[redgolum]

Somewhere in my pile of books at home I have "The Eyewitness of Ancient Rome". Basically a bunch of old Roman texts thrown together on everything from sound management of a farm to homosexuality and abortion.

There was a practice, which continued well into the Christian Empire, of exposing "unwanted" babies on the sides of mountains. Some groups of Christians made it a practice to rescue these children. The government and elite of the time attacked them for it, since it was "creating to high of an excess population." One rather interesting letter had a detailed account of why a responsible family should only have one son and one daughter, and all else should be killed.

As we know now, the main reason the Germanic hordes (my ancestors) were able to overrun the Western empire was that there were not enough men to defend it.
Killing the next generation of a society leads to its destruction.

[ArrogantBustard]

One rather interesting letter had a detailed account of why a responsible family should only have one son and one daughter, and all else should be killed.

ABC's of cultural suicide ...

[Dumb_Ox]

There was a practice, which continued well into the Christian Empire, of exposing "unwanted" babies on the sides of mountains. Some groups of Christians made it a practice to rescue these children. The government and elite of the time attacked them for it, since it was "creating to high of an excess population." One rather interesting letter had a detailed account of why a responsible family should only have one son and one daughter, and all else should be killed.

"If, as may well happen, you give birth to a child, if it is a boy let it live; if it is a girl, expose it."
-Letter of one Hilarion to his wife, circa 1 BC.

Girls were victims of infanticide more often than boys, which also led to the pagans marrying the Christian women who weren't killed at birth. This phenomenon might repeat itself in India and China, countries which are both facing surplus male populations because of selective abortions.