killed in his own house, the inquisition by torture could not be
extended to the whole household, but to those only who, by proximity to
the deed, could have noticed it.[206] Gaius observes[207] that for
slaves to be in complete subjection to masters who have power of life
and death is an institution common to all nations, "But at this time,"
he continues, "it is permitted neither to Roman citizens nor any other
men who are under the sway of the Roman people to vent their wrath
against slaves beyond measure and without reason. In fact, by a decree
of the sainted Antoninus (138-161 A.D.) a master who without cause kills
his slave is ordered to be held no less than he who kills another's
slave.[208] An excessive severity on the part of masters is also checked
by a constitution of the same prince. On being consulted by certain
governors about those slaves who rush for refuge to the shrines of the
gods or the statues of emperors, he ordered that if the cruelty of
masters seemed intolerable they should be compelled to sell their
slaves." Severus ordained that the city prefect should prevent slaves
from being prostituted[209]. Aurelian gave his slaves who had
transgressed to be heard according to the laws by public judges[210].
Tacitus procured a decree that slaves were not to be put to
inquisitorial torture in a case affecting a master's life, not even if
the charge was high treason[211]. So much for the laws that mitigated
slavery under the Empire. They were not ideal; but they would in more
respects than one compare favourably with the similar legislation that
was in force, prior to the Civil War, in the American Slave States.
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NOTES:
[1] Paulus, iii, 4_a_, 1.
[2] Ulpian, Tit., xx, 16. Gaius, ii, 112.
[ 3: Male relatives on the father's side--agnati--were guardians
in such cases; these failing, the judge of the supreme court (praetor)
assigned one. See Ulpian, Tit., xi, 3, 4, and 24. Gaius, i, 185, and
iii, 10. Libertae (freedwomen) took as guardians their former masters.]
[4] Ulpian, Tit., xi, 27.
[5] The power of the father was called _potestas_; that of the husband,
_manus_.
[6] Aulus Gellius, x, 23. Cf. Suetonius, _Tiberius_, 35.
[7] Gaius, i, 144.
[8] Ulpian, Tit., xi, I.
[9] Ulpian, Tit., xi, 28a. Gaius, i, 194. Paulus, iv, 9, 1-9.
[10] Gaius, i, 145. Ulpian, Tit., x, 5.
[11] Gaius, i, 137. For an example see Pliny, _Letters_, viii, 18. Cf.
Spartianus. _Didius Iulianus_, 8: filiam suam, potitus imperio, dato
patrimonio, emancipaverat. See also Dio, 73, 7
(Xiphilin).
If emancipated children insulted or injured their parents, they lost
their independence--Codex, 8, 49 (50), 1.
[12] Ulpian, Tit., viii, 7_a_.
[13] Paulus, i, 4, 4; Mater, quae filiorum suorum rebus intervenit,
actione negotiorum gestorum et ipsis et eorum tutoribus tenebitur.
[14] Ulpian in Dig., 25, 3, 5.
[15] For Livia's great influence over Augustus see Seneca, _de
Clementia_, i, 9, 6. Tacitus, _Annals_, i, 3, 4, and 5, and ii, 34. Dio,
55, 14-21, and 56, 47.
Agrippina dominated Claudius--Tacitus, _Annals_, xii, 37. Dio, 60, 33.
Caenis, the concubine of Vespasian, amassed great wealth and sold public
offices right and left--Dio, 65, 14. Plotina, wife of Trajan, engineered
Hadrian's succession--Eutropius, viii, 6. Dio, 69, I. A concubine formed
the conspiracy which overthrew Commodus--Herodian, i, 16-17. The
plotting of Maesa put Heliogabalus on the throne--
Capitolinus,
_Macrinus_, 9-10. Alexander Severus was ruled by his mother
Mammaea--Lampridius, _Alex. Severus_, 14; Herodian, vi, i, i and 9.
Gallienus invited women to his cabinet meetings--
Trebellius Pollio,
Gallienus, 16. The wives of governors took such a strenuous part in
politics and army matters that it caused the Senate grave concern--see
examples in Tacitus, Annals, in, 33 and 34, and iv, 20; also i, 69, and
ii, 55; id. _Hist_., iii, 69. Vellcius Paterculus, ii, 74 (Fulvia).
Of course, no woman ever had a right to vote; but neither did anybody
else, since the Roman government had become an absolute despotism. The
first woman on the throne was Pulcheria, who, in 450
A.D., was
proclaimed Empress of the East, succeeding her brother, Theodosius II.
