g the
Romans, and this fact, together with the spread of slavery, did much to
put the women in this secondary position, so far as ability to work was
concerned.

With all this apparent equality in fact and in the eyes of the law, it
is somewhat doubtful whether or not the wives and mothers really enjoyed
a high degree of personal liberty. Their legal rights were clearly
defined, but it is certain that they were looked upon as inferior
beings. The prevalent customs with regard to the marriage dower show in
no uncertain fashion that the wife was considered to a certain extent as
the chattel and property of her husband; for a woman could not marry
without a dower, but it was paid not by but to her parents, and by her
future husband. A marriage of that description may be likened to the
sale of a bill of goods. In further proof of this dependent position of
the women, and to show the care which was taken to protect them from
contamination of any kind, one of the statutes regulating the practice
of medicine presents certain interesting features. This law prohibited
surgeons from bleeding any freewoman except in the presence of her
husband, her nearest relative, or at least of some properly appointed
witness. A Salic law dating from about the same period imposed a fine of
fifteen pieces of gold upon anyone who should improperly press a
woman's hand, but there seems to be nothing to show that the Goths
considered legislation upon this important point necessary. Even under
these conditions the physician's position was somewhat precarious, as it
was provided that in case he should withdraw enough of the patient's
blood to cause death, he became the slave of the patient's heir at law!

Spain was like the greater part of the rest of Europe at this time with
regard to its intellectual atmosphere; Christianity and Roman
civilization had not yet succeeded in stamping out the old pagan beliefs
of the early inhabitants, and superstition and ignorance were for a long
time characteristic traits of the majority of the people. The air was
peopled with demons, the devil himself was no infrequent visitor,
witches and fortune tellers were not without influence, and stealthily,
by night, many mystic rites were celebrated. Many of the Christian
beliefs of the time are likewise the result of ignorance and
superstition, but at that time, naturally, only the pagan ideas were
condemned. Accordingly, while the law of the Goths recognized trial by
o