... In youth it must be ruin to be petted and spoiled by
a company of submissive slave-girls. In manhood it is no less an
evil that when a man enters into private life his affections should
be put up to auction among foolish, fond competitors full of
mutual jealousies and slanders. We are not left entirely to
conjecture as to the effect of female influence on home-life when
it is exerted under these unenlightened and demoralizing
conditions. That is plainly an element _lying at the root of all
the most important features that differentiate progress from
stagnation_.[75]
[Sidenote: Deteriorating influence of relations established between the
sexes.]
Such are the institutions which gnaw at the root of Islam and prevent
the growth of freedom and civilization. "By these the unity of the
household is fatally broken and the purity and virtue of the family tie
weakened; the vigor of the dominant classes is sapped; the body politic
becomes weak and languid, excepting for intrigues, and the throne itself
liable to fall a prey to a doubtful or contested
succession"[76]--contested by the progeny of the various rivals crowded
into the royal harem. From the palace downward polygamy and servile
concubinage lower the moral tone, loosen the ties of domestic life, and
hopelessly depress the people.
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