Editing Women in ancient Rome (section)

== Women and sexuality ==
From the start of the Roman Republic, there was a high emphasis placed on a woman's virginity. [[Pudicitia]] (chastity) was a goddess of feminine purity, and was worshipped by Roman women. Only those who were virgins were allowed to enter the temple.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|title=Women and Politics in Ancient Rome|last=Bauman|first=Richard|publisher=Routledge|year=1992|location=New York, New York|pages=8, 10, 15, 105}}</ref> A woman's sexual life began with the consummation of her marriage in her husband's [[cubiculum]] (private room), where slaves did not enter. In Roman houses, it was common for men and women to each have their own cubicula, allowing the potential for them to carry on separate sex lives. While it was expected that women should only have sexual relations with their husbands, it was common for a man to have many sexual partners throughout his life.<ref name=":13"/> After marriage, women were scrutinized in the household to prevent any adulterous behavior. For example, [[Julius Caesar|Julius Caesar's]] second wife, [[Pompeia (wife of Julius Caesar)|Pompeia]], attempted to have private relations with [[Publius Clodius Pulcher#Bona Dea scandal|Publius Clodius]]. Julius Caesar's mother, Aurelia, who monitored Pompeia's actions, prevented their private meetings. The mere possibility of Pompeia committing adultery caused Caesar to divorce her.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Growing up and Growing old in Ancient Rome|last=Harlow, Mary|first=and Ray, Laurence|publisher=Rutledge|year=2002|location=New York, New York|pages=30–31}}</ref>

=== Augustus's campaign on women and the family ===
The focus on a woman's purity and on her role as a faithful wife and dutiful mother in the family increased during the reign of Augustus. This general campaign to improve family dynamics began in 18–17 BC.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=A Brief History of the Romans|last1=Boatwright|first1=Mary|last2=Gargola|first2=Daniel|last3=Lenski|first3=Noel|last4=Talbert|first4=Richard|publisher=Oxford University|year=2005|location=New York|pages=176–177}}</ref> Augustus' new laws targeted both men and women between the ages of 20 and 55, who were rewarded for being in what were considered healthy relationships, and punished if unmarried or childless. Additionally, Augustus enforced the divorce and punishment of adulterous wives. Women under his rule could be punished in the courts for adultery and banished. A woman's private relationships now became a publicly regulated matter. The palace was secured and driven by the idea that women would be returned to their proper places as chaste wives and mothers, and thus household order would be restored. Augustus went so far as to punish and exile his own daughter, Julia, for engaging in extramarital affairs.<ref name=":2" />

===Women and the law===
{{rquote|right|''There never was a case in court in which the quarrel was not started by a woman. If Manilia is not a defendant, she'll be the plaintiff; she will herself frame and adjust the pleadings; she will be ready to instruct [[Publius Juventius Celsus|Celsus himself]] how to open his case, and how to urge his points.''|[[Juvenal]], ''Satire'' VI}}

Although the rights and status of women in the earliest period of Roman history were more restricted than in the [[Roman Republic#Late Republic (147 BCE - 30 BCE)|late Republic]] and Empire, as early as the 5th century BC, Roman women could own land, write their own wills, and appear in court. The historian [[Valerius Maximus]] devotes a section of his work ''On Memorable Deeds and Speeches'' to women who conducted cases on their own behalf, or on behalf of others.<ref>Richard A. Bauman, ''Women and Politics in Ancient Rome'' (Routledge, 1992, 1994), p. 50.</ref> These women got to show their ability as orators in the courtroom at a time when oratory was considered a defining pursuit of the most ambitious Roman men. One of these, [[Amaesia Sentia|Maesia Sentinas]],<ref>Her name appears also as ''Amesia''.</ref> is identified by her origin in the town of [[Sentinum]], and not, [[naming conventions for women in ancient Rome|as was customary]], by her relation to a man. The independent Maesia spoke in her own defense, and was acquitted almost unanimously after only a short trial because she spoke with such strength and effectiveness. Since these characteristics were considered masculine, however, the historian opined that under her feminine appearance, she had a "virile spirit", and thereafter she was called "the [[Androgyne]]".<ref>[[Valerius Maximus]] 8.3.1; Joseph Farrell, ''Latin Language and Latin Culture'' (Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 74–75; Michael C. Alexander, ''Trials in the Late Roman Republic, 149–50 BCE'' (University of Toronto Press, 1990), p. 180. Alexander places the date of the trial, about which Valerius is unclear, to sometime between 80 and 50 BCE. The charge goes unrecorded.</ref>

