vate and exclusive. The civil
authority, after it is differentiated and integrated, takes cognizance
and control of the rights of children, legitimacy, inheritance, and
property. Religion, in its connection with marriage, takes its function
from the aleatory interest. It is not of the essence of marriage. It
"blesses" it, or secures the favor of the higher powers who distribute
good and bad fortune. In a very few cases amongst savage tribes
religious ceremonies "make" a marriage; that is, they give to it (to
the authority of the husband) a superstitious sanction which insures
permanence and coercion as long as the husband wants permanence and
coercion. These cases are rare. The notion that a religious ceremony
makes a marriage, and defines it, had no currency until the sixteenth
Christian century.

+415. Chaldean demonism and marriage.+ Chaldean demonism affected
wedding ceremonies. The belief was that demons found their opportunities
at great crises in life, when interest and excitement ran high. Then the
demons rejoiced to exert their malignity on man to produce frustration
and disappointment. Cases are not rare in which the consummation of
marriage was deferred, in barbarism and half-civilization, to ward off
this interference of demons. The Chaldean groom's companions led him to
the bride, and he repeated to her the formulas of marriage: "I am the
son of a prince. Silver and gold shall fill thy bosom. Thou shalt be my
wife and I thy husband. As a tree bears abundant fruit, so great shall
be the abundance which I will pour out on this woman." A priest blessed
them and said: "All which is bad in this man do ye [gods] put far away,
and give him strength. Do thou, man, give thy virility. Let this woman
be thy spouse. Do thou, woman, give thy womanhood, and let this man be
thy husband." The next morning a ritual was used to drive away evil
spirits.[1324]

+416. Hebrew marriage before the exile.+ In the canon of the Old
Testament we get no information at all about wedding ceremonies, or the
marriage institution. The reason for this must be that marriage was
altogether a family and domestic affair. It was controlled by very
ancient mores, under which marriage and the family were conducted, as
beyond question correct. It is in the nature of the case, in all forms
of the father family, that a girl until marriage was under the care and
authority of her father or nearest male relative. The suitor must ask
him to give her, an