*47 No marriage was
esteemed valid without the consent of the parents; and the
preference of the parties, it is said, was also to be consulted;
though, considering the barriers imposed by the prescribed age of
the candidates, this must have been within rather narrow and
whimsical limits. A dwelling was got ready for the new-married
pair at the charge of the district, and the prescribed portion of
land assigned for their maintenance. The law of Peru provided for
the future, as well as for the present. It left nothing to
chance. - The simple ceremony of marriage was followed by general
festivities among the friends of the parties, which lasted
several days; and as every wedding took place on the same day,
and as there were few families who had not some one of their
members or their kindred personally interested, there was one
universal bridal jubilee throughout the empire. *48
[Footnote 46: By the strict letter of the law, according to
Garcilasso, no one was to marry out of his own lineage. But this
narrow rule had a most liberal interpretation, since all of the
same town, and even province, he assures us, were reckoned of kin
to one another. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 8.]
[Footnote 47: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 9.
This practice, so revolting to our feelings that it might well be
deemed to violate the law of nature, must not, however, be
regarded as altogether peculiar to the Incas, since it was
countenanced by some of the most polished nations of antiquity.
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