[[File:Fanciulla intenta alla lettura (IV stile), I sec, da pompei, MANN 8946.JPG|thumb|left|Roman fresco of a maiden reading a text, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]] (60–79 AD), [[Pompeii]], Italy]]
Maesia's ability to present a case "methodically and vigorously" suggests that while women did not plead regularly in open court, they had experience in private declamation and family court.<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', p. 50.</ref> [[Gaia Afrania|Afrania]],<ref>The name is vexed; it may also be ''Carfrania''.</ref> the wife of a senator during the time of [[Sulla]], appeared so frequently before the [[praetor]] who presided over the court, even though she had male advocates who could have spoken for her, that she was accused of ''[[calumnia (Roman law)|calumnia]]'', [[malicious prosecution]]. An edict was consequently enacted that prohibited women from bringing claims on behalf of others, on the grounds that it jeopardized their ''pudicitia'', the modesty appropriate to one's station.<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', pp. 50–51.</ref> It has been noted<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', p. 51.</ref> that while women were often impugned for their feeblemindedness and ignorance of the law, and thus in need of protection by male advocates, in reality actions were taken to restrict their influence and effectiveness. Despite this specific restriction, there are numerous examples of women taking informed actions in legal matters in the Late Republic and [[Principate]], including dictating legal strategy to their advocate behind the scenes.<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', pp. 51–52.</ref>

An emancipated woman legally became ''[[sui iuris]]'', or her own person, and could own property and dispose of it as she saw fit. If a ''pater familias'' died [[Intestacy|intestate]], the law required the equal division of his estate amongst his children, regardless of their age and sex. A will that did otherwise, or emancipated any family member without due process of law, could be challenged.<ref>Johnston, ''Roman Law in Context'', chapter 3.3; Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', Chapter IV.</ref> From the late Republic onward, a woman who inherited a share equal with her brothers would have been independent of [[wikt:agnatic|agnatic]] control.<ref>Yan Thomas, "The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law," in ''A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints'' (Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 134.</ref>

As in the case of minors, an emancipated woman had a legal guardian (''tutor'') appointed to her. She retained her powers of administration, however, and the guardian's main if not sole purpose was to give formal consent to actions.<ref>Alan Watson, ''The Spirit of Roman Law'' (University of Georgia Press, 1995), p. 13; Thomas, "The Division of the Sexes," p. 135.</ref> The guardian had no say in her private life, and a woman ''sui iuris'' could marry as she pleased.<ref>Judith Evans Grubbs, ''Women and the Law in the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Law in the Roman Empire'' (Routledge, 2002), p. 24.</ref> A woman also had certain avenues of recourse if she wished to replace an obstructive tutor.<ref>Watson, ''The Spirit of Roman Law'', p. 13; Gaius, ''Inst.'' 1.173.</ref> Under [[Augustus]], a woman who had gained the ''[[ius trium liberorum|ius liberorum]]'', the legal right to certain privileges after bearing three children, was also released from guardianship,<ref>Thomas, "The Division of the Sexes," p. 133.</ref> and the emperor Claudius banned agnatic guardianship. The role of guardianship as a legal institution gradually diminished, and by the 2nd century [[BCE|CE]] the [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]] said he saw no reason for it.<ref>Gaius, ''Institutes'' 1.190–1.191.</ref> The Christianization of the Empire, beginning with the conversion of the Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] in the early 4th century, eventually had consequences for the legal status of women.

