The Shasta courier., 1866-08-11
Roman Marriages..


mine emancipation. At Rome there were
two very different kinds of marriages-tbe
hrst, called by sale delivered the wife BODY
and fortune, into the power of the husband :;
or, 1t she were patrician, religious act
took the place of the sale, but without at all
changing the result. The young patrician
girl appeared with her betrothed, before the
nigh priest of Jupiter, accompanied by ten
witnesses her head dress was in the form Of
a tower. like that of the vestal virgins on
her brow were sweet majoram and a crown
OF yervain purple veil adorned her face,
a glrdle of lambs wool confined her tunic.
Then, approaching the high priest, she re
celved from from his hand a cake of flour,
water and salt. which she divided with her
husband. After this form of communion.
she formed one with him, that is to say, she
became absorbed in him the ownership Of
her present, the right to her future posses.
sions, the management of her income, the
disposition of her real estate, the power even
over her own person, all passed from the
father to the husband. She was in his hand.
according to the energetic expression of the
Roman law.
But, besides these kinds of marriages,
there was another union, much more in har.
mony with the spirit of the Roman fhmily.-
The wife, instead of entering her husbands,
often remained in her fathers family
Hence a strange result for the benefit of the
wife. Her independence as a wife sprung
from her subsection as a daughter In the
first place. while her father lived, she had
dover to meet her household expenses
Then, her father being dead, her hereditary
fortune enriched her. She enjoyed and alone
controlled it; her husband had no right
either to its use or management. This lat
ter was usually intrusted to slave, who
was responsible only to the wife, to whom he
rendered all accounts, and to whom he de.
livered proceeds of sales, whether of cattle or
grain. He was called the dotal slave
Possessing tiias an independent patrimony,
free as to her fortune and the management of
it, the wife assumed an equal, often; indeed,
a superior rank in the household. Some
times the husband, to obtain sum of mon
ey, was reduced to concessions which COM
promised the marital power. At other
times, he had recourse to ruses and corrup
ton, to deceive the dotal slave, which, if dis
covered, lessened his dignity in the eyes of
his wife-his mistress henceforth, both by
his necessities and his expedients. Finally,
if heavy business operations compelled him
to borrow, he applied to his wife, she opened
her purse to him, but only for usurious in.
terest. Moreover, she imagined she could
purchase by these conjugal loans the right to
caprices and strange whims, and sometimes
even worse than these.
If her husband complained, she armed
herself with loan as with sword-no
longer his wife, but creditor and the dotal
slave, charged with pitiless orders, pressed
the poor man, who could only hang his head
and be silent.
More than one indignant voice was raised
against this state of things more than one
Roman cursed the fortune he had sought in
marriage and cried with comic grief as in
the Asinari' of Plautus, No dover! no
dover women with dowers swallow you
up. You sell yourself for DOVER"
Cato, the censor attacked with bitter sar
casm this subjection of the husband, and
loudly demanded the establishment of a law
setting bounds to such fortunes and their
consequent excesses Yet in spite of Cato
and every other obstacle, the material inde-
pendence of the wife certainly strengthened :;
for this independence its abuse vicious in
its consequences-yet, rightly used, repre-
sented one of the most lawful interests of the
wife-the right of decision in her own affairs.
and the possession of her own property.
The barbarian law, and that of the middle
ages, adopted neither the rigor nor the in
diligence. Of the Roman system. The wife
was neither slave nor was she altogether
free. She was a minor-a protected minor
"a ward The law styled the husband an
administrator but he could not sell the
property of his wife without her consent,
nor even without that of her nearest rela-
ton.