Readings: Access and Page Ranges

Blackboard "Assignments" (not Bb PDFs!)

Click folder link "Roman Marriage etc.," accessed via "Assignments" via Blackboard course site. There you'll find the required readings (PDFs, web links) as well as other, optional ones.

For required reading, you'll have both modern sources (a text-book extract, a chapter from a scholarly study, brief encyclopedia entries) and ancient sources (two poems by Catullus):

• Nagle Ancient Rome - read book pages 101-104
• Brill's New Pauly (Greece/Rome encyclopedia) - read PDF pages 2, 11-13, 17
• Treggiari Roman Marriage - chapter 8, "Coniugalis amor" ["conjugal love"], book pages 229-261
• Catullus poem 61 (via Perseus, link also here)
• Catullus poem 45 (via Perseus, link also here)

Guide to Readings, Study Questions, etc.

Major Study Question and Journal-Entries Topic

Though Finnis and Nussbaum focus much attention on classical Greek writings, they also address writings from the Roman period, including those penned by least one Roman writer, Musonius Rufus, a Roman writing Stoic philosophy in Greek. Both Finnis and Nussbaum cite Plutarch, a Greek writing under the Empire about Greece and Rome; Nussbaum invokes Artemidorus, likewise a Greek whose writing can be described as not unaware of, nor unaffected by, Roman realities. More broadly, both Finnis and Nussbaum argue for large-scale cultural-chronological continuities in the Greek and Roman worlds, arguments bolstering the conflicting claims of each.

So, how does a more focused approach to the Roman world, in which the Western tradition is at least as well rooted as it is in the Greek world, change our reading of their debate? Does it offer validation for either side? How does it problematize either side? Do the Roman sources validate a moral-foundationalist view (Finnis)? A pluralistic, possibly relativist view (Nussbaum)? A broad-based Mediterranean-anthropological view (Cohen, Winkler)? Why or why not just ignore the Romans?

Modern Secondary Readings (Nagle, Brill's, Treggiari)

These are meant as background, especially with a view to the Ovid readings for Thursday. Note, among other things, discussion of key concepts. In Treggiari, note especially her very courteous and respectful debate with Gordon Williams as to ideologies of the wife's subordination to the husband (Williams) versus those stressing mutuality (Treggiari); as Treggiari notes, that could have reflected evolution away from marriage cum manu (a very asymmetrical arrangement) in the early period to marriage as partnership/cooperative (consortium, societas) such as we hear about from the later Republic on (compare Xenophon's Oeconomicus on marriage as koinonia).

Ancient Readings: Two Poems by Catullus

Catullus (lived ca. 84-54 BCE) was a poet from a high-ranking but provincial family (he came from northern Italy); he seems to have gained access to high society at Rome, having become, among other things, involved with a Roman matron of high standing, his "Lesbia," a pseudonym perhaps for the notorious Clodia, sister of Cicero's nemesis. Catullus' poetry, like a lot of Roman literature, mixes Greek and Roman elements. At times it dramatizes its author as abjectly embroiled in an illicit and deeply troubling love affair, at times in a playful and humorous mood.

Catullus 61 is a marriage hymn combining Greek and Roman elements. The refrain "O Hymen Hymenaeus" (Latin o Hymen Hymenaee) derives ultimately from Greek, but may have been cried out at Roman weddings.

QUESTION: Using what you've gleaned from your modern readings, what ideologies of marriage does the poem seem to invoke?

Catullus 45. A celebration of undying love — or is it? And what about the imagery? And what do those sneezes by Cupid mean? Sneezes could be omens to the Greeks and Romans, but what do these mean? And what about the two lovers? Septimius is referred to by a recognized Roman gentilicium (clan-name), but Acme's name is Greek, and means "she who is at the peak of beauty." What is this poem saying about true love?