But she soon took a husband and made him Emperor. She had been
practically sole ruler since 414.
[16] Plutarch, _Roman Questions_, 6. Aulus Gellius, x, 23. Athenaeus, x,
56.
[17] Valerius Maximus, vi, 3, 9. For this he was not even blamed, but
rather received praise for the excellent example.
[18] Aulus Gellius, x, 23. A woman in the _Menaechmi_ of Plautus, iv, 6,
1, complains justly of this double standard of morality: Nam si vir scortum duxit clam uxorem suam, Id si rescivit uxor, impune
est viro. Uxor viro si clam domo egressa est foras, Viro fit causa,
exigitur matrimonio. Utinam lex esset cadem quae uxori est viro!
[19] Aulus Gellius, i, 6.
[20] De Consolatione ad Marciam, xvi, 1.
[21] _Commentaries_, A, [Greek: gamma].
[22] Quintilian, _Instit. Orat_., vi, 1, 5. Pliny, _Letters_, vi, 4 and
7, and vii, 5.
[23] Great admiration expressed for Paulina, wife of Seneca, who opened
her veins to accompany her husband in death--Tacitus, _Annals_, xv, 63,
64. Story of Arria and Paetus--Pliny, _Letters_, iii, 16. Martial, i,
13. The famous instance of Epponina, under Vespasian, and her attachment
to her condemned husband--Tacitus, _Hist_., iv, 67.
Tacitus mentions
that many ladies accompanied their husbands to exile and death--_Annals_, xvi, 10, 11. Numerous instances are related by Pliny of
tender and happy marriages, terminated only by death--
see, e.g.,
_Letters_, viii, 5. Pliny the elder tells how M. Lepidus died of regret
for his wife after being divorced from her--_N.H._, vii, 36. Valerius
Maximus devotes a whole chapter to Conjugal Love--iv, 6.
But the best
examples of deep affection are seen in tomb inscriptions--e.g., CIL i,
1103, viii, 8123, ii, 3596, v, 1, 3496, v, 2, 7066, x, 8192, vi, 3,
15696, 15317, and 17690. Man and wife are often represented with arms
thrown about one another's shoulders to signify that they were united in
death as in life. The poet Statius remarks that "to love a wife when she
is living is pleasure; to love her when dead, a solemn duty" (Silvae, in
prooemio). Yet some theologians would have us believe that conjugal love
and fidelity is an invention of Christianity.
[24] Pliny, _Panegyricus_, 26. For other instances see Capitolinus,
_Anton. Pius_, 8; Lampridius, _Alex. Severus_, 57; Spartianus, Hadrian,
7, 8, 9; Capitolinus, _M. Anton. Phil_., 11.
[25] Gaius, i, 190.
[26] Ulpian, Tit. xi, 25. Cf. Frag, iur Rom. Vatic.
(Huschke, 325): Divi
Diocletianus et Constantius Aureliae Pontiae: Actor rei forum sequi
debet et mulier quoque facere procuratorem _sine tutoris auctoritate non
prohibetur_. So Papinian, lib. xv, Responsorum (Huschke, 327). I shall
discuss these matters at greater length when I treat of women and the
management of their property.
[27] Dio, 54, 16. Pomponius in Dig., 23, 2, 4.
[28] Gaius, i, 113.
[29] Ulpian, Tit., ix, 1: Farreo convenit uxor in manum certis verbis et
testibus X praesentibus et sollemni sacrificio facto, in quo panis
quoque farreus adhibetur. Cf. Gaius, i, 112.
[30] Aulus Gellius, iii, 2, 12. Gaius, i, 111.
[31] Gaius, i, 110 and 111.
[32] Paulus, ii, xix, 8.
[33] Pliny, _Letters_, i, 14, will furnish an example; cf. id. vi, 26,
to Servianus: Gaudeo et gratulor, quod Fusco Salinatori filiam tuam
destinasti. Note the way in which Julius Caesar arranged a match for his
daughter--Suetonius, _Divus Julius_, 21.
[34] Paulus in Dig., 23, 2, 2: Nuptiae consistere non possunt, nisi
consentiunt omnes, id est, qui coeunt quorumque in potestate sunt.
[35] Julianus in Dig., 23, 1, 11.
[36] Ulpian in Dig., 23, 1, 12.
[37] Paulus in Dig., 23, 1, 13. Terentius Clemens in Dig., 23, 2, 21.
[38] Paulus, ii, 19, 2.
[39] Ulpian, 24, 17.