===Marriage===
{{Main|Marriage in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Roman marriage vows.jpg|thumb|Roman couple in the ceremonial joining of hands; the bride's knotted belt symbolized that her husband was "belted and bound" to her.<ref>''Cinctus vinctusque'', according to [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] 55 (edition of Lindsay); Karen K. Hersch, ''The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity'' (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 101, 110, 211 .</ref> 4th century sarcophagus]]
Family tomb inscriptions of respectable Romans suggest that the ideal Roman marriage was one of mutual loyalty, in which husband and wife shared interests, activities, and property.<ref>Wiesner, Merry E. ''“The Family” Gender in History: Global Perspectives,'' 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2011, p.32</ref>

In the earliest period of the [[Roman Republic]], a bride passed from her father's control into the "hand" ''(manus)'' of her husband. She then became subject to her husband's ''potestas'', though to a lesser degree than their children.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', p. 20.</ref> In the earliest periods of Roman history, [[Manus Marriage|''Manus'' marriage]] meant that a married woman would be subjugated by her husband. That custom had died out by the 1st century BCE in favor of free marriage, which did not grant a husband any rights over his wife or cause any significant change to a newly-married woman's status.<ref>Duby, Perrot, and Pantel, ''A History of Women Volume 1'', pg. 133</ref> During the classical era of [[Roman law]], marriage required no ceremony, but only a mutual will and agreement to live together in harmony. Marriage ceremonies, contracts, and other formalities were meant only to prove that a couple had, in fact, married. Under early or archaic [[Roman law]], marriages were of three kinds: ''[[confarreatio]]'', symbolized by the sharing of bread (''panis farreus''); ''coemptio'', "by purchase"; and ''usus'', "by mutual cohabitation". [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|Patricians]] always married by ''confarreatio'', while [[plebs|plebeians]] married by the latter two types. In marriage by ''usus'', if a woman was absent for three consecutive nights at least once a year, she would avoid her husband establishing legal control over her. This differed from the [[Ancient Greek marriage law|Athenian custom of arranged marriage]] and sequestration, which did not allow wives to walk the streets unescorted.

The form of marriage known as ''manus'' was the norm in the [[Roman Republic#Early Republic (458 BCE - 274 BCE)|early Republic]], but became less frequent thereafter.<ref>The late Imperial Roman [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]] writes of ''manus'' marriage as something that used to happen. Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', p. 54.</ref> The bride's [[dowry]], any [[inheritance|inheritance rights]] transferred through her marriage, and any subsequently-acquired property belonged to her husband. Husbands could divorce their wives on grounds of adultery, and a few cases of divorce on the grounds of a wife's infertility are recorded.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', p. 53.</ref> ''Manus'' marriage was an unequal relationship; it changed a woman’s intestate heirs from her siblings to her children, not because she was their mother but because her legal status was the same as that of a daughter to her husband. Under ''manus'', women were expected to obey their husbands in almost all aspects of their lives.

This archaic form of ''manus'' marriage was largely abandoned by the time of [[Julius Caesar]], when a woman remained under her father's authority by law even when she moved into her husband's home. This arrangement was one of the factors in the independence Roman women enjoyed relative to those of many other ancient cultures and up to the modern period:<ref>[[Eva Cantarella]], ''Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), pp. 140–141; J.P. Sullivan, "Martial's Sexual Attitudes", ''Philologus'' 123 (1979), p. 296, specifically on sexual freedom.</ref> So-called "free" marriage caused no change in personal status for either the wife or the husband.<ref>David Johnston, ''Roman Law in Context'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 33–34.</ref> Free marriage usually involved two citizens, or a citizen and a person who held [[Latin Rights|Latin rights]], and in the later Imperial period and with official permission, soldier-citizens and non-citizens. In a free marriage a bride brought a dowry to the husband: if the marriage ended with no cause of adultery he returned most of it.<ref>Johnston, ''Roman Law'', pp. 36–36; Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', section V.</ref> The law's separation of property was so total that gifts between spouses were not recognized as such. If a couple divorced or even separated, the giver could reclaim the gift.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', pp. 49, 52, citing Ulpian, ''D.'' 24.1.3.1. If the donor died first, however, the gift to the surviving spouse was valid.</ref>

