V. Fertility

Extract

Restricting social contacts for women gave assurance that they were virgin on first marriage and that there was no doubt about the legitimacy of their children - all their children, since the ancient world did not have the system of primogeniture, which sometimes makes rich families more relaxed after the birth of the Heir. The most important moral quality for females was sophrosunē, which often (like English ‘virtue’) means simply ‘chastity’. A marriage was distinguished from other sexual relationships precisely by the woman’s ability to bear legitimate citizen children to the man: this is the point of a comment, often misinterpreted, ascribed to Demosthenes ([Demosthenes] 59.122), that men have wives for the procreation of legitimate heirs, concubines for the daily care of the body, and prostitutes for sexual pleasure.