On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay Part 3

(M32) In the laws of Gortyn very clear rules are laid down to be followed where there were difficulties in the way of the heiress marrying the next of kin.

"The heiress shall marry the eldest brother of her father that is alive. If there are more heiresses and uncles, they shall ever marry the eldest. If there are no uncles but sons of uncles, she shall marry the son of her father's eldest brother. If there are more than one heiress and sons of uncles, they shall ever marry the son of the eldest in order: but a man shall not marry more than one heiress"(62)

There is also a statement made by Demosthenes(63) that sounds as if it might have come from the _Ordinances of Manu_. It is there stated that if there were more than one heiress, _only one_ need be dealt with in respect to _providing succession_, though all shared in the property.

The law of Gortyn goes on:-

"If the man will not marry her, though of age and wis.h.i.+ng to marry, the guardians of the heiress shall sue, and the judge shall condemn him to marry her in two months. If he will not marry her, according to the law, she shall have all the property and shall marry the next of kin (after him) if there is one....

"If she is of age and does not wish to marry the next of kin or if he is a minor and she does not wish to wait, she ... can marry whom she will of those who claim her of the tribe. But she shall apportion off his share of the property to the first of kin.

"If there are no kin to her, she shall have all the property and marry whom she will of the tribe.

"If no one of the tribe will marry her, her guardians shall ask throughout the tribe, ' Will any marry her?' And if any one then marries her, he shall do it in thirty days after the 'asking.' But if there is still no one, she shall marry any one else she can."

Such pains were taken to find a representative for the deceased in his family, or at any rate in his _tribe_.(64)

(M33) The same questions seem to have arisen amongst the Israelites in the time of Moses.

Numbers x.x.xvi. 8. "And every daughter that possesseth an inheritance (LXX. ????ste???sa ????????a?) in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father (??? t?? ?? t?? d??? t?? pat??? a?t??), that the children of Israel may enjoy (????ste?e??) every man the inheritance of his fathers.

"Even as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad.

"For Mahlah, Tirzah and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brother's sons (LXX. t??? ??e????? a?t??)."

- 3. The Position Of The Widow Without Child And The Duties Of An Only Daughter.

(M34) The _levirate_, or marriage with deceased husband's brother, seems to have had no place in Greek family law. The wife was of no _kin_ necessarily to the husband; and so it would not tend to strengthen the transmission of blood if the next of kin married the widow on taking the inheritance of his relative deceased without issue. The wife in Greek law could not inherit from her husband, whose property went to his father's or mother's relations; and only when it became a question of finding an heir to her _son_, and failing all near paternal kinsmen, could the inheritance pa.s.s through her, and then as the mother of her dead son, not as widow of her dead husband. Even then, being a woman, she had no right of enjoyment, only of transmission. She could only inherit on behalf of her issue by a second husband, and failing her issue the inheritance would pa.s.s to her brothers and so on. In Greece the claim upon the da?? (Latin _levir_) for marriage seems to have begun with his brother's daughter, not his brother's widow.

(M35) The childless widow on the death of her husband had to return to her own family or whoever of her kindred was guardian (??????) of her, and if she wished, be given again in marriage by him.(65)

The woman at Athens even after marriage always retained her ?????? or guardian,(66) who was at once her protector and trustee. He was probably the head of the ????? to which she originally belonged-her next of kin-and had great power over her.(67)

A case there is(68) where the heir to the property also takes the wife of the previous owner; but in this case the husband may have been ?????? of his own wife, and so could bequeath, or give her away to whomever he liked.(69)

In the _Ordinances of Manu_, the limitations of the levirate are very strictly defined.(70) In the case of a man leaving a widow, she must not marry again, or she lost her place in heaven by his side.

But if she was childless, the next of kin of her husband must beget one son by her; he did not _marry_ her, and his connection with her _ceased on the birth of a son_.

(M36) The laws of Manu otherwise are strict against the marriage of close relations; a restriction not found in Greece.

