,
women of fine character became the exception. The old discipline of
the family fell to the ground. The Roman law made the husband the
master of his wife; but a new form of marriage was invented which left
the woman under the authority of her father and gave no power to her
husband.
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