A Short History of Women's Rights Part 4

[63] Paulus in Dig., 23, 3, 2.

[64] Pomponius in Dig., 24, 3, 1.

[65] Ulpian in Dig., 23, 3, 7.

[66] Tryfoninus in Dig., 23, 3, 75.

[67] Gaius, ii, 63. Paulus, ii, 21b.

[68] E.g. Juvenal, vi, 136-141. Martial, viii, 12.

[69] Apuleius _Apologia_, 523: Pleraque tamen rei familiaris in nomen uxoris callidissima fraude confert, etc.; id., 545, 546 proves further the power of the wife: ea condicione factam conjunctionem, si nullis a me susceptis liberis vita demigra.s.set, ut dos omnis, etc.--evidently the woman was dictating the disposal of her dowry.

[70] Ulpian, t.i.t., vi, 3, 4, and 5. Codex, v, 18, 4.

[71] Ulpian in Dig., xi, 7, 16; ibid., Papinian, 17; ibid, Julia.n.u.s, 18.

Paulus, i, xxi, 11.

[72] Ulpian in Dig., 48, 20, 3.

[73] Ulpian in Dig., 48, 20, 5.

[74] Ulpian in Dig., 24, 1, 1: Moribus apud nos receptum est, ne inter virum et uxorem donationes valerent, hoc autem receptum est, ne mutuo amore invicem spoliarentur, donationibus non temperantes, sed profusa erga se facilitate.

[75] Paulus in Dig., 24, 1, 14.

[76] Gaius in Dig., 24, 1, 42; ibid., Licinius Rufus, 41; Ulpian, t.i.t.

vii, 1. Martial, vii, 64--et post hoc dominae munere factus eques.

[77] Paulus, ii, xxiii, 1.

[78] Cf. Paulus, ii, xxiii, 2.

[79] Paulus in Dig., 25, 2, 1. Codex, v, 21, 2.

[80] Gaius in Dig., 25, 2, 2.

[81] Paulus in Dig., 25, 2, 3.

[82] Ulpian in Dig., 47, 2, 52. The respect shown for family relations may be seen also from the fact that a son could _complain--de facto matris queri_--if he believed that his mother had brought in supposit.i.tious offspring to defraud him of some of his inheritance; but he was strictly forbidden to bring her into court with a public and criminal action--Macer in Dig., 48, 2, 11: _sed ream eam lege Cornelia facere permissum ei non est_.

[83] Ulpian in Dig., 48, 14, 27.

[84] Ulpian in Dig., 48, 5, 14 (13): Iudex adulterii ante oculos habere debet et inquirere, an maritus pudice vivens mulieri quoque bonos mores colendi auctor fuerit periniquum enim videtur esse, ut pudicitiam vir ab uxore exigat, quam ipse non exhibeat. Cf. Seneca, _Ep_., 94: Scis improb.u.m esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum. Scis ut illi nil c.u.m adultero, sic nihil tibi esse debere c.u.m pellice. Antoninus Pius gave a husband a bill for adultery against his wife "Provided it is established that by your life you give her an example of fidelity. It would be unjust that a husband should demand a fidelity which he does not himself keep"--quoted by St. Augustine, de Conj. Adult., ii, ch. 8. In view of these explicit statements it is difficult to see what the Church Father Lactantius meant by a.s.serting (_de Vero Cultu_, 23): Non enim, sicut iuris publici ratio est, sola mulier adultera est, quae habet alium; maritus autem, etiamsi plures habeat, a crimine adulterii solutus est. Perhaps this deliberate distortion of the truth was another one of the libels against pagan Rome of which the pious Fathers are so fond "for the good of the Church."

[85] Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 21 (20); ibid., Ulpian, 24 (23). Paulus, ii, xxvi.

[86] Macer in Dig., 48, 5, 25 (24).

[87] Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 23 (22).

[88] Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 39 (38); ibid., Marcia.n.u.s, 48, 8, 1.

[89] Paulus, ii, xxvi. Macer in Dig., 48, 5, 25 (24), ibid., Ulpian, 48, 5, 30 (29).

[90] Paulus, ii, xxvi.

[91] Juvenal, x. 317; quosdam moechos et mugilis intrat. Cf. Catullus, 15, 19.

[92] See, e.g., Capitolinus, _Anton_. _Pius_, 3. Spartia.n.u.s, _Sept.

Severus_, 18, Pliny, _Panegyricus_, 83: multis ill.u.s.tribus dedecori fuit aut inconsultius uxor a.s.sumpta aut retenta patientius, etc.

[93] Pliny, _Letters_, vi, 31.

[94] Paulus, ii, xxvi, 15.

[95] Valerius Maximus, ii, 1, 6.

[96] Aulus Gellius, xvii, 21, 44. Valerius Maximus, ii, 1, 4. Plutarch, _Roman Questions_, 14.

[97] Valerius Maximus, vi, 3, 12.

[98] "If you should catch your wife in adultery, you would put her to death with impunity; she, on her part, would not dare to touch you with her finger; and it is not right that she should"--Speech of Cato the Censor, quoted by Aulus Gellius, x, 23.

[99] E.g., Marcellus in Dig., 24, 3, 38: Maevia t.i.tio repudium misit, etc.; ibid., Africa.n.u.s, 24, 3, 34: t.i.tia divortium a Seio fecit, etc.

Martial, x, 41: Mense novo lani veterem, Proculeia, maritum Deseris, atque iubes res sibi habere suas. Apuleius, _Apologia_, 547: utramvis habens culpam mulier, quae aut tam intolerabilis fuit ut repudiaretur aut tam insolens ut repudiaret.

_Novellae_, 140, 1: Antiquitus quidem licebat sine periculo tales [i.e., those of incompatible temperament] ab invicem separari secundum communem voluntatem et consensum.

[100] Martial, vi, 7.

[101] Aulus Gellius, x, 15: Matrimonium flaminis nisi morte dirimi ius non est.

[102] Tacitus, _Annals_, iv, 16.

[103] Ulpian, vi, 6; id. in Dig., 24, 3, 2. Pauli fragmentam in Boethii commentario ad Topica, 2, 4, 19.

[104] Paulus in Dig. ii,3, 41.

[105] Ulpian, vi, 13.

[106] Ulpian, vi, 9-17, and vii, 2-3. Pauli frag, in Boethii comm. ad Top., ii, 4, 19.

[107] Ulpian, xiv: feminis lex Iulia a morte viri anni tribuit vacationem, a divortio s.e.x mensum; lex autem Papia a morte viri biennii, a repudio anni et s.e.x mensum.

[108] Ulpian in Dig., 25, 3, 1. Paulus, ii, xxiv, 5.

[109] Ulpian in Dig., 25, 4, 8.