one shudder at the idea of leaving the "deified ancestor" without
any descendants to keep up the simple sacrifices to their memory.
Besides, public opinion condemns the childless home as not contributing
to the perpetuation of the city. How Corinth, Thebes, or Sparta
will rejoice, if it is plain that Athens is destroying herself by
race suicide! So at least ONE son will be very welcome. His advent
is a day of happiness for the father, of still greater satisfaction
for the young mother.


45. The Exposure of Infants.--How many more children are welcome
depends on circumstances. Children are expensive luxuries. They
must be properly educated and even the boys must be left a fair
fortune.[*] The girls must always have good dowries, or they cannot
"marry according to their station." Public opinion, as well as
the law, allows a father (at least if he has one or two children
already) to exercise a privilege, which later ages will pronounce
one of the foulest blots on Greek civilization. After the birth
of a child there is an anxious day or two for the poor young mother
and the faithful nurses.--Will he 'nourish' it? Are there boys
enough already? Is the disappointment over the birth of a daughter
too keen? Does he dread the curtailment in family luxuries necessary
to save up for an allowance or dowry for the little stranger? Or
does the child promise to be puny, sickly, or even deformed? If
any of these arguments carry adverse weight, there is no appeal
against the father's decision. He has until the fifth day after
the birth to decide. In the interval he can utter the fatal words,
"Expose it!" The helpless creature is then put in a rude cradle,
or more often merely in a shallow pot and placed near some public
place; e.g. the corner of the Agora, or near a gymnasium, or the