The Descent of Man

unmarried females. How slowly it spreads to
the male sex, we see at the present day. Chastity
eminently requires self-command; therefore
it has been honoured from a very early period
in the moral history of civilised man. As a consequence
of this, the senseless practice of celibacy
has been ranked from a remote period as a
virtue. (38. Lecky, 'History of European Morals,'
vol. i. 1869, p. 109.) The hatred of indecency,
which appears to us so natural as to be
thought innate, and which is so valuable an aid
to chastity, is a modern virtue, appertaining
exclusively, as Sir G. Staunton remarks (38.
'Embassy to China,' vol. ii. p. 348.), to civilised
life. This is shewn by the ancient religious rites
of various nations, by the drawings on the
walls of Pompeii, and by the practices of many
savages.
We have now seen that actions are regarded by
savages, and were probably so regarded by
primeval man, as good or bad, solely as they