[23] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxvii.

Here, Bachofen, as is his custom, turns to point an analogy with the
process of nature.

"All the stages of sexual life from Aphrodistic _hetairism_
to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood, have their
corresponding type in the stages of natural life, from the
wild vegetation of the morass, the prototype of conjugal
motherhood, to the harmonic law of the Uranian world, to the
heavenly light which, as the _flamma non urens_, corresponds
to the eternal youth of fatherhood. The connection is so
completely in accordance with law, that the form taken by
the sexual relation in any period may be inferred from the
predominance of one or other of these universal ideas in the
worship of a people."[24]

[24] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xxix.

Such, in outline, is Bachofen's famous matriarchal theory. The
passages I have quoted, with the comments I have ventured to give,
make plain the poetic exaggeration of his view, and sufficiently prove
why his theory no longer gains any considerable support. To build up a
dream-picture of mother-rule on such foundations was, of necessity, to
let it perish in the dust of scepticism. But is the downthrow
complete? I believe not. A new structure has to be built up on a new
and surer foundation, and it may yet appear that the prophetic vision
of the dreamer enabled Bachofen to see much that has escaped the sight
of those who have criticised and rejected his assumption that power
was once in the hands of women.

One great source of confusion has arisen through the acceptance by the
supporters of the matriarchate of the view that men and women lived
originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the opinion of Bachofen,
of McLennan, of Morgan, and also of many other authorities, who have
believed maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty of
fatherhood. It will be remembered that Mr. McLennan brought forward
his theory almost simultaneously with that of Bachofen. The basis of
his view is a belief in an ancient communism in women. He holds that
the earliest form of human societies was the group or horde, and not
the family. He affirms that these groups can have had no idea of
kinship, and that the men would hold their women, like their other
goods, in common, which is, of course, equal to a general promiscuity.
There he agrees with Bachofen's belief in unbridled _hetairism_, but
a very