Augustus tried the remedy of legislation.
Henceforth marriage became a duty to the state. As between men and
women, things were near a turning-point. Woman cannot long endure
scorn nor the absence of veneration. A law older than the tablets of
stone shall be her defence. Love is the price of motherhood. Soon or
late, unless it be mingled in some degree with her passion, the
wonderful gift is withdrawn and men cease to be born of her. Slowly,
both the bitterness and the understanding of its loss turn the world to
virtue. A new and lofty sentiment was appearing. Woman, weary of her
part in the human comedy, had begun to inspire a love sublime as the
miracle in which she is born to act.
Happily, there were good people in Rome, even noble families, with whom
sacrifice had still a sacred power, and who practised the four virtues
of honor, bravery, wisdom, and temperance. In rural Latium, rich and
poor clung to the old faith, and everywhere a plebeian feared alike the
assessor and the gods, and sacrificed to both.
It is no wonder the gods were falling when even Jupiter had been
outdone by a modest man who dwelt on the Palatine.
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