Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-08-04
Roman Wives.

from Leeky's History of European Morals
The legal position of the Roman wife
was for long period, extremely low. The
Roman family was constituted on the pr1n-
cipIe of the absolute authority of its head,
who had the power of life and death both
over his wife and over his children, and
who could repudiate the former at WILL
Neither the custom of gifts to the father OF
the bride, nor the custom of dowries ap-
pears to have existed in the earliest period
of Roman history; but the father disposed
absolutely of the hand of his daughter,
and sometimes possessed the power of
breaking off marriages that had actually
been contracted. In the forms ofmarriage,
however, which were usual IN the earlier
periods of Rome, the absolute power pass
ed into the hands of her husband, and he
had the right, in some cases, Of putting her
to death. Law and public opinion COM
bined in making matrimonial purity moro
strict For $40 years, 1t was said there was
no such thing as a divorce in Rome and
even after this example, for many years the
marriage tie was regarded as absolutely in
dissoluble. Manners we're SO severe that a
Senator was censured for indecency because
he had kissed his wife in the presence of
their daughter. It was considered in q
high degree disgraceful for Roman moth
er to delegate to nurse the duty of suck
ling her. Sumptuary laws regulated, with
the most minute severity all the details of
domestic economy. The courtesan class,
though probably numerous, and certainly
uncontrolled, were regarded with much
contempt. The disgrace of publicly pro-
Tossing themselves members of it was be-
lieved to be a sufficient punishment; and
an old law, which was probably intended
to teach in symbol the duties of married
life, enjoined that no such person should
touch the altar of Juno. It was related of
a certain edile, that he failed to obtain
redress for an assault which had been made
upon him, because it had occurred in q
house of ill-fame, in which it was disgrace
full for Roman magistrate to be found
The sanctity of female purity was believed
to be attested by all Nature. The most
savage female became tame before a virgin.
When woman walked naked round afield,
caterpillars and loathsome insects fell dead
before her. It was said that drowned men
foated on their backs, and drowned wo-
men on their faces; and this, in the opin-
ion of Roman naturaligts, was due to che
superior purity of the latter
It was remarked of Aristotle, that the
superiority of the Greeks to the barbarians
fact that the Greeks did not, like other
nations, regard their wives as slaves, but
treated them as helpmates and compan-
IONS Roman writer has appealed, on
the whole with greater justice, to the treat
ment of wives by his fellOw-countrymen as
a proof of the superiority of Roman to
Greek civilization. He has observed that,
while the Greeks kept their wives in a
special quarter in the interior Of their
houses, and never permitted them to sit at
banduets, except with their relatives, no
Roman ever hesitated to lead his wife with
him to the banquet, or to place the mother
of the family at the head Of his table,
Whether, in the period when wives were
completely subject to their husbands, much
domestic expressions occurred 1t is now
impossible to say. temple dedicated to
q goddess named Viriplace, whose mission
it was to appease husbands, was worship
ned by Roman women on the Palatine, and
q strange and improbable, If not Incredible
story is related by Liyy, OF the discovery,
during the republic, of a vast conspiracy of
Roman vi-as to poison their husbands
On the TuCle, however, 1t is probable that
the Roman matrOn was from the earliest
period, a name of honor; that the beautiful
sentence of a jurisconsult OF the empire,
who defined marriage as Lifelong felioW-
ship of all divine and human rights, eX-
pressed most faithfully the feelings OF the
people, and that female virtue shone IN
every age conspicuously in Roman biog-
raphies.
A PHENoMENoN. One of the most sin
gular and perplezing phenomena on record
was observed by several gentlemen IN this
city Saturday afternoon. The water in
0swego river suddenly fell about foot be-
low its present mark, and within about ten
minutes rose about the same distance
above the point where it before stood and
now stands. This was repeated two or
three times. The phenomenon, of course,
must have embraced similar rise and fall
along the entire river and in Lake Ontario.
Old Inhabitants say that such thing has
been observed in this city before, but no
satisfactory explanation has ever been rem.
dered - Qsaeeg0 advertiser, 18th.