Concepts to Explore in Readings (and briefly described below)

familia, domus. Neither does familia mean "family," exactly, nor domus "house." They both mean "household," and are, therefore at least partly synonymous. One could, though, say that domus refers to the household as setting or home to the familia, while familia itself refers not to the nuclear family, but all generations along a line of vertical descent, from ascendants (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents) to descendants (children, grandchildren, etc., both by birth and by adoption), plus all women connected to the family through marriage cum manu (actually an exceptional case; see below), not to mention the entire support staff of slaves, both domestic and agricultural. A really wealthy familia, with at least one expensive townhouse (also called domus) plus one or more country estates (villae) producing farm income, could have employed an entire army of slaves. Note that the word familia (from famul, "slave") could also refer just to the slave staff.

paterfamilias. The "patriarch" or "head of household," i.e., the eldest living free citizen male ascendant in a Roman family — one's father, grandfather, etc., i.e., the oldest among them who was still alive, if any of them were still alive. By virtue of his position, the paterfamilias possessed. . .

patria potestas. The (in theory) absolute power, including the power of life and death (ius vitae necisque), wielded by a paterfamilias over his familia and all that they had. A Roman man or woman, married or not, and however prominent or powerful in his or her own right, remained under patria potestas so long as she or he had a male ascendant over him/her. (A woman married cum manu will have been under the jurisdiction of her husband's paterfamilias.) When that ceased to be the case, the individual became autonomous, or sui iuris, though a woman would then come under the tutela, the guardianship, of a male kinsman. When the patriarch died, or when he had released a son through the procedure of emancipatio, the son so released would then find himself automatically the head (paterfamilias) of his own household.

In practice, patresfamilias (plural) seem to have exercised their power only with great discretion. So, for instance, corporal punishment, though OK for slaves, was not OK to inflict on one's free-born children (i.e., it was slavish). If the family faced an important decision, usually a family council would be convened. In other words, the paterfamilas would be expected not to lord over his family despotically.

materfamilas. This was wife of a paterfamilias, though the word seems more often to have designated any woman (free-born or freed) party to a legitimate Roman marriage, with reference to her being a respectable wife of good character. Though the materfamilias possessed no power per se, by virtue of her position, she possessed. . .

matria auctoritas. "Maternal authority," the influence and authority (but not power, potestas) exercised by a materfamilias over her family, by virtue of the respect accorded her.

matrimonium. "Marriage" (from mater, "mother"; compare English "matrimony") in the sense of its involving a Roman woman tasked with bearing legitimate Roman children. The Romans understood marriage as, fundamentally, the giving of a wife to a husband "for the purpose of getting children, liberorum quaerundorum causa" (Treggiari 8). As Treggiari states, "It was necessary for the state that citizens should marry and produce new citizens" (8-9).

For a marriage to be recognized as legitimate under Roman law (as iustum matrimonium), all that was required was the that each of the partners possess the right to marry the other (conubium, see below) and evidence of intent or will to live in matrimony, what the Roman sources call mens matrimonii, which in practice was close to maritalis affectio (marital affection). No formal contract needed to be drawn up, no religious or legal ceremony had to be performed (except in the unusual case of coemptio or confarreatio). Says Ulpian, "It is not sexual intercourse which makes a marriage, but maritalis affectio" (translated Treggiari 54). Marriage legally happened when consent was exchanged between bride and groom.

conubium. The right to marry under Roman law, with special reference to rights enjoyed by certain non-Romans to marry Romans, or by Romans of differing social classes to marry each other. Only in cases of marriage between at least one Roman citizen (civis) and a person possessed of the right to marry that individual would Roman law recognize the children as legitimately under the power of their father (or of their paterfamilias, the senior male family member) and as entitled to inherit.

Restrictions on marriage between ranks came to be relaxed (patricians allowed to marry plebeians in 445 BCE), though Augustus sought to shore up the upper classes, and the citizenry more generally, by forbidding persons of senatorial rank to marry freed-persons, or male citizens to marry women marked as infames, "disreputable": prostitutes, actresses, adulteresses.

dos. "Dowery," property that accompanied the bride into marriage, to be administered by her husband to help support her for the duration of the marriage. It was not required for marriage, but was viewed as desirable to enhance a woman's eligibility. At the conclusion of a marriage, whoever had endowed the bride might demand the dowery back, though the ex-husband might also demand a portion of it to defray costs.

sponsalia. "Betrothal," an agreement (usually informal) between two parties that X should marry Y. This will precede the. . .