====Divorce====
[[File:Fresco depicting a seated woman, from the Villa Arianna at Stabiae, Naples National Archaeological Museum (17393152265).jpg|thumb|[[Fresco]] of a seated woman from [[Stabiae]], 1st century AD]]
[[Divorce]] was a legal but relatively informal affair which mainly involved a wife leaving her husband’s house and taking back her dowry. According to the historian [[Valerius Maximus]], divorces were taking place by 604 BCE or earlier, and the law code as embodied in the mid-5th century BCE by the [[Twelve Tables]] provides for divorce.  Divorce was socially acceptable if carried out within social norms (''[[mos maiorum]]''). By the time of [[Cicero]] and [[Julius Caesar]], divorce was relatively common and "shame-free", the subject of gossip rather than a social disgrace.<ref>[[Suzanne Dixon]], "From Ceremonial to Sexualities: A Survey of Scholarship on Roman Marriage" in ''A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), p. 248.</ref> Valerius says that Lucius Annius was disapproved of because he divorced his wife without consulting his friends; that is, he undertook the action for his own purposes and without considering its effects on his social network (''[[amicitia]]'' and ''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|clientela]]''). The [[Roman censor|censors]] of 307 BCE thus expelled him from the Senate for moral turpitude.

Elsewhere, however, it is claimed that the first divorce took place only in 230 BCE, at which time [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] notes<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''Antiquitates Romanae'', 2.25</ref> that "[[Spurius Carvilius]], a man of distinction, was the first to divorce his wife" on grounds of infertility. This was most likely the [[Spurius Carvilius Maximus Ruga]] who was consul in 234 and 228 BCE. The evidence is confused.<ref>[[Aulus Gellius]] (''Noctes Atticae'' 4.3.1) places the divorce in 227 BCE,  but fudges the date and his sources elsewhere.</ref>

During the classical period of Roman law (late Republic and [[Principate]]), a man or woman<ref>Alan Watson, ''The Spirit of Roman Law'' (University of Georgia Press, 1995), p. 173.</ref> could end a marriage simply because he or she wanted to, and for no other reason. Unless the wife could prove the spouse was worthless, he kept the children. Because property had been kept separate during the marriage, divorce from a "free" marriage was a very easy procedure.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', part D, "The End of Marriage."</ref>

====Remarriage====
[[File:Affresco romano - eracle ed onfale - area vesuviana.JPG|thumb|[[Heracles]] and [[Omphale]], Roman fresco, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]] (45–79 AD), [[Naples National Archaeological Museum]], Italy]]
The frequency of remarriage among the elite was high. Speedy remarriage was not unusual, and perhaps even customary, for aristocratic Romans after the death of a spouse.<ref>[[Susan Treggiari]], ''Roman Marriage: ''Iusti Coniuges'' from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian'' (Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 258–259, 500–502 ''et passim''.</ref> While no formal waiting period was dictated for a widower, it was customary for a woman to remain in mourning for ten months before remarrying.<ref>Karen K. Hersch, ''The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity'', p. 48.</ref> The duration may have allowed for pregnancy: if a woman had become pregnant just before her husband's death, the period of ten months ensured that no question of paternity -- which might affect the child's social status and inheritance -- arose.<ref>In Roman [[inclusive counting]], a pregnancy was counted as lasting ten months.</ref> No law prohibited pregnant women from marrying, and there are well-known instances: Augustus married Livia when she was carrying her former husband's child, and the [[College of Pontiffs]] ruled that it was permissible as long as the child's father was determined first. Livia's previous husband even attended the wedding.<ref>[[Eva Cantarella]], "Marriage and Sexuality in Republican Rome: A Roman Conjugal Love Story," in ''The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'' (University of Chicago Press, 2002), p. 276.</ref>

Because elite marriages often occurred for reasons of politics or property, a widow or divorcée with assets in these areas faced few obstacles to remarrying. She was far more likely to be legally emancipated than a first-time bride, and to have a say in the choice of husband. The marriages of [[Fulvia]], who commanded troops during the last civil war of the Republic and who was the first Roman woman to have her face on a coin, are thought to indicate her own political sympathies and ambitions. Fulvia was married first to the [[populares|popularist]] champion [[Publius Clodius Pulcher|Clodius Pulcher]], who was murdered after a long feud with Cicero; then to [[Gaius Scribonius Curio (praetor 49 BC)|Scribonius Curio]]; and finally to [[Mark Antony]], the last opponent to the republican oligarchs and to Rome's future first emperor.