Isaeus(71) mentions that it was thought quite natural for a man to marry his first cousin in order to concentrate the family blood, and prevent her dowry or whatever property might come to her from going outside his ?????, and we know that even marriage with a half-sister (not born of the same mother) was not forbidden.

There are more instances than one in Homer of a man marrying his aunt, or niece.

The nearest resemblance to the levirate in Greece is the occasional custom at Sparta, mentioned already, of a wife being "commissioned" to bear children by another man into the family of her husband. But this exists in Manu, side by side with the above-mentioned custom of levirate proper.

(M37) Among the Israelites, the levirate was in full force; the craving for continuance was the same as among the followers of Manu and the Greeks; and the custom with regard to heiresses is so vividly told that it is worth quoting at some length.

Deut. xxv. 5. "If brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother [_i.e._ next of kin] shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of an husband's brother to her.

"And it shall be that the firstborn which she beareth shall _succeed in the name of his brother that is dead_, that his name be not put out of Israel.

"And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.'

"Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him: and if he stand to it and say, 'I like not to take her,' then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say: 'So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house (LXX. ?????).'

"And his name shall be called in Israel, 'The house (?????) of him that hath his shoe loosed.' "

(M38) Such was the scorn felt for the man who refused to perform the duties of nearest kinsman. In the thirty-eighth chapter of Genesis is told the story of Tamar, the wife of Judah's eldest son who died childless. The second son's refusal to raise up seed to his brother because he knows that _his own name will not be perpetuated thereby, but his brother's_, meets with summary punishment. "And the thing that he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, and He slew him also."(72) Afterwards, when it was reported to her father-in-law that Tamar had a child by some one not of his family, he was exceedingly wroth, and said, "Bring her forth and let her be burnt." Accordingly, after he had received his own "tokens" from her hand, his approval of her action, in her desire to perpetuate the name of her dead husband, is all the more striking, and shows how real such a claim as Tamar's was in the practice of those days, extreme though her action was felt to be. And Judah acknowledged his tokens and said, "She hath been more righteous than I: because that I gave her not to Shelah my [youngest]

son."

(M39) The statement of the customary procedure in Deuteronomy is very picturesquely ill.u.s.trated and fulfilled in detail in the story of Ruth, who though only a daughter-in-law takes the position of heiress through a sort of adoption by her mother-in-law Naomi, on her refusal to go back to her own people. "Where thou goest, I will go: where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy G.o.d, my G.o.d. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried." She accepts Naomi's hearth her kin, her religion, and finally her tomb.

Elimelech and his two sons dying in Moab, Naomi and both her daughters-in-law are left widows in a strange land. If Naomi had other sons, upon them would have devolved the duty of taking Orpah and Ruth to wife. But Naomi declares herself(73) too old to marry again and be the mother of sons, and implores her daughters-in-law to return to their own people in Moab, where she hopes they will start afresh with new husbands, a course which seems always to have been open to wives in tribal communities. Orpah does so, but Ruth elects to remain with Naomi, and returning with her to Bethlehem takes her chance among the kindred of Elimelech. Happening to arrive at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, it so chances that Ruth goes forth to glean upon that part of the open field which belonged to Boaz-a rich man of the s???e??a of Elimelech, who, having heard of her devotion to Naomi and the house of his late kinsmen, protects her from possible insult from strangers and treats her richly. On her return home Naomi informs her that Boaz is of their next of kin (t?? ????ste???t??)(74) whose place it was to redeem property sold or lost by a kinsman. This duty is thus set forth in Leviticus:-

(M40) Lev. xxv. 25. "And if thy brother be waxen poor and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman (????ste???) that is next to him come and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold."

An instance of it in practice is given in Jeremiah.

Jerem. x.x.xii. 8. "So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the Lord and said unto me, 'Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Bethlehem: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine: buy it for thyself.' "

But on Ruth's applying to Boaz, he informs her that though he is ????ste??, _i.e._ within the reach of the claim on the next of kin, yet is there one ????ste?? who is nearer than he, and who must first be asked.