nutpiae. Derived from a word that originally meant "veiling" (nubere), nuptiae referred to the wedding itself, which involved (among other things) the. . .

deductio. The wedding procession, whereby the groom led the bride to his house.

manus. Literally "hand," manus means the sovereign-like power of a husband over his wife, such that she was regarded as kin subordinate to him, and her property as his. Marriage accompanied by manus (cum manu, "with hand") came to be quite rare, an important fact. It could occur in only three ways:

1. usus, where the wife spent every night without the trinoctium (three-night interruption) in her husband's house for an entire year.
2. coemptio, where the paterfamilias of the bride ritually "sold" her to her prospective husband (the sale itself a legal fiction). It may have been specifically in connection with coemptio that the bride, when being carried over the threshold of the groom's house, would utter the formula, Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia, perhaps "Just as you're my Guy I'm your Gal," or some such.
3. confarreatio, a form of marriage probably reserved for aristocrats (perhaps only patricians, a very special and archaic variety of Roman aristocrat) involving witnesses, religious ceremony, and the pontifex maximus (high priest in the Roman state religion) and flamen dialis (priest of Capitoline Jupiter). High-ranking priests could be married only by this method.

Ordinarily, however, marriage was sine manu, "without hand," i.e., the wife remained a member of her father's family and under their power. By the time of the late Republic, marriage cum manu was mostly obsolete.

concubinatus. "Cohabitation" (compare English "concubine"), which is to say, a "stable sexual relationship" (Brill's) between free persons, but falling short of marriage. The children issuing from such a union would not be legitimate. Concubinage could become matrimony (a) if conubium existed (if Roman law recognized the right of the parties involved to marry) and (b) if intent to marry could be shown.

contubernium. Unofficial "marriage" between slaves or between a slave and non-slave. A "spouse" involved in such an arrangement was called a contubernalis, literally, a "tent-mate." The mother's offspring would then be the property of the mother's owner.

divortium. "Divorce," literally, a "turning in a different direction" or "parting of ways." I.e., the dissolution of the marriage through the ceasing of maritalis affectio on the part of husband or wife or both. Under the later Republic and Empire, wives could unilaterally divorce, as could husbands at all periods. (Divorce might be dictated by the paterfamilias of either spouse.) Upon divorce, whoever had endowed the wife (provided her with a dowery) might sue the husband for return of it. Divorce initiated by the husband could be referred to as repudium, "repudiation." Ideally, Roman marriages were to be about marital affection, but Roman men might divorce a seemingly sterile wife. There was no formal procedure, but a verbal formula (tuas res tibi habeto, "take your things for yourself") could be employed. Legitimate marriage to someone else confirmed, but did not accomplish, divorce.

sponsa. "Fiancée," i.e., a girl (usually below the age of 12) betrothed, but not yet fully married, to her intended husband.

sponsus. The intended husband of a sponsa.

uxor. "Wife," the usual term.

coniunx. "Spouse," i.e., husband or wife.

nupta. Means a married (as opposed to unmarried) woman.

matrona. A Roman married woman of respectable status (compare "matron"). Matrona (derived from mater, "mather") alluded to the wife's function in bearing legitimate children to her husband. Matronae (plural) were entitled to wear the stola, a long garment embroidered on its hem.

univira. The term for a woman married to but one husband over the course of her life. The term shows up in epitaphs, and expresses a Roman ideal. Only an univira might sacrifice to Pudicitia (goddess of chastity) or, at a wedding, serve as pronuba (matron of honor) attending the bride. It is rare to find husbands commended for having married only once, though it was generally treated as a good thing.

vir. Literally "man," the usual word for a husband.

maritus. "Husband."

adulterium. Latin for "adultery"; see Brill's pdf p. 2.

lex iulia de adulteriis coercendis. Augustus' law (18 BCE) to punish adultery; see Brill's p. 2.

lex iulia, lex papia poppaea. Augustus' legislation of 18 BCE and 9 CE to encourage and strengthen marriage and to shore up the upper classes. See Brill's pp. 16-17.

Works Cited

Cancik, Hubert, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F. Salazar, et al., eds. Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Leiden: Brill, 2002. Print.

Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3 ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

Treggiari, Susan. Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1991.