Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

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future women should not be admitted into the
assemblies of the people, and that no child should
henceforward be permitted to bear the name of
the mother but that of the father. That a prince
of the name of Cecrops may have arrived at great
power and respect among the Athenians, and
that he may have framed different regulations
respecting institutions both political and civil,
there can be no reason for calling in question; but
that by his authority the influence of the female
sex was at once subverted, and the union of the
sexes, which, prior to his time, is said to have
been promiscuous and irregular, was at once ren-
dered the conjugal union of one male and one fe-
male, are relations of important facts not consis-
tent with the influence of inveterate habits and
usages, which are to be abolished, not by the
sudden dictates of stern authority, but by a gra-
dual alteration of opinions and manners, which
take place among a people from a change of ex-
ternal circumstances, to which they find it agree-
able to convenience, prudence, and wisdom, to
bend and accommodate themselves. For this
change, then, the Athenian people were, in the
time of Cecrops, prepared by the circumstances
of their situation in society.
" Before Cecrops, if we may believe traditions
" very generally received in the polished ages,
" the people of Attica were, in knowledge and
" civilization, below the wildest savages disco-
" vered in modern times. The most necessary