[40] Cf. Ulpian, Tit., vi, 6: Divortio facto, si quidem sui juris sit
muller, ipsa habet rei uxoriae actionem, id est, dotis repetitionem;
quodsi in potestate patris sit, pater adiuncta filiae persona habet
actionem.
The technical recognition of the father's power was still strong. Cf.
Pliny, _Panegyricus_, 38: Tu quidem, Caesar ...
intuitus, opinor, vim
legemque naturae, quae semper in dicione parentum esse liberos iussit.
The same writer, on requesting Trajan to give citizenship to the
children of a certain freedman, is careful to add the specification that
they are to remain in their father's power--see Pliny to Trajan, xi
(vi).
[41] Paulus, vi, 15. Codex, v, 4, 11, and 17, 5.
[42] Paulus, in Dig., 23, 3, 28. Codex, v, 13, 1, and 18, 1.
[43] Codex, v, 17, 5.
[44] Salvius Julianus: Frag. Perp. Ed.: Pars Prima, vii-
-under "De is
qui notantur infamia."
[45] Codex, 8, 46 (47), 5.
[46] Aulus Gellius, iv, 4.
[47] Juvenal, vi, 200-203. Gaius in Dig., 24, 2, 2.
Ulpian, ibid., 23,
I, 10. Codex, v, 17, 2, and v, I, I.
[48] Codex, v, 3, 2.
[49] Dig., 3, 2, 1.
[50] Ulpian in Dig., 47, 10, 24.
[51] Cf. Alexander Severus in Codex, viii, 38, 2: Libera matrimonia esse
antiquitus placuit, etc. Also Codex, v, 4, 8 and 14.
[52] Modestinus in Dig., xxiii, 2, 1.
[53] Gaius, ii, 159.
[54] Paulus, ii, xx, 1.
[55] Note the rescript of Alexander Severus to a certain Aquila (Codex,
ii, 18, 13): Quod in uxorem tuam aegram erogasti, non a socero repetere,
sed adfectioni tuae debes expendere.
[56] See, e.g., Dig., 47, 10, and Ulpian, ibid., 48, 14, 27.
[57] Cf. Gaius, i, 141: In summa admonendi sumus, adversus eos, quos in
mancipio habemus, nihil nobis contumeliose facere licere; alioquin
iniuriarum (actione) tenebimur.
[58] Paulus, i, 21, 13.
[59] Paulus, i, 21, 14.
[60] Codex, ii, 11, 15
[61] Paulus in Dig., iii, 2, 9.
[62] Aulus Gellius, xvii, 6, speech of Cato: Principio vobis mulier
magnam dotem adtulit; tum magnam pecuniam recipit, quam in viri
potestatem non committit, ean pecuniam viro mutuam dat; postea, ubi
irata facta est, servum recepticum sectari atque flagitare virum iubet.
[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 demigrasset, ut dos omnis, etc.--evidently the
woman was dictating the disposal of her dowry.
[70] Ulpian, Tit., vi, 3, 4, and 5. Codex, v, 18, 4.
[71] Ulpian in Dig., xi, 7, 16; ibid., Papinian, 17; ibid, Julianus, 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, Tit.
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
supposititious 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
improbum esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor
uxorum. Scis ut illi nil cum adultero, sic nihil tibi esse debere cum
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 asserting
(_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., Marcianus, 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.
Spartianus, _Sept.
Severus_, 18, Pliny, _Panegyricus_, 83: multis illustribus dedecori fuit
aut inconsultius uxor assumpta 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 Titio repudium misit,
etc.; ibid., Africanus, 24, 3, 34: Titia 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 sex mensum; lex autem Papia a morte viri biennii,
a repudio anni et sex mensum.
[108] Ulpian in Dig., 25, 3, 1. Paulus, ii, xxiv, 5.
[109] Ulpian in Dig., 25, 4, 8.
[110] Codex, v, 24, 1.
[111] Codex, vi, 60, 1: Res, quae ex matris successione fuerint ad
filios devolutae, ita sint in parentum potestate, ut fruendi dumtaxat
habeant facultatem, dominio videlicet carum ad liberos pertinente.
[112] Neratius in Dig., 26, 1, 18.
[113] Codex, v, 35, 1.
[114] Codex, ii, 12, 18: alienam suscipere defensionem virile officium
est ... filio itaque tuo, si pupillus est, tutorem pete.
[115] Ulpian, Tit. viii, 7_a_. Paulus, i, 4, 4.
[116] _ad Helviam matrem de consol_., xiv, 3.