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has the prospect of receiving, in the not too far distant future, a
civil code that shall embrace the whole Empire. It is, therefore, a
side-light upon our times that, although even the superficial observer
must reach the conclusion that at no previous period have unhappy
marriages been so numerous as now--a natural consequence of our whole
social development--the new draft for a civil code still renders divorce
materially difficult. It is but a fresh instance of the old
experience,--a social system, in the throes of dissolution, seeks to
keep itself up by artificial means and compulsion, and to deceive itself
upon its actual state. In declining Rome, marriage and births were
sought to be promoted by premiums: in the German Empire, whose social
order stands under a constellation similar with that of the decaying
Empire of the Caesars, it is now sought to prevent the ever more
frequent desire for the dissolution of marriage by means of forcible
constraints.

Thus people remain against their will chained to each other through
life. One party becomes the slave of the other, compelled to submit out
of "conjugal duty" to that other's most intimate embraces, which,
perhaps, it abhors worse than insult or ill-treatment. Fully justified
is Montegazza's dictum:[71] "There is probably no worse torture than
that which compels a human being to put up with the caresses of a person
it does not love."

We ask, Is such a marriage--and their number is infinite--not worse than
prostitution? The prostitute has, to a certain degree, the freedom to
withdraw from her disgraceful pursuit; moreover, she enjoys the
privilege, if she does not live in a public house, to reject the
purchase of the embraces of him who, for whatever reason, may be
distasteful to her. But a sold married woman must submit to the embraces
of her husband, even though she have a hundred reasons to hate and
despise him.

When in advance, and with the knowledge of both parties, marriage is
contracted as a marriage for money or rank, then, as a rule, matters lie
more favorably. The two accommodate themselves mutually, and a _modus
vivendi_ is established. They want no scandal, and regard for their
children compels them to avoid any, although it is the children who
suffer most under a cold, loveless life on the part of their parents,
even if such a life does not develop into enmity, quarrel and
dissension. Often accommodation is reached in order to avoid material
los