l to end the marrying of the parties;
Tertullian calls second marriage a species of prostitution.[244]Jerome
expresses the more tolerant and orthodox view: "What then? Do we condemn
second marriages? Not at all; but we praise single ones. Do we cast the
twice-married from the Church? Far from it; but we exhort the
once-married to continence. In Noah's ark there were not only clean, but
also unclean animals."[245]

As the Fathers were very well aware of the subtle influence of dress on
the sexual passions, we have a vast number of minute regulations
directing virgins, matrons, and widows to be clothed simply and without
ornament; virgins were to be veiled.[246] Tertullian, with that keen
logic of which the Church has always been proud in her sons, argues that
inasmuch as God has not made crimson or green sheep it does not behoove
women to wear colours that He has not produced in animals
naturally.[247] St. Augustine forbids nuns to bathe more than once a
month, unless under extreme necessity.[248]

As soon as the Church begins to exercise an influence upon law, we shall
expect to see the legal position of women changed in accordance with
certain general principles outlined above, viz: I. That inasmuch as Adam
was formed before Eve and as women are the weaker vessels, they should
confine themselves to those duties only which society has, from time
immemorial, assigned them as their peculiar sphere. II. They should be
meek, and not oppose father or husband; and to these they should go for
advice on all matters. III. All license, such as the Roman woman's right
of taking the initiative in a divorce, must never be tolerated. IV. They
should never transgress the bounds of strictest decorum in conduct and
dress, lest they seduce men; and they must never be conspicuous in
public or attempt to perform public functions. V. They are to be given
due honour and are to be cared for properly.

The legal rights of women would be affected, moreover, by a difference
in the spirit of the law. The Roman jurist derived his whole sanction
from reason and never allowed religious considerations, as such, to
influence him when legislating on women. He recognised that laws are not
immutable, but must be changed to fit the growth of equity and
tolerance. No previous authority was valid to him if reason suggested
that the authority's dictum had outlived its usefulness and must be
adapted to larger ideas. It never occurred to him to make the
inf