The [[Greek historiography|Greek observer]] [[Plutarch]] indicates that a second wedding among Romans was likely to be a quieter affair, as a widow would still feel the absence of her dead husband, and a divorcée ought to feel shame.<ref>Plutarch, ''Roman Questions'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/E.html#105 105.]</ref> But while the circumstances of divorce might be shameful or embarrassing, and remaining married to the same person for life was ideal, there was no general disapproval of remarriage; on the contrary, marriage was considered the right and desirable condition of adult life for both men and women.<ref>Karen K. Hersh, ''The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity'' (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 4, 48, ''et passim'' citing Humbert (1971), pp. 1–11. See also Treggiari, ''Roman Marriage''.</ref> [[Cato the Younger]], who presented himself as a paragon modeled after his [[Cato the Elder|moral namesake]], allowed his pregnant wife [[Marcia (wife of Cato)|Marcia]] to divorce him and marry [[Quintus Hortensius|Hortensius]], declining to offer his young daughter to the 60-year-old orator instead. After the widowed Marcia inherited considerable wealth, Cato married her again, in a ceremony lacking many of the formalities.<ref>Hersh, ''The Roman Wedding'', ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TZEJQPjc4sIC&q=marcia passim]'', pointing to the fictionalized and possibly satiric account by [[Lucan]]. Or some scholars see in this more of an arrangement than marriage proper.</ref> Women might be mocked, however, for marrying too often or capriciously, particularly if it could be implied that sexual appetites or vanity were motives.<ref>Hersh, ''The Roman Wedding'', pp. 103–104.</ref>

==== Concubinage ====
{{Further|Concubinage in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Pompeii - Casa dei Casti Amanti - Banquet.jpg|thumb|Roman fresco with a banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti, [[Pompeii]]]]
A concubine was defined by Roman law as a woman living in a permanent monogamous relationship with a man not her husband.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', p. 480.</ref> There was no dishonor in being a concubine or living with a concubine, and a concubine could become a wife.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', p. 52.</ref> Gifts could be exchanged between the partners in concubinage, in contrast to marriage, which maintained a more defined separation of property.

Couples usually resorted to concubinage when inequality of social rank was an obstacle to marriage. For instance, a man of [[Roman senate|senatorial rank]] and a woman who was a social inferior, such as a freedwoman or one who had a questionable background of poverty or prostitution, might enter into concubinage.<ref>Frier and McGinn, ''Casebook'', p. 50</ref> Two partners who lacked the right to legal marriage, or ''[[Marriage in ancient Rome|conubium]]'', might also do so.<ref>J.A. Crook Law and Life of Rome 90 B.C.-212 A.D.</ref> Concubinage differed from marriage chiefly in the status of children born from the relationship. Children had their mother's social rank, and not, as was customary, their father's.

====Domestic abuse====
[[File:Maenad and Cupid MAN Napoli Inv110591.jpg|thumb|A [[maenad]] with a [[cupid]] in her arms, fresco, 1st century AD]]
Classical Roman law did not allow [[domestic abuse]] by a husband to his wife,<ref>''A casebook on Roman Family Law'', Frier and McGinn, pg. 95.</ref> However, as with any other crime, laws against domestic abuse do not necessarily prevent it. [[Cato the Elder]] said, according to his biographer [[Plutarch]], "that the man who struck his wife or child laid violent hands on the holiest of holy things."<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Cato the Elder'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Major*.html#20.2 20.2.]</ref> A man of status during the Roman Republic was expected to behave moderately toward his wife and to define himself as a good husband. Wife beating was sufficient grounds for divorce or other legal action against the husband.<ref>Garrett G. Fagan, "Violence in Roman Social Relations," in ''The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations'' (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 487.</ref>

Domestic abuse enters the historical record mainly when it involves the egregious excesses of the elite. The Emperor [[Nero]] was alleged to have had his first wife (and stepsister) [[Claudia Octavia]] murdered after subjecting her to torture and imprisonment. Nero then married his pregnant mistress [[Poppaea Sabina]], whom he kicked to death for criticizing him.<ref>Tacitus, Annals XVI.6</ref> Some modern historians believe that Poppaea died from a miscarriage or childbirth, and that the story was exaggerated to vilify Nero. The despised [[Commodus]] may have killed his wife and his sister.<ref>Frank McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Life'', p. 435.</ref>

