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the Inca Empire, the
number of a man's wives was an index of his wealth and prestige, and, because
the women shared the agricultural work, extra wives also made life easier for
the whole family. The ordinary
taxpayer, however, was monogamous from necessity. The first wife became the
principal one, with precedence
over all subsequent ones; if she died, none of the secondary wives could take
her place, although the
husband was free to marry another principal wife. The
Inca explained this as
a means of preventing
intrigue among the secondary wives. A widow could not remarry unless she were
inherited by her husband's
brother (the levirate). A son inherited his father's secondary wives who had not
borne children. A man
might also receive wives by gift from the Emperor or by capturing them in war. A
man's foster-mother
became his secondary wife when he married and remained so until he had paid off
his obligation to her
for rearing him (Cobo, 1890–95, bk. 14, ch. 7).