508 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliv caprice her behaviour was approved, or censured, or chastised ; he exercised the jurisdiction of life and death ; and it was allowed that, in the cases of adultery or drunkenness, 119 the sentence might be properly inflicted. She acquired and inherited for the sole profit of her lord ; and so clearly was woman defined, not as a person, but as a thing, that, if the original title were de- [Ususi ficient, she might be claimed, like other moveables, by the use and possession of an entire year. The inclination of the Koman husband discharged or withheld the conjugal debt, so scrupu- lously exacted by the Athenian and Jewish laws; 120 but, as poly- gamy was unknown, he could never admit to his bed a fairer or more favoured partner. Freedom of After the Punic triumphs, the matrons of Eome aspired to the matri- L . moniai the common benefits of a free and opulent republic : their contract wishes were gratified by the indulgence of fathers and lovers, and their ambition was unsuccessfully resisted by the gravity of Cato the Censor. 121 They declined the solemnities of the old nuptials, defeated the annual prescription by an absence of three days, and, without losing their name or independence, sub- scribed the liberal and definite terms of a marriage-contract. Of their private fortunes they communicated the use, and secured the property ; the estates of a wife could neither be alienated nor mortgaged by a prodigal husband ; their mutual gifts were prohibited by the jealousy of the laws ; and the misconduct of either party might afford, under another name, a future sub- ject for an action of theft. To this loose and voluntary compact, religious and civil rites were no longer essential ; and, between persons of a similar rank, the apparent community of life was allowed as sufficient evidence of their nuptials. The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians, who derived all spiritual 119 It was enough to have tasted wine, or to have stolen the key of the oellar (Plin. Hist. Nat. xiv. 14). 120 Solon requires three payments per month. By the Misna, a daily debt was imposed on an idle, vigorous, young husband ; twice a week on a citizen ; once on a peasant ; once in thirty days on a camel-driver ; once in six months on a seaman. But the student or doctor was free from tribute ; and no wife, if she received a weekly sustenance, could Bue for a divorce ; for one week a vow of abstinence was allowed. Polygamy divided, without multiplying, the duties of the husband (Selden, Uxor Ebraica, 1. iii. c. 6, in his works, vol. ii. p. 717-720). 121 On the Oppian law we may hear the mitigating speeoh of Valerius Flaccus and the severe censorial oration of the elder Cato (Liv. xxxiv. 1-8). But we shall rather hear the polished historian of the eighth, than the rough orators of the sixth, century of Borne. The principles, and even the style, of Cato are more accurately preserved by Aulus Gellius (x. 23).
