DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9551#0192
l8o SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE
at night perform the office;of menial servants in making:
the beds. In case of any fault or omission in the perfor-
mance of those labours they receive injurious treatment,
Should the husband acquire wealth, he indulges in
criminal amours to her perfect knowledge and almost
under her eyes, and does not see her perhaps once a
month. As long as the husband is poor, she suffers every
kind of trouble, and when he becomes rich she is altogether
heart-broken. All this pain and affliction their virtue
alone enables them to support. Where a husband takes
two or three wives to live with him, they are subjected to-
mental miseries and constant quarrels. Even this dis-
tressed situation they virtuously endure. Sometimes it
happens that the husband, from a preference for one of
his wives, behaves cruelly to another. Amongst the lower
classes, and those even of the better class who have not
associated with good company, the wife, on the slightest
fault, or even on bare suspicion of her misconduct, is
chastised as a thief. Respect to virtue and their reputation
generally makes them forgive even this treatment. If
unable to bear such cruel usage, a wife leaves her
husband's house to live separately from him, then the
influence of the husband with the magisterial authority
is generally sufficient to place her again in his hands;
when, in revenge for her quitting him, he seizes even-
pretext to torment her in various ways, and sometimes
even puts her privately to death. These are facts occur-
ring every day, and not to be denied. What I lament is.
that, seeing the women thus dependent and exposed to
every misery, you feel for them no compassion, that
might exempt them from being tied down and burnt to
death.
at night perform the office;of menial servants in making:
the beds. In case of any fault or omission in the perfor-
mance of those labours they receive injurious treatment,
Should the husband acquire wealth, he indulges in
criminal amours to her perfect knowledge and almost
under her eyes, and does not see her perhaps once a
month. As long as the husband is poor, she suffers every
kind of trouble, and when he becomes rich she is altogether
heart-broken. All this pain and affliction their virtue
alone enables them to support. Where a husband takes
two or three wives to live with him, they are subjected to-
mental miseries and constant quarrels. Even this dis-
tressed situation they virtuously endure. Sometimes it
happens that the husband, from a preference for one of
his wives, behaves cruelly to another. Amongst the lower
classes, and those even of the better class who have not
associated with good company, the wife, on the slightest
fault, or even on bare suspicion of her misconduct, is
chastised as a thief. Respect to virtue and their reputation
generally makes them forgive even this treatment. If
unable to bear such cruel usage, a wife leaves her
husband's house to live separately from him, then the
influence of the husband with the magisterial authority
is generally sufficient to place her again in his hands;
when, in revenge for her quitting him, he seizes even-
pretext to torment her in various ways, and sometimes
even puts her privately to death. These are facts occur-
ring every day, and not to be denied. What I lament is.
that, seeing the women thus dependent and exposed to
every misery, you feel for them no compassion, that
might exempt them from being tied down and burnt to
death.