Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 286

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286. XV. THAT THEY ARE FOR THE SAKE OF REPUTATION OUTSIDE THE HOME. The fortunes of men depend for the most part on their reputation as being just, sincere, and upright; and this reputation depends also on the wife, who knows her husband's private life. Wherefore, were the discordance of their minds to break out into open enmities, quarrels, and threats of hatred, and were these to be noised abroad by the wife and her friends and servants, they would easily be turned into invectives which would be to the shame and ill-repute of his name. To escape this, no other means are available save, either that he show favor to his wife by way of simulations, or that they be separated as to the house.


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