===Motherhood===
[[File:Sarcophagus Marcus Cornelius Statius Louvre Ma659 n1.jpg|thumb|left|Mother nursing an infant in the presence of the father, detail from a young boy's [[sarcophagus]] c. 150 [[BCE|CE]]]]
Roman wives were expected to bear children, but the women of the aristocracy, accustomed to a degree of independence, showed a growing disinclination to devote themselves to traditional motherhood. By the 1st century [[BCE|CE]], most elite women avoided breast-feeding their infants themselves and thus hired wet-nurses.<ref>Rawson, "The Roman Family," p. 30.</ref> This practice was not uncommon as early as the 2nd century [[BCE]], when the comic playwright [[Plautus]] mentions wet-nurses.<ref>[[Plautus]], ''Miles Gloriosus'' 697.</ref> Since a mother's milk was considered best for the baby,<ref>As noted by [[Soranus of Ephesus|Soranus]] (1st century AD) in his ''Gynaecology'' 2.18.</ref> aristocratic women might still choose to breast-feed unless physical reasons prevented it.<ref>Jane F. Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'' (Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 242.</ref> If a woman did choose not to nurse her own child, she could visit the [[Columna Lactaria]]  ("Milk Column"), where poor parents could obtain milk for their infants as charity from wet nurses and more affluent parents could hire a wet nurse.<ref>Lawrence Richardson, "A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome," (JHU Press, 1992), p. 94.</ref> Licinia, the wife of [[Cato the Elder]] (d. 149 BCE), is reported to have nursed not only her son, but sometimes the infants of her slaves, to encourage "brotherly affection" among them.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Cato the Elder'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Major*.html#20.3 20.3]; Christopher Michael McDonough, "Carna, Procra and the ''Strix'' on the Kalends of June," ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 127 (1997), p. 322, note 29.</ref> By the time of [[Tacitus]] (d. 117 CE), breastfeeding by elite matrons was idealized as a practice of the virtuous old days.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Dialogus'' 28, as noted by McDonough, p. 322.</ref> 

Large families were not the norm among the elite even by the [[Roman Republic#Late Republic (147 BCE - 30 BCE)|Late Republic]]; the family of [[Publius Clodius Pulcher|Clodius Pulcher]], who had at least three sisters and two brothers, was considered unusual.<ref>W. Jeffrey Tatum, ''The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1999), p. 33ff.</ref> The [[birth rate]] among the aristocracy declined to such an extent that the first Roman emperor [[Augustus]] (reigned 27 BCE–14 CE) passed a series of laws intended to increase it. These laws provided special honors for women who bore at least three children (the ''[[Jus trium liberorum|ius trium liberorum]])''.<ref>Janine Assa, ''The Great Roman Ladies'' (New York, 1960), p. 32; ''A History of Women in the West from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints'', vol. 1, p. 115.</ref> Women who were unmarried, divorced, widowed, or barren were prohibited from inheriting property unless named in a will.<ref>Jane F. Gardner, ''Family and ''Familia'' in Roman Law and Life'' (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2004), p. 53.</ref>

The extent to which Roman women might expect their husbands to participate in the rearing of very young children seems to vary and is hard to determine. Traditionalists such as Cato appear to have taken an interest, as Cato liked to be present when his wife bathed and swaddled their child.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Cato the Elder'' 20.2.</ref> Roman women were not only valued for the number of children that they produced, but also for their part in raising and educating children to become good citizens. To rear children for successful lives, an exemplary Roman mother needed to be well-educated herself.<ref>Assa, ''The Great Roman Ladies'', p. 50.</ref> One of the Roman women most famous for their strength and influence as a mother was [[Cornelia Africana|Cornelia]], the mother of the [[Gracchi]]. [[Julius Caesar]], whose father died when he was only a young teen, had a close relationship with his mother, [[Aurelia Cotta|Aurelia]]. Aurelia's political clout was essential in preventing the execution of her 18-year-old son during the [[proscription]]s of [[Sulla]].
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