According to Bachofen, however, the cause of mothers did not at once cease to be the subject of contention and conflict, but ever and anon fresh battles and renewed struggles proclaimed the discontent and uneasiness of women and heralded the fact that the contest for supremacy had not yet ended. But, in process of time, as resistance proved ineffectual, mothers themselves gradually succumbed to the new idea of the divine character of the father, and, without further murmuring or complaint, accepted gracefully the position of nurse to his children.
The father now became the recognized head of the family, and men at once seized the reins of government. Descent was henceforth traced in the male line, and children took the father’s instead of the mother’s name; in fact all relationships to which rights of succession were attached were thereafter traced through fathers only. The complete and final triumph of males having been established by the all-powerful authority of Roman jurisprudence, the conflict between the sexes was ended forever. Thus, according to Bachofen, was the supremacy of women gained and lost.
Through a profound study of the traditions, legends, symbols, and mythologies of antiquity, this writer was enabled to discover the fact that at an earlier age in human history women were the recognized leaders of mankind; that their influence and authority were supreme over both the family and the community, and that all relationships to which rights of succession were attached were traced through them. In attempting to account for this early period of gynecocracy (the existence of which to Bachofen’s mind no doubt presented a singular and intricate problem) it first became necessary to set forth a theory concerning a former condition of society out of which such a state could have been evolved. But as at the time _Das Mutter-recht_ made its appearance, the theory of the development of the human species from pre-existing orders had not been adopted by scientists, and as many of the various means at present employed for obtaining a knowledge of primitive races had not been brought into requisition, even the vast learning of Bachofen did not suffice to furnish a satisfactory solution of the problem.