e. The only position an individual had was in the
family, and he must observe what custom had taught. This made family
life arbitrary and conventional.

_The Earliest Form of Social Order_.--The family is sometimes called
the unit of society. The best historical records of the family are
found in the Aryan people, such as the Greeks, the Romans, and the
Teutons. Outside of this there are many historical references to the
Aryans in their primitive home in Asia, and the story of the Hebrew
people, a branch of the Semitic race, shows many phases of tribal and
family life. The ancient family differed from the modern in
organization and composition. The first historical family was the
patriarchal, by which we mean a family group in which descent was
traced in the male line, and in which authority was vested in the
eldest living male inhabitant. It is held by some that this is the
original family type, and that the forms which we find among savage
races are degenerate forms of the above. Some have {112} advocated
that the patriarchal family was the developed form of the family, and
only occurred after a long evolution through states of promiscuity,
polygamy, and polyandry. There is much evidence that the latter
assumption is true. But there is evidence that the patriarchal family
was the first political unit of all the Aryan races, and also of the
Semitic as well, and that monogamic marriage was developed in these
ancient societies so far as historical evidence can determine. The
ancient Aryans in their old home, those who came into India, Greece,
Rome, and the northern countries of Europe, whether Celt or Teuton, all
give evidence of the permanency of early family organization.

_The Reign of Custom_.--For a long period custom reigned supreme, and
arbitrary social life became conventionalized, and the change from
precedent became more and more difficult. The family was despotic,
exacting, unyielding in its nature, and individual activity was
absorbed in it. So powerful was this early sway of customary law that
many tribes never freed themselves from its bondage. Others by degrees
slowly evolved from its crystallizing influences. Changes in custom
came about largely through the migration of tribes, which brought new
scenes and new conditions, the intercourse of one tribe with another in
trade and war, and the gradual shifting of the internal life of the
social unit. Those tribes that were isolated were left b